How is the privatization of a communal apartment carried out?

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A room in a communal apartment is quite uncomfortable housing due to the absence (in most cases) of its own bathroom and kitchen, as well as its extremely compact size. However, be that as it may, this is housing and if it is provided by the municipality for free, then even better. Is it possible to privatize such real estate, how to do it and what are the features - read in this article.

Is it possible to privatize a room in a communal apartment?

The main problem with the privatization of housing of this type is the need to obtain the consent of all residents. However, this is true only for those persons who are actually officially registered in the room and does not apply to all other inhabitants of the communal apartment.

A room in a communal apartment has all the signs of a separate home. In particular, a separate entrance. It is most important. At the same time, premises containing a kitchen and a bathroom (as well as any other premises considered common to all residents of a communal apartment (Article 41 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation)) are not subject to privatization. Thus, a room in a communal apartment can be privatized (Law No. 1541-1), but the inconvenience due to a shared kitchen and bathroom will not go away.

If residents of all rooms of a communal apartment privatize their homes, then they will all be able to submit a collective application for privatization into common shared ownership of common premises, such as the kitchen and bathroom. In fact, this will change little, but it will open up opportunities for redevelopment, reconstruction, and so on.

Who can

In accordance with Article 2 of Law No. 1541-1, privatization of a room in a communal apartment is available only to persons who meet the following conditions:

• The person is officially registered in the room.
• A social rental agreement has been concluded.
• The applicant has not previously participated in privatization.
• The consent of all other residents of this room (but not the entire communal apartment as a whole) was obtained.

Terms of a transaction

Among other things, the terms of the transaction in terms of real estate must also be met. You can only privatize a room that:

• Does not apply to dilapidated housing.
• Has a separate entrance.
• Transferred for use on the basis of a social tenancy agreement.
• Not taken out of circulation.

Among other things, you will also need a registration certificate for the premises. If for some reason it is not there, the document will first need to be issued.

The rooms in those communal apartments located in dormitories deserve special attention. Privatization of these objects is possible only on the condition that the hostel as a whole is transferred to the balance of the municipality. Otherwise, it will be considered private property and therefore not subject to privatization.

Concept

If certain requirements are met, tenants can become full owners of residential premises.

The procedure for free transfer of municipal (state) real estate into private ownership was defined as “privatization”.

The Law “On the Privatization of Housing Stock in the Russian Federation” (No. 1541-1 dated July 4, 1991, as amended on December 20, 2017) enshrines the principle of voluntariness.

If residents for some reason do not want to become owners, forced registration of property is impossible.

Advantages and disadvantages

Privatizing a room is certainly a very significant step, providing the new owner with a lot of advantages. However, it also has disadvantages that should be taken into account.

Where to begin

Where to start privatization? First, you need to clarify the status of the premises, as well as determine who owns the housing. The first is necessary in order to understand whether such real estate can be privatized in principle. And the second is needed in order to figure out where exactly to apply for permission.

It is very easy to obtain information about the owner - all you need to do is look at the receipt for payment of utility bills. And you can check with the owner about the status of the room.

Procedure

Once the status and owner are determined, you need to follow these instructions:

1. Collect consent from people officially registered in the room.
2. Prepare documents.
3. Make a statement.
4. Send an application to the municipality or “My Documents”.
5. Receive a decision and sign a privatization agreement.
6. Register ownership in Rosreestr.

Process, procedure

Collecting consent from all residents of the room is unlikely to take long, since it is unlikely that many people will be registered in such a small room. There is an alternative. If one of the residents cannot or does not want to participate in privatization, he can write an application for refusal and have it notarized.

An uncertified document of this type has no force. In addition, when drawing up a refusal, a person must understand that he is automatically deprived of the right to his share of the room. It makes sense to do this when such real estate is really not needed, or the person has already participated in privatization before.

The next stage is preparation of documentation. In practice, this is what takes the most time, especially if the registration certificate does not exist and will need to be pre-ordered. Fortunately, this is rare. However, even collecting basic documents takes an average non-specialist from 1 to 2 months. An experienced legal representative will cope with the task much faster.

Now all that remains is to prepare an application (see sample below) and send it to the appropriate authority. This can be done directly or privatization through the MFC (now called “My Documents”). The first option is a little faster, but the second is much more convenient.

