Foreclosure of two apartments combined into one, with a total area of ​​688 sq. m. m. Preliminary analysis of the case and arguments of the cassation appeal. New legal positions await us!

Any changes in the size of individual rooms or the transfer of interior partitions in the apartment are recognized as redevelopment, the implementation of which is impossible without obtaining prior permission.

Today, apartment owners have gone much further and began to divide their property into several separate apartments. Such manipulations with housing require compliance with a special approval and legalization procedure.

Dividing an apartment into two apartments is more common in Moscow, the Moscow region and St. Petersburg due to the high demand for rental housing in these cities.

It is much easier and more profitable to rent out several small separate apartments than one consisting of three or four rooms.

We will discuss in detail below which apartments can be legally divided and what needs to be done for this.

What is the essence and necessity of separating apartments?

Dividing one apartment into two separate ones may be necessary in various life situations . Some of the owners are trying to use their property more profitably as an investment object, others cannot come to an agreement with the second owner of the property and are trying to distance themselves as much as possible from their neighbor.

Before answering the question: how to divide an apartment into two apartments, you need to understand the motives for such a desire. Despite the fact that most often citizens seek to combine several apartments into one, opposite situations also occur.

The division of an apartment into several separate real estate units usually occurs in the following situations:

• divorce of spouses who were unable to agree on the division of jointly acquired property;
• division of property by heirs who do not want to jointly own one property;
• allocation of a separate living space for a grown child;
• the desire to profitably sell real estate or rent it out to several tenants at once.

Both single apartments and those that in the past were combined from two separate residential premises are subject to division into two apartments.

How to turn a two-room apartment into two studios? About the same as from a one-room studio to two. Distinctive features in the procedure for approving redevelopments of this nature apply only to those apartments that were initially combined and those that were initially considered unified.

But the larger the apartment, the more difficult it is to legally divide it. This is due to the fact that for each new residential property the law establishes special rules, violation of which will become an obstacle to registration of changes.

When is the easiest time to share an apartment?

There are several options when the section is least troublesome:

• Apartment on the first floor . No need to think about the layout of the neighbors below. You only need to take into account the location of the premises of the neighbors above. A separate entrance can be arranged from the street if the compulsory health authorities have allowed changing the façade of the building.
• The apartment was originally equipped with two bathrooms . The problem of placing a toilet with a bath above non-residential premises disappears. What remains is the competent choice of location for the kitchen and the organization of a separate entrance. The problem of kitchen ventilation can be solved by moving the exhaust duct outside.
• The separated apartment was originally two apartments that were combined for some reason . In this case, you just need to restore the former partitions and dismantle the blocked openings.

Important: All these advantages do not matter if the apartment is not privatized. Do not expect to obtain the consent of the owner (state or local authorities) to separate separate apartments from one (even a large one).

Conclusion

There is no ban on dividing an apartment, but there are requirements for the housing that will be created.

Read more: Pre-trial appeal to the Pension Fund for debt write-off

Reconstruction of an apartment to create two full-fledged residential facilities requires large financial costs. This is not only money spent on repairs. Ordering an examination, registering property rights, dividing a personal account is also an investment of time and money.

The division of an apartment in kind can be contrasted with more profitable options:

• Receiving compensation for your share in the apartment.
• Full sale of the disputed premises.

Of course, both situations will require additional funds (for example, obtaining a loan). But the result will be housing without legal flaws. There will be no one who will challenge the redevelopment done or complain about the violation of their housing rights.

The video story will tell you how to determine the order of use and division of the apartment

Regulatory Requirements

Is it possible to make two apartments out of one and legitimize them, we have decided. It is quite possible to do this, the main thing is to comply with all regulations and standards.

So, how can you turn an apartment into two apartments? For 2021, the following rules apply, which must be observed when changing the living space of the premises:

1. Each newly created housing must have a separate bathroom, kitchen and a separate exit to the landing.
2. All changes must comply with fire safety rules and sanitary and hygienic requirements.
3. Any changes must be agreed upon with the neighbors of the apartment building.
4. The kitchen should not be located above the living rooms of the neighbors below.
5. You cannot install a gas stove in a kitchen niche, which is located in a one-room apartment.

The space for a new bathroom in a divided apartment must first be transferred from residential status to non-residential status.

It is actually difficult to comply with all these requirements . Therefore, not every homeowner makes such radical changes. The requirement to prohibit the placement of a wet zone under the living rooms of neighbors makes such a layout possible only on the first floors of apartment buildings.

