Storage rooms in the basement of an apartment building

Photo of a basement converted into a billiard room
Previously, basements were used as huge warehouses for unnecessary garbage. It was not equipped, temperature, appearance and humidity were not monitored. All this has led to the fact that today those who want to get additional living space in their house have to try hard to renovate the basement.

Basement renovation

Nature does not let people get bored; rising groundwater and heavy spring floods cause serious damage to property.
Water in the basement can appear every year, especially if the house is located in a low area. Unpleasant smell, constant dampness, mold throughout the house destroys comfort. Fungus on basement walls is dangerous to the human body. Drying a room during the summer is quite difficult, especially if it is located under the floor in the residential building itself. The basement renovation is required, major, thorough, carried out by specialists.

Flooring

How to organize flooring in the basement
In order for the renovation of basements to end successfully, it is worth considering in advance the interior of the future living space.

Gender can be:

Leave it concrete.
Cover with carpet.
Wooden panels or linoleum.

Advice. If you intend to make the basement a guest place or live there, it is better to choose carpet or wood: they will retain heat and give coziness to the room.

Linoleum is suitable for more “passable” places: it is easy to clean, and dust and dirt do not stick to it. But concrete is the most economical option.

If you decide on it, don’t forget to prepare paint for painting it and warm slippers: concrete doesn’t warm up well, and you risk getting sick.

A team of capital craftsmen is repairing basements

Of course, the owner is interested in putting things in order, but, as a rule, independent actions consist of coating the walls, cracks, and floors with a new portion of concrete, which will not prevent the appearance of water next spring.

You need to call the experts for help. Our team has extensive experience in such work. Many owners of country houses left their gratitude on the site and made recommendations. We present all customers with documents confirming the qualifications of the team’s workers. We are builders, we have the appropriate education. All members of the team have several professions, there is even a landscape architect among us, in a word, basement renovation is a familiar matter. After our renovation, you will forget that water flooded the basement.

No need to worry about formalities

The contract that we conclude with each client provides for all the nuances, the main thing is that we sign a guarantee for at least three years! As for the prices, you won't find anything better. We have a lot of orders. We work for ourselves, we have the opportunity to set reasonable prices. It’s better to work constantly than to wait for orders.

Why basement renovations should be carried out by specialists

Every business has its secrets, basement renovation is no exception. The tightness of the room depends on the waterproofing; if water enters, it means that the protective layer has ruptured. In order to carry out restoration work correctly, you need to find the cause. It is necessary to study the nature of the behavior of groundwater itself.

The master will answer the following questions:

to what extent the quality of waterproofing protection meets the standard;
are there any through holes in the walls;
how the shrinkage of the walls changed and damaged their surface;
how well the seams are sealed;
How good is the drainage system in the basement?

Analyzing the answers to these questions will help make a diagnosis and decide how to install waterproofing, outside, inside, or in a combined way. And at the same time, check how the drainage system of the entire site works, how effectively it copes with water removal. If there is no such system, we will build one!

What kind of work does the team perform when repairing the basement?

We work quickly, we do any work, construction, interior and exterior decoration, installation of engineering systems, arrangement of personal territories, we do any work, harmoniously, at high speed. High-quality basement repairs are not possible quickly. We never dry walls with a hair dryer; complete drying is required naturally. Therefore, sometimes you have to wait for the weather.

Repair procedure:

thorough cleaning of surfaces, you need to remove dust, dirt, small particles;
padding;
drying,
work is carried out outside and inside.

To repair basement walls and create a waterproofing layer, we use:

cement mastics that expand when hardened;
waterproofing compounds based on paint that penetrates into all cracks and cavities;
injection waterproofing;
polymer films, other rolled materials.

Basement walls are a special object of attention for specialists, as they are the foundation of the building. The safety of the foundation ensures the strength of the entire structure.

To repair a concrete basement floor, you need paintable waterproofing.

It reliably protects the room from the penetration of moisture, dampness and other unpleasant guests. We use bitumen-polymer compositions. “Rubber” paints are also effective, especially if waterproofing was not installed under the concrete at the time of construction. Effective pasting, impregnating waterproofing.

Typically, waterproofing of masonry is required, the best option for such basement renovation work would be plaster.

We make a special composition with modifiers, additives, additives; our composition is our invention, which has proven itself in practice. We apply the plaster in three layers, each subsequent after the previous one has dried.

We work with good materials, bitumen mastics, those compounds that prolong the operation of the building for many years. However, repairs are inevitable. The waterproofing layer becomes unusable over time. Even the most expensive and innovative materials are destroyed under the influence of an aggressive external environment.

But we will come and fix it, efficiently and inexpensively, call!

Is it possible to make storage rooms in the basement of an apartment building?

Construction materials Construction materials Article author Peter Kravets Reading time: 4 minutes AA 20468 We will send the material to you: By clicking on the button, you consent to the processing of your personal data

As a rule, residents of a multi-storey building are interested in the question of the ownership of the basements in their houses, and are especially interested in the question of whether it is possible to make storage rooms in the basement of an apartment building.

Many property owners in apartment buildings argue that the acquisition of an apartment in a residential building is accompanied by the allocation of space to the new owners from the common property.

If you study regulations, amendments, clarifications, restrictions and other legislative documents, it becomes obvious that legally the basements of residential buildings of an apartment building are common property, therefore all homeowners have equal access to such premises.