After submitting the documents, all that remains is to wait for the decision and sign the privatization agreement. Usually this requires the signatures of all residents, but if you prudently issue a power of attorney for the representative, then one will be enough. You can now contact Rosreestr with the agreement and register ownership.

Deadlines

The entire privatization procedure takes from 2 months to six months. On average - 3-4 months. Of them:

• 1 month – collection and preparation of documents.
• 2 months – waiting for a decision.
• 1 month – registration of ownership.

Expenses

Privatization is considered free, but this is only true regarding the cost of the room itself. Indeed, you don’t need to pay anything for it. But no one has canceled the additional costs that arise during the privatization process:

• Extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate – 300 rubles.
• Extract from the house register – 200 rubles.
• The state fee for registration of property rights is 2000 rubles.
• Refusal from privatization – up to 1000 rubles.
• Power of attorney for a representative – about 1-5 thousand rubles.

Signing the contract

It does not matter how the documents and application were submitted, after its approval, an agreement on the transfer of ownership rights is signed with the local government, since they were the owner of the communal room.

A contract is a legal document that allows you to prove that the transfer of rights was completed legally. This form should be kept, since in any transaction - sale, donation, exchange - you cannot do without it.

The privatization agreement states:

1. Information about the parties to the agreement. On the one hand, this is the municipality, and on the other, all the residents participating in the procedure.
2. Information about the premises transferred into ownership.
3. Grounds for re-registration of living space with references to legislative acts.
4. Distribution of shares between participants.
5. Responsibilities of new owners.

The agreement is drawn up in several copies according to the number of parties involved. After signing it, the owner can only register his rights with Rosreestr.

Documents for privatization of a room in a communal apartment

To privatize a room in a communal apartment, you need to prepare approximately the following list of documents:

• Passport of a citizen of the Russian Federation.
• Child's birth certificate (relevant only if there are minor residents).
• Permission from the guardianship authorities (relevant only if there are minor residents).
• Social tenancy agreement.
• Extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate.
• Extract from the house register.
• Technical passport.
• Statement of the personal account of the apartment.

Depending on your region of residence, additional paperwork may be required. There is no clear list, so this point should be clarified separately.

Application for privatization

The application for privatization is identical to the classic one used for the privatization of a standard apartment:

Price

The concept of “free privatization” only means the absence of payment for square meters. The very paperwork itself will require the investment of some funds. The approximate cost of some certificates and extracts and the cost of state duty is as follows:

Prices for issuing other certificates and statements depend on their cost in each region.

With a minor child

Additional conditions apply for minors. So, they can participate in privatization twice: 1 time before reaching adulthood and 1 time after this moment. In this case, the method of becoming an adult does not matter:

• Reaching the age of 18 years.
• Wedding.
• Going to official work.

Separately, it should be noted that if minors (or a minor) are registered in the room, the documents must additionally be accompanied by permission from the guardianship authority.

Minors also have the right to independently privatize real estate, but this is possible only with the presence and decision of a guardian, or at the request of the guardianship authority.

Competent authorities

Privatization of residential premises is carried out by local authorities. In populated areas there are housing departments that form a queue of those in need of real estate, distribute social housing facilities and accept applications for the privatization procedure.

In addition to the Department for Housing Issues, applicants can contact:

1. Multifunctional centers at the location of the living space. The procedure for submitting documentation there is identical, and the MFC itself acts as a transfer link without making any decisions. MFCs are more popular because they have convenient opening hours and less workload.
2. Unified privatization center. Inconvenience of handling may be due to the lack of a department in a particular locality. Otherwise, they work more quickly, although you will have to pay extra for some of their services.

The choice of submission method is a personal decision for everyone; usually citizens focus on either convenience or the speed of receiving a response.

What to do if refused

Refusal to privatize is not a very common phenomenon, but it still exists. The applicant’s actions directly depend on what exactly caused the refusal.

Reasons for refusal

There are two categories of reasons for refusal of privatization:

• Reasonable . This includes reasons that, based on current legislation, may indeed form the basis for a refusal. For example, lack of documents, errors, forgery of papers, lack of consent from residents, and so on.
• Unfounded . This category contains any other problems that cannot cause a failure, but in fact are.

