- Luxury hotel rooms;
- Spacious apartments located in prestigious residential complexes;
- Apartments with panoramic glazing.
Despite the fact that Russian legislation has long given a clear definition of the concept of “apartment”, their legal status is still in doubt among some experts.
“Let’s consider what the pros and cons of the new real estate format are, and we will also try to give an accurate definition of its legal status”
Why do apartments need legal status?
The first apartments appeared in Moscow 11 years ago. Commercial premises in the center were not in demand. Developers had to look for a new format for their use in order to compensate for their costs. The concept was quickly picked up in other cities. On the wave of popularity in Russia, apartments were opened in business centers and entire apartment complexes, for which even old departmental buildings were reconstructed. A new convenient format for living in the city center has appeared. Nearby are theaters, cinemas, restaurants. True, over the years the status of the apartments has not changed. Legally, they remained uninhabited.
The concept of “apartment” is not defined in any current law. Therefore, such real estate is significantly different from apartments. The apartments are not subject to housing legislation. Increased tariffs for electricity and water apply. Owners cannot complain about loud neighbors, and a noisy office can open at any moment behind the wall.
Available options in Moscow
In accordance with the research, the cost of operation is expected to be better in the elite segment, where the approximate rate is 177 rubles per square meter per month. In business class, this figure is about 72 rubles, while rooms in the “comfort” category cost their owners 70 rubles per meter.
The cost of services of management companies servicing apartment complexes in Moscow is approximately as follows:
| Name | Category | Cost of services of management companies (in rubles) |
| Marshal | Business Class | 50 |
| Petrovsky Apart House | Business Class | 53 |
| Water | Comfortable | 55 |
| Fili Grad | Comfortable | 55 |
| Peace Park | Business Class | 67 |
| Flotilla | Business Class | 70 |
| Loft Post | Business Class | 71 |
| Loft Garden | Business Class | 71 |
| The Loft | Business Class | 71 |
| Tivoli | Business Class | 93 |
| Manhattan House | Business Class | 100 |
| Residence Znamenka | Elite | 120 |
| Beijing Gardens | Elite | 120 |
| At the Patriarchal | Elite | 150 |
| EYE | Elite | 220 |
| Federation | Elite | 318 |
Legal status can smooth out significant shortcomings of apartments
- Impossibility of registration. Officially, the apartments are not classified as residential premises, so you cannot register in them. That is, if you come to Moscow and, in the hope of getting a registration, buy cheaper apartments, you can make a big mistake. Even temporary registration should only be counted on in those facilities that are part of the hotel or serviced by the management company.
- Lack of infrastructure. Developers, as a rule, do not try to create a convenient social infrastructure for apartment residents. You shouldn’t expect that there will be a park, parking lot or kindergarten nearby. But there will probably be a couple of cozy coffee shops or cafes nearby with attractive prices for business lunches. Metro station and convenient transport interchange.
- There are no SanPiN standards. The lack of loggias and balconies is a standard disadvantage of apartments. In addition, they are not subject to SanPin standards. It turns out that apartment owners are not protected, for example, from construction a couple of meters from the windows of a new building. There are no requirements for sound insulation either. Therefore, walls between neighbors may be suitable for conversations and negotiations.
- Expensive content. Apartment taxes are higher than condo taxes. The property tax on an apartment is 0.1-0.3% of its cadastral value, the tax on apartments can reach 2%. The cadastral value of apartments is lower than that of apartments. This may even out the difference in tax, but not always. You can check the cadastral value of the apartments you like in advance to roughly calculate the costs of their maintenance. This is easy and quick to do online in the EGRN.Reestr .
Maintenance of common property
Another very pressing issue is the maintenance of common property. If in residential buildings with apartments everything is more or less clear (you, as the owner of the apartment, are a co-owner of the common property, which in residential buildings, as a rule, is not so much and is not burdensome to maintain), then in houses with apartments the stories are sometimes of a completely different nature . In such buildings there are office premises, retail premises, some kind of meeting rooms, leisure rooms, smoking rooms, and even reading rooms. And you must also maintain all this property. And it doesn’t matter whether you use it or not. And the maintenance bills can be very, very large.
Is it possible to make money buying apartments?
2020 broke records for demand for apartments, prices for them have increased significantly. For example, in Moscow in October 2021 alone, the increase in apartment prices was 7%. Everyone actively invested their savings in real estate in order to make money on it in the future.
