How to legally rent out a room

Renting out housing is one of the oldest real estate transactions. And at the moment there is no reason to believe that it may lose its relevance. There are always people who have excess square footage. And also people who need housing, but do not want, or do not have the opportunity, to become owners of real estate.

Our article is devoted to one of the aspects of renting housing - renting out a separate room. We will tell you how to make this transaction correctly. That is, without breaking the law, and at the same time without the risk of becoming a victim of a violation of the law by the counterparty.

Who benefits from renting and renting a room?

The question is rhetorical. The benefit is mutual. The owner of an apartment consisting of several rooms may only need one. The rest “stand as dead weight”, only requiring additional efforts to maintain cleanliness and costs for utilities. After all, they still need, at a minimum, heating.

Renting out “unnecessary” rooms allows you to reduce costs and even get an increase in income. In addition, with a successful combination of circumstances, a lonely person (namely, those who usually rent out rooms) receives a “living person in the house” who, if something happens, can provide the necessary help. For example, call a doctor.

Rooms are rented by young people who do not yet have their own home, but who are trying to “move out from their parents,” visitors who have not yet decided whether to “put down roots” in a new place, students, business travelers. In a word, people who need to live somewhere, and a room is a more profitable option than a separate apartment.

So “rented” rooms are a very popular product on the real estate market. However, the same applies to individual apartments.

Who has the right to rent out an apartment or room?

Of course, only the person to whom this “something” belongs has the right to rent out anything. That is, the owner of this property. But there is one caveat.

According to Article No. 608 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, lessors can be not only the owners themselves, but their authorized representatives. That is, the owner of the property does not have to rent it out himself. He can write a notarized power of attorney for any third party.

If there is not one owner, but several, then two options are possible:

Personal presence of all property owners during the transaction
Notarized powers of attorney from each of them, in the name of the one directly involved in the transaction

It happens that there is only one owner of a residential premises, but several people are registered on it. For example, members of his family who refused shared ownership, guided by one reason or another. If not only the owner is registered in the apartment, everyone registered in the living space must give consent to the owner concluding a lease agreement for the premises.

Who has the right under the law?

What laws govern it?

Eviction is subject to the requirements of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation under articles: 29, 35, 41, 60, 83, 84, 85, 90, 91, as well as the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (Articles 293, 610, 619, 620, 687).

those whose rights are infringed by a tenant of a communal living space - a neighbor, owner, landlord, lessor, management company or HOA, state housing inspectorate, etc. - have the right to go to court

The accumulation of debts for utilities, for example, will not be considered a reason for neighbors to go to court, but only for living. the office or service providers may be plaintiffs in such a case.

There are legislative acts that also serve to protect the rights of those evicted themselves (Part 2 of Article 83 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation).

How to submit: individual entrepreneur or individual

This question is often pondered by people who rent out their homes on a permanent basis. In fact, this is a constant source of income for them. So maybe you need to register your individual entrepreneur status?

This is not at all necessary. Any citizen has the right to receive income from renting out his home by paying personal income tax. Another thing is that registering an individual entrepreneur gives you the opportunity to choose a taxation option. And the tax paid by an individual entrepreneur may be less than 13% of personal income tax.

However, IP has its own disadvantages:

Difficulty in obtaining status
The need not only to pay contributions to the social insurance fund and the Pension Fund, but also to prepare regular reports on them
The need to maintain accounting records
Finally, if you sell real estate that generates rental income, you will have to pay all taxes on the sale in full. Citizens are exempt from tax on the sale of their real estate if they have owned it for more than three years.

In other words, the absence of individual entrepreneur status simplifies the rental of real estate, and also allows you to sell a room or apartment at any time, receiving tax benefits. Availability reduces taxes on stably received rental income.

So, whether to register an individual entrepreneur or not, everyone must decide for themselves, based on their own benefits and preferences.

Scale of the phenomenon

What is offered to the buyer to choose from? According to Yulia Dymova, the Moscow supply can be estimated at 6,200 rooms for sale. In St. Petersburg, as Alexander Ginovker calculated, about five thousand rooms are on display.

“There is no definite pattern in the ratio of prices for apartments and rooms [in Moscow]. It all depends on the specifics of the location (distance from the metro, area), the condition of the house and apartment, and in the case of rooms, also the characteristics of the interior decoration,” says Yaroslav Darusenkov, head of the consulting and analytics department. — In areas with predominantly massive housing developments, the cost per square meter of a room is on average 5-7 percent more than that of apartments. But if there is modern housing in the area, built in the last 10-15 years, then the cost of rooms is already below the average price for apartment sales.” In general, according to the expert, the average cost per square meter of rooms in remote areas (closer to the Moscow Ring Road than to the Third Transport Ring) is in the range of 165-175 thousand rubles.

