The relationship between a claim for the demolition of an unauthorized building and a negatory claim (podcast of the St. Petersburg State University Civil Law Club)

When difficulties may arise, what to do

1. The building is recognized as historical, an architectural monument

This status of a building is an extremely rare situation for a private owner; the likelihood of encountering it is almost zero. The vast majority of historical buildings belong to the state, a small number belong to commercial and other organizations.

It is impossible to become the owner of such real estate by chance, without knowing about its status. All information about the building is contained in documents that are reviewed before purchase.

Obtaining permission to demolish a historical building is very difficult; for this you need to initiate and undergo a series of examinations.

1. The owner owns part of the building

For example, a capital two-apartment building. There are two ways to legally demolish your half.

If the building is dilapidated, you need to obtain an appropriate conclusion. The consent of the second owner - the owner of the other half of the house - is not necessary here.

Removing half of the structure can be framed as a major overhaul of the building. A reliable, officially operating company should be hired for dismantling, so that the neighbor has no reason to bring charges of damage to property. The work must be carried out in such a way that the remainder of the structure is preserved.

When there is no conclusion that half of the building needs major repairs, dismantling with subsequent reconstruction or without it is solely the desire of the owner. This means that you need to obtain the consent of the owner of the other half of the building.

How to obtain permission to demolish a private house if a neighbor objects to the dismantling? It is necessary to raise the full package of documentation of the building, using an examination to prove that the removal of one half is absolutely legal.

1. Dacha, permanent housing in a gardening association

This could be a dacha cooperative, a gardening partnership or a cottage community, built and managed according to the same principles.

The consent of local authorities for dismantling may be necessary from their point of view. It depends on the charter and other internal documents of the cooperative or partnership.

Federal legislation - it is the fundamental one - gives the owner the right to do whatever he wants with his real estate, when the interests of other people are objectively respected. Therefore, if dissatisfied members of the cooperative begin to sue specifically on the issue of dismantling the building, then they are unlikely to win the legal dispute. But when the claim concerns violations of the infrastructure (sewage, for example), there is evidence that the reason was the dismantling of the building - its owner loses the legal dispute.

As practice shows, it is not difficult to reach an agreement with a cooperative. The disconnection of communications, the route, the schedule for the arrival of special equipment, and other details of the upcoming work are agreed upon. After which the board of the partnership approves their implementation.

If you want to demolish an ordinary object, the private house belongs to you entirely, there are no strict obligations to the cooperative - you will receive permission quite quickly.

When is it recommended to renovate an old house?

You can understand that a building needs reconstruction after a thorough inspection and assessment of the planned work. Reconstruction costs should not exceed the costs of purchasing a new house of the same area. Reconstruction of dilapidated housing is recommended if:

1. The roof is destroyed and requires replacement.
2. Cracks appeared in the walls or gaps between the logs of the log house, the house was tilted to the side or tilted to its side.
3. It is necessary to replace rotten or moldy logs in the walls of the log house.
4. The walls need insulation, interior and exterior decoration.
5. Load-bearing structures and ceilings are damaged.
6. The old floor has begun to rot, collapse, or needs additional insulation.
7. Remodeling and major restructuring of the internal space is necessary.
8. It is necessary to increase the living area of ​​the premises or add a floor.
9. The foundation began to collapse and cracks appeared.
10. It is necessary to repair or install new utilities.

Important! It is better to immediately draw up a list of work, since serious repairs require the use of special equipment, and this is always associated with certain expenses and the organization of access roads.

How to obtain permission to demolish a private house

Procedure

1. Create a package of documents.
2. Determine the addressee - which body resolves the issue.
3. Submit documents through the State website, during a personal visit.
4. Wait for the decision of the regulatory authority.
5. Take permission.

List of documents

• Identity card – passport of a citizen of the Russian Federation. If it is lost, you need to provide a certificate from the Department of Internal Affairs plus any other identification document (license, international passport).
• Confirmation of the owner’s rights – purchase and sale agreement, certificate of inheritance rights, etc.
• Extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate (USRN).
• Cadastral plan of the land plot.
• Application for permission.

