If you are a resident of an old house, long ago subject to demolition, then you are probably looking forward to this event. Such residents look with hope to the future, counting on a new apartment with an area slightly larger than the old one. But are you sure that everything will turn out your way? Let's find out how they give apartments to tenants when demolishing a house and how to owners.
What is the difference
The main thing to understand: housing can be either your own or state. That is, provided to you according to the so-called social hiring agreement. In the first case, real estate is your property, belongs to you and only you, no one has the right to come and take housing for no reason (without good reason). This applies to everyone whose apartment is privatized.
If the occupied housing has the status of municipal (second option), those who live in it are only registered (registered) in the indicated area, but do not have absolutely any property rights in relation to it, even if the family lives here for decades. That is, you simply rent your apartment from the state.
If it is necessary to demolish the house, the question of providing housing in return for the property being destroyed is decided on the basis of whether it is municipal or your own.
How to give an apartment when demolishing a house for tenants
When your area rented from the state is considered unsuitable for living and is planned for demolition, then the law (Article 86 of the RF Housing Code, as well as Article 87) guarantees you the provision of other housing (comfortable) on the same conditions - under a contract of employment (social) . Allocate a new "territory" to you within the same locality.
The key word in this provision is "well-maintained." What does it mean? The bottom line is that the level of improvement of the newly provided premises must be no lower than the one you lost. We are talking about the availability of amenities of a communal nature and compliance with those sanitary requirements that ensure the life process without the possibility of harming health. All the standards of such a plan, as well as the procedure for providing housing under a social tenancy agreement in connection with the demolition of a house, are contained in a couple of basic documents, namely:
- The Regulation governing the signs of unsuitability of housing for normal use (we are talking about the state and public housing stock), which was approved in November 1985 by order No. 529 of the Ministry of Housing and Communal Services of the RSFSR.
- The second document is the provision approved in Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 47 in January 2006, which establishes the basic principles for declaring a premise unfit for living, and an apartment building as being demolished. Under the paragraphs it covers any housing operated in the territory of our country, regardless of the form of ownership.
Subtleties of legislation
If a case is considered by a court related to eviction and relocation to an alternative hired residential premises, its duty is to verify the conformity of the provided living space with the degree of accomplishment that is regulated in the conditions of a particular city or settlement. In Art. 89 LC RF (paragraph number three) provides for a mandatory indication in a court decision of the specific premises allocated to residents.
According to the parameter of the total area, it must be equivalent to the vacated, but with respect to the number of rooms, as well as the issue of allocating a separate apartment to people living in a communal apartment before, it is not so simple. The provisions of the law on this subject need to be read especially carefully.
In paragraph number two of Art. 89 of the RF LC stipulates that if a tenant lives with family members before being evicted in an apartment or two (and no less) rooms, these people have the legal right to apply for an apartment or the same number of rooms. How to understand this? But like this:
- If the living space in a demolished house is a separate apartment, no one has the right to cut you in the total footage. That is, the provided premises should be no less spacious than the old one. But the law does not say that the number of rooms in the new apartment will be the same.
- If the tenant who is being evicted lived with his family in a communal apartment and occupied, for example, two rooms, then he will receive the same pair of rooms in the communal apartment.
How was it before?
Prior to changes in housing legislation in 2005, the RF Housing Code also contained other standards for providing housing during house demolition. In particular, it was considered unacceptable to allocate one room to diverse persons over the age of 9 years (with the exception of a married couple). In addition, medical indications, that is, the requirements of individual citizens regarding health status, were taken into account. As well as a number of other circumstances that deserve special attention.
The new Housing Code, as we can see, does not take into account any such provisions. Although the constituent entities of the Russian Federation at the local level are allowed to independently decide how the appropriate authorities give the apartments to the tenants when the house is demolished, the standards adopted by them must be no worse than the conditions prescribed by federal law (including the LCD).
As always, the situation in the capital cannot be compared with the regions. For example, the authorities are trying to solve the demolition of houses in Moscow at the same time as the communal problem. Local legislation provides for the possibility of providing each family with a separate apartment during eviction. In earlier times, this provision left a chance to improve living conditions for many families. To improve matters at the state’s expense, citizens in the Soviet Union were getting divorced, sharing their personal account and turning a common separate apartment into a communal one. According to the law, after a divorce, spouses are considered strangers and, upon relocation, each has the right to claim their own housing.
Which article will protect us
Although the 89th article of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation does not state obligations of the state to take into account the interests of individual citizens, there is also article number 58. It concerns the consideration of the legitimate needs of the latter. It is there that it is indicated how apartments are given to tenants when the house is demolished, and what to focus on in a relocation situation.
Clause 1 states that it is possible to populate a room with heterogeneous persons (except for spouses) only with their consent. What does this mean in practice? A family with two children living in a two-bedroom apartment can be claimed upon relocation to an additional third room. The fictitious divorce scheme also still works.
In addition, the second paragraph of the same article, number 58, states that in the case of a family living in a one-room apartment or a single communal room, the new living space may exceed the norm for one person (up to two times). That is, the residents of communal apartments still theoretically shine in separate apartments, and a family with children hiding in an old odnushka can be hoped for a gift in the form of a new two-room apartment.
There is also information on taking into account the interests of citizens with severe chronic diseases.
The procedure for providing housing when demolishing a house to owners
Everything that was mentioned above has nothing to do with you when the dwelling belongs to the owner on the basis of property rights. That is, an apartment privatized, bought, inherited, etc.