“If we take for comparison a full-fledged apartment and a room in the Central District of St. Petersburg, then the cost per square meter will be approximately 5-30 percent higher for independent housing,” says Alexander Ginovker. — The minimum price for a room in residential areas of the city is at the level of 850 thousand rubles, in the center - from 1.2 million rubles. If it’s cheaper, then most likely there are some nuances, for example, encumbrances or legal difficulties. The average price for acceptable options that are suitable for living, and not just for obtaining registration, is about 1.4-1.5 million rubles.”

In Moscow, the budget, according to Yaroslav Darusenkov, is noticeably higher.

Photo: Dmitry Rogulin / TASS

“The cheapest offer, according to our data, is a room in the Rokossovsky Boulevard metro area, put up for sale for 1.65 million rubles,” says the expert. — The object has an area of 15.4 square meters, which translates to 107 thousand rubles per meter. In the Third Transport Ring area, the average cost of rooms has already risen to 190 thousand - 200 thousand rubles per square meter. Separately, there is an offer of rooms inside the Garden Ring. Here people are already ready to overpay for space, so the average cost of rooms is 250-270 thousand rubles per square meter.” The most expensive room of March 2019, according to Darusenkov, is up for sale in the Chekhovskaya metro area - a 25-meter object is being sold for 18.3 million rubles.

It is clear that such a proposal is very much for everyone. Still, in general, room buyers are guided by a more modest budget, say experts from both capitals interviewed by Lenta.ru. “In Moscow, the price per square meter per room varies from 100 thousand to 250 thousand rubles, while the average cost per square meter on the secondary market for apartments is now around 200 thousand,” says managing director of Avito Real Estate Ivan Dubrovin. “In St. Petersburg, the cost of a meter in rooms varies from 40 to 150 thousand rubles, in apartments - around 130 thousand.”

Where to begin? We are writing an advertisement

Before writing the ad text, think about what kind of residents you want to see “in your walls”: students, a young couple (with or without children), single middle-aged working people? Does their gender, age, nationality, educational level matter to you? Do you allow residents to have pets (from dogs to aquarium fish). Do you have any special requirements?

The ad must be universal. The kind that can be posted on poles, placed in a local newspaper or a newspaper with free advertisements, or on an Internet resource. Therefore, present everything clearly and concisely, indicating the most important details:

Who are you willing to rent out your living space to (for example, “I’ll rent out a room to a single female student” or “To a young family without children or animals”)
Room size, number of rooms in the apartment, number of floors in the house, availability of utilities (electric or gas stove, centralized hot water supply or boiler, etc.)
Presence or absence of furniture
Distance (in minutes or meters) to the nearest metro station or other transport
Price
Your contact details and a time convenient to contact you

There is no need to overload the ad with details. When you call, the potential tenant will ask clarifying questions himself, and when he comes to view, he will see everything that interests him with his own eyes. The more concise and clear the ad, the greater the chance that it will be read and the offer will be quickly responded to.

If you plan to hang your ad “on poles,” don’t forget about the “tails” with a phone number. And in the text itself, write the contact phone number large and legibly - for those who find it more convenient to film the ad on a smartphone.

How to evict a neighbor - step-by-step instructions

First of all, it is important to maintain pre-trial order. This includes the actions of a potential plaintiff aimed at resolving the issue peacefully. During the process, it will be necessary to confirm the fact that claims were sent to the defendant, therefore postal forms and copies of claims must be saved.

In general, all stated arguments must be supported by documents, so the instructions for evicting an unreliable neighbor begin with the following:

Collection and preparation of documents confirming the grounds for eviction. These could be service reports, police reports, unpaid receipts and certificates from municipal authorities, etc.
Search for witnesses willing to confirm the plaintiff’s words in the trial.
Drawing up a statement of claim indicating the essence of the claim, attaching documents confirming the plaintiff’s rights and documents confirming their violation. A receipt for payment of the fee is attached along with the claim.
Consideration of the claim by a judge and rendering a decision. It is necessary to be prepared for the fact that the court will, until the last minute, give the defendant the opportunity to correct the current state of affairs and resolve the issue peacefully.
If a decision is made to evict, the decision is sent to the parties and transferred to the bailiffs. They, in turn, initiate enforcement proceedings and send a demand to the evicted tenant to vacate the room.
If a citizen refuses to leave the walls of the room, the bailiffs will organize a forced eviction. The problem with the system is that in the vast majority of cases, it is impossible to kick a person out onto the street. In accordance with the requirements of the law, he must be evicted to another place, that is, to the area of the maneuverable fund or municipal property.

Ways to rent out a room

The division of labor has not yet been abolished, so the owner of the room can do it in two ways:

Find tenants on your own
Entrust this case to a special agent or agency

Modern busy people often prefer to act through agents. Moreover, both landlords and tenants. The participation of an “official” in the matter gives people a sense of security and legitimacy of the transaction. And not just a feeling. Agents really take care of all the official hassle associated with paperwork.

