Point of law: whether the Federal law “On Participation in Shared Construction of Apartment Houses and Other Objects of Real Estate” covers the cases in which not a construction of an apartment house, but a reconstruction of an existent building takes place?

Alternative attitudes: 1) the Federal Law in question does not cover such cases because the Town-Planning Code of Russia makes distinction between the notions of “construction” and “reconstruction”, whereas the purpose of the Federal law is precisely the construction, i.e. the creation of a new object of real estate; or 2) it does cover such cases, as long as the result of the reconstruction of an object of real estate is intended to be the creation of an apartment house with dwelling premises which did not exist prior  to the reconstruction, and the apartment house created thus is subject to the procedure of setting into operation.

Ratio decidendi: the second approach is legally correct.

Practical consequences: the Judgment says that prior court decisions in analogous cases if inconsistent with this interpretation may be reversed in the procedure and within the limits envisaged by Art 311 of the Commercial Procedure Code.