It is worth understanding how things work in practice, especially since such premises are often used for other purposes, such as a storage room, for example. Particularly practical owners seek to benefit from such additional useful space, arranging them at their own discretion.

Basement

It is necessary to understand the peculiarities of using the underground premises of apartment buildings. What are they intended for, what communications are located there, what types of equipment are installed there, and who may have access.

Particular attention should be paid to those cases when apartment owners in a building arbitrarily arrange basements in accordance with their needs, as well as problems that an apartment owner may encounter when arranging personal space in a common area.

Looking for an answer? It's easier to ask a lawyer!

to our lawyers - it’s much faster than looking for a solution.

Storage rooms in a residential building.

There is no need to confuse the concept of a dressing room and a storage room in the house. The first is used to store clothes, shoes, accessories, etc., and the second is used for food, kitchen utensils, appliances and mechanisms. There are a number of design requirements for the arrangement of a storage room, which is planned inside a living space.

Arrangement of a storage room in a private house Return to contents

How are basements used in apartment buildings?

In apartment buildings, the basement, as a rule, performs a technical function - all communications, equipment and systems responsible for the life support of the house are located there.

List of systems and communications with access to underground premises:

Supply of cold and hot water;
Sewage outlets and drainage of water for technical purposes;
Electricity of the net;
Steam heating;
Main distribution board throughout the entrance;
Boiler room with equipment;
Household meters;
The base of the elevator shaft.

Access of unauthorized persons to the basement and their interference in the functioning of various systems is prohibited. This may affect the operation of certain communications, which may lead to a risk to the lives of all residents.

For this reason, basement windows are usually covered with metal bars and doors have iron locks. As a rule, access to the basement is given to the person in charge of the house, elected at meetings of residents, as well as to utility workers.

Storage rooms in a residential building

Chairman of the Veta HOA

The procedure for the allocation and use of storage rooms

1. General Provisions:

1.1. Owners of residential and non-residential premises in an apartment building have the right to allocate space to equip a storage room in the basement of the apartment building (subject to availability).

1.2.

The owner of a residential or non-residential premises in an apartment building at the address: , (hereinafter referred to as the owner of the storage room), upon a written application, the board is allocated a premises or part of it in the basement of the house without acquiring ownership of the specified premises, without the right to transfer it to a third party. The premises or part thereof are allocated, if there are free spaces, from among the premises recognized by the inventory commission of the HOA board as suitable for equipping a storage room.

1.3. A place is allocated upon a written application from the user addressed to the chairman of the Veta HOA.

1.4. The owner of the storage room is obliged to provide keys to the chairman of the board of the Veta HOA for unhindered access to the storage room in case of emergency.

1.5. The owner of the storage room is obliged to provide access to the storage room to monitor compliance with the rules for the use of basement premises at the request of members of the board of the Veta HOA.

1.6. The owner of the storage room is obliged to comply with fire safety requirements.

1.7. The owner of a storage room is obliged to comply with sanitary and epidemiological requirements for the operating conditions of non-residential premises.

1.8. The owner of the storage room has the right to install electrical networks into the premises only after coordinating the work with the chairman of the board of the Veta HOA with the obligatory equipment of the networks with metering devices and residual current devices (RCDs).

1.9. The owner of the storage room is obliged to take measures aimed at preventing the occurrence and spread of infectious diseases associated with the sanitary condition of the basement, including the destruction of insects and rodents.

1.10. When equipping a storage room with doors, it is necessary to provide for the presence of ways for natural ventilation of the premises (arrangement of vents, transoms, openings in the doors)

1.11.

Owners of storage rooms take part in repairing entrance doors to the basement and replacing locks, making duplicate keys, as well as in repairing and putting things in order in basements by decision of the board of the Veta HOA or at the request of the HOA chairman.

Associated use of a basement in an apartment building

Sometimes a part of the basement where communications are not installed can be used by the management company to arrange utility or technical premises.

For example, a house management company can equip its technical areas or repair shops in these places;
The Ministry of Emergency Situations in the city can make a bomb shelter or warehouse to house protective equipment in case of danger;
In the basements of houses with a ground floor, various government agencies, archives or interest groups can be located.

But such phenomena are infrequent, especially bomb shelters. This also applies to the old stock of secondary housing; at the moment, if public utilities occupy the basement, then only an insignificant part of it.

It is necessary to take into account the fact that modern houses have basements equipped for use for economic purposes. To do this, the design includes storage rooms in the basement of an apartment building in places where there are no communications.

Requirements for arranging a pantry

So, if you decide that there will be a change room in your home, then you need to pay attention to several points that will help make this room functional and spacious.

You should not locate the room reserved for the pantry near the stove, if you have one in your home. This is due to the fact that excess heat will come from the oven, and the food in your pantry will simply spoil.
Pay special attention to ensuring forced ventilation in the storage room. To keep food fresh, fresh air is very important. If the air is not sufficiently ventilated, then there is a high probability of the occurrence and development of mold and fungi on food products, which will spoil their quality.
The most favorable place where a change house can be installed is a wall oriented to the north. An example of arranging a storage room in the wall

It will be less likely to be heated by direct rays of the sun, and a favorable microclimate will be created in the pantry.

Return to contents

Options for using plinths by apartment owners

The high price per square meter of real estate leads to the fact that owners try to make the most of every square meter provided to them. Accepting the equivalence of underground ownership, residents try to adapt part of it for personal needs.