A rental agreement concluded by an agent will be accepted in any authority as proof that the citizen actually lives at this address.

As a rule, the contract is concluded for a year. Subsequently, it can be automatically renewed under the same or modified conditions. And then register it with Rosreestr. You can also contact a realtor or agency for help in this matter.

However, you will have to pay for help. From tenants, the agent usually takes a commission equal to one month's rent, and from the landlord several separate payments:

For searching for tenants
For concluding a contract
For registering a transaction in Rosreestr

So, each landlord, again, must decide for himself what is more profitable for him - to pay a specialist, or to spend his time and effort on all these operations.

Who can't be kicked out?

cannot expel from their home

orphans, regardless of their age;
old age pensioners;
family members recognized as missing or died in the line of duty (firefighters, Emergencies Ministry, military, police, penitentiary service workers);
disabled people of the 1st and 2nd groups who received disability while performing official or military duty, as well as due to occupational diseases;
family members of a municipal housing tenant who has passed on to another world.

But not everything is so simple, the listed categories of residents must be registered with the communal apartment, be on the list for improvement of living conditions , that is, in need of it, otherwise they may still be subjected to forced eviction without being provided with another living space.

Preparation for delivery

“Pre-sale preparation” when renting out an apartment is no less important than when selling it. Realtors claim that proper preparation increases the rental price by an average of 30-50%. Not to mention the fact that there are significantly more people wanting to take it off. This means that the landlord has more choice.

Before renting out a room you should:

Make cosmetic repairs or general cleaning
Place furniture, household appliances, hang lampshades and curtains.
Check plumbing equipment, repair or replace it if necessary
Remove valuable or memorable things for the owner, as well as unnecessary items from the premises
Pay off rent debts
Put the title documents for housing in order (they will definitely be checked, either by the agent or the potential residents themselves, to make sure that the transaction is legal)

Who and when can evict neighbors from a communal apartment?

Eviction from a communal apartment is not an easy or quick process. The procedure can take several months, and the initiators have to make remarkable efforts to prove to the court the need for such measures.

Attention! Eviction itself comes into conflict with the constitutional rights of a citizen, in particular, those outlined in Article 40. According to the mentioned legal norm, everyone has the right to housing and cannot be deprived of it on some whim without compelling reasons.

In addition, certain problems are created by the ambiguity of the legal status of communal apartments. There are three types of communal apartments:

in private ownership, privatized by citizens (is it possible to evict the owner from the apartment?);
in municipal property, rented out for social rent (we talked in detail about the grounds and conditions for eviction of citizens from municipal housing in this article);
mixed type, in which some rooms have specific owners, and some belong to the municipality.

Accordingly, owners or persons registered on square meters can live in them, tenants under various rental agreements (social, commercial), as well as tenants with or without a lease agreement (details on whether it is possible to evict a registered person from an apartment if he is not owner, read here, and from this article you will learn how to expel tenants from the premises).

Difficulties arise when eviction of any of the listed categories. Of course, the most difficult option would be to expel the property owner from the apartment. However, if there are compelling and proven reasons, this is possible.

Forced evictions take place in court. Persons whose rights and legitimate interests are violated by the presence of the owner or tenant on the premises have the right to file a claim.

Owners

It is extremely difficult to evict this category due to the fact that usually the only housing from which you cannot be evicted, according to the law (read about what to do if you are evicted to the street from your only housing and how to avoid it here). The interested parties are:

neighbors who are property owners with antisocial behavior;
local administration acting as the owner of the room in case of termination of the rental agreement or violation of its terms;
utility service providers, in case of debts (read more about whether they can be evicted from an apartment due to debt for housing and communal services, mortgages and other loans, here).

Read more about whether the owner can be deprived of housing and on what grounds, read here.

Tenants

Everything is much simpler here. Tenants can be evicted:

neighbors are owners;
landlord;
direct owner of square meters.

They are evicted at the end of the lease agreement or if its terms are violated. You can find out whether you can entertain your tenants in winter here.

Room in a non-privatized apartment

In principle, renting out a room in an apartment that a family occupies on the basis of a social tenancy agreement is possible with the consent of the apartment owner. It is necessary to submit a written appeal to the owner (municipality) and attach to it the consent of everyone who is registered and lives in the apartment. But you need to remember that the municipality has the right to either allow or refuse you.

If, despite the refusal, the room is still rented out, and this becomes known to the owner, the tenant may be punished, up to and including termination of the social tenancy agreement. Since only the owner or his authorized representative has the right to carry out any transactions with real estate. The employer does not have such a right.

