Moving cannot be a basis for depriving an orphan of the right to provide housing

Providing housing for orphans in 2021 is regulated by the Federal Law of December 21, 1996 N159 “On additional guarantees for social support for orphans and children without parental care,” as amended. dated 12/25/2018. The latest changes took effect on January 1, 2019. Let's figure out who has the right to receive housing from orphans, what is the procedure for obtaining it (documents + actions), how quickly such housing can be obtained, and also what has changed compared to the practice of past years.

Who are orphans?

Based on the analysis of the provisions of Article 1 of the above Federal Law, orphans include minors whose both or one parent has died.
If the fact of death is not documented, children acquire the status of “left without parental care.” They also have equal rights to orphans and can receive housing from the state (or rather, from the municipality).

These include persons under 18 years of age whose parents:

• were deprived of parental rights or limited in them;
• recognized as missing, incompetent or limited in legal capacity;
• declared dead;
• are serving their sentences in closed institutions;
• are in custody as suspects/accused;
• avoid raising children or protecting their rights and interests;
• refuse to take them away from educational, medical, and social institutions;
• unknown.

They also include children in respect of whom the court has established the fact of loss of parental care, as well as those who were left without parental care in another manner prescribed by law.

The circle of people from among orphans who are entitled to housing

The right to receive an apartment for orphans arises if they meet the following criteria:

1. The applicant is 14 years old . Until January 1, 2019, the “threshold” was the age of majority, that is, children who were 18 years old could receive it. Now the age limit has been lowered. This decrease is explained by the fact that the age of registration and the age at which a person receives housing differ over time. Previously, housing was provided immediately when the orphan turned 18, that is, he did not have to stand in line. Now these queues stretch for many years to come, so former orphanage children actually remain on the street when they reach adulthood.
2. He managed to register before the age of 23 . Housing itself can be issued later than the specified age - the main thing is to get in line before it arrives.
3. Lack of own housing . Although even those orphans who own real estate (or the people with whom he lives) can receive it, it does not meet the standards for living space or sanitary living conditions.

What kind of accommodation can they provide?

The Law on Providing Housing to Orphans (Federal Law No. 159) in Part 7, Article 8 establishes that housing is provided under the terms of a social tenancy agreement (that is, it is not transferred into ownership).

Such an agreement is concluded for a period of 5 years, and after their expiration it can be renewed every 5 years if the orphanage resident continues to need living space. That is, in essence, housing is provided for social rent indefinitely.

However, this rule is valid only from January 1, 2021, and before that, the contract could be extended once for another 5 years and no more.

The following facilities may serve as housing provided to orphans:

• residential buildings;
• apartments.

They must be landscaped and comply with the standards for the provision of living space in relation to a specific locality. Orphans are not provided with a room in a communal apartment, since housing must be separate.

Apartments for children without parental care and orphans cannot exceed 25% in one apartment building. That is, you cannot populate the entire house with only children from the orphanage, since this may negatively affect their social adaptation.

This rule does not apply only to:

• settlements with a population of less than 10,000 people;
• apartment buildings with less than 10 apartments.

Requirements for the housing provided

Housing provided to orphans must meet several requirements:

1. The apartment is located in the same locality where he lives or was in an orphanage.
2. The premises should not be located in a dilapidated, dilapidated house where a threat is created to the life and health of the orphan.
3. All necessary communications are provided to the apartment.
4. Orphans are provided with a separate apartment (not a dorm room or communal apartment).

How many square meters are required:

• for single orphans – from 33 sq.m.;
• for an orphan family with two people – from 42 sq.m.;
• for families with children – from 18 sq.m. for each person.

If the allocated housing does not meet the listed standards, then the orphan has the right to refuse it and demand a replacement. As a rule, such cases are resolved in court. But refusal may result in you having to wait your turn again. Yes, and you can refuse the offered meters only for compelling reasons.

Procedure for providing housing

The procedure for providing this benefit is of a declarative nature, that is, an orphan child will not “automatically” receive housing upon reaching 14 years of age. To do this, you need to draw up and submit an application for housing.

Which authority to apply to depends on the region, since providing housing for orphans is the responsibility of local, not federal authorities. In view of this, the names of the bodies may differ: usually these are guardianship and trusteeship bodies, but their powers can be delegated to other departments.

Whatever the name of the body, its employees are obliged to explain the registration procedure and provide the applicant with a list of necessary documents.

STEP 1.. Completing an application . If previously the orphans themselves wrote the application, as well as collected documents and submitted them to the appropriate authorities, then from 2021, due to the reduction of the age threshold, this responsibility is assigned to their legal representatives.

If the legal representative of the orphan does not submit an application for registration within 3 months from the moment the child turns 14 years old, the application must be sent by the guardianship and trusteeship authorities.

