FORFEIT AS A FORM OF LIABILITY FOR BREACH OF MONETARY OBLIGATIONS ARISING UNDER LEASE CONTRACTS

Abstract

The article examines the issue of forfeit as a form of contractual liability for breach of monetary obligations arising under lease contract. Forfeit has a dual legal nature and, being a form of contractual liability in leasing relations, simultaneously serve as a form of securing the fulfillment of these obligations. In the context of dividing forfeit into contractual and statutory, it is noted that in leasing relations, forfeit is most often contractual, although certain legislative acts stipulate a statutory forfeit (for example, in financial leasing contracts). Attention is drawn to the need to distinguish from statutory forfeit those cases where civil legislation stipulates the maximum amount of forfeit for breach of monetary obligations (for example, in hiring contract). It is noted that in leasing relations involving natural persons not involved in their entrepreneurial activities, restrictions on the maximum amount of forfeit for late payment of lease payment are provided for by law only in relation to the hiring contract. In this regard, attention was drawn to the inconsistency of this approach and the creation of preconditions for abuse by business entities, which, as a rule, offer natural persons standard forms of contracts. In this regard, amendments were proposed to the Law of Ukraine «On Financial Leasing», which provide for the establishment of the maximum amount of forfeit in such relations. The issue of the possibility of simultaneously accruing and collecting penalties and fines for the same violation of monetary obligations was also considered. In this regard, it was proposed to enshrine in the Law of Ukraine «On Financial Leasing» a norm that would make it impossible in financial leasing contracts with the participation of a lessee-natural persons who concludes such an agreement not in connection with the implementation of entrepreneurial or other similar activities by him, to simultaneously collect a fine and a penalty for the same violation of a financial leasing contract.