How to evict tenants or neighbors from a communal apartment?

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A communal apartment is popular among people who cannot afford separate housing. Not only the owners live here, but also tenants - temporary residents who are allowed to use a separate room as part of the contract. In a word, different families: with their own habits, characters and rules. Conflicts in communal apartments are by no means uncommon, which means someone has to give in and move out.

The issues of residence and eviction from a communal apartment cause the greatest difficulty in interpretation. It would seem that absolutely everything (or almost everything) is spelled out in the legislation, but how the process works is actually not entirely clear.

We propose to consider how to evict tenants and neighbors from a communal apartment in 2021. Based on our article, you will get an idea about this difficult process.

We recommend that you read the instructions “How to evict your neighbors’ tenants.”

Grounds and conditions

The main condition for carrying out the eviction procedure is a court decision .
Without this, you cannot evict - it is a violation of the law.

for a case to go to court :

Constantly causing inconvenience to neighbors living nearby: noisy behavior, drunkenness, partying, drunken fights, etc.
Using communal apartments for purposes not intended for this type of housing: creating nurseries, warehouses, etc.
Negligent attitude towards the premises, meaning damage to furniture, floors, windows, etc.
There are no utility fees.
The apartment is full of insects, there is dirt everywhere, in other words, complete unsanitary conditions.
Ignoring safety precautions.
Failure to comply with the conditions specified in the contract.

Each violation is supported by some kind of supporting document; this cannot be avoided.

In the Civil Code we can highlight articles 619, 687, 620, 610 and 293. Turning to the Housing Code , articles , , , , , , , , .

Expert opinion on the issue of eviction of “violent” neighbors who infringe on the rights of tenants

It is noteworthy that today the expulsion of neighbors due to noisy behavior at night and other similar situations is a fairly common measure of enforcement, used and noted in judicial practice. It is stipulated in Art. 39 Regulations. Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation No. 14 of 07/02/2009 “On some issues that arose in judicial practice when applying the Housing Code of the Russian Federation.”

Professor, Doctor of Law n. Gongalo B.M. in another interview noted that eviction on the specified basis, in accordance with the provisions of the said Resolution, is still an extreme measure. It is used if similar illegal actions by residents were committed repeatedly, and warnings to stop them were not taken into account by the guilty violators.

The expert notes that, despite the fact that in such situations other residents suffer greatly, since their interests are significantly infringed, the courts are reluctant to evict “violent” citizens. As such, there are no abuses in relation to evictions on this basis.

Example 1. Expulsion of neighbors renting premises

Two young people rented a room in a communal apartment, concluding an agreement with its owner. A week later, the temporary residents began to drink alcohol, become rowdy, and started a fight. Residents from the neighboring premises, who became unwitting witnesses to the brawl, called the police.

The arriving police officer drew up a report on violation of public order. The owner of the rental property was fined, after which he terminated the contract with his tenants and kicked them out the door.

In such situations, not only the tenants, but also the owner are responsible. In practice, it turns out that it is enough to contact the police to resolve the issue of expelling noisy neighbors who have rented housing. If they are not evicted, and they continue to violate the order, you can file a claim for their expulsion in court.

Example 2. Evicting a drunk neighbor from a communal apartment

Residents of a communal apartment repeatedly noticed their neighbor in a state of intoxication and noted facts of his violation of public order. In addition, he did not maintain the living quarters in proper condition and created unsanitary conditions.

Residents have repeatedly made attempts to influence him through private conversations and calls for compliance with the rules of residence. Since the attempts were unsuccessful, the residents began to call the police at every row.

Finally, the tenants filed a claim in court to expel their neighbor due to the impossibility of further cohabitation. The statement was accompanied by statements from residents and documentary evidence of police calls. The court made a decision to evict this person.

Reasons for eviction from a communal apartment

The reasons for eviction are very similar to the grounds. These include:

non-payment of utilities for six months or more;
inappropriate behavior resulting in infringement of the rights of neighbors;
implementation of uncoordinated redevelopment, which must be coordinated with neighbors, the owner, and the regulatory authority;
use of living space for purposes not intended for it;
violation of rules for the maintenance of common areas;
demolition of a house in which a communal apartment is located;
recognition of a residential building as unsafe;
transfer of communal apartments to non-residential stock;
transfer of communal services to other owners.

Regardless of the reason, they do not have the right to evict you without a court decision.

✅ Lawyer recommends

The legal right of neighbors in a communal apartment is to protect their rights from violations by tenants. Most likely, the dispute will be resolved in court, so it is important to have an idea of the procedure.