Many owners would like to use the basement for various purposes:

A home workshop, which is used not only for repairing and repairing household items, but also works to order, for example, repairing shoes, small household appliances, etc.;
Pantry for preserving food for the winter, both prepared ingredients and fresh vegetables. If the basement is equipped with ventilation systems, it is dry and there is protection from unauthorized persons - this is a very beneficial solution for the population in the city;
Storage room for currently unnecessary furniture, items that are not currently in use, sports equipment, skis, bicycles, etc.
Owners living on the first floors of the house can redesign part of the room by filling the floor and insulating the walls. This requires approval and permission from the BTI. After such work, the entrance to the underground is cut out in the apartment and additional space is equipped at your discretion.

Quite often there are cases when residents at a general meeting decided that the basement should be converted into a gym, swimming pool or sauna. This purpose requires a thorough refurbishment of the premises, the main thing is that communications and load-bearing walls are not damaged.

How to create a comfortable pantry

By equipping a pantry room in your home, you plan that it will make your life in the kitchen easier, and you will always have the necessary products, tools and mechanisms at hand in one place. But in order for a pantry in a private home to truly become functional and comfortable, it needs to be properly planned.

Below are the basic tips that will help you make the change room in your home really make your life easier, rather than create additional difficulties.

Tip 1. Before you start arranging a storage room, you need to clearly understand and imagine, or better yet, have a fairly detailed list of what you plan to store in this room.

Option for arranging a storage room on the ground floor

The number of racks and shelves in the racks, their size and shape will depend on this. The same as the entire required volume of storage space.

Tip 2. After you have decided on the space for the pantry, you need to make repairs there (an unrenovated room will not meet sanitary standards, and, therefore, will contribute to food spoilage). Repair comes down to painting the walls and decorating the floor.

The walls are painted with regular oil paint so that they can be washed.

And the floor is best made of wood, which is either varnished or painted. This will also make wet cleaning indoors easier.

Tip 3. Upon completion of the renovation, equip the pantry with a ventilation system, and, if necessary, air conditioning and lighting. All this will keep food fresh for a long time, and will also make it easier for you to find everything you need in the room.

Diagram of the ventilation device in the pantry

Tip 4. When planning shelving, remember that it is rational to make them all the way to the ceiling. On the top shelves you can always put away those kitchen utensils, mechanisms and appliances that you rarely use.

Tip 5. Plan a separate rack for home canning, the size of which will depend directly on the quantity you are preparing for the winter. In the middle sector (at eye level and arm's length), place cereals, flour, groceries, etc. They should always be in an easily accessible place. At the bottom of the racks, it is recommended to arrange drawers in which to store a small part of the vegetables (the main place for storing vegetables is still the basement or cellar).

Tip 6. It is important to protect your pantry from rodents. Special rodent repellents distributed by SES will help you with this. But remember that such products should not be in bulk, since the slightest draft in the pantry will raise a cloud of poison into the air and thereby poison the food.

What standards are there for storage rooms in the basement?

Residential multi-apartment buildings must operate in accordance with the Fire Regulations, which are valid throughout the Russian Federation. According to Article 38 of the Federal Law “On Fire Safety” (No. 69), all owners of property and its users bear responsibility for any violations of these Rules.

In most cases, the management of a residential building is entrusted to the management company or HOA; in this case, the responsibility for complying with fire safety rules and ensuring the safety of all residents falls under the responsibility of the employees of this organization. Employees of the HOA or management company that maintain the building must, during the spring inspection, at least once a year, inform all owners and tenants about the rules for operating equipment and housing.

With regard to basements and storage facilities installed in them, the legislation of the Russian Federation explains that the arrangement of workshops or other premises for utility purposes in the basement or basement without arranging a separate exit in them is strictly prohibited.

The same applies to exits to storage rooms in the basements of residential buildings, which are not equipped with fire barriers on the way from public stairwells. The law also prohibits the use of technical premises for the purpose of equipping storage areas for furniture, equipment, workshops, food and other things.

Before organizing storage rooms in the basement of an apartment building, fire safety standards are studied most carefully so that structures with violations do not have to be dismantled.

Lawyers' answers (1)

Since no documents were drawn up for this premises, it is part of the basement of an apartment building. The basement itself (as well as the roof, attic, stairwells, etc.), by virtue of the direct instructions of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, is the common property of the owners of premises in the apartment building, and they (the owners) have developed a procedure for using this common property - through the arrangement and use of storage rooms. Having sold you the apartment, the former owner also lost the right to common property in the apartment building - it has already passed to you along with the ownership of the apartment and to the extent that it existed with the previous owner. Therefore, the offer to sell you this storage room... it is already yours by law. You have the right, individually or through an organization that manages the apartment building, to demand that unauthorized persons (non-owners or their representatives) be prevented from accessing the basement, to set (in a written complaint) a deadline for the former owner to vacate the premises, and to take other measures to protect your rights..

The legal side of the issue of tenants' ownership of the basement

Indeed, the basement of an apartment building belongs to everyone, but at the same time, to no one. Therefore, before starting any work, it is necessary to legally reserve the right to use part of such premises. Privatization of basement premises is carried out in the following order:

General meeting of residents

A general meeting of residents of the house is held in accordance with the requirements of the housing code. The agenda includes the alienation of part of the property in favor of apartment owners and changing the boundaries of the premises. Residents of the building are notified 10 days before the meeting, and the turnout must be at least 50% of the number of apartments in the entire building.

