Russians who are over 30 years old have seen a time when offices, shops, studios, etc. were located in ordinary apartments. There weren’t just enough business centers for everyone – there were almost none! But in the nineties and zeros, commercial real estate appeared, if not in abundance, then in abundance. True, the largest cities were most fortunate: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg.
But in megacities business life is also vibrant. Therefore, offices in residential buildings are now perceived as an anachronism. Especially if there is no separate entrance. What does the law say on this topic? Is it possible to organize an office in a residential building if there is no separate entrance to the premises?
Let's read the laws, look at practice and find questions.
Office in a residential building: what's the theory?
Apartments in houses are created exclusively for human habitation. This is provided for in Article 17 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, which was last amended in 2021. At that time, it was prohibited to provide hotel services in apartments
(rent apartments by the day and by the hour). Other premises (for example, shops or hairdressers on the ground floors) have non-residential status.
The intended purpose of the object can be changed according to the rules provided for in Chapter 3 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation. It is possible to convert an apartment into non-residential premises only if a separate entrance is provided and there is no other person’s housing below. If you don’t do this and, for example, open a pizzeria in a two-room apartment, this is considered a violation.
The Resolution of the Plenum of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation dated July 2, 2009 No. 14 added that the use of a residential premises for other than its intended purpose should be understood as its transformation into non-residential, i.e. use not for living, but for offices, warehouses, animal breeding, etc. Of course this is unacceptable
.
It is possible to use the apartment for professional activities (scientific, creative, lawyer, etc.) or work as an individual entrepreneur. In this case, it is not necessary to give the apartment the status of non-residential premises. living in it legally can use the apartment for professional needs
. And if this does not create inconvenience to the neighbors.
Second life of business centers: apartments instead of offices
300 thousand new office jobs need to be created in Moscow to fill the vacant 3 million square meters in the capital's business centers, says Denis Sokolov, head of the strategic consulting and research department at Cushman & Wakefield. When will they be created? In a year, two, five years, or maybe never? How absurd is the idea of Rose Group design director Sergei Kryuchkov that respectable offices in the Moscow City International Business Center will turn into co-living spaces, “communal housing for the creative class”? Or is it not absurd? In any case, the business community has been discussing the redevelopment of commercial real estate for several years. The ComEstate.ru portal decided to find out how realistic it is to repurpose a business center, for example, into apartments, and a shopping gallery into a warehouse.
Offices are turning...
Developers began to “sin” not yesterday by converting business centers into apartments and apart-hotels. One of the most creative ideas, especially for premises of former factories and factories, is the creation of unique creative workshops and co-working spaces with a single infrastructure, united by an atmospheric concept, on the basis of workshops and administrative buildings. According to this principle, during the crisis of 2009, for example, “Flacon” and “Winzavod” appeared, recalls the head of NAI Becar Apartments, Alexander Samodurov.
“They began to talk about a change in the function of Moscow office centers as a trend in 2015,” notes Andrey Kovalev, owner of Ecooffice Group of Companies. — Several hundred thousand office meters became apartments last year. And such changes were observed, among other things, in large projects such as Presnya City, as well as in a number of projects for the development of industrial zones.” According to Alexander Samodurov, during the construction phase over the past two years, 15-20% of the area of office centers was changed to apartment projects. In addition, in 20 projects there was a redevelopment of ready-made office premises into apartment complexes (Starting House, Club House on Menzhinskogo, Berzarina, 12, Peace Park, Tivoli, 9 Acres, Good House, TriBeCa APARTMENTS, Riverdale, “Znamenka Residence”, “Gelrich House”, “Nikolaevsky House”, Clerkenwell House, “Tsvetnoy 26”, PETROVSKY APART HOUSE, “House on Krasina”).
However, not all of these “converted” objects could be considered high-quality offices. In particular, as noted by Nellya Imametdinova, deputy director of the office real estate department at Praedium, the Berzarina 12 apartment complex arose on the basis of a former administrative building. The most common case for the market, the expert believes, is the redevelopment of outdated administrative buildings (or factory areas in which low-quality offices spontaneously appeared after production stopped) and the creation of high-quality apartment complexes on the site of these projects.
