What the law allows you to do
The desire to own their own land is common to many Russians. We like to isolate ourselves from neighbors and passers-by, hence the appearance of two- to three-meter solid fences. This desire is partly characteristic of residents of high-rise buildings in cities.
Some time ago, in Moscow and some other cities, authorities began to actively fight against unauthorized fences.
around high-rise buildings. Residents install them for various reasons - to prevent strangers from littering, parking cars, and not distracting residents from their business.
But the fact is that it is possible to legally install a fence around the yard of an apartment building. Yes, it is not so simple and very expensive, but the fence around the yard performs its functions.
The main requirement for fences, gates, gates and barriers is that they can only be installed in those areas that are allocated to the common shared ownership of the residents of the house (that is, when the yard is owned by the residents of the house). Accordingly, the residents of the house must agree to the installation of the fence
, or rather 2/3 of them or more.
The fencing must be approved by certain government authorities and also meet a number of requirements.
Installing a fence around the yard does not contradict the laws, in particular this is confirmed by the following documents:
- Housing Code: Article 36 (reveals the ownership of common property), 44-48 (powers of the general meeting of residents and the procedure for holding it);
- Civil Code: Article 209 (explains general issues of property rights);
- Land Code: Article 26 (reveals documents confirming land ownership);
- Resolution of the Plenum of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and the Plenum of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation No. 22 dated April 29, 2010: paragraph 67 (indicates who can dispose of the land plot on which the apartment building is located);
- regional regulations that regulate the issues of fencing the local area.
In general, these regulations are the basis of the existing order of disposal of the land on which the house and surrounding area are located. Thus, the legislation recognizes the right of the residents of the house to this plot of land and allows the installation of a fence on it.
However, the order itself has a number of features.
Use of land near the house
There is a text of the Rules for the maintenance of property in houses with a large number of apartments; it talks in detail about what the local area of any property consists of:
- These are any objects without which normal operation of the house becomes impossible;
- Heating points;
- Transformer substations;
- Fire lanes;
- Collective parking lots and clothes dryers;
- Areas for children's recreation and sports;
- Elements involved in landscaping and landscaping;
- A plot of land with an erected building.
Owners do not have the right to restrict access to the land located around the house.
It is only possible to install paid parking, place advertising boards, and lease out part of the area.
Money from these activities can be used for general house needs.
Only at a general meeting can residents decide what exactly this or that object will be used for.
The main and most common purpose is the installation of fencing posts, arrangement of parking lots, planting trees, construction of entertainment areas.
received should also be distributed collectively .
Stages of registration
Allocation of local area
As we wrote in the material about allocating a plot for parking, residents of an apartment building can dispose of the adjacent territory only if it is allocated in the cadastre as a separate plot of land and registered as the common shared property of the residents.
Therefore, the first step is to register ownership of the site, if this has not been done previously. Usually the courtyards of old houses are not registered as the property of the residents
, since the Housing Code obliging this came into force only in 2005.
It’s easy to check whether the plot under the house is allocated - you need to go to the public cadastral map of Russia (website https://pkk5.rosreestr.ru) and find your yard on the map:
If the yard area is surrounded by a red line, it is highlighted as a plot. By clicking on it, you can find out information about the site. The main thing here is his status. If it's "temporary"
- They started to design the site, but did not finish the work.
This usually happens when municipal authorities have divided the territory into courtyards, but this territory has not yet been transferred to the ownership of residents. If the status is “previously registered”
- the plot was transferred into ownership before 2008,
“registered”
- it was registered after 2008.
For a relatively old foundation, if the house does not belong to an HOA, the plot will most likely need to be allocated and registered as property. The procedure is as follows:
- hold a general meeting of residents of the house on the issue of allocating a plot.
The majority of residents must vote for this, which is documented in the minutes of the meeting. At the meeting, you need to choose a person who will deal with the documents. Most often, they choose the person in charge of the house (if there is one) or the one who understands this and has free time. - Having the minutes of the residents’ meeting, you need to contact the local administration
to form a site; - When the administration forms the site, it is necessary to carry out land surveying ( draw up a land survey plan
). This is done by a cadastral engineer, most often for money. The plan is a collection of files on a CD; - then all available documents (including those establishing the tenants’ ownership rights), a receipt for payment of 200 rubles of state duty and the existing CD must be submitted to Rosreestr
to register the tenants’ ownership of the land plot.