Room in a privatized apartment

Here the owner is in his right. If he is the sole owner of the apartment and is the only one registered in it (or no one is registered at all), he does not need anyone’s permission at all. And consent too.

If there are several owners (which most often happens as a result of free privatization by a family that has lived in the residential area for a long time), then everyone must agree to rent. They can express consent in two ways:

Issue a power of attorney for one of the family members who will appear in the rental agreement
Everyone should take part in concluding the lease agreement together and write their names on the lease agreement. In this case, all owners will act as renters at once.

ATTENTION! Don’t forget that if you rent out a room in an apartment where you and your family live at the same time, then, in essence, you are turning a separate apartment into a communal one. Because, although you do not directly rent out the kitchen, bathrooms, or hallway to the tenant, you inevitably grant him the right to use them. After all, the tenant quite legitimately believes that by renting a room, he at the same time has the full right to cook his own dinner, take a shower, wash his clothes, and finally use the toilet. Therefore, it is advisable to agree on the procedure for using shared premises in advance. The hope that “everything will somehow work out along the way” can subsequently lead to serious conflicts and early termination of the lease agreement by one of the parties. This is not beneficial for either the tenant or the landlord.

Registration of renting out a room according to the law and requirements for the contract

The rules for registering a room for rent in a communal apartment will not be too different from registering for renting an apartment or house. An agreement must be concluded between the landlord and the tenant, reflecting the rights and obligations of the parties. The only difference is that the contract must indicate that in addition to the room, the tenant is provided with common areas. When concluding a transaction, the owner and tenant must have with them documents that prove their identity.

The owner who rents out a room in the apartment will be required to have a document confirming his ownership of this living space. The agreement is typed on a computer or drawn up by hand in any form. The main requirements for it are the presence of:

date of conclusion of the agreement;
details of both parties;
subject of the contract (area, address),
the procedure for financial settlements;
conditions for early termination;
a complete inventory of property.

How to rent out a room yourself

All potential tenants are well aware that by contacting an agency, they “lose” a whole month’s rent. This is the amount of remuneration that realtors usually demand. And since room renters are usually poor people, they would prefer to avoid these costs. That is, rent a room directly from the owner.

Therefore, it is not at all difficult for a potential landlord to find a client, in turn, bypassing the agency. To simplify the procedure, you need to provide the advertisement with a photograph of the premises for rent. And then place it on any electronic platform - from Avito to thematic public pages on social networks.

Or even on a regular bulletin board. By the way, the location of the “analog” bulletin board can help you reach exactly the “target audience” to whom you expect to rent out the room. For example, if you are looking for a female student, it is advisable to place advertisements near educational institutions.

When self-testing, it is especially important to publish reliable data. Attempts to “embellish the product being sold” will only lead to wasted time on fruitless inspections. It is also important to correctly describe the infrastructure of the area: the presence of nearby shops, children's and medical institutions, recreation areas, and a transport system. For large cities, transport issues are especially important.

When it comes to personal negotiations, you need to discuss:

Amount and procedure of rent
Deadline
The presence or absence of a so-called “deposit” - usually this is payment in advance for the last month of stay
Rules for the use of common areas or special requirements. For example, a condition that the tenant will not gather noisy parties in his room.

After the parties have discussed everything and come to an agreement, an agreement should be drawn up. A sample of it can be found on the Internet. Downloading a blank form is easy.

Requirements for drawing up a room rental agreement

When drawing up a lease agreement, it is not necessary to follow a strict form. In any case, the agreement will be valid if it reflects:

Passport details of both parties
Length of stay
Rent amount
Payment method for utility bills
Method of transferring rent payments
Rights and obligations of each party
Conditions under which the contract can be terminated unilaterally by either party
Signatures of the parties and date of conclusion

The tenant can pay the rent in any way convenient for the landlord: in cash, or by transfer to a card or bank account. When making non-cash payments, information about receipts of funds is stored in the bank (although it would still be a good idea to keep checks).

If payment is made in cash, a system of mutual receipts should be provided. This will eliminate the occurrence of both accidental misunderstandings and malicious material claims in the future.

The agreement is drawn up in three copies. One for each party and one more for registration with Rosreestr.

The agreement can be written by hand or typed on a computer. It does not require notarization.

Causes

There are all sorts of reasons, but the judge can only take into account the most compelling ones:

ugly behavior that complicates the life of neighbors, making it unbearable;
littering of premises common to all residents;
improper maintenance of common areas;
more than 6 months no fee is paid;
using your living space for purposes other than its intended purpose;
redevelopment that violates the rights of others, etc.

Each of the reasons requires investigation by the authorities competent in this matter and their rendering of a verdict - whether there really is a malicious violation of the rights of the remaining residents.

