A precedent event occurred on the Moscow real estate market – the court stopped the bankruptcy of the developer

A precedent event took place on the Moscow real estate market – the court stopped the bankruptcy of the developer. The appeal overturned the decision of the court of first instance against the developer of one of the capital’s well-known long-term construction projects, the Oktyabr Club House apartments. Stopping the bankruptcy proceedings in relation to the management company “Nord-Engineering”, investors expect, will allow them to receive their apartments in the end. But lawyers point to the vagueness of the prospects due to the uncertainty of the legal status of this type of housing.

“Kommersant” found in the filing cabinet of arbitration cases that the appeal canceled the decision of the Moscow Arbitration Court adopted in April on the introduction of bankruptcy proceedings at the request of Ecopolysept LLC in Nord-Engineering Management Company JSC, the developer of the Oktyabr Club House apartment complex ” (27 thousand square meters) on Narodnogo Opolcheniya Street in the north-west of Moscow. It turned out that last year the creditor had already demanded the bankruptcy of the developer, but withdrew the application, which was one of the reasons for the cancellation of the decision. The law prohibits re-applying to the court with a statement on the basis of the same debt, explains Vadim Borodkin, adviser to Orchards law firm.

The property buyers, who consider the current debt to Ecopolisept (about 700 thousand rubles) insignificant and are ready to pay it off themselves, are against the bankruptcy of the developer. In parallel, in March 2023, the founder of the developer decided to liquidate the company, which the buyers considered as an intentional action of the developer in order to harm them. The situation developed in mid-July: RIA Novosti reported on the arrest of an unnamed beneficiary of Nord-Engineering, suspected of deceiving about 400 citizens who have been waiting for apartments for more than seven years. The commissioning of the facility has been postponed several times: the new deadline on the project website is the third quarter of 2023.

Now citizens-investors are counting on the completion of the building by the general contractor – the Promspetsstroy company. But, as Anna Ivshina, the bankruptcy trustee of Nord-Engineering, Anna Ivshina, told Kommersant, the contractor was supposed to do this back in 2020, and the work worth 1.26 billion rubles. were financed by transferring a part of the future apartments to Promspetsstroy. The area was transferred from the developer at a price of 120 thousand rubles. for 1 sq. m, and then sold on the open market for about 150-237 thousand rubles. for 1 sq. m, she notes, calling the situation “harmful to buyers of apartments.” Ms. Ivshina, referring to the register of creditors’ claims, says that now the rights to 42% of the area, or 11.32 thousand square meters. m, in the unfinished “October” are located at “Promspetsstroy”, and for individuals – 19.5%, or 5.3 thousand square meters. m. It was not possible to get comments from the general contractor “Kommersant”.

Buyers are against bankruptcy, as they fear that, unlike the equity holders of apartments, they will not be able to apply for space. According to the law, they are only entitled to monetary compensation, explained earlier in Moskomstroyinvest. Anna Ivshina insists that by recognizing the transfer of part of the apartments at a lower price to the general contractor as invalid, they could be returned to the bankruptcy estate, sold on the market, and the proceeds could be used to complete the complex.

Lawyers interviewed by Kommersant call the decision of the appeal that canceled the bankruptcy a precedent. But stopping bankruptcy does not guarantee the completion of construction for citizen investors. NSP law firm partner Roman Makarov believes it is possible to change the state of affairs through judicial practice: the court could extend the bankruptcy rules for housing developers to apartment developers “taking into account the obvious convergence of the actual status of these types of real estate.” This would allow the Territorial Development Fund to complete the construction of apartments in the event of bankruptcy of the developer.

However, the head of the law firm Kuchembaev and Partners, Almaz Kuchembaev, believes that such rules cannot be applied to a company building apartments: “This type of real estate does not fall under the social obligations of the state by law.” The authorities have been discussing the need for a separate law on the legal status of apartments for the second year, but the document has not yet been adopted.

Khalil Aminov, Anna Zanina