Building a separate entrance for each new apartment seems like an impossible requirement . However, the law gives him an alternative. It is possible to organize a separate vestibule in a divided apartment for several separate residential properties. But you need to understand that the vestibule significantly reduces the part of the living space that could count towards the area of ​​one of the apartments.

How to turn a one-room apartment into two apartments? Do not forget that for this the minimum values ​​for residential premises must be met.

Thus, according to SNiP 31-01-2003 “Residential multi-apartment buildings”, the area of ​​a living room in a one-room apartment must be at least 14 square meters, in a two-room apartment - 16 square meters.

The size of a bedroom in a residential apartment for one person must be at least 9 square meters, for two people - 10 square meters; kitchens – 8 square meters.

Which apartments cannot be divided?

When wondering how to make two studios out of a one-room apartment, you need to take into account other prohibitions along with those we indicated above.

The division of an apartment is subject to a ban that relates to the following restrictions:

1. Reconstruction of an apartment can lead to the destruction of load-bearing structures, deterioration of the condition of the facade of the premises, and disruptions in the operation of communications or fire safety devices.
2. Dividing an apartment into two entails a deterioration in the lives of the neighbors of a multiple-family home or their protected rights.
3. It is prohibited to divide an apartment in such a way that the new residential units will not have natural lighting or heating appliances.
4. It is forbidden for ventilation ducts related to the kitchen, bathroom or toilet to be combined with ducts that have access to living quarters.
5. In violation of other laws, regulations and standards.

You need to understand that any unauthorized changes can lead to the destruction of the house and casualties from neighbors . That is why government agencies control such changes in residential real estate and not everyone gives permission for such innovations.

Order an examination

In private, it is difficult to determine the potential for partition; to do this, you should have knowledge and information about:

• Technical characteristics of the house itself (where are the load-bearing walls, common area, etc.).
• The layout of the neighbors (not all neighbors allow an inspection, especially if unauthorized redevelopment has been done).
• Possibility of additional gasification and electrification of newly created apartments, provision of water and sewerage.
• Subtleties and nuances of fire and engineering safety.

Therefore, it is recommended that an examination of the division of the apartment be carried out by those who are professionals in this field. There are campaigns (participants of self-regulatory organizations) that engage in such analysis on an ongoing basis and have experience working with all the necessary information.

Based on the results of the examination, an expert opinion will be drawn up on the technical feasibility of separating individual apartments from one. Based on it, you can order a redevelopment project, legalize it and begin to implement the section in practice.

Important: Unauthorized redevelopment is a violation of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation (Article 29). The court may force the premises to be returned to their original appearance or the property to be sold at auction. Yes, and you will have to pay a fine (2 - 2.5 thousand rubles) according to Art. 7.21 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.

Division of a combined apartment

Is it possible to divide a two-level apartment into two? Yes, that's possible too . Moreover, usually two-level apartments by default are already previously combined from two separate rooms on different floors.

The difference in the division of housing will concern not horizontal changes, but vertical ones. In such apartments it is much easier to organize the location of new rooms with wet areas, since your second apartment will be located below.

Dividing an apartment that has already been combined from two separate residential properties is easier than separating separate properties.

But at the same time, it will also be necessary to take into account the following nuances:

1. It is necessary to draw up a project for the ongoing redevelopment, which reflects the possibility of installing a partition and the procedure for restoring previously sealed access from the staircase.
2. It is necessary to separate the previously combined electricity and water supply systems.
3. Obtaining permits from authorized bodies.
4. Carrying out work and legitimizing it, registering property rights to individual real estate objects.

This situation of dividing an apartment is possible if the property has one owner or the owners do not have any claims against each other. Otherwise, such issues are resolved exclusively in court.

It is much easier to divide an apartment in a low-rise building than in a building of 9 or 16 floors . In a low-rise building, it is much easier to come to an agreement with neighbors, it is easier to equip communications and separate entrances for each resident of a new apartment.

Judicial section

If the owners of the disputed apartment cannot find common ground on the issue of dividing the apartment, then the dispute must be resolved by filing an appropriate statement of claim with the judicial authorities.

A statement of claim for the division of an apartment is submitted exclusively to the district court due to the specifics of the dispute and the cost of the claim. Issues relating to real estate due to its value do not fall within the competence of magistrates.