However, the process has begun and offices are “turned” into apartments at any stage of the project. “Some initially office projects were revised on paper, such as the Fili Grad residential complex and the Vodny mixed-use complex by MR Group,” sums up Maria Stolnikova, development director of the strategic consulting department at CBRE. — Some projects underwent reconception already at the construction stage: Atlantic Apatment, Savyolovsky City, Mon Cher on Bolshaya Yakimanka. In the near future, another apartment project for the Tsarskaya Ploshchad mixed-use complex will hit the market instead of the Crystal Towers office complex on Leningradsky Prospekt of the Coalco company.” The examples can be continued - Welhome development director Andrey Khitrov talks about one more thing: instead of a business center with an area of 150 thousand square meters. meters on a site in the Moscow City International Business Center will build a mixed-use complex with a hotel, offices and apartments with a total area of 275 thousand square meters. meters.
100 thousand rubles per sq. meter – redevelopment price
Recently, NAI Becar announced the creation of the first investment agency in Russia specializing in the sale and rental of apartments. The company's consultants recently presented their Loft Club project - loft apartments on the site of offices. For consulting agencies, design organizations, architectural bureaus, apparently, a new niche has appeared in the crisis market - the repurposing of commercial real estate from one category to another.
Alexander Samodurov spoke about the benefits of converting offices into apartments at the webinar for more than an hour. These figures are clearly not in favor of offices. For example, according to Alexander Samodurov, in apartment complexes no more than 2% of the premises are empty - not sold or rented out - while in the office segment this is more than 20%. At the same time, in ruble equivalent, the rental price and sales price of apart-projects did not change compared to 2014. In its apartment projects (“Vertical” in St. Petersburg), NAI Becar guarantees 8-10% per annum when purchasing apartments for investment purposes. Alexander Samodurov clarifies that the cost of repurposing a ready-made business center or administrative building into apartments can vary greatly - from 15 to 100 thousand rubles per sq. m. meter depending on the percentage of the sold area in the project, its condition, the availability of finishing and (or) furnishings of the future apartments. And the process can take from 8 months to 2 years. He also notes that capital and non-capital repurposing of the facility is possible.
When a facility is completely repurposed, its area usually changes. It is necessary to redo the load-bearing structures, obtain additional technical conditions (as a rule, water consumption in business centers is significantly lower than in apartments), change the type of permitted use of the land plot from administrative to hotel, and obtain a building permit. Non-capital repurposing of an object does not imply an increase in its area, however, it is still necessary to change communications, create additional “wet points”, and change the permitted type of use of the land plot. All this is costly, time-consuming and requires obtaining a large number of permits.
Second life of a business center: apartments or shopping gallery
Like any new phenomenon on the market, the repurposing of finished objects causes different, often diametrically opposed, assessments. Nellya Imametdinova speaks very categorically: “The engineering and technical base of the finished office complex, if we are talking about high-quality class A and B+ facilities, was formed taking into account strict standards. For example, bathrooms in business centers are located in common areas, their number on the floor is limited, and when communications in the facility have already been installed, creating new “wet spots” is very problematic. The same applies to other engineering systems, as well as stairs, elevators and much more. Even if developers had a desire to turn ready-made high-quality offices into apartments, the project would turn out to be unprofitable.”
The expert also notes the difficulties that may arise when approving a “converted” object in accordance with the General Plan of Moscow: “The authorities have a clearly formed and approved state document, which indicates the building density and the number of storeys of each building. In fact, since apartments can now only be built as part of a mixed-use complex, they can also be built on industrial lands. However, the project should not violate the General Plan.”
