Keywords
real estate owners’ association
housing and utilities
protective court fees
access to justice
state fee
resource supplying organizations
court costs
How to Cite
Abstract
The article analyzes systemic barriers to judicial protection of the citizens’ rights and real estate owners’ associations (REOA) in the sphere of housing and utilities. Based on analysis of current legislation, court practice materials (30 cases for 2022–2024) and doctrinal approaches, key factors impeding access to justice are identified: information asymmetry, complexity of proof, formalism of procedures and unfair behavior of resource supplying organizations. For the first time in Russian law, the mechanism of protective court fees has been studied in detail as a hidden but powerful economic barrier that makes it impractical to apply to a dispute court with an insignificant claim price. It is substantiated that the current scale of state fees actually legalizes inequality of parties, since for commercial organizations fees are operating expenses, while for citizens and REOAs they represent personal savings or funds from the property maintenance fund. An empirical analysis of judicial practice shows that in 72 % of the cases studied, the amount of claims did not exceed 50,000 rubles, while the state fee ranged from 5 to 20 % of the claim value, which objectively makes judicial protection economically unprofitable for bona fide consumers. This circumstance confirms the existence of a systemic imbalance in which economic barriers actually block access to justice for socially vulnerable categories of citizens. A set of measures to reform the system of court costs is proposed: exemption from state fees for claims arising from consumer protection legislation in housing and utilities, introduction of a maximum fee amount for individuals, equating REOAs to citizens when paying fees, and joint liability of dishonest organizations for legal costs. Implementation of these measures will transform the constitutional right to judicial protection from a declaration into an effectively functioning mechanism. The research was carried out as part of an independent scientific initiative.
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