There are other reasons that do not always depend on the citizens themselves :

the building where the apartment is located is considered unsafe or subject to demolition;
the premises are transferred to non-residential stock;
a major overhaul with complete redevelopment is coming;
the premises are transferred to another department - for example, a religious organization.

Only a court decision can force people to leave a communal apartment against their will.

Payment of taxes for renting out a room

If the lease agreement is formalized and registered with Rosreestr, the landlord is obliged to pay tax on the income received from renting out housing - personal income tax. It is 13% (the same amount is deducted from each official salary). But unlike an employee who pays personal income tax monthly and automatically, the owner of a rental property is required to pay the tax once - for the entire year at once.

It is necessary to fill out and submit the 3-NDFL declaration to the Federal Tax Service by April 30 of the year following the reporting year. And pay the calculated amount no later than July 15 of the same year. For failure to submit a return on time or delay in payment, the Federal Tax Service will fine the taxpayer.

A copy of the lease agreement and a bank account statement are considered proof of the amount of income received. If payment was made in cash - receipts.

It is not difficult to fill out the declaration. It indicates the income received, expenses incurred and the actual amount of tax. If the room was not rented for a full year, but only for a few months, a zero is entered in the column where the amount of rent is entered.

A city of poor rentiers: can renting out apartments in Moscow provide a carefree life?

Rental rates in Moscow will increase by 10–12 percent this year. The reason is the increase in demand after the pandemic. This forecast is given by analysts of the portal “Dom. RF". In the capital, according to realtors, about 300 thousand apartments and tens of thousands of commercial premises are for rent. Sociologists note that a special social stratum has already appeared in the city - the rentier. Who are these people? Is it true that they do not work and live only on rental income? Let's try to figure it out.

There is certainly a rentier class in Moscow, and it is quite numerous. Leading researcher at the Institute of Sociology of the Federal Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Igor Kuznetsov, is convinced of this.

— The problem is that it is extremely difficult to study. More than 90 percent of residential real estate, for example, is rented out in Moscow without paying taxes. Lease agreements are concluded, but no one records them, so it is extremely difficult not only to study, but even to simply identify the rentier.

Fruits of civilization and business for loved ones

Candidate of Economic Sciences, teacher at Lomonosov Moscow State University Viktor Kudryavtsev believes that the rentier class is now actively growing.

— Thanks for this, oddly enough, to the crisis. The ruble is weakening, and deposits have been taxed, so tens of thousands of Muscovites in 2021 rushed to transfer rubles into square meters. And, of course, in order to hand them over,” the expert explained.

However, according to Kudryavtsev, the rentier class is heterogeneous.

— Yes, most landlords rent out apartments. But there are also those who rent out commercial real estate. I would divide these rentiers into three large subspecies. The first is those who successfully participated in privatization back in the 1990s. There are also security forces among them. For example, I know one such person who rents out an apartment converted into an office on Patriarch’s Street. Rent is 150 thousand per month,” says the expert. - But usually, of course, the premises are much larger - they are rented out for shops, cafes, salons and offices.

The second subtype of this kind of businessman, the expert explains, are former or current businessmen who at one time invested in real estate that could generate stable passive income.

“The third category is the ex-wives and mistresses of rich people, to whom men gave a simple business,” says Kudryavtsev. — Renting out 500 square meters for a store doesn’t require much intelligence. Well, they rent it out and live on this money. But such people—given the scale of Moscow—are negligibly few.

Such different incomes

“I would also divide those who rent out residential real estate into two large subtypes,” says Kudryavtsev. — The first and largest are the heirs of the grandmother’s or parent’s apartment. If we consider that, according to statistics, most Moscow families traditionally have one child, then there are many such heirs. After all, it is often not a crowd of relatives who applies for an apartment, but one person.

Igor Kuznetsov agrees with this:

— There are a majority of such rentiers in Moscow. And income from renting out an apartment is by no means the main source of income for them. Well, what is 30 thousand in Moscow? More like a nice increase in salary.

According to Viktor Kudryavtsev, the second category of landlords are professional investors.

— They entered the market en masse in the early 2000s, when large-scale construction began in Moscow and the near Moscow region. The scheme was simple: at the construction stage, or even the foundation pit, one or several apartments are purchased. After the house is completed, it costs at least 30 percent more. Then this apartment is renovated, furnished, equipped with household appliances and rented out. Back then, rental prices were often calculated in dollars, because the exchange rate was stable at about 24 rubles,” says the expert. — The profitability of renting out apartments was 8–10 percent per annum. In other words, the apartment fully paid for itself in 10–12 years and then brought in net income. I knew people who bought entire floors in new buildings and then rented them out. But now everything is much more modest.

Photo: Kirill Zykov / AGN Moscow

“More hassle than money”

But rentiers are sure that such a view of them is very superficial, because in reality everything is not so simple. For example, housewife Svetlana Polyakova is one of these rentiers.

