Real estate purchase and sale agreement: case study with the possibility of simulating the contract

Abstract

This teaching case, designed for application in the context of Civil Law, describes the factual and legal situation of a couple who are prospective buyers of a property, whose negotiation, in the context of a preliminary contract, included the participation of only one of the spouses as the prospective seller, which gave rise to the problem that we intend to discuss in the classroom. In this context, after the preliminary contract was signed, the prospective buyers, in addition to discovering that the property was not registered in the name of the prospective seller, had to pay the property's debts and make the necessary payments, at which time they sought legal assistance in an attempt to register the property. In view of this, the aim is to place students in a position of decision-makers, with the aim of leading them to reflect on the social and legal aspects that permeate the problem, analyzing the main legal institutes involved in the situation, such as the validity of the agreement between the parties, the principle of objective good faith and the prohibition of contradictory behavior, with the aim that students position themselves as if they were the judges of the lawsuit.