Claiming property from another's illegal possession is one of the most common types of property disputes. In order to successfully restore the owner’s right to a thing, it is necessary to apply to the judicial authority with a corresponding lawsuit.
Legal justification
The features and procedure for recovering property from illegal possession of others is enshrined in some regulatory legal acts. In particular, article 301 of the Civil Code states that the owner of the property has the right at any time to claim his thing if it is in the hands of other persons as a result of unlawful actions.
The owner can take his property by filing a lawsuit in court. The procedure for its preparation and referral to the appropriate authority is regulated by the norms of the Code of Civil Procedure.
In addition to the owner, other persons with the right to use this thing (tenants, tenants, legal entities having the right to dispose of the subject of the dispute) can claim property from the owner illegally. To this end, the applicant must prove his competence to file a statement of claim.
Since the possibility of drawing up a claim may appear for organizations or enterprises, some aspects of this procedure are enshrined in the Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation.
If the object of the seizure is real estate, the justification of the owner’s position must be confirmed by the availability of relevant documents. Their list is established by the norms of the federal law governing state registration of real estate and transactions with it.
To recover property from illegal possession, the owner must prove three facts:
- Values of the material type were unlawfully taken from the present owner.
- The owner or other authorized persons lost the thing, after which it was appropriated by third parties.
- The right to own property was lost by the owner in the absence of consent on his part or against his will.
Since often the illegal possession of a thing is associated with fraud, theft or forgery of documents, many aspects of the return of lost property are regulated by the norms of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
Two types of illegal possession of another's property
Russian law considers two types of illegal possession of another's property:
- unscrupulous;
- conscientious.
Possession of an unfair type takes place when the new owner of the property was aware (or should have known) that he owns the thing illegally. The concept of legal ownership is applied if the actual owner does not know that he owns the property illegally, and could not know.
In the first case, the process of returning the object of the dispute will be carried out on the basis of the provisions of Article 301 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, in the second - Article 302 of the Code.
In order to get the thing back, the legal owner must file a vindication claim for the recovery of property from another's illegal possession. By definition, this type of statement of claim is submitted by the non-owner to the owner of the non-owner.
Before submitting a document to the court, it is necessary to carefully study the procedure for presenting an application, the particulars of returning property from illegal possession of others, criteria for assessing the good faith of a new owner of a thing and the subject of proof in the process.
Conditions for unlawful possession of a thing by an unauthorized person
The main condition for filing a claim for the recovery of property from illegal possession is the fact of misappropriation. That is, the new owner knew or should have known that the property received had an owner by law. Such a citizen will act as an unscrupulous acquirer.
This entity acquired the thing from a person not entitled to its alienation, or took the property in the absence of grounds (without an agreement), that is, without permission. It is improperly possible to seize not only movable property, but also immovable (for example, start using a piece of land or part of it without permission, rent a property from a non-owner, continue living in the apartment after the contract expires, assign the find, etc.).
Features of consideration in court of cases on the return of property from another's possession
According to the norms of legislation and judicial practice on recovering property from the possession of unauthorized persons, two types of entity are entitled to engage in the process: the direct owner and the owner of the title type. The second type includes persons who have the right to inherit, conduct business type, tenants, tenants, custodians, etc.
The subject of the dispute may be confiscated from the person in whose possession the fact is the thing at the time of investigation of the circumstances of the case. If the owner of a thing has changed during the trial, the composition of the persons who participate in the case will also change.
For example, if the defendant is one citizen, and during the process it turned out that the subject of the dispute is owned by another person (due to the fact that the defendant transferred the thing to him), it is necessary to replace the specified party.
If such a procedure takes place, the previous defendant remains a participant in the process as a third party. He is given the opportunity to clarify the fact that the applicant filed a claim for the recovery of property from another's unlawful possession.
The abandonment of the former defendant as a participant in the process is due to the following: if property is recovered from unlawful possession of the new defendant, the obligations of the person who transferred this thing to him will also be affected.