Procedure

To carry out the division of residential real estate in court, the following algorithm of actions must be followed:

1. Conducting an assessment of divisible real estate to establish its exact value and calculate the price of state duty.
2. Determining the order of division of the apartment. For these purposes, specialists may be involved who will conduct a construction and technical examination in order to establish the possibility of dividing housing.
3. Drawing up a statement of claim and collecting all documents confirming the applicant’s position, as well as further submitting the specified package of documents to the court.
4. Taking part in a lawsuit and waiting for the claim to be considered on its merits.
5. Obtaining a court decision and implementing its requirements.

The most difficult thing will begin after the court’s decision - the owner’s obligation to do the redevelopment, especially if the court has assigned any obligations to both homeowners.

Procedure

After the statement of claim has been submitted to proceedings, the judge schedules a hearing to consider the requirements of the specified document. When resolving a dispute on the merits, the court is guided by the arguments of the parties to the case, the evidence they provide, as well as the materials of the construction and technical examination, which can be either attached to the additions to the statement of claim or appointed at the initiative of the court.

After studying all the circumstances necessary for a full and comprehensive consideration of the case, the court makes a decision on the possibility of dividing one apartment into two separate ones.

However, according to practice, dividing housing in a multi-storey building into several parts is practically impossible due to the large number of technical requirements provided for this procedure.

As a rule, the most likely possibility for separating two apartments from the original one are cases when:

1. The disputed housing previously consisted of two separate apartments.
2. The housing has a large area and duplicate units (bathroom, kitchen).
3. The building is one-story, which allows, without any problems, to implement one of the most essential conditions for such a section - to create separate exits for each newly created room.

In other cases, the court may come to the conclusion about establishing a procedure for the use of the specified real estate, payment of monetary compensation or its sale, with the subsequent distribution of the proceeds between the owners.

Duty cost

Due to the property nature of this category of claims, the specified document is subject to payment of state duty. The agreed tax is calculated from the total amount of claims, in accordance with the provisions of Art. 333.19 Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

In addition, in some cases, the parties will need to pay for construction and technical expertise, as well as the services of representatives in court.

The procedure for calculating the duty is set out in the table below.

Statement

The contents of the application and the requirements for the attached documents are specified in Art. 131-132 Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation. When drawing up a claim, the applicant should indicate in the document the following information:

• name and address of the court;
• data of the parties to the case (full name, addresses, contacts);
• price of the statement of claim;
• a descriptive part that contains information regarding the procedure for acquiring and using an apartment, as well as the shares belonging to the owners;
• an indication of the reasons for contacting the judicial authorities, as well as information regarding the voluntary resolution of the controversial issue;
• reflection in the reasoning part of the claim of the preferred option for dividing the disputed housing, explaining one’s position by legal norms;
• list of additional materials;
• signature and date.

Expert opinion

Noskov Georgy

Lawyer. Experience 12 years. Specialization: civil, family, inheritance law.

An example sample is posted below. It illustrates only one typical situation related to the division of a privatized apartment. In life, every situation is individual and it is better to entrust the preparation of such a complex legal document to a competent lawyer.

Documentation

In addition to the statement of claim, the following documents must be submitted to the court:

• expert report on the cost of the disputed apartment;
• conclusion of construction and technical expertise (if available);
• technical documentation for the apartment;
• confirmation of payment of state duty;
• copies of the claim for all parties to the case;
• other documents relevant for a comprehensive consideration of the case.

Most documents will be provided in copies, but keep the originals ready during the trial as they may be required at the request of the judge.

How is an apartment divided?

The general algorithm for dividing real estate is as follows:

• drafting and approval of the project;
• coordination of the decision with municipal authorities;
• actual division of one apartment into two;
• inspection of work performed by inspectors and drawing up an inspection report;
• registration of new real estate objects.

Each new property will be assigned a separate number in the register. All existing real estate objects with cadastral numbers will be recorded in the Unified State Register of Real Estate.

To draw up a project, you will need to contact a specialized organization, where you will have to provide a technical passport of the apartment or a floor plan.

The housing inspection will need to be visited for approval not only with the project in hand. In addition to the project, the owner is required to submit the following set of documentation:

• statement;
• title documents for the apartment;
• conclusion of a specialized organization on the possibility of carrying out work;
• a copy of the applicant's passport;
• technical passport for the apartment;
• consent of homeowners;
• permissions from the gas service, electricians, neighbors.

