How to register ownership of a service apartment: is it possible or not?

To provide citizens and their families in need of housing, in accordance with housing legislation, a specialized housing stock .

Service apartments are provided by state or local authorities to persons performing labor functions in these structures. A citizen and his family should not have their own living quarters in the region where he will work.

The Housing Code of the Russian Federation provides for the procedure for an employee to receive a service apartment, which is provided under a rental agreement for the duration of the employee’s employment relationship. Temporary registration is provided for such living space .

The law protects certain categories of citizens and prohibits their eviction from official housing without providing them with alternative housing.

Forced eviction of persons who do not want to voluntarily leave official housing is provided for. It is important to follow the procedure defined by law.

Despite the ban on the privatization of official residential premises, there are legal ways to register it as property.

Service apartment as a residential premises of a specialized housing stock

Citizens in need of housing are provided with living quarters by the state or municipality from the specialized housing stock . The Housing Code of the Russian Federation (LC RF) refers to such housing (Article 92):

1. dormitories;
2. flexible housing stock;
3. residential premises intended for temporary accommodation of citizens;
4. for social protection of the population;
5. service housing;
6. residential premises intended for social services of citizens;
7. premises for orphans or children left without parental care, etc.

A service apartment is a residential premises that is provided to a citizen in connection with the fulfillment of certain labor relations.

The list of persons entitled to official living space is determined by separate legislation (depending on the person’s field of activity).

As a rule, such housing is provided to those who must be constantly present in the immediate vicinity of the workplace. Another condition is the absence of ownership of your own apartment in a given locality.

Service housing can be:

• apartments;
• dormitories;
• private houses.

However, in order for an apartment to be provided to a citizen and his family as a service apartment, it must be included in a specialized housing stock as service housing .
This provision is adopted by a decision of state authorities or local government, depending on whose property the living space is located.

What kind of housing cannot be privatized?

Free privatization is allowed for state or municipal housing. As for the property of organizations, it cannot be privatized, but can only be acquired on the basis of a civil transaction.

“All official housing that was provided after 1991 cannot be privatized. Some housing can be purchased, but this right of purchase, as well as the conditions, price and terms are determined at the level of regional legislation. All these issues are resolved at the local level, not at the federal level. For example, in Moscow there is a decree that regulates the provision of official housing in the capital. If housing was provided as official housing before 1991, then almost any such housing can be privatized. The exception is housing provided by organizations that became private and to which such housing stock remained assigned and was not transferred to the municipality. If an organization privatized service housing in 1991 and kept it on its balance sheet, then such housing cannot be privatized. It is still impossible to privatize dormitories and housing located in closed military camps,” says Sukhov.

Providing official housing

In accordance with Art. 93 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, service housing is supposed to be provided only to those citizens who are in an employment relationship with:

1. public authorities;
2. local government bodies;
3. state or municipal enterprises.

Also, such housing is available to persons appointed to government positions in the Russian Federation or a constituent entity of the Russian Federation, or elected to elective positions.

Accordingly, the apartment is provided under a rental agreement for office space for the period of validity of the employment agreement or contract. Termination of the employment relationship also entails termination of the employment contract.

So, a service apartment will be given to citizens holding positions :

• Deputy. At the same time, you can be a deputy at any level (state, subject or local).
• A military man.
• Law enforcement officers (police officers, investigators, etc.) who are sent to serve in another city or town.
• Firefighter in the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
• Teacher and doctor. This applies to those who wish to go to work in rural areas.
• Civil servant. For example, judges, officials, employees of ministries and departments, etc.

Currently, the provision of official housing is also practiced by private organizations - employers .

Procedure for obtaining official residential premises

Service housing is allocated by decision of the owner of the premises, namely by the authorities of the subject or municipality. The decision is made in the form of an order or resolution of the authority.

, a rental agreement for office residential premises is concluded between the person authorized to carry out such actions and the citizen to whom the living space is provided for use This procedure is regulated by regulations of the relevant authority.

Such premises are subject to transfer according to the acceptance certificate and the technical condition certificate . These documents indicate all the shortcomings of the housing provided, so you should carefully consider the contents of these documents. This is also due to the fact that the reverse procedure for transferring the premises is the same. Therefore, if malfunctions are noticed, they must be corrected at your own expense.

The conclusion of a rental agreement entails for both parties the rights and obligations associated with the use of the premises. The main responsibilities of the tenant are payment for the use of the premises and payment of utilities. In addition, the citizen is obliged to carry out routine repairs . Major repairs are paid for by the owner of the premises.

Service housing should not be used by citizens for profit , namely, they cannot be rented out, sold, exchanged, etc.

This prohibition is due to the fact that housing does not belong to a person by right of ownership and he cannot dispose of it at his own discretion.

The contract must indicate all family members of the citizen who will live with him. As the number of family members increases, this list should be updated.

What documents are needed to apply for official housing?