— I rent out two one-room apartments. One was inherited from my grandmother, the second was bought by my husband as change. “You don’t work, he says, so your salary will be given,” says Svetlana. — As it turned out, to get money, you really need to work.

The main problem, according to Svetlana, is to find adequate and solvent tenants. Once she rented out one of the apartments to a married couple with a child - the agreement, in any case, was concluded with her.

“And then the police stormed my apartment because they set up a brothel in it—the “girls” were accepting clients. When the neighbors complained that there was music in the apartment every evening and people were changing every evening, the police came to check, they didn’t open the door, and the district police officer entered the apartment through the balcony, for which he broke the window. Of course, I had to insert it later,” says the woman. — They wanted to open a criminal case for running a brothel, but in the end they only fined 2.5 thousand for allowing residence without registration. Lucky. But that married couple was never found. They are not registered in Moscow. And where they are registered, they do not live.

Both apartments, according to Svetlana, require constant investment.

“We need to change the wallpaper, the old toilet, the broken washing machine, or the refrigerator,” she lists. “And you also have to go there regularly to check if everything is in order—the story with the brothel taught me a lot.” In addition, residents are constantly changing and you need to look for new ones. And you always have to be afraid that you let them in.

Svetlana rents out one apartment for 31 thousand a month, the other for 33 thousand. Approximately 5 thousand a month is “eaten up” by the communal apartment.

“My tenants pay by the meters, that is, they give money for light, water and electricity,” says the “businesswoman.” — After all deductions, less than 50 thousand per month remains. If you also subtract the costs of repairs, checking meters, and property taxes, it turns out even less. My husband recently figured that when selling apartments, you can get 14 million. If you put money in the bank, you will earn more on interest, and without any hassle. But we don’t do that - these one-room apartments will go to the children. In general, for us this is not a business, but savings.

According to Svetlana, in Moscow it is more profitable to rent out apartments “without claims.”

— One-room apartments in our area can cost 35 or 38 thousand per month. But this is with good repairs and new household appliances. I did the math, but repairs and new equipment will cost me at least 300–400 thousand. And the monthly difference in rent is only 4–7 thousand. Investments will be repaid for half a century! - the rentier argues. “That’s why, for example, we buy used furniture and household appliances on Avito.” And we only do repairs when it’s really bad. But the residents are happy, because few people are willing to overpay for “beauty.” Times are not the same: everyone is saving.

According to Svetlana, during the spring lockdown, one of the residents, an IT guy, unexpectedly moved out and moved to his homeland, Voronezh. Now a family from Kyrgyzstan lives in this apartment: a married couple and an adult son.

“Everyone is working, the owner is clean, so I’m calm,” says Svetlana. — Now, it seems to me, only those who are ready to rent cheaply and not really “sort out” tenants survive in the rental market. Not marginalized - and that’s okay. And those who are picky - I won’t let them in with children, nor with animals - can wait for months for a tenant. You need to be more modest!

By the way, according to rentiers, rental prices have not increased for several years, unlike rent and property taxes. Making money on rental housing is becoming more and more problematic.

Downshifting is for the elite

“The golden time for rentiers was before 2015,” says realtor Konstantin Makhnev. — Back then, downshifting was in fashion in Moscow. I had powers of attorney to manage several apartments whose owners had gone to Thailand or India. I remember renting out one two-room apartment at the Belyaevo metro station. Of course, in rubles, but in terms of conversion it cost about 900 dollars. The owner lived well in Goa with this money. I did yoga and self-development. But when a dollar, instead of 38 rubles, suddenly began to cost more than 60, his entire yoga had to be curtailed - there were no longer enough dollars to live on. Returned. On the other hand, those who left for permanent residence and have housing and work abroad continue to rent out their Moscow apartments. Now I am collaborating with one family who moved to Bulgaria, who have four apartments near the Yugo-Zapadnaya metro station. This is about two thousand euros per month. It is quite enough for life in Bulgaria.

As Konstantin explained, much depends not so much on the size, but on the location of the apartment.

— The cost of renting a one-room apartment is from 30 thousand per month, a two-room apartment is from 35, a three-room apartment is from 40. The same apartments within the Third Ring, and even in good condition, cost about one and a half times more. And the same number within the Garden Ring is already twice as high,” explained the realtor. — A good three-ruble note somewhere in the Arbat area can easily be rented out for a thousand euros. In Europe, of course, it is problematic to live on this money, but somewhere in Turkey or even Bali it is quite possible. Unless, of course, you show off your style. Another question is what to do there.

