Many homeowners rebuild it to their own taste, and often only a statement of claim for redevelopment of the apartment is the only opportunity to legitimize the work performed. This is the same as in the case of a claim for ownership of an unauthorized construction. Until the interested party (owner) proves in court the safety of the structures and changes made, such redevelopment may be required to be eliminated. That is, at the owner’s expense, return the property to its original condition. Which is always expensive. And taking into account the mortgage, the bank even threatens to sell the home.
In judicial practice, a statement of claim for the redevelopment of an apartment occurs frequently. We analyzed the recommendations and explanations of the courts. And in this article we described the main nuances of the legalization procedure, recommendations for the preparation of documents for the reconstruction and redevelopment of residential premises. The example and sample below can be used as a basis for preparing your own claim. And if any questions remain, the duty lawyer will help.
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Statement of claim for apartment redevelopment
Before going to court with a claim to preserve the redevelopment
Not any changes to the apartment require legalization. What is reconstruction and what is redevelopment? The answers to these questions are given by Art. 25 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation. In short:
- reconstruction is the installation, replacement, transfer of utility networks, sanitary, electrical or other equipment. Only when such changes are made to the technical passport of the apartment
- redevelopment is a change in the configuration of housing. When it is necessary to make changes to the technical passport of an apartment (premises).
As a general rule, before redevelopment, you must obtain a special document. This is a decision on approval of redevelopment (issued by the local administration). And if it is missing, you will need to go to court: a statement of claim for redevelopment of the apartment or an administrative claim to challenge the decision of the government authority.
Registering changes
The process of legalizing unauthorized redevelopment does not end with a court decision. After this, technical and cadastral passports should be reissued taking into account the changed condition of the apartment.
When illegal redevelopment resulted in changes in the size of housing, then the corresponding information should be entered into the registration data for the property.
To do this, an application with a copy of the new technical passport is submitted to the local branch of Rosreestr.
Here is the basic thing you need to know about how to legalize unauthorized redevelopment. Let us emphasize once again that the help of a lawyer in this matter will greatly facilitate the task.
What you need to know when going to court
Before filing a claim in court, it is necessary to prepare a number of documents. They must prove that the apartment can be preserved in its redesigned form. To do this, you should contact the fire supervision authorities, Rospotrebnadzor, and also obtain an expert opinion from a specialized organization. The expert conducts a study and confirms that maintaining the redevelopment will not violate the rights and interests of other residents. Otherwise, examinations in civil cases may be ordered.
If the listed authorities made comments on the redevelopment or reconstruction of the apartment, they must be eliminated. Since the court may reject the claim based on negative reviews.
The dispute falls within the jurisdiction of the district (city) court. The claim must be filed at the location of the defendant. State duty - 300 rubles.
When is legalization required in court?
You can go to court to legalize redevelopment in 2 cases:
- The work has already been carried out and has not been agreed upon with the authorized bodies. According to Article 26 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, such reconstruction is called unauthorized and the owner or tenant must restore the premises to its previous condition by paying a fine. The fine ranges from 2,000 to 2,500 rubles (Article 7.21 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation). It also states that the residential premises can be preserved in a rebuilt form by court decision.
- After submitting all documents for approval, a refusal for redevelopment was received. According to Article 27 of the same document, the refusal must be motivated, and it can be appealed in court.
Statement of claim for apartment redevelopment - court refusal
Redevelopment and redevelopment of residential premises can only be legalized in court. But the court does not always make a decision in favor of the applicant. It is impossible to legalize redevelopment if:
- the ventilation of the house is impaired
- the area of the gasified kitchen has been increased
- gas pipes moved
- The bathroom has been enlarged due to the living space
- plumbing ducts dismantled
- heating appliances have been moved to the balcony or loggia
- new “wet places” have appeared (relocation of the kitchen, toilet and, respectively, removal of utility networks), etc.
That is why, before going to court, it is important to collect the findings of the authorities and use them as evidence. A technical report on the compliance of the work performed with building codes and regulations, a report on the compliance of the redevelopment with sanitary and epidemiological requirements, fire safety, and, if necessary, on compliance with the requirements of SNiP systems of internal water supply and sewerage networks, etc.
What should I include with the claim?
In addition to the application and its copy (the number of copies is equal to the number of defendants and third parties), you need to prepare the following documents:
- Title documents for the premises (copy).
- Receipt for payment of state duty.
