Currently, in conditions of crisis and increased real estate prices, a large number of Russian citizens are not able to purchase their own housing. As a result, such persons are forced to rent premises from private individuals.
In this article we will study the issues of the so-called “illegal rental” of housing, as well as liability for such acts.
It is worth noting that as such the concept of “illegal renting of an apartment” does not exist, since the owner has the right to dispose of the premises he owns as he pleases, including donating, selling, renting. That is, in any case, disposing of an apartment and concluding a rental agreement in relation to it is completely acceptable and legal.
Important!
The actions of the apartment owner become illegal if he receives income from renting the apartment and does not declare it in any way and does not pay taxes established by law to the budget.
Thus, it is incorrect to talk about illegal renting of an apartment; in this case, the actions of the owner in failing to submit a tax return and not paying taxes will be illegal.
Important! If you are looking into your own case related to the illegal rental of an apartment, then you should remember that:
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How to inform the tax office that your neighbors are renting out an apartment and not paying taxes
If the fact of illegal rental of an apartment is established, you can act in several ways. A complaint about the violation should be filed with the housing authority, which must contact the owner and verify the fact of receiving illegal profits. If the department is inactive, you should contact law enforcement agencies.
The check is carried out by the district police officer, the results are communicated to the person who filed the application.
If foreigners rent housing, you can write an application to the migration service department. If a violation of sanitary standards is recorded in a neighboring room, a statement should be sent to Rospotrebnadzor.
The main body responsible for checking tax evasion is the tax service. You can write a statement regarding the fact of gray rental of an apartment to the local branch of this body. A complaint to the tax office is submitted in the prescribed form, at the place of registration. The document can be submitted by one tenant or several. The authorized body is obliged to verify the fact of violation of tax laws and punish the owner in accordance with established legislation.
Black Mark
It’s hard to even imagine how widely the scammers have spread their nets. But lawyers advise residents to keep a close eye on any unusual situations that arise around their apartments.
The first “black marks” appeared in the spring of this year. Literally poured out of the mailbox. From various departments - tax, banks, traffic police - Uulu Temirbai, Zhumasiya Maydunova, E. Shaaev received notifications about the need to pay debts. The address was accurate, but the last names... At first I suspected a mistake: I went around all the apartments in the entrance hall where migrants live. But after the question: is this not for you? — Representatives of friendly republics shied away from me like hell.
Then I decided to find out at the passport office whether they assigned me extra tenants. At one time, RG dealt with a similar situation in Aramili, where a cunning passport officer registered dozens of migrants in the apartments of an entire entrance. And the fraud came to light after the management company presented the “ghosts” with huge utility bills. Now that every registered soul is entitled to a garbage collection bill, it is impossible to miss a replenishment in the apartment.
After my visit to the passport office, I calmed down: the number of those registered remained the same. But, as life has shown, scammers find loopholes to achieve their desired goal.
Basic moments
Sometimes illegal profit-making from rentals bothers neighbors, not only as law-abiding citizens, but also directly as residents of an apartment building. Noise, unsanitary conditions and other reasons prompt neighbors to solve the problem by resorting to extreme measures.
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Note! The owner can dispose of his property at his own discretion. But if the owner decides to lease the property to third parties, he must not only pay the tax on time, but also control the tenants.
✅ Is it possible to evict tenants?
The eviction of illegal migrants falls on the shoulders of the migration service. Tenants can be evicted by the owner of the premises by terminating the lease (tenancy) agreement due to violation of its clauses. Often temporary residents do not want to leave - in this case the owner will have to go to court (Civil Code, Part 2, Chapter 35, Article 688). It is necessary to provide evidence that they violated the clauses of the contract and the rules of living in an apartment building (copies of police reports, documents from the management organization about systematic flooding, testimonies of neighbors, etc.).
In the case of illegal rental of municipal (state) real estate, eviction threatens not only the tenants, but also the tenant (Article 84 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation).
How to inform the tax office about the rental of an apartment by neighbors and should you limit yourself only to this authority?
The site's lawyers will advise and offer solutions if disagreements arise with tenants and the owner of the property. With proper management of the case and competent preparation of the evidence base, it is possible to obtain compensation through the court from the owner of the property for moral damage caused. 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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How to prove guilt
Before filing complaints with one of the authorities, you must have confirmation that the apartment may be rented out illegally. In cases where daily rental or rental by foreign citizens is carried out, it is clear that there is most likely no corresponding rental agreement.
In other cases, proving a violation of the law is very problematic. To conduct an audit, evidence of violation of tax laws is required. The basis for it may be a complaint from tenants, but such cases are extremely rare.
If migrants live in the apartment, the migration service will deal with the issue. She will carry out all the required checks and forward the violations to the relevant authorities.
Note! Neighbors can contact law enforcement or tax authorities, who must respond to the complaint and conduct an inspection of the owner.
Results
We can already say that we shouldn’t expect mass “denunciations”: management companies are much more interested in collecting funds for housing and communal services and fighting debtors.
Finding informal landlords would take up too much work time. Most likely, such measures will only be applied in cases where housing is rented to problem tenants.
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What consequences does illegal rent have for the owner?
If a violation of tax legislation was revealed as a result of an audit, the owner will face proceedings with the tax authority. The main preventive measure is a fine. If the profit was received on a particularly large scale, the owner may be brought to criminal liability.
Penalty tax sanctions are provided in the following cases: if the owner has not filed an income tax return in a timely manner, if the owner is not registered as an entrepreneur, if no income tax has been deducted.
In case of non-payment of the tax fee, a fine of the tax amount is provided in the amount of twenty to forty percent. If the deadline for filing an income tax return is missed, a fine of five percent is provided.