At least 50% of all those present must also vote in favor of the issue under discussion. If the building is a dormitory, then it is necessary to enlist the support of the owner.

Redevelopment project

They are approved by various institutions (fire departments, sanitary and epidemiological institutions) and sent for approval to the BTI. At the project creation stage, it is necessary to take into account the existing communications and equipment, the purpose of the basement after redevelopment and compliance with fire safety rules, since people’s lives are at stake.

The main requirement is the possibility of access to the premises at any time of the day for workers of utility services or a management company, if there is a need for sanitation or work with heating or water supply pipes.

If there will be people in the basement after the redevelopment, it is necessary to install electricity, provide heating and supply and exhaust ventilation.

Reconstruction

After receiving approval from the BTI, reconstruction is carried out. It must be accepted in finished form by an expert commission, after which an application for issuing a technical passport of the premises is sent to the BTI. For owners, such a solution will at least also be beneficial in terms of utility payments - the size of common property becomes smaller, and the number of payers will increase.

Obtaining a certificate from Rosreestr

The final document for registering property is the conclusion of Rosreestr on state registration of rights. The application is accompanied by the consent of the owners of the apartments in the building in the form of minutes of the meeting, a technical passport from the BTI, and a receipt for payment of the state duty.

It will not be possible to completely privatize the basement premises in any case - you can register the right only to that part where there are no communications and no influence on the utility networks of the house.

Peter Kravets

Privatization of the basement

Privatizing a basement in an apartment building is not an easy task, because first you will have to obtain the consent of all residents.

How to apply:

Organize a meeting of home owners in accordance with the procedure established in the Housing Code, putting on the agenda the issue of alienation of a common property property, that is, the underground of the house, changing its boundaries with a vote.
Ten days before the meeting, notify residents about it by posting notices on the entrances indicating the date and time of the meeting. Remember, for the vote to be considered valid, more than half of the apartment owners or HOA members must be present. The decision is made by a majority vote, and a corresponding document is drawn up. On its basis, further privatization is carried out.

IMPORTANT! If the issue of privatization is decided regarding the basement located in the dormitory, it is only necessary to obtain the consent of its owner of the building, who, as a rule, is alone.

Make a project for the planned reconstruction, having first studied the basement plan. It must be agreed upon with the fire inspection authority, sanitary and epidemiological station and other regulatory agencies. After this, the project must be submitted to the Technical Inventory Bureau, where it must be approved.
After the BTI approves the project, the work phase of reconstructing the basement begins. After their completion, an examination of the technical condition of the basement is carried out, about which the inspection expert commission issues an opinion.
When the reconstruction project has been agreed upon and an expert opinion has been received, it is necessary to write an application and submit it to the BTI in order for the registration certificate of the residential building to be reissued. After this, the area of property in common shared ownership of residents will decrease, while the number of people paying for its maintenance will increase. Accordingly, the fee for each individual payer will decrease.
The next and final stage of privatization is the direct receipt of a certificate of registration of ownership of real estate, which should be obtained from Rosreestr.

To obtain a certificate you must:

Statement.
Minutes of the decision of the meeting of owners on the privatization of the basement.
Permission from the owner of the apartment building.
Technical documentation for the house.
Receipt for payment of state duty.

If the documentation is filled out correctly, all data is valid and the voting results are not falsified, then after checking the submitted papers, the certificate will be issued without hindrance.

In addition to the fact that residents receive real estate for use and the right to dispose of it at will, they are also responsible for its protection, care, and maintenance in proper condition. It should also be noted that it is impossible to completely privatize a basement in a residential building by one owner.

Reconstruction of premises and its criteria

As already mentioned, the future layout of the basement must be approved. To do this you need:

ensure free access for specialists to communication systems to carry out repair or routine work, disinfection, and replacement of pipes;
comply with fire safety rules in basements and at their entrances;
provide lighting, water, ventilation, heating and sewerage to those rooms where people will work according to the plan;
take into account the purpose of the basement and carry out its reconstruction, taking into account the purposes for which it is planned to be used: to store inventory, personal belongings, conservation, to set up a store or even a recreation area;
do not make changes to the design of the building foundation and load-bearing elements;
Reconstruction work should not disrupt the functioning of utility networks.

Each of the residents of an already privatized basement may have their own plans for its use. But if it is in common shared ownership, a decision on this matter is also made at a general meeting in the presence of more than half of the owners and by a majority of votes.

If you plan to use the basement or part of it in an apartment building for commercial purposes, you should, in order to avoid problems with the authorities, legalize it as non-residential and then register the ownership of the basement.

What is special about basements?

The basement premises of an apartment building are very convenient for use by residents. Their location and low cost attract commercial organizations for the arrangement of various retail and industrial premises. It is important to remember the specifics of underground premises:

Constantly high level of humidity;
Underground location below the soil surface;
Lack of sufficient natural light;
If groundwater is close to the surface, periodic flooding is possible;
Forced ventilation is required, usually a supply and exhaust circuit.

conclusions

To summarize, we can say that if you want to use the basement of an apartment building, you need to come to an agreement with all the residents and jointly arrange the underground premises for utility purposes. When properly equipped, storage rooms in the basement of an apartment building can significantly improve the living comfort of apartment building owners.

