The only housing: what the law says
Russian legislation protects citizens who own only one apartment. Art. 40 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation guarantees the right to housing and a special procedure for eviction. Art. 3 of the Housing Code repeats the content of the Basic Law of the country. In Art. 446 of the Civil Procedure Code of the Russian Federation states that a single apartment cannot be the object of recovery under executive documents.
A single apartment means that a citizen is registered in only one residential property, and he has no alternative properties. The law establishes a general rule: if the apartment is the only residential property in the property, then eviction is prohibited. However, there are no rules without exceptions.
When can they be evicted from their only home?
The legislation does not contain a strict list of grounds on which eviction is possible. In practice, the following situations are common:
- the apartment is recognized as unsafe or dilapidated, for which reason it is subject to demolition;
- the apartment is the subject of a mortgage;
- the apartment has been transferred from residential to non-residential;
- major renovation of the building significantly changed the size of the apartment;
- tenants have not paid utility bills for more than 6 months.
The breakdown of a house or apartment is recognized on the grounds specified in Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 47. The main reasons for demolition are physical wear and tear and changes in the microclimate, which make it impossible to live in the apartment. When transferring an apartment from residential to non-residential, the state undertakes to provide citizens with other premises for living. In this case, living space standards will apply.
The exception for apartments with a mortgage is enshrined in Art. 446 Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation. In accordance with mortgage legislation, such an object may be foreclosed on.
Major renovations can either reduce or increase living space. In both cases, a significant change in area can lead to eviction if the apartment was used under a social rental agreement.
Art. 91 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation contains the grounds on which they can evict without the provision of other residential real estate:
- use of the apartment for other purposes;
- regular violation of the rights of neighbors;
- negligent attitude towards the condition of the apartment;
- deprivation of parental rights in relation to children who are owners of living space.
Systematic rowdy behavior and destruction of the apartment can lead to eviction. A court decision may also determine that children cannot live together with parents who have been deprived of parental rights. In this case, the parents are subject to eviction.
The presence of a specific reason does not lead to eviction. Art. 91 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation indicates the obligation to warn residents to eliminate existing violations. Only if the shortcomings are not corrected does it become possible to evict the tenants without providing another apartment.
Despite the general rule about the impossibility of eviction from a single apartment, the legislation is replete with exceptions. Any malicious violation of rights and destruction of property may lead to eviction. Deprivation of housing is possible only through judicial procedure. State authorities and municipalities do not have the right to evict citizens at their own discretion, especially if the apartment is the property of individuals.
Eviction is the prerogative of the court. Any reason must be supported by a court decision. Otherwise, the apartment remains with the residents. The judicial order is designed to protect citizens from arbitrariness on the part of other government bodies.
Who cannot be deprived of the right of residence?
Does the owner have the right to evict residents from his living space?
Only the owner of the property has the right to conduct real estate transactions and evict unwanted persons.
No one else can submit the relevant documents to specialized authorities or conduct real estate transactions.
Often, a positive decision in cases of eviction of relatives means that people may be left without a roof over their head. According to statistics, close people are the initiators of evicting relatives to the street.
These issues usually lead to conflicts within families and between people who were once on friendly terms. The situation is often complicated by the fact that the applicant for future eviction has a residence permit.
Sometimes a person who is supposed to be evicted from an occupied living space does not want to fulfill the will of the owner and obey him.
We invite you to read: The deadline for paying land tax is set
In both cases, it is necessary to transfer the right to make a decision to judicial bodies authorized to decide the fate of citizens.
What should be the grounds for eviction from an apartment by the owner? If the owner of a house or apartment wants to evict a registered person, this may be for the following reasons:
- The tenant is formally listed in the apartment, but in fact will live at a different address or in another city. He does not make payments for utility services.
- Divorce with a registered person. This clause is enshrined in Article 31 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation and only implies the case when real estate was acquired by one of the spouses before the legalization of the marriage relationship.
- If property owned by a citizen or municipality is not used for its intended purpose. The right to appeal to the judicial authorities to make a decision in such a case is described in Article 91 of the RF LC. To do this, the owner and other registered persons write a statement to the person applying for eviction.
