In one of our articles we talked about the features of renting an apartment. But the rental housing market is not limited to apartments. And if you want to officially rent out your room, then this article is especially for you.
room rental agreement with comments from the portal’s lawyers and templates to fill out
The rooms are different
We invite you to consider the different categories of rooms to highlight the features of renting them out:
- Rooms in privatized apartments;
- Rooms in non-privatized apartments;
- Privatized rooms in communal apartments;
- Non-privatized rooms in communal apartments.
Non-privatized room in a communal apartment
Let's start with the room whose rental requires the greatest number of approvals.
A non-privatized room is not your property. But in accordance with paragraphs. 2 clause 1 art. sublet your residential premises . However, in accordance with clause 1 of Article 685 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, residential premises can be rented out under a sublease agreement only with the consent of the landlord.
The lessor of a non-privatized room may be different: a prefecture, a municipality or another body . You can find the answer to the question of who your employer is in the rental agreement , on the basis of which you yourself live in your room.
The landlord should submit a written request for permission to enter into sublease agreements. This application must also contain the consent of all members of your family living with you.
But let's not forget about your flatmates . In accordance with paragraph 2 of Art. 76 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, for the sublease of residential premises located in a communal apartment, the consent of all tenants and members of their families living with them, all owners and members of their families living with them is also required. That is, the written consent of all neighbors should be attached to the application to the tenant.
If a positive response is received from the lessor (and such a response must also be provided in writing), a sublease agreement can be concluded.
Legal certificate
Relations regarding the rental of residential premises are regulated by Chapter 35 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. Unlike a lease, the contract implies a number of guarantees. Yes, Art. 673 of the Code establishes strict requirements for real estate. The room must be isolated and suitable for permanent residence. The tenant is simultaneously granted the right to use the common property of the apartment building:
- electricity supply;
- water supply and sewerage;
- heating;
- apartment service systems, including elevators;
- sanitary equipment and more.
Unlike a lease, a rental agreement for a period of more than 1 year is not registered in the state register. The exception is cases of establishing restrictions for the owner of the premises (Article 674 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation). The subject composition is also specific. The agreement is concluded between the property owner and an individual. If the rights to use the room are transferred to an organization, rental regulations apply.
The legislator distinguishes three types of hiring: social, specialized and commercial. In the first case, housing is provided to needy citizens from the state or municipal fund. The second situation is relevant for persons holding special positions and military personnel. In the third case, we are talking about relations between private individuals. In this publication, we focus specifically on commercial hiring.
Privatized room in a communal apartment
The privatized room is your property. The right to dispose of one’s property is enshrined in legislation (clause 2 of article 35 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, clause 2 of article 209 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation). It would seem that there is no need to coordinate anything with anyone here. But that's not true.
In a communal apartment there are also places that do not belong only to you: a corridor, a kitchen, a bathroom. They are the common property of all residents. In accordance with Art. 246 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the disposal of property in shared ownership is carried out by agreement of all its participants. Therefore, before concluding a rental agreement, you should still obtain the consent of your neighbors, and in writing.
Regardless of whether the room is privatized or not, the tenant will interact with your neighbors in one way or another.
We strongly recommend that you tell your employer about the specifics of your relationship with your neighbors, and reflect the most important points in the contract.
This way you can avoid conflicts with neighbors both for the employer and for yourself.
How to make everything official?
To protect yourself from property damage, late payment and other troubles, you need to draw up a rental agreement.
When concluding an agreement for twelve months or more, the document must be registered in Rosreestr , in accordance with paragraph 1 of Article 609 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.
Often, room owners try to rent out living space in circumvention of the law. Considering that taxation occurs over an annual period, the owners enter into a contract with the tenants for eleven months, and after the expiration of time they sign a new contract. However, concealing additional income without paying taxes results in criminal or administrative liability (depending on how much taxes were not paid).
Criminal liability occurs quite rarely , since in this case the owner must receive a profit of several million rubles over three years. Such violators are subject to fines of up to 300,000 rubles, forced labor or imprisonment.
Administrative liability entails a fine of twenty percent of the debt amount.
To avoid punitive measures, you need to regularly pay tax on profits received from renting out an apartment. Its size is 13% of the amount received over 12 months. Every year, the owner must submit a declaration in Form 3-NDFL by April 30 and pay the tax by July 15.
Room in a privatized apartment
And finally, let's move on to the simplest (in terms of coordination) case. If you are the sole owner of the apartment in which you are going to rent out a room, then absolutely no one’s consent will be required to enter into a rental agreement.
But if there are other owners along with you, then their consent will be necessary. Such consent can be obtained in the following ways:
- Execute a power of attorney for one of the owners stating that the others trust him to conclude a rental agreement, in which case one of the owners will act as the lessor under the agreement;
- In the contract, indicate all owners as lessors.
We talked about neighbors in communal apartments. Here we remind you that if you rent a room in a private apartment, you yourself will be neighbors with tenants. Therefore, we advise you to determine in advance the procedure for using the premises that you do not rent directly to the tenant, but which he will also use: hallway, corridor, bathroom, etc.
If you responsibly approach the coordination of these points, this will allow you to avoid many disagreements during the tenant’s stay in your apartment.