For commercial use for profit, it is worth transferring the technical premises to non-residential premises and drawing up all the necessary documents for private property rights.

⚫Decluttering the House. How to make a VERTICAL PANTRY? Title ⚫Decluttering the House. How to make a VERTICAL PANTRY? Viewing time 10:03 Title How to make a dressing room from plasterboard with your own hands Viewing time 21:35 Title Repair in the pantry//Organization and storage in the pantry Viewing time 7:01

Author rating Author of the article Peter Kravets Articles written 350

Long-term rent or privatization of a basement space costs an entrepreneur less than renting an office or apartment. Running a business in a basement is quite profitable, however, it should be properly registered from a technical and legal point of view.

Firstly, to rent a basement, you need the consent of the owners, be it a municipal structure or the majority of residents of a cooperative building.
Secondly, there are restrictions on the types of activities that can be carried out in the basement. Toxic production using chemicals is prohibited by law, and a noisy establishment with music will irritate apartment owners, which will lead to numerous complaints and conflicts.
Thirdly, it is important to take into account all the risks and costs of repairs and modernization. The basement is often in disrepair. It is necessary to prepare the premises so that it meets all standards and does not harm the health of employees and visitors.

What activities are allowed to be carried out in the basement of a residential building?

If we are talking about a private house, everything is much simpler here. The entrepreneur is the owner and tenant at the same time. But organizing a business in the basement of an apartment building is quite a troublesome task.

You can open a store or service center in the basement.

For small and medium-sized businesses, basements with an area of 30–250 square meters are of interest. m, in which you can open an office, workshop or store. In general, an area of no more than 400 square meters is allowed for trade. m, excluding storage and utility rooms. The area for a beauty salon should not exceed 300 square meters. m. But a base of this size is almost impossible to find in the city, so we are talking about small rooms.

Most often, of course, they open a business related to serving people living in the house and its surroundings.

Pharmacies, grocery and industrial stores, stationery, clothing boutiques, small retail outlets with specialized goods.
Ateliers and workshops for repairing clothes and shoes.
Repair service for computers, phones and household appliances.
An office that accepts orders for production of products. In this case, production may be located in another part of the city or even outside it.
Photographic studio, film development and printing; sale of consumables and components for cameras.
Restoration workshops and art salons; exhibition halls.
Travel agency.
Recycling collection points.
A sports club or gym can be located in a room of up to 100 square meters. m and practically do not require expensive finishing.
Hairdressers, nail salon, cosmetologist or massage therapist's office, solarium.
Billiard club.
Cafe, snack bars or bar.

Basement electronics repair.

Permitted activities must meet the following requirements:

the basement borders residential apartments, so the tenant is obliged to ensure that his business does not interfere with people;
a prerequisite is the installation of ventilation systems;
catering establishments can simultaneously accommodate more than 50 people;
You cannot play loud music or make noise that exceeds sanitary standards;
By law, the opening hours of establishments are limited to the period from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.

Experts explained the new rules for storing things in the basements of high-rise buildings

The ban on storing things in the basements of multi-storey buildings, prescribed in the government decree on fire safety measures that came into force on January 1, 2021, does not mean that owners of storage rooms in basements will not be able to store their things there, a leading expert at the Fire Safety Foundation told RBC Konstantin Kuznetsov.

The government decree contains a clause that prohibits the use of “attics, technical, basement and ground floors, undergrounds, ventilation chambers and other technical premises for organizing production areas, workshops, as well as for storing products, equipment, furniture and other items.”

According to Kuznetsov, it is important to understand the size and characteristics of the so-called combustible load of items placed in basement storage areas. “As far as basements and basements are concerned, in my opinion it is prohibited to store a significant flammable load. For example, summer tires in winter and winter tires in summer, gasoline cans, waste paper, since this is a source of increased danger and fire. Jars of cucumbers don’t burn, so I don’t see any problems storing them where they were stored until now,” Kuznetsov said.

The measure banning storage in the attics of buildings, he said, was in effect before. “It has always been stated that it is prohibited to place anything in the attic. Only transit communications can pass through them; this norm is not new; it has been in effect for many years,” added Kuznetsov.

According to fire safety expert Alexander Glushchenko, it was prohibited to arrange storage facilities in the underground part of buildings before, and organized storage rooms in high-rise buildings must be decorated accordingly. “There are a number of rules for the design of electrical installations, wiring, doors and equipping with primary fire extinguishing equipment. Also, these rooms must be categorized, and the corresponding sign must be on the door. As for the so-called storage rooms in the basements of buildings, most likely [the requirements of the new resolution] will lead to stricter requirements for them. That is, no one will prohibit storing things there, but, most likely, there will be a reference to the relevant fire safety categories and the need to decorate the premises in accordance with them,” the expert suggested.

The government decree also determined the rules for lighting open fires in garden plots. Now you can make a fire in your dacha only at least 5 m from buildings, structures and other structures, and in order to burn dry grass or leaves, you need to take into account the requirements for organizing a place for making a fire - a pit up to 1 m in diameter and depth at least 30 cm or an intact metal container (barrel, tank) with a volume of no more than 1 cubic meter. m, which can be completely covered with a lid. Leaky or burnt tanks cannot be used for these purposes.