Useful advice from our lawyer:

Don’t be shy about expressing your complaints to the tenants - it’s easier to resolve the situation through conversation than to escalate the situation and pass the “point of no return.”
File a complaint with the owner.
Try to enlist the support of other neighbors - a class action lawsuit has an advantage over a single one.
Demand that the district police officer and police officers record the fact of the offense - the evidence will form the basis of the claims.
Warn officials that if they fail to act, you will file a complaint with the prosecutor's office.
When faced with the dominance of migrants in a communal apartment, it is most effective to file a complaint with the Department of Internal Affairs - thereby, you will launch a migration check, which will allow you to establish the fact of residence of illegal immigrants.
Remember about the notice of eviction from a communal apartment - you need to hand over the document in the presence of 2 witnesses (neighbors).
There is no arbitrariness - such issues are resolved through the courts, and not through force and changing locks.

A timely response to the situation will allow you to avoid problems with unwanted tenants.

Where will they be expelled?

Some are mistaken in thinking that they will not be evicted to the “street”.
This practice happens often, there are only three options for further developments:

if the tenants have other housing, they are evicted into it;
if there is none, then to another place suitable for living;

This course of events is possible provided that they are evicted from the state communal apartment.

just go outside.

Voluntary eviction: algorithm of actions

Of course, no matter how the relationship between the owner and his tenant develops, voluntary eviction is always preferable. If the owner of the apartment has grounds for eviction, then he will do it in any case - voluntarily or by court.

Algorithm for the owner’s actions if he has grounds to evict a tenant:

After detecting violations, the owner sends the tenant a claim or notice, which indicates what the violation is and the period within which the tenant must eliminate it or vacate the premises. The claim is submitted in person (in the presence of two witnesses) or sent by registered mail with acknowledgment of receipt. You must keep the second copy of the document; in the future, it can serve as evidence of an attempt to resolve the dispute out of court.
At a pre-agreed time, the owner visits the disputed housing, inspects the room for damage to property or other significant claims, together with the tenant draws up an act of acceptance and transfer of the room , then both parties sign the document.
If the owner has any claims to the transferred property, this is indicated in a separate paragraph of the act, with the obligatory indication of the approximate cost of restoring the damaged property .
If the tenant refuses to sign the deed, the owner of the room invites two neighbors who, as witnesses, record the fact of the transfer of the living space .
The tenant hands over the keys to the room to the owner and leaves the premises. From this moment the room is at the complete disposal of the owner.

Procedure

The process of eviction from a communal apartment is as follows:

Submission of a statement of claim to the court by a person entitled to do so (at the same time, the necessary papers are collected and a search for people confirming the reason stated in the statement of claim takes place).
Next, the case is considered by the court , based on the evidence presented and information received from witnesses, a verdict is passed.
After a certain period, namely when the decision comes into force, the applicant and the person being evicted are sent a written notice , which refers to the requirement to evict.
In case of refusal on the part of the tenant, a certain period is given to leave the place of residence , but if this does not happen, he is simply forcibly evicted by drawing up an appropriate act, which is certified by the signatures of everyone, including observers and the violator himself.
At the same time, an inventory of all the tenant’s personal belongings located in the communal apartment is compiled. After the inventory, all property is transported to a warehouse, where it will remain until the owner expresses a desire to pick it up.

During a forced eviction, two observers who have no interest must also be present.

✅ Judicial practice

The variety of life situations obliges the courts to study the conflict from different points of view. But practices agree on one thing: it’s easier to evict tenants under a lease agreement, more difficult to evict owners.

Example:

Simonov owned a room in a communal apartment. Neighbors began to notice that the housing was managed by a third party, probably a relative of Simonov, and without a lease agreement. The new tenant began to create unsanitary conditions, drag all kinds of rubbish from the street and not clean up after himself in common areas. The neighbors' comments passed by, the relative felt like the owner, snapped, swore and threatened with physical violence. It got to the point that the tenant could not control his emotions in fits of anger, and the neighbors began to fear for their lives - small children lived in the apartment. Complaints to the owner led nowhere. I had to call the local police officer and draw up an act of illegal residence. Simonov had to evict an aggressive relative.