- Deprivation of parental rights is also a weighty argument for depriving a citizen of an occupied apartment. If, by a court decision, a person is deprived of the right to live together with children, then evicting him from the apartment will not be difficult.
- The property was transferred to the owner by deed of gift or inherited. In this case, all residents who lived in the apartment before the document came into force must leave the occupied territory.
All of the above cases have grounds for filing a claim with a judicial authority, but the judge does not always make a decision in favor of the owner of the premises.
There are many nuances in such cases that often influence decision making.
Issues regarding eviction are often complicated by the presence of registration of citizens and young children who must be provided with housing.
The legislation clearly defines the documents regulating the rights of citizens to eviction and to own property. The main ones are enshrined in the Constitution of the Russian Federation, which states that every person has the right to housing.
If you carefully study the housing code, you can find most of the answers to difficult questions related to the eviction of a person from an occupied apartment.
When studying the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, one must, first of all, rely on Articles 31 and 91. Articles
85
And
90
will help you find answers to questions such as how to discharge a person after a divorce and others related to this dramatic aspect of life.
You can find out whether you can be evicted without providing another living space, and what to do if the apartment from which you are being evicted is your only place of residence, you can find out on our website.
In addition to the ability of an apartment owner to forcibly evict its inhabitants, there are also prohibitions that are established by law.
Categories of citizens who are not subject to eviction proceedings include:
- Minor children. They cannot be evicted from their occupied living space. This fact does not affect whether the apartment will be privatized or remain municipal. If a husband can call his ex-wife that, then children cannot be ex-wife. Children are entitled to full use of the property.
- Children who were left without parental care. Based on Article 292 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, one can find out that guardians who have assumed obligations to raise minor children must not worsen the conditions of their detention.
- The right to housing cannot be deprived of dependents and persons on alimony support. This can only be done by a court decision if it deems it necessary or the dependency obligations are fulfilled.
- Former family members left without a permanent place of residence. A former spouse may be included in such categories of citizens if he has nowhere to go. In this case, the court most often allows such a person to stay in the owner’s apartment from three months to one year.
- It will not be possible to evict a wife or husband if the right of residence is specified in the marriage contract.
- If the owner’s will for the property indicated the shares of certain persons, then they also cannot be evicted to the new owner.
- Persons who unexpectedly returned from places of imprisonment and have rights to an apartment.
- Citizens whose rights were restored by the court after they were declared “missing.”
A child can be discharged only if both parents present a certificate of moving to another place of residence and when he or she turns eighteen years old.
How to challenge eviction from your only home
Defense tactics depend on the circumstances of the case, but only the court can stop the eviction process. Conventionally, three situations can be distinguished that provide for different procedures for resolving the issue:
- the apartment is recognized as unfit for habitation;
- the tenants violated the law;
- the tenants are in debt.
The first case will require residents to provide evidence of the apartment’s suitability for habitation. For example, in case of emergency housing, it is necessary to carefully study the procedure for recognizing an object as emergency. In practice, the procedure quite often goes wrong. The applicant must prove the decision was wrong.
The apartment also imposes a financial burden. Evasion from paying housing and communal services and mortgage debt can be justified by difficult life circumstances. For example, if one of the owners is seriously ill or disabled. Insolvency can be turned to your advantage with competent legal support.
Dispute procedure:
- Collection of evidence.
- Preparation of documents.
- Submitting documents to the court.
- Trial.
- Making a decision.
The applicant is required to correctly apply the law and competently prepare documents. Without a professional lawyer, challenging the eviction will be problematic.
Sources:
Provisions for declaring residential premises unfit for habitation.
Art. 32 Housing Code of the Russian Federation. Ensuring housing rights during the seizure of plots.
Art. 91 Housing Code of the Russian Federation. Eviction of a tenant from a residential premises without providing another residential premises.
Art. 446 Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation. Property that cannot be foreclosed on.