Orphans themselves and persons equivalent to them also have the right to make such an application in the following cases.

It is drawn up in 2 copies and sent to the guardianship and trusteeship authorities, as well as the housing department (department) of the local administration.

STEP 2. Collection of documents . Documents are approved at the regional level, and their package is compiled individually for each applicant.

If we talk about the required papers for each case, then they are:

• Statement. It does not have a strictly established form, but must have all the necessary details and data that an official appeal to government agencies should contain. The next section will provide a sample of such a statement.
• Russian passport. Moreover, it is Russian, since the lack of Russian citizenship from 2021 is grounds for refusal to register. When submitting documents, you must have an original and a copy with you.
• Certificate of family composition. Issued in form No. 9 by housing office employees. At the same time, it indicates all registered persons, and also indicates which of them the orphan is related to.
• Documents confirming orphanhood. Most often in such cases, this is a court decision on deprivation of parental rights, but depending on the situation, it may be another document. If there is no court decision in hand, most likely it continues to be stored by the guardianship and trusteeship authorities. Go there.
• Documents confirming the need for housing. If there is no housing, then a certificate is taken from Rosreestr about the absence of residential premises in the property.

In some cases, the provision of housing to orphans is also carried out with the mandatory submission of the following documents.

STEP 3. Submitting an application and documents . The application can be sent to the administration at the place of residence by registered mail with notification.

Alternatively, you can take it personally to the administration office. In this case, make a copy of the application in advance and make sure that it is marked with acceptance and the date is indicated. From this date you must receive a response within 30 days.

You can also send documents through the MFC. In this case, they accept the package and then forward it to the administration. The advantage of this method is that you do not have to stand in line. Despite the fact that, in essence, the MFC is an “extra link,” the time for resolving the issue is not delayed. The response must also arrive no later than 30 days from the date of submission of documents.

Lawyer's advice to an orphan

Young people growing up in boarding schools often have no idea about their own rights.
Another option is that they don’t understand where to go to get them implemented. But there is no one to advise, there are no relatives. The algorithm of actions is simple.

1. After the 18th birthday (at another time, but as close to this date as possible), you should go to the guardianship and trusteeship authority, where the young man is registered. And he is in the region from which this little citizen was sent to a boarding school.
2. The specialist of the required body needs to report your problems.

Important: it should be taken into account that the guardianship authorities employ civil servants, whose main responsibility is to ensure the fulfillment of the rights of children who are left without parental support and to protect their interests. They receive a salary for this.

1. These civil servants are obliged to make every effort to help the applicant in solving his problems. That is, they will tell you:
   where to write an application;
2. how to compose it;
3. what papers to collect;
4. other, depending on the situation.

In case of refusal of assistance (continuation of lawyer's recommendations)

If the guardianship and trusteeship authority refuses to answer questions, then you can complain about them:

• management (this is in the local administration);
• superior organization (ministry of the relevant region);
• to the prosecutor's office.

Important: the competence of the prosecutor's office includes supervision of the work of the executive authorities. They carefully ensure that orphans are provided with everything that is required by law.

Sample application

Administration of Gukovo, Rostov region, Gukovo, st. Sheremetyeva, 5 Aldonin Dmitry Olegovich, living at the address Rostov region, Gukovo, K. Marks street, 11/13

Application for the provision of residential premises to a person left without parental care

I belong to the category of children left without parental care.

In 2014, guardianship was established against me. At that time, I lived and had the right to use residential premises at the address: Rostov region, Gukovo, st. Zarechnaya, 23, apt. 17. This living space with an area of ​​24.18 m2 was provided in 2011 for a family of three people. My parents and I were included in the warrant.

After the establishment of guardianship, I lived together with my guardian, Sergeev Anatoliev Fedorovich, at the address: Rostov region, Gukovo, st. Krinichnaya, 18.

After the end of guardianship, I repeatedly applied for the provision of living space to me as a person left without parental care, in replacement of the lost one (the apartment at the address Gukovo, Zarechnaya St., no. 23, apt. 17 was transferred to municipal ownership and occupied by others persons), but to date I have not been provided with housing.

As a person left without parental care, in accordance with the Housing Code of the Russian Federation and Law No. 159-FZ of December 21, 1996. “On additional guarantees for social support for orphans and children left without parental care,” I have the right to emergency provision of housing under the terms of a social rental agreement after graduating from an educational institution and ending guardianship.

Based on the above, I ask you to provide me with living quarters as a person left without parental care, under the conditions and in the manner established by current legislation.

02/21/2021 Aldonin D.O.