Andrey Khitrov also agrees with Nellie Imametdinova. He also talks about the technical possibility of repurposing office centers into apartments, but does not see the point in this. Open layouts of modern offices imply the possibility of constructing walls and partitions of almost any shape. A difficulty when repurposing an office center into a residential building may be the engineering systems, which will require significant construction changes. Insolation in business centers was initially calculated according to standards that are unacceptable for residential buildings; also, the number of parking spaces for residential buildings should be significantly greater than for office buildings. In addition, many office buildings have central supply and exhaust ventilation and there is no possibility of opening windows. All of the above parameters significantly increase the cost of reworking objects. In this regard, the most cost-effective option is to repurpose the facility before the start of the construction stage, during the approval of engineering documentation. Andrey Khitrov also notes that in most cases, changing the type of permitted use of land costs the developer too much, which makes the implementation of the property unprofitable. The exception is when the state itself changes the type of permitted use of land to stimulate the interest of developers in a particular area.
The expert also notes that it is much easier to partially repurpose a ready-made office center into a retail facility, but it should be taken into account that the attention of buyers will be focused on several lower floors. In addition, due to the small floor area, not every business center can open a shopping gallery.
Andrey Kovalev holds the opposite point of view: “Revising the concept of office complexes towards apartments, whether we are talking about a complete change from an office function to a residential one or about introducing an additional residential function, is now very economically justified. While formally remaining commercial real estate, apartments are essentially housing - and are much more in demand during a crisis than offices, the need for which is now extremely low. In part, this trend compensates for another – the transfer of apartment projects to classic housing.”
Warehouse instead of shopping center
New life, according to some experts, can be breathed into other commercial objects. For example, the director of the commercial real estate department of the RRG company, Yuri Taranenko, says that shopping centers, where the vacancy, although not as catastrophic as in offices, is also quite decent - up to 13-15%, can be converted into a warehouse, although it is worth taking into account some technical points. “Firstly, it is necessary to modernize the existing systems for transporting and lifting cargo. It is clear that the volume of goods supplied to shopping center boutiques is significantly lower than to the warehouse complex. In addition, it will be necessary to make access roads that can support a serious flow of trucks. Secondly, many shopping centers have atriums and other internal architectural features that will have to be seriously renovated and brought into a condition suitable for the storage and transportation of goods. Based on all of the above, it hardly makes sense to repurpose a large shopping center into a logistics center. In addition, if this shopping center is located in a good location within the Moscow Ring Road, then the rental rate will be high, which makes repurposing such an object into a warehouse pointless,” says Yuriy Taranenko. — So in this sense, it is much easier for tenants to “be based” outside the Moscow Ring Road. But if you create warehouse space in small shopping centers, they will most likely be in demand. And the volume of cargo that can be stored there will not require major changes to the adjacent territory and the structure of the building.”
The expert notes that today the reconception of the shopping center is taking place, but in a different direction. Instead of classic “anchors” in the form of grocery hypermarkets or large chain stores of sporting goods and electronics, non-standard tenants are coming (fitness centers, cinemas, water parks, children's amusement parks). In addition, shopping centers are moving away from the traditional pool of tenants and are trying to replace well-known chain brands, which are located in most malls, with atypical, little-known and more interesting brands for the buyer.
Maria Stolnikova also agrees with Yuriy Taranenko, noting that in most cases the location and technical parameters of shopping centers are not suitable for repurposing into office space or apartments, and the reconstruction of not very successful shopping centers, first of all, should begin with a better organization of the internal space , creating a pool of tenants that exactly matches the target audience of the property. “We don’t know of any successful examples of the redevelopment of shopping centers under construction or existing ones into office space or apartments. Shopping centers have their own specifics, in particular, location on pedestrian and traffic flows, which is less suitable for apartments from a location point of view, the expert clarifies. “Moreover, the technical parameters of shopping centers: building configuration, room depth, ceiling height and insolation are not applicable for office space and apartments.”
Veronica Lezhneva, director of the research department at Colliers International, shares a similar opinion: “If we are talking about classic shopping centers, then repurposing them into other objects is perhaps one of the most difficult tasks, if in principle achievable at all. The specific design of shopping centers is not suitable for other real estate segments. For offices and apartments, the floor depth is too deep and, accordingly, there is insufficient natural light and convenient layouts. Warehouses and storage systems also raise questions. Basically, when it comes to the reconception of shopping centers, we are talking about reconstruction or changes in the pool of tenants or design solutions.”