When it is impossible to evict tenants even through court: legal subtleties
For an owner to decide to file a lawsuit to evict citizens from their apartment, there are a number of reasons:
- divorce is one of the most common reasons;
- change of owner of the premises;
- convincing demand of the owner of the apartment or house;
- having a large number of debts for utilities;
- damage to property and immoral behavior.
So, one of the most passionately felt reasons for eviction from a residential property by the owner is a divorce between spouses and the desire of one of them to live alone in their home.
But it does not always happen that his ex-partner intends to leave the premises voluntarily, simply by slamming the door.
Often there are fierce disputes on this matter, which only a judge can resolve.
The court in this case will be based on how many years the spouses spent together and what financial situation they occupy.
Buying an apartment with registered people does not entail a peaceful life between the owner and the people occupying the living space.
But the legislation provides for this kind of purchase of real estate with registered people, and, referring to Article 292 of the second part of the Civil Code, people can be easily evicted.
This is due to the fact that with a change of owner of the living space, all legal opportunities for third parties living in it cease.
People who rent premises are not immune from a sudden change of plans by the owner of the home. The requirement to move out of an occupied apartment is lawfully imposed on the basis of such conditions as:
- Late payment for renting the premises or its complete absence.
- Circumstances that have changed for the owner of the home.
- Maintaining an apartment in poor condition or complaints from neighbors.
We suggest you read: Can I inherit an inheritance in 2 years?
If the owner sold the premises, and the agreement between him and the residents was concluded according to all the rules and officially, then they can remain in the home even after a change of owner.
Thus, payment for the use of housing will be made to the new owner.
If the owner of the premises makes timely payments for the use of utilities, and other residents do not provide financial investments, then a statement of claim can be drawn up demanding that people be evicted from the occupied premises.
What are the nuances of eviction from an apartment of a registered person, not the owner? If a person living in a home owned by the owner refuses forced eviction, it becomes a tedious procedure for both parties.
The best way to achieve a result is to properly prepare documents for the trial: a document that can confirm ownership, and evidence supported by documents indicating the validity of the plaintiff's claims.
If a resident does not want to leave the apartment, the owner of the premises has the right to call the district police officer for detailed investigations. If the guest is on the host’s premises later than 11 p.m., he may be picked up by the police.
When a marriage is dissolved, the family breaks up and its former spouses become strangers. Eviction occurs with reference to Article 292 of the Civil Code and 31 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation.
The eviction of former family members is carried out with the involvement of the prosecutor and bailiffs in this unpleasant process. Article 31 of the RF Housing Code clearly defines the concept of those who are family members.
If people lived together, but did not dare to legalize the relationship, it is impossible to kick the person out onto the street, especially if the couple has children together.
If the owner has a desire to evict a member of his family, for example, an adult child, then the court will consider that breaking such a relationship is impossible.
And this fact will be taken into account during the trial.
Before permanently breaking off relations between people living in an apartment, the owner needs to think about the severe psychological consequences of such an eviction. If possible, you need to resolve the issue of eviction without resorting to the help of judicial authorities.
Next, we will take a closer look at the reasons and grounds under which a person can be cheerful from his only living space. If this is official housing, then the grounds will be as follows:
- Termination of the employment contract, termination of any relationship between the owner and the tenant on the basis of which the office premises were provided.
- Change of owner of service housing, in which the new owner does not have any labor relations with the tenant and, in fact, does not owe him anything (Clause 2 of Article 102 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation).
- Debt to pay for utilities, damage to property, use of premises for other purposes (clauses 1-4, part 4, article 101 of the RF Housing Code, clause 1, article 103 of the RF Housing Code).
If the housing is municipal, the reasons for eviction may be:
- Constant violations of the rights and interests of neighbors (clause 3, part 4, article 83 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation).
- Failure to comply with the terms of the social tenancy agreement - unsanitary conditions, damage to municipal property, non-payment of utilities (Part 3 of Article 67 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, Article 86 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, clause 2 of Part 3 and Part 4 of Article 79 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation). If, for these reasons, the tenant refuses to move out voluntarily, in accordance with Part 5 of Art. 79 Housing Code of the Russian Federation and Art. 91 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, they have the right to forcibly evict him without providing other housing.
