5.  The applicants were born in 1973 and 1996 respectively and live in Blagoveshchensk, Amurskaya Region. They are mother and daughter. 6.  At the material time the applicants lived in Blagoveshchensk. 7.  In the beginning of 2002 they moved to Moscow and decided to purchase a flat there. A certain B. proposed to help them in finding a flat. 8.  On 16 October 2002 the Housing Department of the City of Moscow signed a social tenancy agreement with a certain K. in respect of a two-room flat at 32-70-69, Prospekt Vernadskogo, Moscow. 9.  In October 2002 the first applicant bought a flat in Kaluga Region with the intention of exchanging it for a flat in Moscow. 10.  On 23 October 2002 K. applied to Moszhilservice (the Moscow State commercial agency) for authorisation to exchange his flat in Moscow, occupied under a social tenancy agreement, for the flat in Kaluga Region belonging to the first applicant. 11.  On 29 October 2002 the Committee for Exchange of Housing authorised the exchange of flats between K. and the first applicant. 12.  On 6 November 2002 the first applicant received an exchange voucher authorising her to move into the flat in Moscow. Later in November 2002 the applicants were registered as living in that flat. The applicants paid a sum of money to B. 13.  In 2004 criminal proceedings were instituted against B. on suspicion of fraud. The first applicant had been informed of those proceedings. However, she had not submitted any civil claims against B. 14.  On 12 December 2005 the Nikulinskiy District Court, Moscow, (“the District Court”) found B. guilty of fraud. The court established that B. had falsified a court judgment authorising the assignment of the flat at 32‑70-69, Prospekt Vernadskogo, Moscow to K. under the social tenancy agreement and then fraudulently arranged for the exchange of flats between K. and the first applicant against the payment by the latter of 1,177,773.40 Russian roubles (RUB). As a result of B.’s criminal actions, the property rights of the City of Moscow to the flat in question had been unlawfully transferred to the first applicant. 15.  On 6 March 2006 the Moscow City Court (“the City Court”) amended the judgment of 12 December 2005. In particular, the City Court held that as a result of B.’s actions the first applicant had been registered as occupying the flat in question and had acquired the right to become its owner by way of privatisation. However, the first applicant had not had sufficient time to acquire property rights to the flat by way of privatisation and the flat had not been taken from the ownership of the City of Moscow. Therefore, B.’s actions had to be reclassified as attempted fraud. 16.  In October 2008 the Housing Department of the City of Moscow brought court proceedings against the first applicant and K. The Housing department claimed, with reference to the judgment of 12 December 2005, that all transactions involving the flat at 32-70-69, Prospekt Vernadskogo, Moscow had been unlawful and therefore had to be declared null and void, and the applicants had to be evicted from that flat. 17.  In April 2009 the first applicant brought a counterclaim against the Housing Department on her own behalf and also on behalf of the second applicant, who was a minor at that time. She submitted that she could not have known that K. had secured the social tenancy agreement on the basis of forged documents; the exchange of flats between her and K. had been verified and approved by all competent State authorities, and therefore she had to be considered as a bona fide user of the flat. The first applicant also claimed that the court action of the City of Moscow had been time-barred. 18.  On 6 October 2009 the District Court invalidated the social tenancy agreement concluded with K., the exchange of the flats between K. and the first applicant and the exchange voucher of 6 November 2002, and ordered the applicants’ eviction. The District Court held as follows:
“...Taking into account that [K.] had not acquired the right to use the dwelling in question, he therefore could not exchange it, and [the first applicant] could not receive the exchange voucher and move into the dwelling in question. The court declares the transactions null and void in accordance with Article 168 of the [Civil Code] since they are incompatible with the requirements of Articles 50, 51, 53, 54, 67-74 of the Housing Code.
The court, pursuant to Article 167 of the Civil Code returns the parties to their previous positions. Taking into account that flat no. 3-1-a in the village of Novoslobodsk, Duminichskiy district, Kaluga Region, cannot be returned to [the applicant] since it has been subject to several transactions and its value amounts to RUB 732,000, the court orders [K.] to pay RUB 732,000 in favour of Shvidkaya Natalya Yevgenyevna [the first applicant] ...” 19.  The first applicant appealed. In her appeal she submitted that the City of Moscow had not lost its property rights to the flat and, having regard to her status as a bona fide user, the District Court had found no grounds for granting the eviction claims. The first applicant also submitted that she had been living in the flat for seven years together with her minor daughter, had been paying charges for it and had carried out maintenance therein. Lastly, she pointed out that the District Court had not invited the custody agency to give its opinion as regards the eviction of her minor daughter from the flat. 20.  On 6 May 2010 the City Court upheld the judgment of 6 October 2009 on appeal. 21.  In 2014 the applicants returned to Blagoveshchensk. 22.  On 9 February 2015 the applicants applied to the Nikulinskiy District Court of Moscow, requesting that a duplicate of the writ of execution in respect of the judgment of 6 October 2009 be issued. 23.  On 21 April 2015 the applicants received the writ of execution. 24.  On 26 June 2015 the bailiff’s office instituted enforcement proceedings in order to recover from K. the amounts awarded in the judgment of 6 October 2009 in favour of the first applicant.