The requirements for the application are established by Art. 55.31 of the Town Planning Code of the Russian Federation. The form of the document was approved by the Order of the Ministry of Construction dated January 24, 2019.

Additionally

Consent of neighbors - when the neighbors are co-owners of the building and there is no conclusion that major repairs are necessary.

If the building is adjacent to neighboring buildings (garage, fence), it is enough to notify their owners about the upcoming demolition work. The notification can be sent by registered mail, which is handed to the addressee against signature.

Design documentation for the dismantling of the building - if the permanent structure is 3+ floors, several families live.

Consent of the guardianship authorities - when a private home is the permanent place of residence of minors, the property belongs to the minor.

The application must be submitted no later than 7 days before the dismantling of the building begins.

Who issues the permit

In most regions, applications are accepted through State Services and MFC. You can find out more information via the Internet, MFC. Some constituent entities of the Russian Federation have established a mandatory rule for submitting documents in person to visit the local department of the relevant service.

Depending on the region, approval can be obtained from the department of urban planning control and issuance of permits, the department of architecture, and the department of urban services. You can clarify the address for submitting an application through the “My Documents” MFC, through the State Services website, or from the local administration.

About cases of demolition for the needs of the city

The head of the administration must issue an official permit stating why a particular property needs to be demolished. The documentation collected on this matter is sent to the Federal Office of Architecture.

Among the mandatory attachments are the minutes of the commission meeting at which the plan and the urban planning decisions themselves were approved.

In addition, you cannot do without:

• Design and estimate documentation.
• Development standards.

When the protocol is approved, notices must be sent to citizens whose houses are planned to be demolished. An administrative decision is also issued, which appoints a special commission to deal with this issue. Citizens must be notified three times.

Stages of house demolition. Photo: pravozhil.com

The third notification must arrive no later than one year before the actual work on the site begins. Private houses deserve special attention in this regard. When purchasing properties, the cost should also take into account the availability of a land plot, not just the house itself.

The main thing is that there are documents confirming officially registered ownership. Citizens have the right to demand the receipt of other lands in return for those they decide. The administration must then pass them the objects that match the existing request.

The owners only have to re-register their property rights, observing the same conditions. In this case, title owners claim to immediately conclude lease agreements.

When is permission required?

Approval by the authorized body is required in the following situations:

• The capital construction project/a significant part of it is subject to complete dismantling, including the foundation to ground level.
• During reconstruction and major repairs, the area of ​​the foundation will significantly increase/decrease.
• It is necessary to demolish a permanent structure with the subsequent liquidation of the registry entry - for new development, its registration, and pre-sale preparation of the site.
• The building is divided into two or more apartments with different owners.
• When a building is demolished, the property interests of neighbors may suffer.

Construction of a new house on the site of an old one

If the owner wants to demolish the old house and build a new one on this site, he will have to work hard to obtain permits. To do this, you need to provide evidence that the premises are uninhabitable and require demolition or major repairs. It will be necessary to prepare access roads in advance for equipment that will remove construction waste and clear the foundation pit for a new building.

Important! If the previous building collapsed after a short time of its existence, it is necessary to identify and analyze the reasons for this in order to prevent the same mistakes.

Consequences of unauthorized demolition

The fact of unauthorized demolition of one's own private house is not punishable by law. But its consequences are very unpleasant for the owner.

The first difficulty will arise when trying to legalize the new construction of a private house instead of a demolished one. If dismantled without permission, the register continues to contain records about the demolished object. From the point of view of the law, this object continues to exist, and the new private house will be considered an unauthorized construction. It can be demolished by decision of the authorities; the law will be on their side. What can the owner do if a building recognized as unauthorized construction is demolished? Almost nothing.

The authorities will demolish a new private house built on the site of an old one demolished without permission, and will give nothing in return.

