Property law is the type of law that deals with rights in rem and governs the relationship between individuals with regard to things. Contrary to obligations which establish a legal relationship between the specified parties only, rights in rem have an erga omnes effect, which means they oblige upon everyone.
The most widely known right in rem is the ownership right. It gives the owner a right to possess, use and enjoy an individually specified thing in the most extensive manner and to dispose freely of it. If a third person infringes the owner’s right in the sense that a third person takes the thing away, disturbs the possession of the thing, or encroaches on the right of ownership in any other way, the owner may bring a legal action against the infringer, demanding from him to return the individually specified thing that belongs to the owner.
Besides the right of ownership, we also know rights in rem that affect individually specified things by granting rights on them to a third person at the will of the owner or on the basis of an Act. Rights in rem include the following: lien, easement, right of encumbrance, right of superficies and land debt, which is not a statutory right anymore; nevertheless, many old cases involving land debt still exist.
Commonhold is a particular form of ownership right, which consists of ownership of individual units of a building, and co-ownership over the common parts of the building. Commonhold is established as a result of a legal transaction (division agreement or unilateral legal transaction), or by a court decision and through entry in the land register.
In case of a dispute regarding a right in rem or tampering with this right, the owner or holder of the right may request the court to resolve the dispute. Proceedings before the court are initiated by bringing an action. The owner or holder of the right requests the court to determine existence or non-existence of a certain right in rem, to impose an obligation on alienator to return the things, to prohibit agitation, or to prohibit disturbance of possession, etc. These kind of disputes are resolved in contentious procedure, using litigation procedural rules and they end with the court rendering a decision (judgment or order).
Courts also render decisions on certain aspects of property law using non-contentious civil procedure. Examples of such procedure are requests for boundary determination, requests for division of things between co-owners, etc.
Possession (of things) is also considered under property law. Although it is not a property right per se, it denotes direct actual control over a thing. In most cases, judicial protection of possession of a thing will be requested by its owner or lessee – a person who has the right to possess the thing: a person who is in possession of the thing, even though he or she is not entitled to the possession. In view of this, judicial protection of possession may be extended even to a possessor who acquired possession by force, secretly, or through abuse of trust, except against the person from whom he or she acquired possession in this manner, if he or she performed permitted self-help.
Our services in the field of Property law:
- legal representation in all types of contentious and non-contentious court proceedings in matters relating to rights in rem;
- preparation of all types of legal transactions for establishment of rights in rem (sales contract, deed of gift, lien, easement agreement, encumbrance agreement, contract establishing the right of superficies, agreement on the division of co-ownership into commonhold, unilateral legal transaction establishing commonhold, etc. );
- legal due diligence;
- drafting legal opinions;
- action for acquisition of the right of ownership;
- action for acquisition or termination of other rights in rem ;
- action for recovery of property;
- action for cessation of agitation;
- action against disturbance or deprivation of possession;
- request for boundary determination;
- request to a grant a way of necessity;
- request for division of things in co-ownership;
- request for division of things in common ownership;
- request for determination of mutual relations between co-owners;
- legal representation in out-of-court dispute resolution;
- legal representation in mediation;
- legal representation in arbitration.