When applying for official housing and for its consideration, you must attach a number of documents. These primarily include:

1. passport;
2. work book as confirmation of employment in a given organization and in the corresponding position;
3. a document indicating the absence of living space in the property (extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate or other);
4. certificate of marriage (or divorce);
5. certificate of the employee’s family composition;
6. an employment agreement or contract - it specifies the period during which the employment relationship will continue;
7. a petition or statement from the employer.

All documents are attached in copies, which must be certified by a notary or employer.

The specified list of documentation for obtaining a service apartment is not exhaustive . It may be replenished depending on the situation and conditions for providing housing.

Application for provision of official residential premises

To obtain official housing for use, you must write an application addressed to the head of the government authority. It indicates the number of people who will live with the tenant. If there are children, their age is indicated.

This document also indicates all residential premises owned by the employee, if any.

With this application, the citizen consents to the processing of personal data. He also signs that he provides reliable information about himself and his family members.

If the information provided changes, the citizen undertakes to report this.

Using the example of providing official housing to military personnel, a sample application looks like this:

Is it possible to register in a service apartment?

As a rule, a citizen and his family members are registered in official housing temporarily. This can only be done with the permission of the owner. Registration at the place of residence will be valid for a certain period. Typically, registration in official housing is valid for the period for which the rental agreement is concluded.

Registration at the place of residence in a service apartment does not give the right to register ownership of it.

The main reason for eviction from such housing is the termination of employment relations with the organization that provided the official living space. When spouses divorce, the second spouse loses the right to reside in the apartment and is subject to deregistration and eviction.

Note to public sector employees - we are studying judicial practice

Considering that apartments from work are mainly used by employees of those organizations that are financed from the federal treasury, it is worth saying that the owner of such premises is also the state. As judicial practice shows, public sector employees therefore have an increased chance of obtaining ownership of such housing, since it often does not need to be transferred to municipal status.

What judicial practice will tell you:

1. In some cases, the employer will not have to wait for 10 years of service to try to register the apartment in his own name.
2. Family members living with the employee have the right to a share in the purchased premises.
3. After the death of the tenant, relatives can sue to establish their right to transfer the housing to themselves.
4. The employer's refusal to carry out the procedure cannot be appealed to any authority.

Minor children of employers who are going through the privatization process for the first time are sure to receive a share in such housing. If they signed a refusal to participate, they are assigned the right to lifelong residence in the apartment.

Eviction from service housing

Eviction from official living space is possible voluntarily and forcibly. With the voluntary order everything is quite simple. Upon termination of the contract or fixed-term employment contract, the employee (employee) is obliged to vacate the premises he occupies.

If a citizen does not want to voluntarily evict from a service apartment, then this can be done forcibly , namely by a court decision.

There are several grounds for forced eviction:

• debt to pay utility bills;
• damage to housing was caused;
• the rights of third parties are violated;
• the living space is used for commercial purposes;
• other.

The eviction process takes quite a long period of time. Before filing a forced eviction in court, the owner must take steps to peacefully .

The owner of the premises must send the tenant a notice requiring him to leave the property. The notice must propose a certain period after which it is possible to apply to the courts. It is 5 days.

After the tenant has not taken action to evict the property, the owner has the right to file a lawsuit. After the decision is made in favor of the owner of the residential premises and it comes into force, you need to contact the bailiff service . Next, the bailiff will execute the court decision.

Who cannot be evicted from official housing?

There are categories of citizens who cannot be evicted from official housing without providing them with an alternative, that is, in exchange for another living space. To such persons in accordance with Art. 103 of the RF Housing Code include:

1. family members of military personnel, internal affairs officers and other government employees who died or went missing in the line of duty;
2. pensioners who worked in the organization until old age;
3. family members of the deceased employee;
4. disabled people of groups 1 or 2, who became disabled due to the fault of the employer, who received occupational diseases, who were injured while performing their duty at work, and others;
5. orphans and children left without parental care;
6. citizens left with young children.

To prevent such citizens from being evicted, they should not have their own housing, as well as housing provided to them under a social rental agreement.

Renting an apartment upon eviction

When moving out of a service apartment, it must be properly handed over to the owner. An act of acceptance and transfer of residential premises is signed to indicate that the housing has been accepted by the owner and handed over by the tenant.

An authorized representative of the owner must carry out a full inspection of the service apartment and record any existing deficiencies (if any are identified). In this case, the employee has the right to disagree and indicate his comments on the act.

The apartment must be in no worse condition than when it was handed over to the tenant. Normal wear and tear must be taken into account.

If a forced eviction is carried out, then an eviction act . It must be drawn up in the presence of two witnesses.

Is it necessary to make repairs before renting out a service apartment?

Typically, the tenancy agreement specifies the responsibilities of the tenant. The obligation to make cosmetic repairs is included in the main list. The frequency of its implementation is also reflected directly in the contract.

If the housing is provided with repairs and this fact is described in the rental agreement and the acceptance certificate, then upon delivery the repairs must be made. Otherwise, the tenant will be charged an amount for cosmetic repairs of the premises, calculated at the market price.