Expert opinions on the advisability of a global reconception of projects when the functional purpose of buildings changes differ. What is beyond doubt, perhaps, is the fact that almost any successful business model, due to various circumstances, sooner or later becomes obsolete. And the situation of endless growth in rental rates, bringing a guaranteed dollar flow to the owners of commercial real estate projects, is apparently a thing of the past forever. How to act in a market that will stagnate for many years is, of course, up to the beneficiaries to decide.
Office in a residential building: how to do it legally?
So, non-residential premises (office) in an apartment building can only be located if the entrance to it is separate
. Some lawyers appeal to the fact that there can be two entrances to the office: one from the outside, the second from the inside. However, Part 2 of Article 22 of the RF Housing Code closes this loophole:
Important
! After transfer from residential premises to non-residential premises, the possibility of access there through the use of premises providing access to apartments must be excluded.
If we interpret the norms of the Housing Code literally, the entrance to the office cannot be provided from the inside
. But there is still a nuance. If an individual entrepreneur or person rents an apartment and registers in it. In this case, his personal office may be located in a residential area and even have a sign or sign.
Stars for income
The state has only now decided to include apartments in the legal framework. But for now, these attempts, according to Maryana Balareva, raise more questions. For example, the new provision on the mandatory classification of hotels will make it possible to legalize a significant part of the properties as apart-hotels or apartment complexes. They will be able to receive a “star” category, similar to hotels - this is important for owners who independently or with the help of management companies are engaged in profitable business. It is more difficult with non-service apartments, many of which, apparently, are not going to submit documents for classification. “In addition to hotel-type apart-hotels, there are many so-called pseudo-housing properties on the market - apartments for living. Some developers even position them as apartments on their websites. But these are still non-residential premises. Owners will not be able to formally rent out their apartments without passing the classification,” warns Maryana Balareva.
A bill introduced to the State Duma last summer was intended to clarify the status of the apartments. The authors proposed their criteria for residential and non-residential apartments as part of multifunctional buildings. There was even a procedure for transferring such objects from non-residential premises to residential ones. But for now, consideration of the initiative has been postponed. A new version of the law on the status of apartments is promised to be submitted to the State Duma this spring.
Where to complain if there is an office in the next apartment?
Commercial activity behind a wall can be very annoying. Especially if in the apartment next door they breed (groom) dogs or sell food. Responsibility is provided for in Part 1 of Article 7.21 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (use of residential premises for purposes other than their intended purpose). Violators face a fine: for an individual – 1000-1500 rubles, for an official – 2000-3000 rubles, for an organization – 20000-30000 rubles.
.
Those who conduct business without registration rejoice in vain. They are subject to the same norm as legal entities (fine up to 30 thousand rubles). Where can you go to have protocols drawn up against those who violate the order and brought to justice?
According to Article 23.55 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, complaints should be made to local authorities that carry out regional state housing supervision. For example, in Moscow this is the Moscow Housing Inspectorate. Report that an office has been set up in a neighboring apartment,
you can do it directly on the website. If you are registered with State Services, of course.
Source: mos.ru
Who should resolve conflicts with neighbors?
First of all, the tenant who rents the premises for his office is interested in this.
When conflict situations arise, he must make every effort to resolve them. If the tenant ignores complaints received from other residents of the apartment building, then they can directly contact the owner of the premises. In this case, he will have to take measures to resolve the conflict. Otherwise, dissatisfied neighbors may begin to write complaints to higher authorities , which will lead to undesirable consequences.
Thus, the law allows for renting apartments to house offices. However, such premises must necessarily be transferred to non-residential premises. When drawing up a lease agreement, you need to make sure that the owner has an appropriate decision issued by the local government.
Arbitrage practice
We were able to find several interesting verdicts in the database of court decisions. It turns out that for placing an office in an apartment you can even lose your living space. At least, this is what the plaintiff, the Administration of the Zheleznodorozhny District in Krasnoyarsk, sought. In his claim, the representative of the authority asked to terminate the ownership of the residential premises of citizen A., since the latter used it for other purposes.
