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The management company is obliged to pay the tenant for the lawyer hired for the legal dispute with it. But only if the tenant was right
Clarifications were made when considering specific cases. A resident of Murmansk, a certain citizen V., contacted the management company with a request to repair the facade of the entrance. It was obliged to do this, but for some reason postponed it. However, as soon as the citizen filed a lawsuit, the entrance wall magically changed. It is clear that further legal proceedings are pointless. The lawsuit was withdrawn.
The building manager considered the incident closed. But they were wrong. The citizen sent an invoice demanding compensation for the cost of legal services. The court found the demand justified and ordered the management company to pay 18,000 rubles.
This case should serve as a legal lesson for everyone. Lawyers emphasize that if a citizen is right in a dispute with a building manager, he has the right to compensation for legal costs. It does not matter whether there was a long and difficult trial or the case was settled before the trial. If a citizen has to seek help from a lawyer to restore justice and cleanliness in the entrance, the costs will have to be paid by the building manager.
A similar legal approach applies to rental disputes and all other proceedings with management companies.
A similar legal approach is applied to rental disputes and other proceedings with management companies. At the same time, as the Third Cassation Court of General Jurisdiction explained, the building manager does not have the right to refuse to pay for the services of a lawyer on the grounds that the citizen must pay rent.
"The appellate court considered the allegations in the private complaint that V. was a permanent defaulter on housing and communal services to be of no legal significance and did not indicate the absence of grounds for the court's conclusions," the cassation court's ruling states.
The position of the lower organization is recognized as correct. Another interesting point: even tenants with a legal education have the right to legal assistance.
"The Court of Appeal found that there were no grounds for appellate intervention in the decision of the case based on the defendant's private prosecution claims, and indicated that the provisions of the law and the explanations to the application do not prohibit a person who is a professional lawyer. It is defined as "the use of legal assistance from a representative in conducting a case in court."
The most important thing is that the amount of expenses be confirmed by written evidence. The court explained that there were no grounds to believe that the applicant had not paid for these services. After all, I have a receipt.
"V. The applicant's complaints about abuse of rights were dismissed by the Court of Appeal as unfounded. Since when the court considered his application for recovery of legal costs, there were no circumstances indicating V. In the first case, it is defined as "an act with the sole intent to cause harm to the defendant."
In other words, the building manager also tried to portray the tenant as a malicious claimant who made money from these claims, but to no avail. There is very little said here. We need evidence.
Candidate of legal sciences, lawyer Vyacheslav Golenev recalled that several years ago, at a plenary session of the Supreme Court of Russia, the methods of reimbursement of legal costs were explained in detail.
"The resolution provides examples of reasonable costs and states that such costs may include billing costs, the complexity of the case, the amount of services, and the time it takes to prepare documents," the lawyer explained to RG. "Excluded - all of this is in the interests of the winning party and the lawyers representing these parties."
If a preliminary hearing is required to resolve a dispute, the costs incurred in resolving the issue without going to court are also subject to reimbursement. Unless, of course, the issue is resolved peacefully.
For example, if a buyer has a dispute with a store, he should first write a complaint. A good store will definitely take you in the middle if something goes wrong. A bad trader will start cursing. Then the case can be taken to court. After you win the court case, you can demand compensation for the costs of filing a claim, the cost of an appraiser if an appraisal is required, and much more.
"This is a useful explanation," said Vyacheslav Golenev. "In fact, the question of the possibility or impossibility of reimbursement of expenses at the pre-trial stage, if this is a mandatory plenary session of the Supreme Court, has been repeatedly raised. The Russian Federation has resolved this issue positively."
General jurisdiction courts usually reimburse no more than 15,000–20,000 rubles for the services of a representative in the process. Additionally, the plaintiff may be reimbursed for the costs of preparing notarized documents. According to lawyers, it is important to improve the practice so that general jurisdiction courts do not unfairly understate legal costs.