Photo: Alexander Kozhokhin / Evening Moscow

$300 Decadence

— I had a client, a young man. He lived in an apartment inherited from his parents, and rented out his grandmother’s “killed” one. And he himself was always “looking for work,” says Konstantin Makhnev. “I didn’t call him before noon because he was sleeping.” At night, as I understand it, the guy drank beer and played computer games. His income from his grandmother’s apartment was 25 thousand - about 300 dollars. That’s what he lived on.

Moreover, it seemed that he had enough, because he never found a job. But this is the only case in my practice. But basically, rentiers are people just like everyone else. They just have real estate that they rent out. As a rule, this is one inexpensive apartment.

What happens? The story of rich Muscovites living carefree on “unearned income” seems to be a myth invented in the Russian provinces. I myself would like to believe that someday I will be able to afford not to work and live by the warm sea, renting something there. But it's not that simple. In addition, the new law proposed by the government will probably sooner or later bring the apartment rental market out of the shadows. Rentiers - which is fair - will have to share income with society. And the myth about the possibility of a luxurious life will become even more elusive.

STORY

The rentier class, according to economists, appeared in the 19th century. Then part of the nobility and wealthy commoners, merchants, and military men, having accumulated enough, left business and turned into rentiers. After all, to do this, it was enough to simply buy government securities that promised a fixed income for the entire time that you owned them.

It was possible to buy real estate, rent it out and also receive rent. Or buy land and also rent it out, receiving rent from farmers. At the beginning of the 20th century in France, for example, out of a population of 40 million, there were 2 million rentiers - about 5 percent of the population. Problems began during World War I, when the economy faltered, and became seriously worse in 1929 during the Great Depression. The rentier class has become much smaller. In Russia, according to sociologists, it is extremely small in number due to the unstable economy.

QUOTE

Nikita Stasishin, Deputy Minister of Construction and Housing and Communal Services of Russia:

— In Russia it is planned to launch an information system for recording housing rental agreements. Digitalization of the rental market is designed to increase its transparency.

REPLICA

Rent is just a supplement to salary

Svetlana Kos, general director of a real estate company:

— Yes, in Moscow there is a whole class of rentiers. As a rule, these are working people aged 35 to 50 years. Among them there are quite a lot of those who rent out housing through intermediaries. In general, renting out housing is a business that drags on. I know people who started with one apartment, and now they have several. There are those who buy townhouses in the near Moscow region, divide them into rooms and rent them out to students or those who come to the city to earn money. Townhouses are quite a popular story among rentiers.

At the same time, business right now, frankly speaking, is not blooming.

Well, let’s say a person decided to invest in real estate. Five or six stations from the Circle Line of the metro, he buys a two-room apartment for 8 million. Another 2 million will be spent on good repairs, the purchase of furniture and household appliances. You can rent it out for a maximum of 50 thousand. Minus utilities, minor repairs, taxes - a little more than 40 thousand remains.

The apartment will pay for itself in 20 years! And why such a business? Moreover, living on just over 40 thousand, especially with a family, is unrealistic in Moscow. This amount can only serve as a supplement to your salary.

In Moscow, it’s realistic to live on rent only if you have five to seven apartments. But if you have such real estate, then from a carefree rentier you automatically turn into a businessman, because you need to constantly take care of your housing. One change of tenants is worth it! So the talk that Muscovites can rent out apartments and live beautifully on this money, having fun in clubs, is a fairy tale. In any case, I have never met such lucky people. Moscow rentiers are people for whom renting out housing is either a business or an aid, one of their sources of income. As a rule, the source is not the largest - 30–50 thousand.

Unilateral termination of a room rental agreement

To avoid misunderstandings, mutual claims or even litigation, parties to a lease agreement should pay special attention to the section regarding early termination of the agreement.

In principle, the need to terminate the contract early may arise for both the tenant and the landlord. It is clear that the party that was interested in complying with the terms of the contract until the end of the term will feel offended and may begin to protest unconstructively.

To prevent this from happening, it is necessary to prescribe in advance, for example, the possibility of terminating the contract at the initiative of the tenant if he needs to move to a new place of residence (for example, how long before the landlord must be notified, and how the final payment will be made).

The landlord himself may experience an urgent need to “drive away” the tenant if living with him under the same roof has become unbearable. The reasons for early termination of the contract on his part may be:

Delay in rent
Refusal to pay utilities
Immoral behavior of the tenant
Causing damage to the lessor's property (in this case, it is necessary to specify the conditions for its compensation)

Of course, it is impossible to foresee all possible life situations. But the most common reasons for early termination of business relationships should be taken into account when signing a lease agreement.

What else should you pay attention to?