The only way to solve the problem is preventively: get the demolition of an old private house legalized and properly formalize the completion of the dismantling.

Is it worth demolishing?

“Stalin” is precisely the colloquial name for houses in the neoclassical style that were built in the 30-50s of the last century in the Soviet country. The average apartment in a Stalinist building had three or four rooms, less often – 2 or more than 4, and very rarely – one. The rooms could be separate or adjacent. They were nomenklatura and ordinary.

“Stalin buildings” are equipped with reinforced concrete floors, which means they can withstand many more years. Due to their location in prestigious metropolitan areas, they are of considerable interest to developers.

Long before the historic meeting between the Moscow mayor and the President of the country, the end result of which was the adoption of Federal Law No. 141-FZ dated July 1, 2017, in 2014 the Moscow government announced that Stalin’s houses would not be demolished.

They will be reconstructed: additional floors will be added and the building will be equipped without displacing the residents. As for sources of financing, it was argued that funds from owners and other extra-budgetary funds would be attracted for these purposes. There was even a mention of a series of “Stalinka” cars, for which reconstruction with a superstructure was a very real future: II 01-08 (except 06 and 07).

Who benefits from it?

During the discussion of the new bill on the renovation of five-story buildings in Moscow, the largest of the capital's construction companies were observed to be active in identifying housing classified as dilapidated. There were statements not only of “Khrushchev” buildings, but also of demolishing several dozen Stalinist houses built in the area of ​​Novopeschanaya and other streets in 1948-1953.

The RBC daily agency reported this, calling these buildings an attractive target for old Moscow, which has virtually no legal opportunities for new construction. We wrote about the demolition of Khrushchev buildings in Moscow here.

Moreover, in the list published by the capital's mayor's office for a mass discussion that took place in May-June, among more than 4,000 houses there were Stalin buildings for demolition in Moscow. As a result of the voting, which ended on June 15, 2021, seventeen houses that were proposed to be demolished, including pre-revolutionary buildings and several “Stalin” buildings, were excluded from the list.

Residents of 4,079 buildings voted “for” leaving houses in the program, 276 voted “against” (there are more than 1/3 of the apartments in the building), and in 184 houses the opinions of residents were divided.

Paperwork during demolition and after its completion

After permission is received, communications are planned to be disconnected. The work area is fenced off and warning signs are placed. The building is being dismantled. Construction waste remaining after demolition must be removed.

BTI

Upon completion of the work, it is necessary to submit an application to the BTI to conduct a survey of the site. A BTI employee will conduct a personal, in-person inspection and give an opinion on the absence of the structure. The document is required to remove a private residential building from registration in the register.

Rosreestr (USRN)

To remove a demolished house from the register, you need to submit the following documents:

• passport;
• demolition permit;
• BTI conclusion on the absence of a demolished object;
• technical passport of the dismantled structure;
• a document confirming ownership of the demolished object.

A package of documents can be submitted to Rosreestr via the Internet (State Services website), MFC.

From the point of view of the law, a private house is considered dismantled only after the corresponding changes are made to the Unified State Register. It is worth planning the construction of a new capital facility instead of a dismantled one after receiving an extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate, which can be ordered through the Rosreestr website.

House dismantling: what are the rules?

The procedure can begin immediately after receiving the appropriate permission.

Compliance with safety regulations and urban planning standards are mandatory requirements.

1. Construction waste is removed in full, and then its disposal begins.
2. After dismantling, the area will be thoroughly cleaned.
3. Be sure to turn off communications.
4. The area will also require additional preparation. The perimeter is completely fenced to provide additional protection.

How to get a house declared unsafe and have it demolished? See here.

Material damage

Demolition of houses is a procedure that is associated with serious costs. You will have to rent special equipment if it is proven that you cannot cope on your own. Or you will need to hire specialists from a construction company.

Even if other items allow you to save money, problems must be solved with the foundation. Here you cannot do without the support of third-party experts. Disposal of garbage along with construction waste is another stage that causes many difficulties.