- Conclusions of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Rospotrebnadzor, BTI, and other authorized organizations.
- Expert opinion that the changes made did not affect the strength of the house.
- Technical plan of the apartment before work (copy).
- The plan according to which the redevelopment was carried out.
- Estimate for construction work.
- New technical plan.
- Certificate about those registered and living in the apartment.
Important! If a representative of the plaintiff applies, a power of attorney or other document certifying the authority of the applicant must be added to the documents.
The result of consideration of the claim for redevelopment of the apartment
The court will decide to preserve the apartment in its redesigned form only if the plaintiff provides evidence of the safety of the structures and the apartment as a whole. Redevelopment must not violate the rights of third parties. If there are several apartment owners, they will all be involved in the case. After the court decision comes into force (taking into account the appeal), the owner must contact the BTI. To make changes to the documentation for the apartment.
In cases where it is impossible to legalize the redevelopment, the court will also make a decision. He may impose an obligation on the person who has unauthorizedly redesigned the apartment to restore the housing to its original condition. If the decision is not implemented, such an apartment may be sold through an auction. For the tenant, such a decision entails early termination of the rental agreement without the provision of other housing. Therefore, before going to court with a claim for redevelopment of an apartment, pay attention to the collection of evidence.
How to file a claim?
Detailed information on the form, content and attached documents to the statement of claim is contained in Articles 131 and 132 of the Civil Procedure Code of the Russian Federation. The application must provide information:
- Name of the court where the applicant is applying.
- About the plaintiff - full name, place of residence. Another person, not necessarily the owner, can go to court; in this case, information about the representative is indicated.
- About the defendant - full name, place of residence, if organization - name and location.
- About third parties who may participate in the process (for example, employees of other organizations).
- About the premises: address, type - residential or non-residential, details of the certificate of ownership, when the redevelopment was carried out.
- Information about the team or specialized organization that performed the work (if the owner contacted third parties).
- What skills does the owner have (if the work was carried out independently).
- Reasons why the owner does not have permission for redevelopment.
- Details of the conclusion of Rospotrebnadzor that the work performed does not contradict sanitary standards.
- Details of the conclusion of the Ministry of Emergency Situations that the redevelopment does not violate fire safety requirements.
- Details of the expert opinion. The owner of the apartment can invite an independent expert to give his opinion on whether it is possible to keep the apartment in an updated form. This may influence the outcome of the trial in favor of the plaintiff.
- The plaintiff requests that he save the changes made. Here it is necessary to list what exactly has changed after the redevelopment.
- List of attached documents.
- Date, signature.
If the application is submitted electronically through the official website of the court, the signature must be electronic.
How to legitimize a redevelopment that has already been done?
First of all, you need to have a conversation with all family members and make sure that no one objects to the legalization process .
Next, observing the scale , you should draw a plan of the home , on which the eliminated partitions and openings should be drawn in red, and the newly appeared ones in green.
In this way, visibility of the completed intervention will be ensured. How to legitimize an apartment redevelopment that has already been done on your own?
Where to start, where to turn?
Where to start? With a statement containing a request to coordinate some alterations, you need to pay a visit to the management company; a positive decision of the board is already something.
You will need to order an apartment project, which will be prepared on the basis of a sketch made by the owner and the old technical passport for the housing.
The order can be placed with any design company authorized to provide such services.
With all the papers, the owner must go to the Housing Inspectorate to notify what is happening. Here the documents will be checked and registered.
What documents are required?
You need to provide the following documents:
- statement;
- consent of all family members, recorded on paper, with signatures;
- project;
- old registration certificate;
- floor plans;
- title papers for the apartment.
If the housing belongs to several co-owners , then it is important that the attachments to the application include housing documents from all owners.
Which services should I coordinate with?
Depending on which premises are covered by the redevelopment, approval for these changes from city services will be required.
Here the owner’s energy will be directed to obtaining approvals - from the SES (sanitary and epidemiological station), gas service, Ministry of Emergency Situations, fire inspection - a list of interested services will be provided by Housing specialists. inspections.
Much depends on the essence of each organization’s response; receiving a refusal may result in the inability to use the apartment in its updated form. The purpose of approvals is to confirm that the rules and regulations have not been violated and that there is no danger to people’s lives and health.
Where to submit documents? Papers are submitted to a single window at the Housing Inspectorate, or to the MFC.
