On the relationship of the residential lease agreement and the hotel services agreement

There are a lot of difficulties with the qualification of contracts in law enforcement practice, which is explained by the complexity and the constant development of economic relations. One of the problems recently encountered by domestic courts relates to the distinction between the contract of rental accommodation and the contract of hotel services. At the moment there is no unity of the courts’ positions on the criteria of differentiation of these contracts, which requires a scientific assessment of this issue.

The aim of the article was to form a theoretically grounded approach to the criteria of delimitation of the contract of lease of residential premises and the contract of hotel services. In order to achieve this aim we have set the following tasks: 1) to determine the features of the contract of tenancy and the contract for hotel services; 2) to explore the approaches existing in judicial practice; 3) to formulate criteria for distinguishing these contracts.

The article was prepared with the use of general scientific methods (system, logical) and special legal methods (comparative-legal, formal-legal).

The author comes to the conclusion that when differentiating a residential lease agreement and a hotel services contract, one should proceed from the presence or absence of a purpose of residence, which is characterized by a long-term legal relationship, the binding of a citizen to a given locality and independence in maintaining the premises in a condition suitable for living and meeting household needs.