Summarizing all of the above, we want to give our readers some useful practical tips:

Before you decide to rent out a room, weigh everything carefully and think it over
Conclude contracts with residents only if they have a passport. It is advisable to additionally ask for additional identification if you have one (driver's license, student ID)
When you rent out a room for the first time, it is better to do this with the help of an agent. Once you carefully observe the procedure, in the future you will be able to successfully do everything yourself. At the same time, the contract drawn up by a specialist will serve as a model for you in the future.
Don't forget about the deposit. If everything goes according to plan, it will become the last month's payment. If difficulties arise, you will at least reduce your material losses.
File your taxes and pay your taxes on time

Additional questions

How to rent out a room in a communal apartment if the neighbors are against it?

The honest answer to this question is: “No way.” Although in practice, renting out rooms in communal apartments is an extremely common occurrence. Since they are, as a rule, “additional real estate” - they are inherited from relatives.

In the future, they plan to sell them, or to place children there when they graduate from school and want to live separately, but for now these rooms are hanging as “dead weight”, while being a potential source of additional income.

If the room is privatized (we won’t even talk about renting out non-privatized rooms; it’s not easy to rent out even a room in a separate non-privatized apartment), the neighbors’ consent to the entry of a new tenant is not required. In law.

And in life, dissatisfied neighbors can not only instantly “survive” a tenant from a communal apartment, but also create a “fun life” for the landlord himself.

The tenant may be constantly presented with absurd complaints (“you stomp too loudly”, “you sit on the toilet for a long time”, “your frying pan stinks the whole house”, “your TV doesn’t let me sleep”), the door can be chained after midnight, the police can be called on far-fetched grounds. about.

Not a single person would agree to live in such conditions, especially one who feels like a bird in someone else’s apartment. The landlord can also be slandered by various authorities. By the time they figure out their groundlessness, their nerves will already be hopelessly damaged.

Therefore, the only way to rent out a room in a “communal apartment” (especially if you don’t live in this apartment yourself) is to come to an agreement with your neighbors. For example, introduce the future tenant to the neighbors in advance so that they are convinced that there will be no trouble from the new tenant.

You can even “cheat” by offering, for example, a choice of a foreign student who also masters playing the violin (fictional character) and a lonely female employee with no bad habits (real candidate). The choice of neighbors is obvious.

But both options are possible only if the residents of the communal apartment do not want a new neighbor for fear that he will turn out to be an “asocial type.” If they simply like that there are “less people - more oxygen” in the apartment, the neighbors do not care about the personal qualities of the tenant. They just want no one to live in the room.

You can try to “bribe” them—for example, by offering to cover part of the costs of so-called “general repairs.” As a rule, this is one of the most “sore topics” in communal apartments. Nobody wants to pay out of pocket for repairs to common areas. The prospect of sharing expenses among a larger number of participants may seem tempting to neighbors.

In a word, trying to rent out a room in a communal apartment if the neighbors are against it is completely pointless. Tenants simply won’t “stick around” for more than a month, and you will get more hassle than income from renting out the property. We need to try to get them to be in favor.

How to rent out a room in a dorm?

There are similar advertisements, but they are illegal and unreliable. The right to live in a dormitory is legally enjoyed only by those who have entered into an employment or other contractual relationship with the owner of the building.

A tenant who has moved into, say, the room of a tenant who has moved in with relatives, can be evicted at any time. The lease agreement does not give him any rights.

The only exceptions are those rare cases when a former departmental hostel comes at the disposal of the municipality, and its residents receive the right to privatize their rooms on a general basis. Then the same rules apply as when renting out other rooms owned by citizens.

How to rent out a room in an apartment with shared ownership?

With shared ownership, the owner of each share does not own specific “square meters”, but only a set of certain rights. For example, receive a specified share of funds when selling an apartment or use it jointly with other owners, in accordance with agreements reached between them. If the owners of shares cannot agree, they have the right to go to court, in accordance with Article No. 247 (clause 1) of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.

To rent out a room in an apartment where there are several owners, some must agree among themselves. If one “shareholder” rents out, so to speak, “his” room without permission, the rest have the right to challenge his actions in court. According to judicial practice, in such cases, most often the court declares the lease agreement invalid and evicts the tenant

If the owners agree among themselves, they either act together as lessors, or write a power of attorney for one of them.

Is it possible to move tenants into a communal apartment without the consent of the neighbors?

The Housing Code of the Russian Federation contains no obstacles to renting out living space in a communal apartment. According to Article 42 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, the owner of a room in a communal apartment also has a share in the common areas. This means that neighbors do not have the right to prevent the tenant from moving in and not allowing him to use the kitchen, hallway, bathroom and toilet.
When moving a tenant into your room, you don’t even have to ask your neighbors’ permission. Typically, claims arise in cases where the living space belongs to several people. In this case, any actions with real estate must be agreed upon with all owners.

At the same time, in order to avoid conflicts and maintain good relations with neighbors, it is better to conclude a written agreement with them. Otherwise, dissatisfied residents of a communal apartment can ruin the life of a tenant who is unlikely to decide to stay in such an unfriendly place.