The Legal Nature of the Lease Purchase Agreement: Issues of Application of the Loan Structure and Judicial Interpretation

The essential-substantive approach to the subinstitute of the lease purchase in civil law is to study the essence of this lease agreement through its features and essential conditions. The essence of the first order is the specifics of the lease agreement itself, and the essence of the second order is the consideration of lease purchase as a substitute. This methodological approach makes it possible to determine the place of the contract in question in civil circulation. It is argued that the study of the lease purchase agreement through its essence is the most effective method of studying a lease agreement in the system of civil law contracts. Using the example of judicial practice, the features of the leasing agreement and the reasons for its unpopularity in Russia are revealed. It has been established that judicial practice follows the path of equating leasing with credit and loan relations. This position of the courts is disputed by the authors. Legal relations under loam and leasing are distinguished, which, according to the authors, will avoid judicial errors in determining the legal nature of the lease purchase. It is proved that the lease purchase is a type of lease agreement, and not a loan or loan agreement. In a loan agreement, the borrower always becomes the owner of the subject of the agreement, and in a leasing agreement, the title of the owner of the property remains with the lessor until the end of the agreement. It is proved that the application of the interpretation of contra legem has a negative impact on the development of contract law, in particular leasing legal relations.