Example:

The owner of the room in Onufriev's communal apartment filed a complaint with the municipality.
As follows from the woman’s statement, she was tired of Popov’s alcoholic feasts, as well as his rent arrears in the amount of 14 thousand rubles. The municipal body accepted the complaint, after which it conducted an investigation into the fact of the appeal: Onufrieva actually lived in a communal apartment, had title documents (a privatization agreement and an extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate), Popov lived next door - on the basis of a social tenancy agreement. The noisy neighbor did not work anywhere, had problems with the law and did not pay utilities for 5 months. A representative of the municipal association drew up a violation report, warned the tenant and ordered him to repay the debt within the next month. There was no reaction, the amount of debt only grew - I had to go to court for the forced resettlement of Popov. The eviction claim was supported by Onufrieva’s testimony, an extract from her personal account indicating a 6-month debt, and a copy of the notice to the tenant. The eviction request was granted - Popov was ordered to move out of the room and find new housing. Attention!

Due to frequent changes in legislation, information sometimes becomes outdated faster than we can update it on the website.
All cases are very individual and depend on many factors. Basic information does not guarantee a solution to your specific problems.

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Author of the article

Maxim Privalov

Lawyer. 2 years of experience. I specialize in civil disputes in the field of housing and family law.

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Features and nuances

The procedure for eviction from a municipal and privatized apartment has some differences.
Before starting the eviction procedure, the owner of the apartment is given a warning , which states by what time the “misunderstandings” must be corrected so that an application is not filed with the court.

The Civil Code, namely Article 293, specifies the following grounds for the owner:

destruction (destruction) of the apartment due to mismanagement;
use of housing for purposes other than its intended purpose;
six-month non-payment of rent;
infringement of the rights of those living nearby.

If the debtor’s family and he himself have no other possessions other than a communal apartment, it is not possible to evict him . But there is one small exception - the apartment should not have a mortgage.

If the “misunderstandings” are not corrected within the specified period, then the owner will inevitably face legal proceedings.

In some cases, the communal apartment is sold at auction, after which all funds are transferred to the owner, but if the apartment was seized due to faulty payment for utilities, then a deduction will be made from the amount, and what is left after it will be returned.

Debtors in a municipal apartment are provided with some exceptions (i.e., if they have one of them, they will not be evicted):

Presence of family members with disabilities or small children.
Faulty payment of wages and other payments.
Problems with getting a job.
A family member has a serious illness that costs a large amount of money.
However, in order for such an exception to be granted, confirmation will be required.

In all other cases, eviction to the hostel or “to the street” will follow. Read about the procedure for filing a claim here.

No other accommodation provided

They can be kicked out onto the street under such conditions:

Living on the territory of a communal apartment is considered illegal.
Resale of housing to another owner.
A husband and wife are divorced if the room is entirely in the possession of the husband or wife (acquired property before the divorce).
Destruction (destruction) of an apartment due to mismanagement.
Use of housing for purposes other than its intended purpose.
Infringement of the rights of those living nearby.
Parents deprived of parental rights who continue to live with members of the household.
The property is under mortgage.

Read our article about how to evict an unregistered person from an apartment.

Evicting a neighbor

How to evict a neighbor from a communal apartment?

Everything is quite simple here. If a neighbor falls under the grounds listed below, then it will not be difficult to evict the offender.

Constantly causing inconvenience to living neighbors : noisy behavior, drunkenness, drunken fights, etc.
Using communal apartments for purposes not intended for this type of housing : creating nurseries, warehouses, etc.
Negligent attitude towards the premises, meaning damage to furniture, floors, windows, etc.
There are no utility bills .
There are insects in the apartment, there is dirt everywhere, in other words, complete unsanitary conditions .
Ignoring safety precautions.
Failure to comply with the conditions specified in the contract.

The main thing is to have documents confirming all this and persons who can confirm violations, in other words, witnesses.

In the best case, the neighbor will be pacified by giving time to eliminate the cause of the claim, and in the worst case, the room will be sold and he will be evicted .

How to kick out tenants?

How to evict tenants from a communal apartment? The owner of a communal apartment can evict tenants without giving a reason .

In such cases, the case usually does not come to court. Mostly, the lease agreement expires, or the tenants go into debt.

As a last resort, the owner has the right to call for help, that is, contact law enforcement agencies.

The main difficulty is the need to prove that the resident of the communal apartment is actually violating the living conditions . The easiest way to prove guilt is to the housing office or another service company, since they can simply provide a certificate of debt.

If the complaint is from a neighbor, you will have to tinker. For example, if the cause of the violation is unsanitary conditions, then you will have to call the sanitary and epidemiological station to confirm this fact. But if you want to do this, it is quite possible, the main thing is to have the desire.

