The prospects for regulating superficies in modern civil legislation of the Russian Federation

Abstract

The need for the reform of civil legislation and, namely, the real right, is a frequently discussed and valid problem of the Russian civil law. The solutions this problem have been devised for over a decade, which resulted in the Concept of the Development of Legislation on Real Right that presents the fundamentally new system of limited real rights, particularly the superficies. The subject of this article is the institution of superficies, the establishment of the real right essence of which comprises the hypothesis of scientific research. The authors examine the doctrinal provisions that regulate the legal nature and essence of this phenomenon, outline the advantages of the right of superficies with regards to the practice of application of lease obligations under the condition of superficies, analyze the foreign experience of exercising the right of superficies for its implementation by the Russian legislator within the framework of finalizing the Concept of the Development of Legislation on Real Right. The conclusion is made on the prospects for regulating superficies as the real right due to the existence of reasonable advantages with regards to tenancy, as well as on establishment of possibility of abusing such right by the developers (tenants) in the context of application of the provisions of the  Article 39.20 of the Land Code of the Russian Federation – benefits in acquisition of the right to public land; feasibility of consolidation of the nature of the right of superficies in the aspect of using proprietary methods of protection (including the claims of the owner) that would ensure and guarantee the holder of the right of superficies the protection against claims of third parties, including landowner; finding compromise solution with regards to securing guarantees for compensation payment to the superficiary for the build real estate object if the right of superficies is terminated. This would allow retaining the principle superficies solo cedit and enhancing the proprietary  nature of the right of superficies.