Application:

(attached documents are indicated)

STEP 4. Waiting for your turn . This can take years, so some former orphanage residents even go to court to somehow speed up the process of obtaining housing. In some cases, the court satisfies such claims, but such decisions can only be executed if the municipality has available housing to provide. You can track the list of orphans who need to be provided with housing on the website of the local administration or during a personal visit to this authority.

STEP 5. Issuing an order . Once a warrant is issued in the name of the applicant, he is deemed to have lost the right to improved housing conditions on the basis of his orphanhood. That is, such a right is granted once.

Changes in legislation

Several years ago, the procedure for orphans receiving housing was somewhat different.

In particular, previously they had the right to receive it immediately after graduating from an educational institution, leaving a foster family or orphanage, completing military service, etc.

After receiving housing, it was quickly privatized and became the property of the orphans.

This option, however, led to the fact that in most cases children

were deprived of rights to the rooms and apartments they received for various reasons: inexperience, ignorance of the law, fraud of third parties, etc. Since they had property rights to the real estate, the state was not able to prevent such transactions.

To avoid such situations, a new bill “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation” (No. 589209-5) was developed in 2012, which came into force on January 1, 2013. In particular, the type of contract under which housing is now provided was changed : instead of social hiring, specialized.

This type of transaction excludes such real estate transactions as:

• privatization;
• exchange;
• subletting.

The validity period of the contract with such conditions and restrictions is 5 years. After the end of this period, the housing is transferred to the owner on a social rental basis. As an alternative, he may be offered another room, but its characteristics must be no worse than the previous one.

A safe deposit box for real estate payments is one of the best options along with escrow accounts. Do you want to rent an apartment through an agency, but don’t know if it’s worth it? Maybe it's better to look for options on your own? Our article will help you make the right decision. Step-by-step instructions for renting a room in a hostel on a social tenancy basis are presented here.

Grounds for excluding an applicant for housing from the list

In some cases, an orphan and persons equivalent to him may be removed from the register. The reasons for this are listed below:

• obtaining living space under a social tenancy agreement or rental of specialized residential premises;
• his death;
• loss of “orphan” status or a child without parental care;
• acquisition by an orphan of real estate, the area of ​​which exceeds the accounting norm for living space in the region;
• change of place of residence (moving to another subject of the Russian Federation).

Lists of children in need of housing

The legislation of the Russian Federation provides for a mandatory procedure for compiling lists of orphans who are left without parents who are subject to mandatory housing provision. These lists are compiled by employees of the authorized executive body of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. It is on the basis of these lists that the queue for the provision of residential premises will subsequently be established depending on the date of birth or, if they coincide, on the date of the decision to include an orphan on the list. The only basis for excluding an orphan from the list for receiving housing may be the implementation of this action by the state.

Deadline for orphans to receive housing

The law does not clearly define the time frame within which housing must be provided. It only says that:

Orphans or persons deprived of parental care must register between the ages of 14 and 23.

If this is not done before the age of 23, the person is deprived of the right to improve housing conditions.

At the same time, the direct distribution of apartments to orphanage residents can be carried out both 10 and 20 years after they are registered, when their turn comes, that is, after turning 23 years old.

Providing living quarters for orphans and children left without parental care

So we'll look at:

• conditions for orphans to receive housing;
• what kind of housing can be provided;
• when housing is provided.

Conditions for providing an apartment

So, to acquire square meters you need to meet a number of conditions. A young man applying for housing:

• must have orphan status;
• age from 18 to 23 years;
• is obliged to submit an official application for the state to allocate him a separate apartment.

Let's take a closer look at these conditions.

An orphan, according to the law, is one whose parents:

• died;
• deprived of parental rights;
• are in prison and cannot take care of the child;
• declared missing;
• seriously ill.

What kind of housing can an orphan child count on?

There are several signs that indicate that this apartment fits the definition of social housing. So, what kind of apartments are given to orphans:

• it must be separate;
• the future place of residence is suitable for living, equipped with amenities (electricity, water supply, sewerage, heating);
• an important point is compliance with the required footage;
• the place of residence must be where the citizen who has reached the age of majority is registered and lives, or where guardianship has been issued over him.

Terms of housing provision

In accordance with the law, the orphan submits an application to local authorities. The official review period is forty calendar days. After which, if all documents are provided and the application is drawn up correctly, social housing is allocated and an agreement is concluded. However, this is an ideal option. In fact, unfortunately, you often have to wait for more than one decade to get your own apartment. The problem of providing housing for orphans lies in the fact that funds for this are allocated from the regional budget and very often these funds are not enough. Information about the queue can be clarified in the same government agency where the application was submitted.

Why is the line moving slowly?