Since the MFC is just an intermediary that transfers documents from the applicant to the housing inspection specialists, in such a difficult case it makes sense to contact the housing inspection .
Processing time, cost and results
In this organization, documents will be reviewed within 45 days .
The cost of producing the project, obtaining approvals, and paying a fine will be about 50-70 thousand rubles. The state fee will need to be paid if everything ends with permission to leave the alterations .
In this case, BTI will issue a new technical passport, the state duty for which can amount to 900 rubles.
What documents are issued after registration? After finishing the work, the Housing Inspectorate specialists will give one of the answer options: permission in principle, or refusal.
They may be allowed to leave the apartment in a converted form if basic changes have been made that do not affect the load-bearing elements of the building and do not create a danger to other people:
- The interior non-load-bearing partition was moved, as a result of which the kitchen was enlarged at the expense of the corridor;
- the bathroom became combined;
- the door in the internal non-load-bearing partition was moved;
- Instead of a bathtub there is a shower cabin, etc.
You can also change the floor covering, but under no circumstances disassemble the entire “pie” - this will violate the design levels of sound and heat insulation.
Failure Cases
They may refuse if serious interventions are performed affecting:
- existing floors;
- load-bearing walls;
- existing ventilation ducts;
- communal heating network, etc.
It is unacceptable to attach part of a common building corridor to your home , to combine neighboring apartments into one (if they have different owners), to arrange a kitchen or bathroom at the expense of a living room (with the exception of the first floors of an apartment building).
They will never meet you halfway if a heating radiator or heated floors from the general house network have been installed on the loggia or balcony, or another room has been fenced off, significantly reducing the original area.
Required Applications
Important! In order to substantiate the requirement to legitimize the redevelopment, in addition to a well-drafted application, it is necessary to collect and submit to the court the following evidence:
- Documents confirming the plaintiff’s rights to the occupied premises;
- An official conclusion from an organization that is an active member of the SRO on the compliance of the work performed with the standards established by law;
- Conclusions of fire supervision, gas service and sanitary and epidemiological supervision service on the absence of violations;
- Technical passport for the facility indicating the initial parameters and after changes made to the layout;
- Written consent for redevelopment from neighbors, other owners of residential premises and the organization servicing the apartment building;
- Official permission from a credit institution for redevelopment (if the apartment has a mortgage);
- Certificates of inspection of hidden work (if changes are made inside building structures or communications);
- It is important to note that each specific case may require the preparation of additional documentation, so it is advisable to clarify the full list of required documents in advance.
Cost and terms of consideration of the claim
As already mentioned, when filing a claim in court, you must pay a state fee. To do this, you can obtain receipts with the necessary details from the court’s website. Then fill it out by hand. In 2021, the amount of the state duty has not changed. It is calculated in accordance with the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, based on the cost of the claim. Typically, the cost of the claim is determined by the cadastral value of the property. If, in the opinion of the court, an insufficient amount of state duty has been paid, then when accepting the claim, this will be indicated and the state duty will be paid additionally by the plaintiff.
Attention! A court of general jurisdiction must consider a claim in a civil case within two months from the date the documents were received by the court. If necessary, a forensic examination will be carried out in the case. Proceedings in the case will be suspended for the duration of such an examination. The process will take some time.
Also, the plaintiff’s expenses will depend on whether he wants to use the services of a qualified lawyer or will waste his time and try to personally defend his rights in court. How much a lawyer’s services cost needs to be clarified with a specific organization. Prices may vary significantly.
Failure Cases
The procedure for legalizing redevelopment is carried out exclusively through legal proceedings, however, the decision may not be in favor of the plaintiff.
The reason for this is that the owner carries out certain types of work, for example the following:
- Transfer of the ventilation system (violation of the original state of ventilation);
- Increasing the kitchen space due to the living space;
- Relocation of gas equipment (gas pipeline and stove);
- Increasing the area of the bathroom at the expense of other rooms of the apartment, including the location of wet areas above the living spaces;
- Dismantling of plumbing ducts, as well as installation of engineering and technical equipment in the wall space;
- Transfer of the heating system to the territory of the loggia or balcony.
The problem is that for some types of work permits are not issued under any circumstances. That is why, before submitting an application to the court, it is important to verify the possibility of legalizing the redevelopment and prepare a sufficient evidence base, which will necessarily include a conclusion on the compliance of the work performed with the requirements of SanPin, fire safety, as well as building codes and regulations (SNiP).
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