Read on RBC Pro

Leading expert of the Fire Safety Foundation Konstantin Kuznetsov explained to RBC that this is due to the concept of combustible load, which is low when lighting a fire for cooking barbecue and increases significantly when burning garbage. “A large fire, especially one left unattended, can start a fire in a neighboring area,” he noted.

If neighbors burn garbage in violation of the rules and the fire could potentially lead to a fire, it is best to report this by calling 112, says expert Alexander Glushchenko. “There’s a 100% response there,” he said.

Expert Kuznetsov drew attention to the fact that such a violation does not require an immediate response from emergency services. However, according to him, a Russian court may accept a video of such a violation as evidence of guilt in the fire.

“Determination [of the offender’s guilt from video. — RBC] happens, unfortunately, only after the fire has been extinguished, when a fire testing laboratory begins working on site. They can determine whether the fire load has been exceeded, but they only work after the fact,” the expert notes.

Prohibited activities

For some types of activities, a basement is not suitable:

Since loud music and noise are unacceptable, a nightclub or other similar establishment cannot be opened in a residential building.
It is prohibited to set up production that could become a source of noise, dirt and unpleasant odors.
For the same reasons, it will not be possible to open a dry cleaner or laundry.
It is not permitted to place a medical facility or make a swimming pool or sauna in the basement.
You cannot open a funeral home and provide funeral services.
Wholesale and small wholesale warehouses cannot be located in the basement.

Activities on the rented area must not violate sanitary and hygienic standards and fire safety rules. Besides:

for business it is prohibited to use other collective premises that border the basement: entrance, staircase, corridors, elevator;
the store or office must have a separate equipped exit to the street;
It is important that the utilities and equipment of the house remain accessible.

A technical premises that is not used by residents, by decision of the municipality or the association of owners, can be transferred to non-residential status. After this, the potential tenant can begin the registration procedure.

Legal registration of the premises

The basement or basement of an apartment building cannot be alienated and sold for lifelong ownership to an entrepreneur. Only the owner of the residential premises to which this basement is adjacent has the right to privatize it.

To open a business in an unused technical premises, you need to enter into a lease agreement with the municipality or obtain permission from the majority of residents of the building, each of whom owns the non-residential premises in equal shares.

If the basement of an apartment building belongs to a cooperative of owners, the legal registration of the lease begins with the collection of signatures. Some residents may speak out against the new business. The tenant must convince them that the company or store will not cause inconvenience and will even contribute to the improvement of the territory.

For example, a business owner can pave walkways, plant flower beds, and restore the wall of the house near the exterior entrance to the basement. The benefit for the cooperative is also that rent payments will reduce bills for the use of common non-residential premises. In addition, the tenant pays the housing office services and his own utility bills on an equal basis with all residents.

Collection and submission of documentation

To rent technical premises, you must submit an application to the municipality or housing office, depending on the form of ownership of the basement. The application indicates the purpose and duration of the lease.

A conclusion is drawn up from the sanitary and epidemiological station, fire and utility services, which recognize the premises as suitable for the chosen type of activity. Without the decision of these organizations, the basement can only be used for economic purposes.
After this, an agreement is concluded with the district administration. This document describes the terms of the lease, its terms and the amount of payment.
The rights and obligations of the parties are regulated by the Civil Code, provided that there are no special instructions in this regard in the contract.
The technical premises, which belong to the owners' cooperative, are registered through the Housing Office.
After submitting an application from a potential tenant, the Housing Office notifies residents. At the general meeting, the owners decide on the possibility of renting by voting.
The lease agreement is concluded with the accounting department of the utility service. The proceeds are distributed to improve the house and surrounding area, and also go to pay for electricity, water and gas in common areas.

An entrepreneur needs to obtain a license for the chosen activity and become familiar with the requirements for the premises in which it can be carried out. If the basement has not previously been used for business or social activities, it will need to be remodeled.

You will need a certificate from the BTI, which gives permission to re-equip the premises, and a geodetic assessment of the adjacent area. To prepare technical documentation, the tenant can contact the design office, whose employees have extensive experience working with city services and will help with legal settlement.

Repair and technical inspection

Most basements do not meet safety requirements, and especially sanitary and epidemiological standards. These are cold, dilapidated rooms that are flooded with groundwater. Having separated the part of the basement in which the utilities are located, the tenant carries out reconstruction according to the project.

First of all, you need to waterproof the basement. Dampness causes fungus and unpleasant odors to appear. Employees and visitors will not be able to stay in such a room for a long time without harm to their health. In addition, the finish deteriorates, metal parts rust, but the most dangerous thing is that water can short-circuit the wiring.
There is not enough light in the basement, even if the base is high enough and there are windows in the wall. It is necessary to provide additional lighting with energy-saving lamps, since electricity consumption in the basement will be high.
It is imperative to install a good ventilation system. The importance of air circulation in the basement cannot be overestimated, especially if the area is more than 50 square meters. m. and simple vents in the walls are not effective enough. Poorly functioning ventilation can cause humidity, as condensation forms on the inside walls.
If the tenant plans to open a catering establishment with a kitchen in the basement, you need to make an exhaust hood so that smoke and odors do not go towards the landing and apartments.
In case of large crowds of visitors and the presence of low-volume music, you should take care of sound insulation even before the room is renovated and the interior is equipped.

We should not forget about repairs and high-quality lighting.