The time frame for approving redevelopment in the form of an apartment division is about 2-4 months. It will take about 2 more months to obtain new title documents for real estate and record all changes in the BTI.

After the renovation work is completed, an inspector comes to visit and checks that the changes comply with the project agreements. Based on the inspection, he draws up an act in three copies, the first of which is received by the owner, the second is given to the BTI, the third is kept in the municipal authorities.

Judicial division of an apartment

If an apartment has several owners who voluntarily decide to divide the property among themselves, it is enough for them to enter into a division agreement among themselves. If desired, it can be certified by a notary to minimize risks.

The agreement is drawn up in addition to all the documents that are collected to obtain permission to separate . The agreement protects only the interests of a specific party in this dispute.

If the owners cannot peacefully agree on the division of housing, they have to go to court with a corresponding statement of claim. Before filing a claim in court, it is necessary to conduct an assessment of the divisible property to determine its exact value.

The court more often in this case refuses to satisfy such claims, obliging them to resolve the issue of division of property not in kind, but by selling it and dividing financial resources among themselves.

The court will most likely satisfy the claim only if the disputed housing previously consisted of separate apartments, the housing has a large area and several bathrooms, or the building is simply a one-story private house.

The issue will take a very long time to resolve in court . After the decision is made, you will have to wait another month until it comes into force.

Apartment owners have the right to distribute their property in kind into several separate separate residential premises. Moreover, any division of an apartment must be accompanied by compliance with rules and sanitary standards, following the procedure for approving redevelopment with local authorities and the Housing Inspectorate.

Unauthorized changes in the division of an apartment can lead to large fines and orders to return the premises to their original state.

Agreement on dividing an apartment into two

An agreement to divide one apartment into two is concluded between all owners of such real estate. It is not subject to notarization, but the parties can have it certified by a notary if they wish, insuring themselves against possible surprises.

Content

The voluntary separation agreement must contain the following information:

• place of document preparation;
• Full names of all owners;
• information about the subject of the section such as address, total area, etc.;
• inventory information, technical data;
• the value of the property according to the assessment;
• the procedure for dividing real shares going to each owner;
• information that the object of the agreement has not been sold, not donated, and is not pledged or under arrest;
• agreement on the procedure for the parties to bear certain expenses associated with the division of real estate;
• additional items required by law;
• date of document preparation;
• signatures of all co-owners.

The agreement is drawn up in three copies without notarization and in four copies with notarization:

• 1 copy will remain with the notary;
• 1st - for each owner;
• another one will go to Rosreestr for registration of rights.

An approximate example of an agreement in this case can be seen using the example of a residential building allocated in kind.

How is it

As already noted, in order to draw up an agreement on the actual division of an apartment, property owners need to contact a notary office and provide the following package of documents:

• technical documentation for the divided apartment;
• title documents for the division object;
• certificate of state registration of joint ownership of residential premises;
• personal identification documents of all owners;
• certificate of divorce or marriage, if the owners of the property are husband and wife.
• other documents necessary to confirm the documents reflected in the agreement.

A similar package of documents will be required to conclude an agreement without a notary, when the owners immediately take the document drawn up to Rosreestr or the MFC to submit for registration of rights to newly formed real estate.

Expenses

Concluding an agreement on the real division of an apartment may cause some costs associated with the implementation of this procedure, for example:

• payment for work to establish the estimated value of the divisible property (from 2,000 to 5,000 rubles);
• carrying out construction and technical examination (from 10,000 rubles);
• state duty paid upon registration of a document in the amount of 0.5% of the price of the disputed apartment.
• expenses associated with registering property rights to newly created apartments with Rosreestr (2,000 rubles as of 2021).

All costs, excluding fees, are approximate. For more details, check with the relevant institutions in your region, prices for which can vary significantly even within one locality.

How to divide a personal account in an apartment for utility bills

• Each owner is responsible for the timely payment of fees associated with the use of residential premises in proportion to the size of his share in the ownership of housing (Article 249 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation);
• In municipal (state) housing, family members of the tenant have similar rights and obligations, and former family members bear responsibilities for maintaining housing independently (Article 69 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation).

Since a financial personal account is a document issued exclusively for residential premises (and not for owners) belonging to citizens on various grounds, its division means the formation of two or more newly created residential premises from one and, therefore, the creation of a communal apartment.