Criminal liability in the form of arrest, forced labor or imprisonment is provided for in the event of receiving illegal profits on a large or especially large scale. Income obtained illegally in the amount of more than ninety thousand rubles is considered large. Illegal income over three hundred and fifty thousand rubles is especially large.
Note! If the owner voluntarily pays all taxes in full, he may be released from liability.
Even if the owner was not punished or paid a minimal fine, the very fact of inspections will take enough time and effort to continue to carry out illegal actions in the future. In some cases, this is quite enough for the peace of mind of neighbors.
How the state fights gray rent
For homeowners, there are two legal options for making a profit from renting out real estate: purchasing a patent or paying a tax fee of thirteen percent of the amount.
Purchasing a patent costs sixty thousand rubles. The owner may be provided with an installment plan to pay for it. The benefit of acquiring a patent for the owner is exemption from paying property taxes.
Some owners are taking measures to legalize their rental income. Others, although legally, evade full tax liability. For example, they deliberately reduce the rental amount.
Tax authorities receive and consider complaints from residents of apartment buildings. Explanatory work is also being carried out. Residential buildings contain information about the rules for renting out apartments and warnings about sanctions if illegal actions are detected.
In order for the lease to be formalized in accordance with the law, the owner must enter into an agreement with the tenants in the prescribed form, timely submit an income statement and pay a tax fee.
Activities that are carried out without drawing up an agreement are considered illegal. The contract is drawn up for a period of one year. If the lease period exceeds twelve months, it must be re-registered.
Not only is the landlord responsible if illegal activity is discovered, the tenant must register temporarily at the place of registration of the rental housing. If this was not done, he will also be held liable according to the rules established by law.
Temporary tax evasion will entail significant material costs on the part of the owner if the fact of non-payment of tax is discovered. Inspections will take a lot of time and effort from the owner. The tenant will also be responsible for illegal occupancy.
If the fact of a gray lease is discovered, all participants in the illegal transaction will suffer to one degree or another. If the tenant is forced to move out during the inspections, the money paid for accommodation will not be returned.
Note! The conclusion of an agreement allows both the tenant and the owner to protect their rights in court.
Shadow of Temirbay
I have written about rubber apartments more than once. A scandal recently erupted throughout the country: a resident of Yekaterinburg managed to register 10 thousand migrants in his two-room apartment. He charged five thousand from each person for a certificate and openly registered the guests at the passport office. In the end, he got burned because of greed, and he was fined 400 thousand rubles. In Nizhny Tagil, the case of an entrepreneur who registered thousands of foreign citizens in a bathhouse and a dentist’s office came to court. In total, this year, according to the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Sverdlovsk Region, 1,799 criminal cases were initiated under Article 322.
The news that I had ended up on the “rubber” list fell on me like a bolt from the blue. At the police station at my place of residence, they showed me material evidence: a copy of the document on the temporary registration of citizen Temirbay Uulu Baytik, which indicated my address. Temirbai fell into the hands of the police in the summer during a raid in the Zheleznodorozhny district of Yekaterinburg - on the outskirts of the city opposite from my place of residence.
They quickly figured out that he was an illegal immigrant. Despite the stamp on the document, his registration in Yekaterinburg was not listed in the migration service database. Judging by the dates on the certificate, the migrant has lived in my apartment since December last year.
— I bought it for 8.5 thousand rubles. I don’t remember from whom. “I got a job and found housing myself,” Uulu Baytik admitted to the police.
Nevertheless, his fate was decided: if he broke the law, go home.
Temirbay left, but his shadow remained. The same fake certificate states that the migrant’s host was a certain Irina Putyatina, who temporarily registered him in her (that is, my) apartment. I, of course, have never seen the enterprising Putyatin. But, whatever one may say, my address in her document is stamped. Where did the personal data leak from and how did the government stamp appear? In my opinion, this is what the police should find out. After all, from such ghosts you can expect not only pranks such as illegal labor activities or real estate fraud, but also something more serious.
Where did the personal data leak from and how did the government stamp appear on the fake certificate?
— The situation is not so unique. Most often, not just one, but a whole group of criminals participate in such fraud. Some specialize in obtaining information that the Criminal Code or passport offices have, especially since it’s easy to get a complete package in one place: passport data, information about residents and sample signatures. Others are engaged in forging documents and seals, while others are engaged in the sale of “products,” explained lawyer Sergei Teterin.
In order to become a “primary source”, and subsequently a victim of scammers, it is not necessary to lose your passport. Scammers have their own channels for searching for information.
“They could get to your apartment through a map on the Internet. They pointed a finger and wrote the address on a fake certificate, the police assured me.
Apparently there were no problems with printing either. In five minutes, on the same Internet, I found craftsmen who promised to “make stamps and seals of any complexity, without documents and unnecessary questions. A scanned or photographed sample is sufficient.” Moreover, “the presence of protection and a logo on the seal is not a hindrance.”
When asked by the police whether such craftsmen had been caught, RG responded: “The migration department does not have information about identifying enterprises that produce false document forms and seals for migration registration, as well as about the most frequently forged seals, stamps and documents.” "
How to write a complaint that neighbors are renting out housing
In order for an application to be accepted for consideration, it must be completed correctly. A sample complaint is provided by the body to which the application was submitted.
Regardless of the authority to which the complaint is filed, the following must be indicated:
- name of the body to which the document is submitted;
- personal and passport data of the applicant;
- the essence of the appeal.
It is necessary to describe the reason for the application in as much detail as possible and provide information about illegal activities. If there is evidence of any kind confirming a violation of the law, it must be attached to the complaint.
Note! If the complaint is filed by several neighbors, it is necessary to indicate the personal and passport details of each person who applied.