Termination of an agreement
Among the criteria for how to properly rent out a room in an apartment are the conditions for early termination of the contract that are correctly spelled out in the contract. Both parties may terminate the agreement earlier. To avoid mutual claims, before renting out a room in a communal apartment, the contract should stipulate the possibility of terminating the contract at the tenant’s initiative if he decides to change his place of residence to a new one - determine the period for which the landlord must be notified and the procedure for final payment.
The landlord may experience an urgent need to evict a tenant when renting out a room in an apartment for various reasons, including immoral behavior of the tenant; late rent payments; damage to the landlord's property; refusal to pay utility bills.
As for all the rooms
Notification to the curious: relationships with neighbors
Above we described what and in what cases it is necessary to obtain the consent of neighbors. Please note that you are not required to provide them with information directly about the rental conditions themselves.
Who lives in your room and for what fee is entirely your business. This applies to both neighbors in a communal apartment and neighbors in the hallway.
If you have a trusting relationship with your neighbors, you can ask them to “keep an eye” on your room and inform you in case of any problems or conflicts. But all this is within reason, without interference in the private life of the employer and espionage.
HOAs and cooperatives
Who else might be interested in your rental business? Currently, both owners and tenants of municipal housing interact quite closely with homeowners' associations and cooperatives.
Usually, the relationship between an adequate resident and the responsible representative of the HOA/cooperative develops normally. But as with neighbors, you are not required to provide any information about your employers.
The only exception: if the cost of any utilities is calculated based on the number of people living in the apartment/room, you must indicate the number of your tenants. But you have no obligation to provide their information.
In addition, let’s not forget about the Federal Law of the Russian Federation of July 27, 2006 No. 152-FZ “On Personal Data,” from which we can conclude that you do not have the right to provide anyone with the data of your employers.
If you maintain a trusting relationship with your HOA/cooperative, we can advise you to notify them that you are renting a room, leave a contact phone number and ask them to contact you immediately in case of any conflict situations.
Property in a rented room
Most likely, the room you want to rent out contains your property: furniture, plumbing, chandeliers, and so on. We are confident that you are interested in preserving this property while the tenants are in the room.
To reduce the risk of damage to this property and obtain guarantees of compensation if damage does occur, you can issue acceptance certificate . Such an act will be an annex to the rental agreement.
The deed should list all property, if possible so that it can be easily identified: what kind of TV, wardrobe, and so on. If the property already has some damage, then this fact is also reflected in the act - but this, most likely, will already be a requirement of your employer.
Public utilities
We have already drawn your attention to the fact that if the cost of any utility services depends on the number of people living in the apartment/room, then it is necessary to notify the organization that calculates these utility bills. This could be either a homeowners association/cooperative, or the company itself providing the services.
As for public services in general, in accordance with Art. 678 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the employer is obliged to pay for them. In the contract, this obligation can be assigned to you as well - it all depends on the agreements reached. However, we draw your attention to the fact that even if the obligation to pay for utilities is assigned to the tenant, claims for non-payment will be brought against you, since under the agreement with the company providing the services, you continue to bear the obligations.
Scout the situation
Most people take good care of their property. And the desire to keep everything under control in this case is absolutely normal.
Therefore, we advise you to immediately warn the employer that you will come periodically to inspect the room and your things in it, and stipulate in the contract the frequency of such “checks” and the time of your visits.
These formalities are necessary due to the fact that the tenant officially living in the room acquires the right to inviolability of the home . This right is guaranteed to all of us by the Constitution and the Housing Code. Therefore, if you simply come without asking, especially in the absence of the employer, this most likely “will not make him happy.”
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.
Results and conclusions
In conclusion, we offer you several questions, the answers to which will help you determine what and with whom you need to agree before renting out a room, and what to pay attention to when drawing up a contract:
- Is your room in a communal or private apartment?
- What is your relationship with your neighbors?
- Who manages the common property of the house - HOA/cooperative?
- How are utility bills calculated?
- What property is in the room?
Still have questions?
– consult with a Portal lawyer As you can see, renting a room is a somewhat more complex undertaking than renting an apartment. The difficulty, in our opinion, is that additional factors of human relationships appear: neighbors in a communal apartment and living together with a tenant in different rooms of the same apartment. But in any case, you can avoid many problems and conflicts if you take a responsible approach to the issues of coordinating and drawing up a rental agreement.
Are you renting housing? We will help!
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- Absolutely free
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- We will also advise you, help you apply for a tax deduction, and decide on the form of taxation. Our services for landlords and tenants
Preparation for delivery
Having decided how to rent out a room in a communal apartment, you can begin “pre-sale preparation,” which is very important when renting out a room. Proper preparation increases the rental price by an average of 30-50%. In addition, the number of people wishing to rent it is increasing, thereby expanding the choice of those who are going to rent out a room in a communal apartment.
Before you start showing the premises, you should:
- pay off rent debts
- carry out general cleaning or cosmetic repairs;
- arrange household appliances, furniture, hang curtains and lampshades;
- check the serviceability of plumbing fixtures and, if necessary, repair or replace them;
- remove unnecessary items and things valuable to the owner from the premises;
- bring the title documents for housing into compliance with the standards, since when making a transaction they will definitely be checked in order to ensure its legality.