The low rental price compensates for the cost of reconstructing the basement. But in each individual case, the tenant must evaluate the condition of the basement based on technical expertise so that hidden defects do not appear later.

Risks associated with running a business in a basement

The basement contains water supply pipes, heating networks and electrical cables. The tenant must make sure that the repair team from the housing office has access to the equipment. If a breakdown or flood occurs, the basement will suffer the most.

A poorly ventilated basement increases the risk of fire. In the event of a fire or other emergency, it will be difficult to evacuate people. Especially if this is an establishment with a large number of staff and visitors, and there is only one exit from the basement.

An unforeseen conflict with neighbors may arise, which the business owner will have to resolve through the courts. But most often, tenants coexist peacefully with the residents of the house if all preliminary agreements and written obligations are observed.

Space under the house: how to use the basement for household needs

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But not every house, due to its design features, allows you to arrange individual warehouses in the basement. Some apartment buildings, mainly in the old housing stock, usually do not have special premises in the basement provided for the personal use of residents. In such basements, general building utilities occupy almost the entire area, and the free part of the premises is not fenced off in any way, therefore access to them is closed to ordinary citizens - home owners. As you know, access to in-house engineering is allowed only to specialists who have the right to operate engineering systems.

In younger housing stock and new buildings, the basement, on the contrary, is provided in advance with a separate room for the household needs of the residents. The right of use in this case belongs to all homeowners, regardless of their professional affiliation: communications remain out of reach, in a closed part of the basement.

The management company that is responsible for its operation will help you find out the layout of the technical room in a particular house. By contacting their management company, homeowners, without going down to the basement, will be able to find out whether it is possible to arrange a warehouse for personal belongings in it. Depending on the characteristics of the basement, you will have to act differently.

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Construction at your own expense

In the first case, when the basement does not initially provide space for the household needs of the residents, there is still a way to arrange storage space. The basement, despite the presence of freely accessible utilities, still remains common property and belongs to the homeowners. Therefore, they have the right to dispose of it at their own discretion. And if among the residents of the house there are enough people who want to store potatoes in the basement or arrange bicycle parking in it, nothing will stop them.

True, the owners will need to show persistence, organizational skills, and, most importantly, prepare for material expenses. The fact is that in basements of this type (where communications are not fenced off in any way), a room separate for individual warehouses, and a passage to it without access to engineering, will have to be built independently.

To do this, you should, together with the management company, think through in advance a plan for the redevelopment and reconstruction of the basement and obtain official permission to carry out the relevant construction work. Moreover, one must understand that all financial costs for the reconstruction of the basement and the further operation of the constructed separate space will fall on the homeowners who took the initiative to organize a storage facility.

The list of documents that must be collected and provided in order to obtain permission for the redevelopment and reconstruction of non-residential premises in an apartment building should be clarified with the State Housing Inspectorate. Muscovites, for example, can find out everything on the Moscow Housing Inspection website.

Owners meeting

In those houses where the basement has a separate storage room, everything is simpler. The main thing is to secure a common decision among the homeowners and get your part of the basement.

You will have to start by holding a general meeting of homeowners, regardless of whether you simply want to allocate your own share in an existing storage facility or, as in the previous case, plan to arrange storage space in the basement. The owners of all privatized apartments must be invited to the general meeting. As for social employers, the decision is made for them by the owner, whose representatives should also be invited to the meeting. In Moscow, for example, this is the department of housing policy and city housing stock. Information about plans to hold a general meeting must be conveyed to each owner, as required by the Housing Code, no less than 10 days before the event. And it is best to notify participants in writing.

In addition to the exact date and time of the meeting, the message should indicate the issues that will be discussed there. This is necessary in case an in-person meeting of owners does not take place and a decision has to be made in absentia by a majority vote. And, unfortunately, only those questions that were submitted at the in-person meeting can be put to absentee voting. If this rule is neglected, those wishing to challenge the voting results in court will have a greater chance of winning.

The meeting agenda should first of all include the issue of creating storage areas in the basement and its redevelopment (or dividing shares of the existing basement between the owners). In addition, it is necessary to determine the composition of the counting commission for counting votes during voting.

The meeting is considered to have taken place if it was attended by owners who have more than 50% of the votes in the apartment building (the vote is “tied” to the size of the living space owned, and the owner of a three-ruble note has more votes than the owner of a one-room apartment). Those gathered on the spot discuss all the issues and vote.

If 50% of the votes are not received, the meeting is not counted. In this case, you will have to resort to absentee voting. Once again, all owners will have to be notified of its implementation. The information should indicate the same issues that were proposed to be discussed at the in-person meeting, including the composition of the counting commission, with an invitation to vote, as well as the time and place where completed voting sheets should be submitted. The votes are counted by the selected counting commission.

Self-capture and the rule of custom

Often homeowners, especially new residents, are faced with a situation where the basement in a long-occupied apartment building has already been divided among some owners. And they, in turn, in response to all questions about places in the basement, assure that there are no vacancies. This is often accompanied by exhortations that the basement was equipped at their expense, and is now their premises by right.

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But in reality this cannot be called anything other than self-capture. Such actions on the part of the owners are illegal. Non-residential premises, including the technical floor, belong to the category of common property, therefore each home owner has his own share in it, proportional to the living space belonging to him. The squatting should be reported to the management company and the issue of allocating shares should be resolved further, again with the help of a general meeting of owners.