You can allocate a plot of land for ownership even if there are no subsequent plans. This will give residents the opportunity to independently manage their yard territory and not depend on the decisions of the local government.
As for the taxation of adjacent land plots, for several years now they have not been subject to land tax
.
Therefore, at the first stage there should be no problems (unless the local administration has questions about filling out the minutes of the residents’ meeting).
Holding a meeting of owners
After holding a meeting, surveying the site and registering it with Rosreestr, the residents of the house can dispose of their yard at their own discretion (but within the limits of the law). And one of their rights is to install a fence around the perimeter of the yard.
Since the yard is in common shared ownership, the decision must again be made at a general meeting of the residents of the house. More than half of the residents must attend, and 2/3 or more residents must vote
.
For further approval, you need to have minutes of the residents' meeting. At the same meeting, you can discuss technical issues - type of fencing, contractor, cost, payment procedure.
Problems at this stage are associated only with the reluctance of individual residents to install fencing. Some people don't need it, but for others it's too expensive. It is impossible to threaten and intimidate neighbors if a person does not want to vote for the initiative; this is his right, which must be respected.
In general, this is the same meeting as in other cases, and no special requirements are put forward for it.
Project and its approval
Once the residents vote on installing the fence, a project needs to be drawn up. To avoid problems in the future, it is best to entrust the drafting to a specialized company.
. Taking into account the cost of erecting a fence, the costs of the project will not be so high.
It is not indicated anywhere that the project should be carried out by a specialized company, but the requirements for it are very strict: you need a master plan of the project on an up-to-date topographic map, a drawing of fragments of the fence and gate, photographs of the proposed installation site, etc. The work is complex and an unprepared person cannot cope with it.
The project must comply with existing sanitary standards and regulations, including the height of the fence and the degree of its transparency. As an example, here are the requirements for fences in Yekaterinburg (each city has its own):
- ordinary multi-storey and mid-rise buildings: transparent fences no higher than 0.9 meters
, fencing elements no higher than 0.75 meters; - closed block development: transparent fences no higher than 1.6 meters, fencing elements no higher than 0.75 meters;
- houses of blocked development: fences along the common facade no higher than 0.9 meters, between sections - fences or hedges no higher than 1.6 meters.
The project must comply with all the requirements of local regulations, otherwise it will not be approved by the local administration.
When the project has been drawn up, approvals must be obtained before work on the construction of the fence begins. These are the following departments:
- Inspectorate for State Architectural and Construction Supervision. There is such an inspection in every region and checks the project for compliance with building codes;
- regional department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations
, which must make sure that after the construction of the fence there will be free entry for emergency vehicles; - local traffic police department
, which checks the project for compliance with traffic rules (which prohibit blocking through passages with barriers or gates); - local emergency medical services unit.
Each of the departments can present their comments on the draft, then it will have to be finalized. Typically, emergency services require that their vehicles have unobstructed access to the yard, which is quite difficult to organize in practice.
Fence construction
After approval of the project, construction can begin. In order for everything to comply with the project, you will need to hire a construction company. Now many companies (especially in large cities) offer turnkey construction of fences.
Residents can only choose the material from which the fence will be built:
- wooden palisade - relatively cheap, but not very durable without appropriate processing;
- fences made of steel mesh are considered the best choice. Chain-link mesh is already outdated (and it is not allowed everywhere for fencing a yard in the city), and the best choice would be the so-called 3D fence:
- wrought iron fence is a more expensive option, used in luxury residential complexes. The price depends on the complexity and number of individual elements;
- plastic fence - assembled from PVC or polycarbonate panels. If the materials are of high quality and the assembly is correct, such a fence will last for decades;
- a fence made of wood-polymer composite is a modern material that can withstand different weather conditions well. Minus - it is not allowed to install a continuous fence everywhere:
- living fence is not suitable for all regions, is expensive and requires constant maintenance. But with the right choice and timely care, it looks best.
Additionally, you need to choose whether entry and entry will be limited
into the yard and by what means to achieve this:
- barrier;
- sliding gates;
- regular gates;
- retractable poles, etc.