At first, the office of Afina LLC was located in the apartment, and then the activities of individual entrepreneur Yu.A. Gavrikova were conducted. The administration systematically received complaints from residents. True, the Zheleznodorozhny District Court of Krasnoyarsk, by a decision dated October 17, 2018, refused to satisfy the demands.
This was due to the fact that “at the time of consideration of the dispute, the fact of using the apartment to organize activities to provide consulting services was not confirmed by evidence.” However, the decision shows that the apartment was used as an office earlier, but during the consideration of the case, it was returned to its original appearance and purpose.
Citizens also file similar claims. For example, a resident of Kostroma demanded that the court declare the use of an apartment for an office unlawful and expel him from the premises. By decision of the Leninsky District Court dated October 11, 2021, the claim was denied
. At the same time, the owner of the apartment was warned about the inadmissibility of violating the Rules for the Use of Residential Premises.
In addition, the courts check the legality of decisions under Part 1 of Article 7.21 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. For example, M. filed a complaint against the State Housing Inspection body, disagreeing with a fine of 1,000 rubles for using part of the apartment as an office. The Deputy State Housing Inspectorate came to the conclusion that M. committed just such a violation. By the decision of the Berdsk City Court dated July 14, 2017, the resolution of the State Housing Property Committee was left unchanged.
What documents should I check with the owner?
Having decided on office space, you should not rush to immediately conclude an agreement. First you need to make sure that the owner of the apartment is reliable. So, the tenant needs to check the following documents from the landlord:
- identification;
- title papers for the premises being leased (purchase and sale agreement, extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate);
- notification from the local authority about the transfer of the apartment to non-residential use;
- certificate of absence of debt on utility bills.
This stage of the transaction should be approached with special attention. To be on the safe side, you can hire a competent lawyer who can identify violations in a timely manner.
Summary. An office without a separate entrance in an apartment building is illegal. Almost
So, the legislator is adamant. You can only live in the apartment, and if the owner wants otherwise, you need to make a separate entrance
and transfer the object to the category of non-residential premises. If the entrance to the office is through a common staircase, this is illegal and will entail liability under Part 1 of Article 7.21 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. But there is a nuance.
The legislator specifically stipulated that citizens registered and living in an apartment can carry out professional activities there. Not the production of goods, not the breeding of dogs, but something harmless, like painting or legal services. And then under one condition: if there are no complaints from other residents.
As judicial practice shows, administrations sometimes even file lawsuits to terminate the ownership of an apartment
in relation to those citizens who, after warnings, continue to use the apartment as an office. I was unable to find solutions where the requirements were satisfied.
But this does not mean that they do not exist. And the protocols under Part 1 of Article 7.21 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, as well as the complaints against them, are countless. If there is an office (hotel) in the next apartment and you are tired of it, file a complaint with the local housing inspectorate. I'm sure they will be happy with this message.
How to choose the right area?
One of the important stages is the choice of premises for the future office. In order not to make a mistake, the tenant should pay attention to the following main factors:
- Location of the future office – one of the main criteria for a successful business. As a rule, many people prefer the central part of the city and places near good transport interchanges.
However, in this case, the nature of the activity that the tenant will conduct in a particular premises should also be taken into account. If a personal visit from clients is not required to a large extent (for example, an agency for the development and promotion of websites), then you can choose premises in residential areas. Such an office will cost much less.In addition, when choosing a location for a future office, you should definitely analyze the number of competitors operating nearby.
- Rent amount - it must be adequate and correspond to the quality of the premises offered by the landlord. If you have limited financial resources, preference should be given to more budget options. You can also pay attention to the method of registering an office lease to account for the renovation of the premises.
- Availability of parking – it is very important that clients, as well as the company’s employees themselves, have the opportunity to leave their vehicles near the office. The tenant should check in advance how many parking spaces they can count on.
- Internal condition of the premises - if the apartment has never been rented out as an office, then most likely it will need to be renovated. If the tenant does not want to bother with landscaping the premises, then preference should be given to premises that are already ready for move-in.
- Other factors (ease of use, landscaping of the local area, presence of scandalous neighbors at the entrance, etc.).