However, even if such conditions for using the basement were approved by a general decision at a meeting of homeowners, the situation can be changed. After all, the composition of the owners has changed, which means that a new meeting will have to be held.

In the old building, especially in Khrushchev-era buildings, a different practice has long existed: basements in such houses have been very often used since Soviet times, and without any preliminary approvals, redevelopment and other “conventions”. The most correct thing in this case is to finally gather all the owners and at a general meeting legitimize the long-established situation.

For profit's sake

Owners can arrange a basement not only for individual use, but also based on common interests. For example, a finished basement can be rented out as a store warehouse, and the profit received can be divided between the owners or used for home improvement and renovation. Homeowners' associations often make money this way.

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Storage rooms in new buildings: why is this format becoming popular

We talk about a new popular trend in new buildings, what such premises are and how they are used.

Why do you need a storage room?

Previously, many people took seasonal items or sports equipment to the dacha, stuffed them on the mezzanine, or stored them in the dressing room. Not all things are convenient to store at home; many of them are large and take up space. Where to put your bike in winter? What if he is not alone in the family? Sports equipment, tires and wheels, seasonal clothes, tools and things that are considered sentimental are a pity to throw away, but they clearly no longer have a place at home. All this can be stored in a personal storage unit.

In addition to storing this category of items, situational storage is also possible, for example storing things or building materials during repairs. Storage space is needed if you are just planning a renovation, but are already buying interior items during the sales season. Even without serious plans to renovate your home, it’s always nice to temporarily remove excess items from your home, which is especially important for small city apartments. A storage room will be a big plus when moving into a new building, when renovations are being done, and as the arrangement progresses, you can gradually remove boxes of things from there, rather than immediately dumping everything in the apartment.

The cost of apartments is high enough to use them as a storage room - it’s cheaper to buy storage space in your own home (Photo: vipman\shutterstock)

Storage rooms in the house - a new trend in housing development

Developers understand the needs of buyers of new buildings and have begun to equip warm storage rooms on the ground or basement floors. The first storage rooms in new buildings in Moscow began to appear in the early 2010s. In exceptional cases, of course, they met before, realtors recall. This format turned out to be so popular that already in 2021 in the capital, almost 40% of new buildings had such storage rooms. In 2021, there are storage rooms within the old borders of Moscow in 215 new buildings (61%) and in 146 (70%) in New Moscow; in the Moscow region there are storage rooms in 12 projects (37.5%), analysts have calculated. If we talk about Russia in general, now every fourth new building has such premises.

“As the format of studios and micro-apartments developed, the need to store seasonal or simply bulky items grew. The costs for the developer are not only justified, sometimes storage rooms even save part of the project, since they are located where there could be no other useful use of the area. For example, in a project without parking, the ground floor with a low ceiling and communications that disrupt its topography, making it impossible to divide the area into commercial premises, would be perfect for cellars,” says Chairman of the Board of Directors Irina Dobrokhotova.

This trend is actively developing not only in Moscow, it is becoming increasingly popular in the regions. In some of them, the share of new buildings with storage rooms already exceeds the capital’s indicators, although it lags significantly behind in their number.

Top 5 regions by share of storage facilities in residential complexes

The developer began integrating storage rooms into projects in 2021. The company was prompted to this decision by a study of metropolitan realtors, which showed that in Moscow additional service storage facilities are present in more than 40% of new buildings. At that time, practically no one proposed such solutions in the regions. The pilot project is for Yekaterinburg, the press service of the development company said.

If we consider residential complexes by class, then, according to the ERZ, storage rooms have:

standard - 13%;
comfort - 28%;
business - 39%;
elite - 37%.

According to the President of the Association of Individual Storage Companies (AKIH) Dmitry Mayer, the capital's housing developers, experiencing difficulties with the sale of parking spaces in the underground parking lots of already built buildings, are seeking advice on the issue of repurposing unclaimed parking areas into an area for individual storage of things, banal storage rooms for the needs of the residents. There is also a trend on the part of developers to initially design underground storage areas in residential buildings. Developers are keenly aware of the emerging need, the expert says.

Developers understand the needs of buyers of new buildings and have begun to equip warm storage rooms on the ground or basement floors (Photo: Karolis Kavolelis\shutterstock)

How storage rooms are designed in residential complexes

In Moscow, according to Best-Novostroy, storage rooms can be less than 1 square meter. m or reach 25 sq. m. Average area - about 4 square meters. m. They are usually designed at the rate of no more than one storage room for three apartments, often in an underground parking lot or in a “useless” area that cannot be used in any other way. Depending on the project, the cellars can be locked either with steel doors, similar to the entrance doors, or with mesh doors; can be electrified and have some kind of zoning, storage shelves.

In the projects, storage rooms are located on the ground floor. They differ in design (brick or corrugated sheet), size (3–7 sq. m) and functional content. At the same time, a square meter of a storage room costs less than a residential one, which causes a high demand for such premises (the price for a storage room in the “First Quarter” in Vidnoye, for example, starts from 120 thousand rubles), the developer notes that the storage rooms are equipped with racks and shelves, metal frames. This is due to the desire to eliminate the risk of violating safety standards and program the ergonomics of the room. There are no restrictions on storage in storage rooms, with the exception of explosive and caustic chemicals,” notes the press service of the developer, says Irina Dobrokhotova.