Conflict Issues of Immovable Property Turnover in Russia and Abroad

Abstract

Introduction: the paper is devoted to the problem of legal regulation of cross-border immovable property turnover. The basis of cross-border immovable property turnover in the Russian Federation is the privatization of land carried out during the economic reform of the 1990s. Since the inherited property also includes objects related to immovable property, there is a need to regulate the international immovable property turnover, which includes land plots, as well as buildings and constructions located on the ground. This subject is raised in the foreign legal literature in connection with the determination of the competence of the court to decide on disputes on the right to land located in a foreign country (disputes involving foreign land). Results: the paper considers the peculiarities of the legal relations arising in connection with the inheritance of immovable property, analyzes the foreign experience of the legal regulation with the use of the conflict-of-law method of regulation in combination with the current civil law regulation on the transfer of the ownership of land. The immovable property turnover with the participation of citizens of the Russian Federation was previously limited to a narrow sphere of relations. The transfer of the right of permanent (indefinite) use of a land plot was allowed of the land plot provided with the testator who was a member of the horticultural, market-gardening and dacha noncommercial associations of citizens. Currently, conflict issues arise in the relations of Russian citizens who are abroad with foreign heirs. Taking into account the business activity of individuals, the object of inheritance can be large enterprises of strategic importance and land plots with buildings and constructions located on them. On the example of inheritance of land the paper shows the order of application of the conflict-of-law method of regulation in conjunction with the norms of the Civil and Land Code. The imperative nature of the proprietary statute in the conflict-of-law regulation creates the prerequisites for the recourse to the direct regulation through the rules of the international treaties in the field of legal assistance, as well as the international notarial cooperation. Conclusions: the classification of the concepts constituting Art. 1224 is aimed at elucidating the legal nature of the relationship. Even if the testator is a foreigner, a Russian citizen who is abroad, the concept of "property law", which is the content of the concept of "inheritance" (the scope of the conflict-of-law reference) always requires addressing the Russian law.