For example, if the object of a dispute is seized from the defendant and transferred to the original owner, the defendant gets the right to demand from the person who transferred this thing back everything that was received from the transaction. This is enshrined in the provisions of Articles 460 - 462 of the Civil Code.
It is impossible to carry out the procedure for recovering movable property from a citizen who does not own the subject of the dispute at the time of the trial, even if the property was previously with him.
If the thing will be temporarily transferred by the respondent to an unauthorized person (for example, under a lease agreement, for trust management, etc.), the temporary owner will also be involved in the trial as a co-defendant.
This is due to the fact that upon satisfaction of the claim, the subject of the dispute will be withdrawn from the possession of the specified person.
Features of the return of the property to the original (legal) owner
The main requirement for the return of an illegally seized thing is that the owner must get back the specific property owned by the applicant (an apartment at a specific address, a plot of land with a specific number, a car with a corresponding identification number).
Thus, the subject of the vindication lawsuit must be individualized, that is, have signs that distinguish it from other things similar to the lost (for example, marking, serial or inventory number). If it is impossible to identify the property, the plaintiff will be denied the claim for the recovery of property.
For example, if we are talking about a real estate object, a motor vehicle, other equipment that has identification features, there will be no difficulties with vindication.
If litigation relates to things belonging to the generic category, and it is difficult to determine their affiliation with a particular subject, difficulties may arise. The satisfaction of such a statement can only be achieved if, in the course of the consideration of the case, there was no dispute regarding the real possibility of identifying the claimed subject.
Terms of claiming from unlawful possession of others
In order for the application for the recovery of property from the possession of an unauthorized person to be satisfied, the following conditions must be met:
- The plaintiff in a civil case of the appropriate type may be solely the owner of the subject of the dispute or the owner (title).
- The plaintiff has documentary evidence that he is the owner of the property or his user on the basis of a lease, lease, etc. Such evidence includes extracts and USR, a gift or sale contract, certificate of inheritance, etc. .
- The plaintiff has irrefutable evidence of the fact that the property is in the possession (actual) of a particular person who has no legal basis for this.
- The subject of the dispute may exclusively be an individual-specific type of thing, that is, the object of vindication cannot be replaced.
- The parties do not have an obligation based on the concluded contract regarding the claimed disputed object. Otherwise, the claim for the recovery of property from someone else’s illegal will be denied.
- The return to the owner is subject to property that was preserved at the time the civil proceedings began in kind (intact and safe). If the thing ceased to exist (disposed of, stolen, destroyed) before the start of the trial or during the hearings, the vindication lawsuit will be denied. In this case, the plaintiff has the right to file an application for compensation for pecuniary damage or to provide the applicant with equivalent property instead of the lost property (but the norms of Article 1964 of the Civil Code). Also, the plaintiff has the right to file a petition in order to recover unjust enrichment (according to the rules of Article 1102 of the Code).
- The applicant can claim a thing in court exclusively from the person who actually owns this property at the time of the trial. If the subject of the dispute has changed, the defendant is also replaced.
If one of the conditions is not met, the judge may refuse to satisfy the vindication claim.
Bona fide purchaser
Claiming property from another's possession by a bona fide acquirer has its own characteristics. Such a person is considered to be a citizen who, at the time of signing the onerous contract of sale, lease or other method of transferring property, did not know that he had received the thing illegally.
By definition, a bona fide purchaser, prior to the completion of the transaction, took all possible measures to find out about the seller’s eligibility to implement the subject of the contract.
For example, when examining an extract from the Register of Rights to Real Estate, you can find out if the seller is the owner of the real estate, as well as whether there are any burdens on things, other owners, etc.
If the recipient of the property has carefully studied all the information about the subject of the contract, it is considered that he showed the proper degree of diligence. Therefore, he will be recognized as a bona fide acquirer.