- Recognition of housing as unsafe, dangerous for further residence, as well as transfer of its ownership to religious organizations. According to Article 85 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, eviction on these grounds will be carried out, even if the tenant has only one home. At the same time, they are required to provide him with other living space.
Unfortunately, it is not always possible to resolve conflicts between residents and the landlord peacefully, which is why more and more often the usual procedure for renting an apartment ends in a scandal. The essence of the problem is that the owner of the apartment does not have the right to evict tenants whenever he pleases.
By letting strangers into your home, you take this on your own responsibility.
Regardless of how the tenants and the owner of the apartment came to the stage of moving out, it is important to remember that the absence of an agreement will become a serious obstacle that can slow down the procedure for eviction of tenants.
Most often, it is not very profitable for the owners of residential premises to draw up an agreement and have it certified by a notary for many reasons. The most common reason is the lack of desire to pay taxes to the state. In addition, many simply do not want to deal with a bunch of papers and delve into all the bureaucratic subtleties. But this is not about that now, everyone has the right to decide for themselves and be responsible for their actions.
The owner of the apartment can at any time stop the residence of certain people in his living space if:
- Apartment residents regularly fall behind on rent and utility payments. Especially if the debt has already exceeded 2-3 months, but for a long-term form of agreement it should be six months;
- there is a violation of certain agreements with the owner of the apartment. In this matter, everything can be purely individual. But it must be stipulated, at least in a homemade contract;
- use of residential premises other than for their intended purpose. Especially when neighbors from all sides start complaining;
- damage to the landlord's property or improper maintenance of the apartment.
Having a contract plays a big role
- The owner of the apartment, if there was no agreement, has the right to evict the tenants at any time, simply by canceling the rental of the living space.
- The reasons listed above may provide a valid reason for a landlord to take legal action if tenants refuse to vacate voluntarily.
- If the owner of the apartment plans to solve this problem on his own, then the eviction procedure may take on an unexpected character.
- It is also worth touching on the topic of having children. If there is no agreement, then it depends on the conscience of the owner. Although having a child gives certain privileges when going to court in the form of a slight mitigation. He may also decide to cancel the eviction of the tenants or provide this housing until a replacement is found. Naturally, we are talking about minor children.
- It is also worth mentioning the winter period - there are no prohibitions on eviction of tenants at this time. Therefore, the owner can evict them with the help of the police or go to court. But for the last option, you need to provide compelling reasons for eviction, which we talked about at the very beginning. If you do not have an agreement, then you will need to forget about the debt.
We suggest you read: Can there be two marriage contracts?
Families with children have extenuating circumstances
Ways to evict tenants:
- just change the lock. But there must be good reasons for this, since the employer can file a lawsuit;
- Call the police so that employees can help vacate the premises. Again, there must be a significant motive, and not just the arrival of Aunt Zina from another city for a week;
- the court is already considered a last resort, which is used in cases where residents and the owner cannot come to a common denominator.
Having a notarized apartment rental agreement is a very important point. Typically, the contract specifies a time period during which tenants have the full right to live in the rented housing space. There are two types of contracts: short-term (up to 1 year) and long-term (from 1 to 5 years).
The landlord is required to promptly notify tenants of eviction.
- The first option of concluding a short-term contract is more profitable for the lessor. We also note that once the term expires, it is not automatically renewed! The only exception is if it was mentioned in its structure.
- The problem lies in the long-term lease agreement, which provides for certain rules that both tenants and the owner must follow: the owner of the apartment, concluding a long-term agreement, undertakes to notify the tenants no later than 3 months in advance that the term of the agreement will expire. And he is also obliged to warn that the owner does not intend to rent out the apartment in the near future. That is, it gently hints about the imminent eviction of the tenants;
- If the landlord kept silent about this and the tenant did not move out of the apartment during this time, the contract is considered automatically extended.
The court will side with the tenants if compelling evidence is not provided