Sergey Bakeshin has provided his comments to RBC about a decision of the Supreme Court to seize residential property from bankrupt individuals

The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation passed a decision which overturned lower courts’ decisions to exclude an individual’s primarily place of residence from the assets that could be seized in bankruptcy proceedings – the asset was a five-roomed apartment valued at around 28 million roubles. According to the Head of the Dispute and Insolvency department at Maxima Legal, Sergey Bakeshin, the court’s decision will significantly influence the enforcement of court decisions and the work of bailiffs.

Sergey explained to RBC that the decision is contrary to the provisions of the civil code and the federal law on bankruptcy which states that only the part of an individual’s property that is subject to a mortgage can be seized.

However in 2012, the Constitutional Court suggested the need to amend legislation and remove property as being exempt from seizure when such property “clearly exceeds the level that is sufficient to serve the reasonable needs of an individual-debtor and the members of his/her family”. “It is possible that the Supreme Court, tired of waiting for legislators to address this gap in the law, decided to take the matter into their own hands”, suggested Sergey Bakeshin.

To read the article in full, please see the RBC website >>>