As mentioned above, housing for orphans is provided not by the state, but by municipalities. Regions allocate funds from local budgets to purchase housing for orphans, which is subsequently provided to them on social rent terms (legally it is municipal property). However, due to a shortage of budget funds, real estate is purchased in volumes that are clearly insufficient to improve the living conditions of all those in need. And sometimes they don’t buy anything at all.

That is why the queues move so slowly and the time frame for providing premises becomes so long.

How to find out the waiting list for housing for orphans?

This can be done in several ways:

1. Through regional portals “Gosuslugi”.
2. Online after filling out an application on the territorial website (formerly MFC).
3. At the local administration by sending a written request (sent by registered mail) or a personal visit.
4. The official portals of the Ministries of Social Policy by region also provide such information online. For example, the Ministry of Social Policy of the Sverdlovsk Region. In the form that opens, you need to indicate the full name and date of birth of the applicant for housing, and the information you are interested in will open within a matter of seconds.

The personal number in the queue is not secret information - upon your request, this information must be provided without fail.

Cases when settlement is considered impossible

As already noted, if children have rights to other housing, they are not given the opportunity to get a place in a house of the social service system. The exception is situations when the exercise of this right (that is, living in an apartment or house) is impossible for certain reasons. For example, these reasons include factors such as:

• living in the apartment or house of the child’s parents, who were deprived of their rights to him by court order;
• inconsistency of the area of ​​the premises with the standard of living established for one person, especially if as a result of the child moving in, it will decrease even more;
• residence in an apartment or house of persons suffering from a severe form of chronic diseases (at the legislative level there is a list of diseases the presence of which makes it impossible for a resident to live with other people).
• unsuitability of the residential premises for permanent residence or its non-compliance with established requirements and standards (technical, hygienic or sanitary);
• the child has severe chronic diseases.

In this case, when submitting an application for housing, the orphan must also provide the relevant authority with documents confirming the fact that it is impossible for him to live in his existing living space.

Is it possible to refuse to receive an apartment in favor of a certificate?

Information is actively spreading on the Internet that orphans are now given a certificate for housing instead of actually being provided with living space on social rent terms. To some, this seems to be a more profitable option than receiving municipal housing, which will not even belong to the recipient.

The issuance of such certificates is still a rather rare practice among municipalities. For example, only from January 1, 2021, certificates began to be issued in Primorye. However, we will soon find out whether such an innovation will take root. Most likely, as in the case of maternity capital, in order to purchase housing with allocated funds, you will have to pay extra from your own pocket, which orphans simply do not have.

Question answer

Question: Up to what age is housing provided and what happens if I miss the deadline?

To obtain housing, you need to register as an orphan before the age of 23. This makes it possible to obtain housing at a later age. Application for registration later than the specified age is permissible if the period is restored in court and if there are good reasons (for example, serious illness, forced absence outside the Russian Federation.

Question: Is it possible to sell the housing provided?

Housing is provided from a special fund on the basis of a social rental agreement for a period of 5 years. During the specified period, privatization is unacceptable. After 5 years, housing is removed from the special fund and the social rental agreement is extended. From this moment it is permissible to privatize the living space, and then it is possible to sell it.

Question: Is the right to housing retained, if it has not yet been obtained, when moving to another region?

Yes, the right remains. You only need to notify the municipal authority where the citizen previously lived and the municipal authority where the orphan moved to live. However, your place in the queue may change depending on the circumstances in the new region.

Question: When children and spouses appear, does an orphan have the right to expand their living space?

Yes, but not as an orphan, but for other reasons, for example, as citizens in need of improved housing conditions.

Question: If housing is declared unfit, does the orphan have the right to receive housing again?

No, you cannot get housing again due to your orphan status. However, the housing issue must be resolved within the framework of the provision of housing to citizens in connection with the recognition of their residential premises as unsuitable for habitation.

Links to legislative acts

1. Federal Law of December 21, 1996 N 159-FZ “On additional guarantees for social support for orphans and children without parental care”

How an orphan can get an apartment: procedure

What an orphan needs to do to get housing:

1. Prepare all necessary documents. It is better to obtain an exact list in advance from the guardianship authorities, since each case is considered individually.
2. Submit documents and application.
3. Wait for the result and receive a certificate indicating the queue number.
4. Wait your turn and sign the rental agreement.
5. After 5 years, sign a social rental agreement.

The procedure for providing square meters seems quite simple. But in practice, many orphans face various difficulties. For example, guardianship authorities refuse to provide housing because the orphan is married and the spouse owns real estate. Such actions are illegal.

They have the right to refuse only on the condition that the property is registered in the name of the orphan, and not in the name of her relatives. Even buying an apartment with your own money will cause a refusal to provide an apartment. It is worth considering that while the queue is moving, you cannot buy real estate. You will have to confirm your right to an apartment before signing the lease agreement by providing a certificate confirming the absence of residential property in the property.