Next, residents must decide how entry control will be carried out. Since emergency services require unhindered access to any yard, you need to station a security guard at the entrance or organize constant video surveillance (with the ability to open the entrance remotely).
There are many options, they differ in price and convenience. In general, the choice must be made at the first meeting of residents, when the question of whether to fence the yard or not is decided. Then you need to discuss the price of the issue and subsequent monthly expenses.
How to find out the boundaries of the local area?
Since all local areas undergo special registration with government agencies, you can find out their boundaries using the appropriate databases . The most accessible of them is the Public Cadastral Map , available on the Rosreestr website.
More accurate information can be found in the cadastral passport, which should be kept by the chairman of the house management. Another option is to submit a request to the state unified register of real estate rights. It will help you find out not only the external boundaries of the site, but also its area, the date of registration in the register and other useful information.
IMPORTANT. In accordance with Article 36 of the Housing Code, such a site is accompanied by sidewalks, driveways, various green spaces, etc., created in order to provide the apartment building with comfort.
Next, let's talk about SNIP standards regarding the size of the local area.
Is it possible to install a barrier
Putting a fence around the house, but leaving the entrance open, makes little sense, so together with the fence, they usually agree on the installation of a barrier or other means of blocking the entrance.
This issue is a little more complex than simply installing a fence, because after installing the barrier, you need to ensure unhindered passage for emergency services. It is also necessary to provide for free passage of customers
to shops and service enterprises located in the house.
That is, simply installing a barrier and handing out keys (remotes) to residents will not work. This issue is solved in different ways:
- write the security telephone number on the barrier;
- they place a guard post right next to the barrier;
- install video surveillance with remote opening of the barrier;
- They instruct the concierge of a nearby building to open the entrance.
The option “give the keys to firefighters and ambulance” will not work
, because there can be thousands of yards in the city and emergency services will not carry them with them and look for the right one.
From the point of view of the law, the obligation to coordinate the entry procedure at the federal level is established only in relation to vehicles of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. The entry procedure for police vehicles, ambulances, gas service, and emergency service of the management company is determined at the municipal level.
As a result, the barrier needs to be approved by three authorities:
- Ministry of Emergency Situations - so that there is always the possibility of unimpeded entry for a fire truck;
- Traffic police - so that the installation does not violate the Traffic Rules;
- city authorities - so that the installation complies with the requirements of the Landscaping Rules or other local documents.
So far, the issue of installing a barrier or gate in the yard is not easy to resolve. The Ministry of Emergency Situations and the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate do not always accommodate residents halfway, rightly believing that this will make it difficult for special vehicles to enter the yard.
It is also difficult to obtain approval from the local authorities, since the issue is submitted to a session of the local council, and they are held no more than once a month, and it is not a fact that the deputies will agree with the residents’ decision.
A relatively clear procedure for installing a barrier is provided only in Moscow. There it is enough to mark on the map the location of the barrier installation and submit documents to the council of deputies of the district
.
Moreover, if the yard is located near a street with paid parking, the city will provide up to 50 thousand rubles in subsidies
for each barrier.
Perhaps soon the procedure for installing gates or barriers at the entrance to the yard will be reviewed at the federal level. One idea is to distribute universal keys to emergency services.
Possible problems
Despite the simplicity of registering a local area, some problems may arise during the procedure, for example, due to incorrectly defined boundaries of the site or its deliberate increase/decrease.
Example. After the residents discussed all current issues at the general meeting and decided to privatize the yard, the appointed initiative group began re-registration. Appraisers determined the cadastral value, land surveying was ordered and successfully carried out in Rosreestr, and property rights were registered. After some time, it turned out that part of the fenced local area interfered with the free movement of random passers-by. The authorities immediately responded to the violation and went to court. After considering all the circumstances of the case, the judge issued a ruling to dismantle the interfering structure, at the expense of the land owners, that is, the residents of the apartment building.
And if at the initial stages, during cadastral work, all urban planning and land management standards had been taken into account, such a problem would not have arisen. Therefore, each step of privatization should be approached as responsibly and carefully as possible. It is important not only to collect the entire package of documents and submit it for review. And make sure that the information contained in them does not violate the rights and interests of other people.