When claiming another's property from such a person, the recipient of the thing will have to prove that he has completed all the steps to verify the legality of the transaction. In order for the recipient of the property to be recognized as a bona fide purchaser, the transfer of the item must be executed in the form of a reimbursable transaction. In this case, the integrity of the person will be available.
The process of collecting property from a bona fide acquirer
In this case, the recovery of property from illegal possession has a number of features. The owner has the right to take his thing from such a person in the event that the subject of the dispute has dropped out of the possession of the owner or other person to whom it was transferred, against his will (as a result of theft, loss, otherwise).
If the party of the plaintiff proves that when the transaction was executed on a chargeable basis, the conscientious purchaser knew that third-party claims took place in respect of the property, this status was lost for the citizen.
If the thing was received by the acquirer under a gratuitous transaction, the owner has the right to claim it in any case, even if he initially gave the thing voluntarily.
The collection of another's property from such an acquirer is indisputable if, upon receipt of the thing, free of charge transferred it to a third party for money. In this case, the last subject will be considered a bona fide acquirer, and it will be possible to pick up the thing if it is proved that the subject of the dispute has been dropped from the possession of the original owner (title owner) against his will.
According to the rules of the third paragraph of Article 302 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, a bona fide purchaser is not obligated to return securities and money to the original owner.
Filing a claim for recovering a thing from another's illegal possession
Claiming property from persons who received the thing illegally takes place only in the case of filing a statement of claim with the relevant judicial authority. The jurisdiction of the territorial type in relation to disputes concerning the recovery of property from another's unlawful possession is established in accordance with the provisions of Articles 28-30 of the Civil Procedure Code.
The filing of a vindication claim is accompanied by the payment of a state duty, since the subject of the dispute in this case is a tangible thing. The size of the payment depends on the value of the disputed property and is regulated by article 333.19 of the Tax Code. In some cases, the plaintiff may be exempted from paying the state fee, receive a deferral of payment or an installment plan. Each of the circumstances giving the right to preferential filing of a claim must be supported by appropriate evidence.
With respect to the return of property from unlawful possession of unauthorized persons, the general statute of limitations is three years. This is enshrined in article 196 of the Civil Code. The term begins with the moment the original owner discovered the location of the subject of the dispute.
Documents for litigation to resolve the dispute must be carefully collected and prepared. In addition, the owner of the property must work out the evidence base, which will confirm that the thing belongs to the applicant and dropped out of his possession due to circumstances beyond his control (against his will).
The form and content of the statement of claim must comply with the provisions of Articles 132 and 131 of the Code of Civil Procedure. The lawsuit must indicate the proper defendant, clearly reflect the legal position and circumstances of the case.
One of the conditions for successful resolution of the case of the return of the property object seized from the owner in court is a thorough study of the essence of the case and the practice of courts of all levels in the relevant process.
Since cases relating to the recovery of property from illegal possession of others are classified as complex, it is most often recommended to seek help from a specialist in the relevant legal field. A lawyer will be able to help competently substantiate his position, collect evidence, etc.
Key Points
Summarizing all of the above, we can draw a number of conclusions:
- A bona fide purchaser is a citizen who received property on the basis of a reimbursable transaction, did not know (and could not know) about the illegality of the alienation of a thing by the seller, and took all steps to verify the legality of the transaction.
- It is impossible to claim a property from a bona fide acquirer if he has dropped out of the ownership of the original owner (tenant, custodian, etc.) by his will.
- Demand for property takes place at the acquirer (voluntary), if the thing was lost by the owner or another person who is entitled to legally use the object of the dispute.
- If a person received disputed property on the basis of a gratuitous transaction, you can recover a thing from him in any case.
The process of recovering property from unlawful possession of unauthorized persons is complex. Therefore, in the event of a lawsuit, it is recommended that you seek the help of a lawyer specializing in relevant matters.