Language of document :

Request for a preliminary ruling from the Rayonen sad Nesebar (Bulgaria) lodged on 5 August 2021 – S.V. OOD v E. Ts. D.

(Case C-485/21)

Language of the case: Bulgarian

Referring court

Rayonen sad Nesebar

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: S.V. OOD

Defendant: E. Ts. D.

Questions referred

Are natural persons who own individual units in a co-owned building ‘consumers’ (within the meaning of Article 2(b) of Council Directive 93/13/EEC 1 of 5 April 1993 on unfair terms in consumer contracts and Article 2(1) of Directive 2011/83/EU 2 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011) in terms of the legal relationships they enter into regarding the management and maintenance of the communal areas of the building?

Does the status of natural persons who own individual units in a co-owned building as ‘consumers’ depend on the nature of the legal relationships they enter into (individual contract for the management and maintenance of the communal areas, contract under Article 2 of the Zakon za upravlenie na etazhnata sobstvenost (Law on the management of co-owned property; ‘the ZUES’), management by the general meeting of the property owners)?

Is legislation which permits the same owners of individual units in a building to be treated differently (in relation to the status of ‘consumer’), depending on whether they have entered into an individual contract for the management and maintenance of the communal areas of the building or not (the management body being the general meeting of the property owners in the latter case), compatible with Directive 2011/83/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011?

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1 OJ 1993 L 95, p. 29.

1 Directive 2011/83/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on consumer rights, amending Council Directive 93/13/EEC and Directive 1999/44/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Council Directive 85/577/EEC and Directive 97/7/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ 2011 L 304, p. 64).