Real Estate Transactions and the Limits of Private Law Instruments: Motives of the Transaction, Invalidity, and Prudence — an article by Tatiana Tereshchenko for the publication “Arbitrazh Disputes”
An article by Tatiana Tereshchenko, Head of Analytical Practice at Prime Advice Law Offices, is dedicated to analyzing the limits of applying private law instruments in real estate transactions amidst the growth of fraudulent schemes based on prolonged psychological and informational influence on owners. Drawing on contemporary judicial practice, including a high-profile case examined by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation at the end of 2025 (the L. Dolina case), the author addresses a question common to all law enforcement: the admissibility of considering the distorted motives of a party to a transaction within the framework of the invalidity doctrine and the standard of prudence. The article formulates practical guidelines (a checklist) for real estate transactions and concludes that there is a need to shift focus from post-contractual challenge mechanisms to the development of pre-contractual, primarily preventive practices that lie outside the scope of classical private law remedies.
Keywords: Supreme Court of the Russian Federation; real estate transactions; fraudulent motives; prudence; stability of civil turnover.