Example : Lack of signatures on documents or an uncertified application for refusal of privatization may become a reason for a justified refusal. The only way to solve such a problem is to correct the situation: sign or certify the refusal. But the requirement to provide a foreign passport or refusal for the reason that the consent of all residents of the apartment (and not just a specific room) has not been obtained is not considered justified. And they need to be challenged in court.

Procedure

The first thing you need to do is try to solve the problem “in an amicable way.” It's much easier and faster than going to court. If you need something simple, such as a foreign passport (provided you have one on hand), then it is much easier to give this document and close the issue than to go to court. But in the case when the requirements are clearly not justified, and at the same time it is unrealistic to fulfill them (for example, to collect the consent of all residents of a communal apartment who do not need it at all), then the only option left is to go to court.

Alternatively, you can try to contact management and try to explain that this requirement is not justified for one reason or another (in this case, it is better to use the services of an experienced lawyer to provide specific references to the laws). Sometimes it helps, because the refusal may be the initiative of an ordinary performer and the management is simply not aware of the existence of the problem.

Procedure:

1. Be sure to request the refusal in writing, signed and stamped, as well as indicating a specific reason. This is the main document from which you need to build in court.
2. Prepare other documents.
3. Make a statement.
4. Send an application to the court (in person or by mail).
5. Pay the state fee.
6. Wait for the meeting and attend it.
7. Get a court decision.
8. Wait for the decision to take effect.

Documentation

Approximately the following list of documents must be attached to the statement of claim:

• Passport of a citizen of the Russian Federation.
• Refusal to privatize.
• Social tenancy agreement.
• A copy of the application for privatization.
• Power of attorney for the representative and his passport (if required).

The specific list may vary greatly depending on the current situation and other features. It is better to consult a lawyer.

Application to court

Deadlines

On average, it takes about 2-3 months to consider such a case, after which a meeting is scheduled. It usually passes quickly, but you have to wait another 1 month for the decision to come into force (this time is allotted for a possible appeal by the second party). In total, it will take about 3-4 months until the procedure can be repeated.

Sometimes the decision may include certain requirements regarding the applicant. They also need to be fulfilled.

Expenses

Claims of this type are classified as non-property, since in this case there is actually no discussion about the room - you just need to recognize the refusal to privatize as invalid. As a result, the only type of expense will be a state duty in the amount of 300 rubles (clause 3, clause 1, article 333.19 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

Settlement agreement

If during the consideration of the application the parties were able to agree and come to a solution that suits them, a settlement agreement can be concluded. It automatically stops the hearing and consideration of the claim. It should be borne in mind that it will be very difficult to challenge this document, therefore it is worth signing it only if the proposal really suits the applicant.

Arbitrage practice

Example No. 1 : Plaintiff L.P. Kozhevnikova went to court. with a demand to recognize the refusal to privatize the room she occupied in a communal apartment as invalid. The applicant lives in the premises on the basis of a warrant issued back in 1992, before the date of adoption of the new Housing Code. However, the city administration believes that privatization is possible only if there is a social tenancy agreement, which the plaintiff does not have. The court, having considered the application and explanations of the parties, based on Article 47 of the Housing Code of the RSFSR (in force at the time the order was issued), decided that the order is a full-fledged analogue of a modern social tenancy agreement and therefore can be used instead of the specified document as a reason for privatizing the apartment. The decision was made in favor of the plaintiff.

Example No. 2 : The plaintiff, V.P. Semenov, appealed to the court, demanding that the refusal to privatize be invalidated. The basis stated is that the applicant has a serious debt on utility bills. The plaintiff points to the fact that Law No. 1541-1 makes no mention of the fact that this factor can be considered the reason for the refusal. The court, having examined the case and the statements of the parties, comes to the conclusion that yes, indeed, this reason cannot be a basis for refusal of privatization, but it may well become a reason for terminating a social tenancy agreement on the basis of failure to comply with its terms. As a result, it is decided that Semenov V.P. may carry out privatization, but only after transferring the debt directly to itself or repaying it in full.

Privatizing a room in a communal apartment can be a complex procedure that requires the intervention of an experienced legal representative. During a free consultation, our specialists will clarify the main controversial issues, but in order for everything to go as quickly and easily as possible for the client, they can also act as representatives.

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Author of the article

Natalya Fomicheva

Website expert lawyer. 10 years of experience. Inheritance matters. Family disputes. Housing and land law.

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