Reasons for discharge

To file a lawsuit, the reasons must be valid, and from a legal point of view . Because the tenants simply don’t get along, even if it almost comes to a fight, eviction will not happen. More compelling reasons are needed.

The following reasons may be valid for the court:

Behavior that may be considered antisocial. This includes violations of order. They must be documented through the district police officer.
Any actions aimed at destroying the premises. They can be either intentional or accidental. The court considers any such situations most readily.
Use of the premises for commercial purposes. This also includes any situations where housing is used for other purposes: as a warehouse, for example.
Violation of sanitary standards can also be grounds for eviction. But first the person will be warned and given time to correct the situation. If nothing changes after the appointed period, you can count on a positive response from the court.

Violation of sanitary standards also refers to non-compliance with the rules for using residential premises. If the neighbors do not consider it necessary to clean their room, have raised bedbugs and cockroaches, keep a large number of animals, which has caused a terrible smell in the apartment, the court may well make a positive decision on the claim.

Important! It does not matter whether the person is registered in the apartment or not. Even an “outsider,” that is, one who has no formal connection with the housing, is not always easy to evict. The reasons must be indicated and supported by as much evidence as possible.

Who cannot be deprived of housing?

Who can't be evicted from a room? This category of people includes:

elderly people, i.e. pensioners;
children without parents;
if a family member died while on duty (for example, in police custody);
if a family member is declared missing;

disabled people (first and second groups obtained due to profession);
if the tenant of the apartment died, the family living with him.

The main thing is to have a residence permit in communal housing and be registered as needing housing. Otherwise, these categories of people are also subject to eviction.

Now you are familiar with the process of eviction from communal housing from A to Z. The information presented in this article will help not only save time searching for information, but also avoid unnecessary problems associated with simple ignorance.

How to evict a neighbor from an apartment? about what can become grounds for eviction from a communal apartment from this video:

Eviction of neighbors for debts

Currently, issues of eviction of citizens for non-payment of debts for housing and communal services are resolved with the help of housing legislation. In Art. 90 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation states that the tenant of an apartment, along with all household members, can be evicted for non-payment of housing and communal services debts, but only if another housing is transferred to him on social rent terms. The dimensions of the new housing must fully comply with the standards according to which move-in to the hostel is carried out.

Following the current rules of housing legislation, we have to admit that a citizen can lose his communal apartment due to debts solely for the following reasons:

over the past 6 months, the employer has never paid any debts for utilities;
the tenant does not have any compelling reasons for not repaying the resulting debts.

It is especially worth noting that a court order for eviction due to the fact that the tenant does not have a good reason for not paying debts can later be canceled if the defendant provides evidence that there was a good reason. It is possible to evict a tenant from a communal apartment only after receiving a court decision, and only when he occupies the room under a social tenancy agreement, since it is impossible to evict the owner of a privatized room in this way.

Eviction of tenants without a lease agreement

Despite the fact that the law prohibits renting apartments without a formal contract, many landlords ignore this prohibition. Most often this is due to the reluctance to pay taxes on the income received for rent. Less often, the reasons are reluctance to deal with bureaucratic subtleties or excessive gullibility.

If the tenant refuses to leave the property voluntarily, you can resort to certain actions that will help resolve the situation.

Change the lock. This is the fastest and easiest way to block access to a tenant's apartment. However, it should be borne in mind that if the eviction occurs solely at the request of the owner without justified claims, then the tenant can file a claim to invalidate the oral agreement.
Police. You can call a local police officer, who will testify to the tenant’s refusal to leave the living space, and also record the real condition of the home.
Court. This is an extreme measure that participants in legal relations without an agreement rarely go to. The method consists of filing a claim demanding to vacate the living space and indicating the actions taken.

The tenancy agreement – is it a guarantee circumstance or a stumbling block?

One of the most difficult questions that owners of a communal apartment face is what to do if a rental agreement has been concluded.

From a legal point of view, a rental agreement is a guarantee of compliance with the joint rights and obligations of not only the tenants, but also the owner of the property.

A rental agreement means an agreement that is signed by the owner of the property on the one hand, and by the tenant (tenant) on the other.

It specifies the period for which the housing is rented, the subject of the contract is the apartment, or part of it, and the price is rental payments. They include utilities and the owner’s remuneration for the provided housing.

On the one hand, everything is simple, but if the contract is concluded for more than one year, it must be registered and taxes must be paid. With such an agreement, it will not be possible to simply evict the tenant.