Ownership Interests in another Person’s Residential Premises under Modern Civil Law: Issues of Definition and Interpretation

The paper analyzes ownership interests recognized in continental legal systems that regulate occupancy of another person’s dwelling and develops several conclusions. In Russian civil law, the paradigmatic proprietary title governing the use of residential premises owned by another is the right to use residential premises, which arises from a testamentary disposition or from a lifelong maintenance contract with dependency, including cases, when the maintenance recipient retains the right to occupy the premises after their transfer to the payer under the contract. The study contends that both the transferor and the maintenance recipient acquire this ownership interest upon its state registration in the Unified State Register of Real Estate. In German law, the analogue is the right to a dwelling (Wohnrecht), which may arise from a testamentary disposition or from an agreement between the owner and an authorized occupant. A comparative analysis of the Russian right to use residential premises and the German right to a dwelling identifies their shared and distinguishing features by examining their objects, subjects, content, grounds for acquisition and termination, and the particularities of their exercise and protection.