Issues of moving from one's own property are governed by the provisions of Article 32 of the RF LC. If they are evicted from hired social housing without asking for the consent of those registered there, then such a procedure in the case of their own apartment can only occur with the consent of the owner.
What exactly conditions should be observed during the eviction procedure from such housing? What apartment will be given when the house is demolished? According to paragraph number one of Article 32 of the ZhK, it is possible to take away the premises from the owner by purchasing it because of the seizure of the land occupied by him for the needs of the state and municipality. Partially it is possible to redeem the premises only by mutual agreement. Simply put, if the state needed a land plot on which there are residential buildings to be demolished, it can offer you to sell it your property.
Most owners worry about this situation. About what? Mainly that the amount of monetary compensation proposed by the state will be significantly lower than the market price of the lost housing, because of which the evicted citizen will not be able to acquire an equivalent area. But what does the law say about this?
How much money are required to give us
The redemption price of the premises used for housing should include:
- Its market value.
- The amount of losses incurred by the owner due to a change in place of residence.
- Necessary expenses of the relocated, associated with the temporary use of another premises until the acquisition (purchase) of a new apartment. This applies to the situation when the agreement does not indicate that the right to use the seized housing remains until the acquisition of a new one.
- The amount of expenses associated with the move.
- Necessary costs in the search for alternative housing for purchase, as well as in the process of paperwork and ownership of it.
Thus, by law, the ransom amount should cover all costs associated with this process. If you literally understand the text of the article, the state is obliged to pay you everything, up to the commission for an agent choosing a new property and expenses for a rented apartment, while a new one has not yet been bought.
Legislative trap
Of course, these costs are by no means small. That is precisely why the legislation provided for a clause according to which it is possible to offer the owner, in exchange for the seized apartment, another one with offsetting the cost of the latter in the redemption price. How to understand this in practice?
Simply put, taking your apartment, the state can offer you another. But in case of a higher market value of the latter, you will be asked to pay extra. Suppose you are the owner of a one-room Khrushchev (old and without repair). Of course, its market price is low and can not be compared with the cost of a fresh little odnushka in a new building. And they offer you a choice: to receive compensation, the amount of which is unlikely to be enough to purchase something decent, or to pay the difference for a new apartment.
People with modest incomes are not suitable for any of the proposed options. There’s nothing to pay them, and for pennies allocated in return for dilapidated housing it’s unrealistic to buy anything. In addition, the Housing Code does not provide any indication of the equivalence of the property offered to the owner by meter or number of rooms. It is only about the cost of the apartment offered as a replacement.
What you should know
Of course, the right of the owner to categorically refuse all the proposed options for providing housing during the demolition of the house, as well as monetary compensation. But in the absence of a final agreement, the state reserves the right to decide the matter in court. The resettlement program implemented by the city authorities in recent years has given rise to many conflicts and difficult situations. And in this case, you must remember the following:
- The owner must be notified in writing about future seizure of the apartment at least one year before the event.
- It is possible to buy a dwelling earlier than a year after the owner receives such a notice only with his consent (Article 32, paragraph 4 of the LCD).
What is the catch? When the year ends, and the agreement is never reached, the state has the right to buy out through the courts.
How to make the owner move out of law
With a careful reading of article 32 of the LCD, it becomes clear that in all cases we are talking about the demolition of housing in connection with the seizure of land for state needs. And what happens in the event of a house breakdown and the need for demolition or reconstruction? According to the tenth paragraph of the same 32nd article of the LC, the act of recognizing a house as such (dilapidated, emergency, requiring demolition) is the legal basis for presenting to the apartment owner in it the requirement to observe a reasonable time period in the implementation of this procedure.
If the owners did not carry out the demolition or reconstruction within the prescribed period, the land plot is allowed to be withdrawn for municipal needs. So, you can remove each of the living quarters of the house. Unambiguously interpreting this provision is rather difficult. How will property be confiscated in case of “appointment” of a house as an emergency or in need of reconstruction?
For this case, there is article number 7 of the LCD. In its first part it is indicated: in those situations where the regulation of housing relations by law or by agreement of the participants is absent, as well as the norms of legislation with a specific indication of the procedure, an analogy should be applied, that is, those provisions that govern similar situations. If you adhere to this rule, the housing rights of a dilapidated or emergency building are secured in accordance with the provisions of the same 32nd article of the Housing Code.
Simply put, regardless of the reason for the demolition, houses are still being seized from the owners through the purchase or provision of other housing by agreement or through a court.
As it really happens
In real conditions, they solve the housing problem in the process of eviction from a demolished house each time in their own way. Demolition of houses in Moscow and St. Petersburg is quite legally regulated by law. But a number of constituent entities of the Russian Federation, when resolving the issue, are guided only by the provisions of the Housing Code.
In addition, quite a lot depends on the budget of a particular subject of the Russian Federation. In some cities, it is easier for the state to provide residents with alternative housing. In others, buying out premises is more profitable for the authorities than providing real square meters.
Often, citizens, in anticipation of the demolition procedure, try to register as many relatives as possible on their own living space or draw up a fictitious divorce, followed by a demand from the authorities much larger than the previous living space. Unhappy, as a rule, are both parties. And to predict the development of events in each specific situation is almost impossible.
If you strongly disagree with the conditions on which the authorities offer you a ransom or exchange of your apartment, and you cannot reach a peace agreement, stock up on money for lawyers and go to the court.