Russian Supreme Court overturns eviction rulings against former defence employee

Russia’s Supreme Court has overturned rulings to evict a former Defence Ministry employee with a Group I disability and her husband from a dormitory room, the court’s press service said.

The woman received the room through her employment in 1987. In 2024, her tenancy was not renewed, and an authorised Defence Ministry body sought a ruling that the couple had lost the right to use the service accommodation.

The trial court granted the claim, citing the expired agreement and the absence of evidence that the woman remained employed within the ministry. The appellate and cassation courts upheld the decision.

The Supreme Court said the lower courts should have established whether she held a status protecting her from eviction when the Housing Code took effect. This required checking whether she was registered as needing social-rented housing or was entitled to such registration.

The courts also failed to consider a binding 1994 ruling that had already refused to evict the woman from the service accommodation.