If, in accordance with the terms of the rental agreement for office housing, the deadline for making repairs has not yet arrived, then the tenant has the right to refuse to do it upon eviction.

Step-by-step instructions: how to do it?

The process of completing such a transaction with official real estate is longer than the usual privatization of an apartment. In order to implement it, you need to know some nuances.

Where to begin?

At this stage, you need to come to an agreement with the owner of the service real estate , since such a transaction is not possible without his consent.

If an organization agrees to transfer housing into the ownership of its employee, then it must contact the relevant authorities in order to transfer it into the ownership of the local administration.

Also, if there are permanently registered people in the official real estate, then their consent must be obtained.

Who is doing this?

To privatize such an apartment, the organization that provides it to its employee must contact the municipality. If the administration’s decision is positive, the future owner of the property will still need to contact the Rosreestr authorities.

Required documents

To register office space in private hands, you need to collect the following papers :

1. A regulatory act from an organization stating that it transfers real estate to the ownership of the municipality, since according to the law only state-owned objects can be privatized.
2. Consent to privatization from all persons with registration in this area.
3. Copies of passports or birth certificates of all persons registered in this living space.
4. An extract from the house register indicating who is registered in the privatized property.
5. Social tenancy agreement.
6. Technical documentation for housing, including a technical passport, a house plan, a plan for the reconstruction or redevelopment of an apartment and a cadastral passport. You can get such documents from the BTI.
7. An extract from the personal account stating that this living space has no debts for utilities.
8. Certificate from Rosreestr stating that privatization is being carried out for the first time.

We talked about what package of documents is required in the case of privatization of ordinary housing and how such a procedure takes place in this material.

Where to submit papers?

Privatization papers are required by the municipality . You can submit them either to the housing department of the local administration or to the nearest branch of the MFC.

Registration deadlines

Such a procedure may take 2 months, and if the applicant does not have the entire package of necessary papers, the process may be delayed. The processing time for an application for privatization in the municipality is on average up to 2 months, since employees need to check the correctness and authenticity of all documents.

Cost and state duty

For 2021, privatization is a free procedure, but still it cannot be done without certain costs. To obtain a certificate from Rosreestr stating that free privatization has not previously been carried out, you need to pay 200 rubles .

Also, if the living space does not have a technical passport, then its production at the BTI can cost about 4000-5000 rubles.

In addition, the applicant will need to pay a state fee for privatization services, which currently amounts to 2,000 rubles.

Not only the procedure for privatization of official housing has its own characteristics and nuances. We talk about how to register various living spaces as property in the following publications:

• Is it possible and how to privatize an apartment with utility debts?
• The nuances of privatization of social housing and how many people can participate in it?
• Is privatization of emergency housing allowed?
• How can I privatize an apartment through the MFC?
• How much do the services of a realtor for privatization cost and how to find a worthy specialist?
• How can you find out whether an apartment is privatized or not?

In what cases can they refuse?

A negative response to the privatization of a departmental apartment can be issued if the management of the enterprise that issued it does not agree to privatization and does not transfer the housing to the balance of the municipality. Also, the reason for refusal may be incorrectly completed documents or a lack of necessary papers. In this case, the documentation will need to be submitted again, while correcting all the shortcomings.

In addition, the reason for refusal to carry out this procedure with real estate may be the presence of utility debts on living space. To solve this problem, you need to pay off debts and submit documentation for privatization again.

Is it possible to transfer official housing into ownership?

It is necessary to point out that the norms of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation do not provide for such a procedure as the privatization of a service apartment. And Art. 4 of the Law of July 4, 1991 No. 1541-1 “On the privatization of housing stock in the Russian Federation” establishes a ban on the transfer of office premises into the ownership of citizens.

Such premises can be privatized only after they become municipal property (if the owner is different). After this, there must be the consent of the owner of the property for privatization to be carried out by another person.

Further, the official housing is considered no longer official. Consequently, it can be transferred for the use of citizens under a social tenancy agreement . When these measures have been carried out, privatization is possible in accordance with housing legislation.

So, the tenant of office housing needs to contact the management of the enterprise that owns the premises with a request to transfer it into ownership. The application is reviewed within a month. Next, a positive or negative decision is made on this issue.

If a positive decision is made, then it is necessary to agree on the transfer of the apartment to municipal ownership and the removal of its official status. Only after these nuances have been resolved can we proceed to the standard privatization procedure.

There is an option when you can buy out office housing. You need to work in an organization and live in this apartment for at least 10 years . In addition, there must be official recognition of those in need of housing.

Who is eligible to receive

The following apply for temporary use of official housing:

• civil servants;
• deputies of any level;
• employees of various institutions with state participation (for example, Russian Railways);
• teachers, doctors, firefighters, police officers;
• persons serving in the Ministry of Internal Affairs;
• military.

The list of those eligible for housing is open. Housing legislation does not contain prohibitions on providing individual citizens with this type of living space, so you need to find out about the possibility of obtaining premises for living in your structure.

The main condition is that the citizen should not have other apartments on the territory of the subject in which he could live during his working life.