Penza, 26 January 2016. PenzaNews. The Penza region court upheld the verdict of the Oktyabrsky city area court that partially satisfied the claim of a woman to SKM Group on late charges to transferring flat she bought to her as her property.

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“In her claim, the litigant said that on 28 November 2014, she bought the rights of ownership in a subject of shared-equity construction, which was a two-room flat of 59,66 square meters located in Arbekovo residential area of Penza. In accordance with the agreement, the real estate producer SKM Group was obligated to transfer the flat to her in Q2 2015. The litigant fully satisfied the requirements to finance the construction by paying over 2 million rubles,” Natalya Bychenkova, press secretary of the Penza region court, told PenzaNews agency.

She added that the property transfer act was signed on 16 September 2015, even though SKM Group was obligated by the agreement to do so by July 1.

“The litigant requested to enforce the real estate producer to pay late charges of 124,901 rubles, as well as a compensation for moral damages and a fine. The representative of the sued party did not agree to the claim, saying the amount of late charges is too big,” she explained.

According to Natalya Bychenkova, the court of the first instance decided to partially satisfy the claim: as the delay constituted 73 days, the subsequently calculated compensation is 83,649.31 rubles.

“In accordance with Part 1, Art. 333 of the Civil Code, ‘Reducing Late Charges,’ if the requested compensation is visibly disproportionate to the consequences of the breach of obligation, the court is able to reduce it. The court took into account the big cost of the item in question, as well as the financial situation of the sued party that also answers to other obligations to entities taking part in the shared-equity construction,” the court press-secretary explained.

With that taken into account, the late charges were reduced to 25,000 rubles.

“The court also enforced the defendant to pay 3,000 rubles as compensation of moral damages, and 14,000 rubles as fine for not voluntarily satisfying the client’s claims. The sued party disagreed with the decision of the court with regard to compensation of moral damages and appealed it, but the Judicial Chamber on Civil Cases dismissed the appeal,” Natalya Bychenkova said.