LEASE IN ST. PETERSBURG

In St. Petersburg a lessor of state property which is not allocated to the state-run Enterprises with right of business use is usually the City Property Management Committee of St. Petersburg (KUGI). However, in practice there are tenancy contracts that were concluded with other governmental agencies. Tenancy contracts in respect of state property concluded with other lessors can result in various complications and disputes especially regarding the competence of such a lessor to demise the state property.

Thus, for example, the subject of investigation in one of the cases tried by the Court of Arbitration was to clarify who was the lessor in the tenancy contract and who had the right to lay a claim for reclamation of the property upon the contract expiration. And only the court of the third instance recognized the claimant in the case (the Committee for the State Control, Use and Preservation of Historic and Cultural Monuments of St. Petersburg) as the lessor and satisfied his claim for reclamation of the property upon the expiration of the tenancy contract.

So, when concluding tenancy contracts in respect of state property in St. Petersburg, tenants should pay special attention to the competence of the lessor to dispose of the state property. As in most circumstances the City Property Management Committee of St. Petersburg enters into lease relations arising in respect of demising the state property as a lessor, we offer readers an overview of regulations which define the competence of the KUGI of St. Petersburg to dispose of state property.

The competence of the KUGI of St. Petersburg to dispose of state property is defined among other by the following regulations. In accordance with p. 15 of the Supreme Soviet of the RF Regulation N^o 3020-I dated 27 December, 1991 "On Dividing State Property in the Russian Federation into Federal, State Property of the Republics in the Russian Federation, Territories, Regions, Autonomous Regions, Autonomous Districts, Cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg and Municipal Property" the Government of the Russian Federation is in charge of management and disposal of the federal property which can delegate the said authority to ministries, governmental departments as well as governmental agencies of subjects of the Russian Federation.

In accordance with p. 5 of RF Government Regulation N^o 96 dated 10 February 1994 "On Delegation of the Power of the Russian Federation Government to Manage and Dispose of the Federal Property", demise of federal state property is in within the competence of the RF State Committee for the State Property Management (RF State Property Ministry) and its territorial agencies. In accordance with Article 25 of Law of St. Petersburg N^o112-44 dated 08.10.96 "On the Structure of the St. Petersburg Administration" and Regulation on the City Property Management Committee of St. Petersburg affirmed by the Mayor of St. Petersburg in his Regulation N^o 1218 dated 02.12.94, it is established that the City Property Management Committee of St. Petersburg is a territorial agency of the RF State Property Ministry and a lessor of state property on the territory of St. Petersburg. In addition, the competence of the City Property Management Committee of St. Petersburg to act as a lessor of land lots is specifically stated in p. 1.2 of St. Petersburg Mayor's Regulation N^o 1049 dated 19.10.1994 "On the Procedure of Implementation of the Russian Federation Presidential Decree N^o 1535 dated 22.07.94 in Respect of Sale and Lease of Land Lots".

Juridical Practice:

The Ruling of the Arbitration Court of the North-West Region (Russian)