The lawyer spoke about the balance of the rights of debtors and creditors

The draft law on the sale of debtors' only housing, if it is recognized as "luxurious", does not change the existing legal approach, but rather consolidates the already established judicial practice. Maria Kruk, head of the St. Petersburg branch of the Sokolov, Trusov and Partners Law Firm, told Izvestia about this on April 14.

"In fact, this mechanism is not new. Approaches to the implementation of the debtor's only housing have already been formed by the Constitutional and Supreme Courts and are being applied in practice," the expert noted.

According to her, the issue of so-called luxury housing was raised by the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, which pointed out the need to legislate the mechanism of its implementation. Despite the absence of direct rules, courts are already applying appropriate approaches when considering bankruptcy cases.

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Kruk stressed that the initiative does not contradict the constitutional right to housing, as it presupposes a balance of interests between the debtor and creditors. In the case of the sale of expensive real estate, the debtor is provided with replacement housing, which preserves his basic housing guarantees.

The expert also noted that the current legislation protects debtors from abuse by creditors. If the housing is not luxurious, it is not subject to sale, and disputes are considered in court, which evaluates the validity of the claims.

According to her, the risks of attempts to conceal property do exist, but there are mechanisms for their suppression, including the possibility of challenging asset disposal transactions.

Kruk added that consolidating existing practices at the legal level could simplify the bankruptcy procedure and increase the effectiveness of protecting creditors' rights by replenishing the bankruptcy estate. At the same time, a significant impact on the attractiveness of the bankruptcy procedure for citizens should not be expected, since such mechanisms are already being used in practice.

The day before, the Russian Ministry of Justice proposed a bill allowing to seize the only housing from bankrupts if the court finds it "redundant." We are talking about cases when the debtor owns expensive real estate, but has no other property. In this case, he may be required to sell his home in order to pay off his debts and purchase a more modest one.

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