Civil-Legal Liability for Violation of Housing Rights: Issues of Theory and Practice

Research objective. The need to identify the specifics of civil liability for various violations of housing rights in the absence of systemic legal regulation of liability issues, including civil liability, in the acts of housing legislation, and fragmentary nature of their study in the modern science of housing law predetermines the necessity to identify the specifics of civil liability for various violations of housing rights. In the context of continuous changes in housing legislation and development of judicial practice, expansion of the scope of application of civil law means and strengthening of inter-branch interaction, further development of the theory of civil law liability in case of violation of housing rights is obviously relevant. The article considers various types of civil liability in the housing sphere, which is of great social importance, it systematises them, and reveals the problems of bringing to civil liability of subjects of housing legal relations in case of non-performance or improper performance of their duties. The purpose of the study is both a comprehensive analysis of the application of the institute of civil liability in the housing sphere, and identification of the peculiarities of civil liability in case of violation of housing rights.

Conclusions. As a result of the conducted research, the author comes to the conclusion that civil liability in the housing sphere is a secured state coercion imposition on the participants of housing legal relations of additional adverse consequences of property nature through the application of property sanctions for committing housing offences, aimed at restoring the violated housing rights of victims or preventing their violation. The civil-law nature of a significant array of housing relations creates the potential for the large-scale application of civil-law remedies, including such an important one as civil-law liability. The applied measures of civil liability for offences in the housing sphere are affected by the opposite effect of the sectoral peculiarities of housing law. The specificity of civil liability for violation of housing rights is conditioned by the peculiarities of the legal regime of residential premises, which is simultaneously the object of housing and civil legal relations, and consists in a significant number of legal requirements to the residential premises themselves. The legal regime of residential premises predetermines predominantly peremptory statutory nature of civil liability, manifested both in the establishment of the form of liability and its amount. The basis for bringing to civil liability in the housing sphere is non-fulfilment or improper fulfilment by the subjects of the obligations included in the content of proprietary, obligatory or corporate legal relations, the object of which is residential premises. Civil liability in the housing sphere may be not only of a restorative nature aimed at restoring violated housing rights, but also of a preventive nature in the form of deprivation or restriction of the subjective housing right, if the use of residential premises violates its qualitative characteristics as an object of housing rights. Most civil liability measures are aimed at ensuring the safety and maintenance of residential premises in a fit for purpose condition. Further improvement of protective norms of housing legislation on civil liability will contribute to the effective protection of housing rights against violations.