Apartments indeed seem to be a profitable investment in 2021. They are sold 20-30% cheaper than apartments in a neighboring residential complex, and are rented at the same price. The tenant does not care about the status of the premises. The variety of planning solutions adds to the attractiveness.
Experts note that investing in apartments is risky at the moment. It is unclear what status they will be given.
What is the rent in the apartments, are there any nuances when renting and living?
However, the apartments also have their advantages. First of all, this is an advantageous location, because most of them are built in the business districts of the city. On the Moscow market, up to 65% of such offers are in the Central Administrative District
.
The second advantage is that apartments are often sold with finished finishing, furniture and appliances
.
This state of affairs is convenient for landlords and those who are interested in their own “travel” housing
. Those wishing to carry out redevelopment will not face such stringent requirements that are typical for apartments. Hotel service, which is typical for all apartments, is also important.
Apartment Law
Discussions about the need to assign the status of apartments began at the end of last year. The main theses that sound in the context of the law on apartments look like this:
- prohibit further construction of apartments;
- recognize already constructed objects as residential;
- Apartments under construction should also be recognized as residential and taken into account in the volume of housing commissioning.
It is expected that a number of criteria will be established to recognize apartments as residential. It may be that “residential-non-residential” premises in hotels, mixed-use business centers and recently constructed apartment buildings are more likely to receive a new status than premises in older converted buildings.
Text: Pavlova Alexandra
Single people and landlords
The apartments are in demand among different categories of buyers. “They are most often bought by young people, couples with children, single men and older women (40-45 years old)
.
They are attracted by their price, good location, surroundings and original architecture of such objects
.
Also, due to the low cost of the “entrance ticket” in the apartment segment, the share of investment buyers is large – it reaches 25-30%. They can return the money with a profit when the complex is completed, or receive a stable income from rental (rates for renting apartments and apartments are no different),” Maria Litinetskaya, general director,
Realtor tips
Antonina Katkova, realtor: “Today, many people buy apartments to improve their living conditions. The fundamental difference from an apartment will be high taxes and utilities. First of all, these factors should be taken into account when purchasing apartments as a cheaper housing option.”
Dmitry Shmyrin, realtor: “When you decide to live permanently in an apartment, remember that the police have the right to enter your home without any warrant, simply based on the need. And also, if problems arise with utilities, the issue will be dealt with by the building management, which is usually in no hurry to resolve such issues.”
Armenian Barekyan, realtor: “Don’t forget about the lack of social protection if you have temporary registration in the apartment. After all, this type of registration of place of residence will create problems when enrolling children in educational institutions, the need to obtain various types of certificates and extracts for the family.”
Apartments are a relatively new type of real estate on the domestic market, popular and in demand in megacities. Their low price makes them a good affordable housing option for young people and a good investment for the future. Moreover, this type of real estate requires additional costs for its maintenance from the owners.
Active stage
The issue of legally equating apartments with apartments in high-rise buildings was first raised in 2021. However, the corresponding bill was sent for revision. Since then, the topic has been discussed several times.
“Today, the issue of the status of apartments is in an active stage of development; the bill is planned to be submitted to the State Duma within six months,” a representative of Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin told Izvestia.
In June 2020, the deputy chairman of the government told the media that the Cabinet was going to submit a document to the lower house of parliament by the end of the year. On November 19, Deputy Head of the Ministry of Construction Nikita Stasishin, speaking in the Federation Council, said that the ministry intends to approve the residential status of already built apartments, and also, possibly, ban their construction in the future.
Apartment demand
Photo: IZVESTIA/Konstantin Kokoshkin
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“There have been several attempts to solve the problem, but so far they have led nowhere. This is due to the fact that the automatic recognition of all apartments as housing will entail a number of new problems,” said Nikolai Nikolaev, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Natural Resources, Property and Land Relations.
A considerable part of the apartments were built on land plots not intended for the construction of housing - with the change in the status of the houses, the purpose of the land must also be changed, the parliamentarian clarified. There are also difficulties with calculating housing and communal services fees for such real estate and the amount of property tax. And now it is unclear how to solve all these problems, he explained.
Today the concept of apartments is absent in the legal field. The current legislation provides for two types of property: residential and non-residential premises, said Mikhail Chernyshev, a member of the State Duma Committee on Housing Policy and Housing and Public Utilities.
“But we cannot turn all non-residential premises into housing, which also includes factories, shops, and offices,” stressed Ilya Osipov, a member of the State Duma Committee on Housing Policy and Housing and Communal Services.
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