Therefore, the privatization of housing with debt for careless payers is delayed indefinitely.
You can find out how long free privatization in Russia has been extended, as well as how much it will cost after the end of this period, on our website.
Is it possible to privatize?
The law “On Privatization...” clearly defines the procedures for carrying out the procedure .
The right to acquire ownership of municipal housing free of charge is granted once to each citizen of the Russian Federation.
However, there are no reservations about impossibility in this document.
To carry out the procedure, documents are submitted, the list of which includes certificates in form 7 and 9. It is this document that officials refuse to issue to those citizens who have debts for an apartment. But without these certificates it is impossible to transfer real estate into private ownership .
Refusal of employees to issue certificates is considered an administrative offense, qualified as “Arbitrariness” and, in accordance with Article 19.1, is punishable by a fine.
You can stop the actions of employees of relevant organizations by filing a complaint with higher authorities .
Read about the statute of limitations for invalidating the privatization of real estate, as well as about the deprivatization procedure in our articles. Also find out whether it is possible to privatize a cooperative, service apartment or military housing.
As it should be by law
The main standards on a given topic are set out in special federal law No. 1510 of 07/04/1991. In addition to the basic principles, restrictions are listed. In particular, only adult residents with permanent registration are allowed to privatize an apartment. However, there is no prohibition on the gratuitous transfer of state real estate to private individuals due to debt. There are no similar obstacles in the rules for registering real estate (Federal Law No. 218 of July 15, 2015).
Nevertheless, according to the current Housing Code (Article 83, paragraph 4, paragraph 1), the municipality has the right to apply to the courts with a request to terminate the social contract. This collection of regulations states the obligation of residents to pay rent for:
- consumed energy and other resources;
- public utilities.
An exception is made only for major repairs. However, other positions are quite enough to accumulate significant debt. In this case, what matters is not the total amount, but the fact that there have been no regular payments for the last 6 months.
For your information! The law allows you to privatize an apartment with debts, but in practice you may encounter administrative refusals.
Algorithm for citizens' actions
If the tenants decide to privatize the living space, it would be better to pay off the utilities in order to avoid problems with obtaining documents .
This is also important because, according to the law, failure to pay housing and communal services within 6 months can even lead to eviction from municipal housing.
But sometimes situations arise when the debt to pay for housing and communal services is very large and it is not possible to pay it .
Moreover, often the amounts accumulated are not those residents who are currently registered in the residential premises. Sometimes housing is privatized for the purpose of selling and paying off debts with part of the proceeds.
It is recommended to proceed as follows:
To begin the process, an application is submitted to local government authorities. first be agreed upon with all registered persons , since without this the process will be impossible.
After submitting the application, real estate tenants must start collecting a package of documents , which includes the following items:
- documents for living space (technical passport, cadastral passport);
- tenancy agreement or warrant;
- passports;
- certificates of non-participation in privatization;
- certificate of registration;
- receipt for state duty;
- certificate-extract from personal account.
You can find out what documents will be required when including a minor child in privatization, as well as to carry out the process with a dorm room or communal apartment, from our articles.
It is the last document that is the stumbling block during the transfer of real estate with debts to private ownership.
If employees of an organization refuse to issue a certificate, they must be required to issue a refusal in writing, justifying the reason .
Having received a refusal, you need to contact the Housing Inspectorate or the prosecutor's office. You can write a statement to the prosecutor’s office even if the paper has not been issued.
If the complaint does not produce results and after the request the certificate is still not received, the citizen can safely go to court.
Claims on such issues are considered by magistrates' courts in a simplified manner, so there is no need to worry about delaying time.
After considering the claim in court, the court will definitely rule in favor of the tenant of the residential premises, since the presence of debt cannot be an obstacle to privatization .
Having a court ruling in hand, citizens can continue the procedure for registering property.
Officials will no longer be able to interfere with the court's ruling and will be forced to enter into an agreement even if they have very large debts.
After completing the process, you need to pay off the debts as quickly as possible, otherwise the housing and communal services suppliers may file a claim against the debtors, so you will have to pay the bills in any case.
You can find out about the rights and obligations of the owner and those prescribed in a privatized apartment, as well as what the owner of privatized meters will have to pay for out of your own pocket on our website.
The debt is large, but there is nothing to pay
How to privatize an apartment in a difficult financial situation is decided after carefully checking several important factors. They start by clarifying the size of the debt. The maximum period for filing a claim for debt repayment is 3 years - the management company will not be able to collect older debts even through the court.
If there is still a risk of debt collection through the court, and the amount is significant, you can achieve through negotiations with the management company:
- deferred payment;
- distribution of payments in small amounts over a long period of time;
- writing off part of the debt;
- settlement after the sale of privatized housing.
Agreements are made in writing. If necessary, with notarization. After reaching a consensus, you can privatize the apartment with debts according to the standard scheme. Of course, we should not forget about fulfilling the agreed obligations.
Large debt can be paid off with consumer lending. It should be understood that such programs have higher interest rates. In this situation, it will not be possible to register real estate as collateral as security for the repayment of the loan received. It is necessary to evaluate objectively other types of guarantees:
- level of regular income;
- use of guarantors;
- attracting co-borrowers.
Attention! It is not recommended to contact microfinance organizations - there is a risk of multiplying the debt due to the high interest rate. It is better to get a loan from a bank.
What is the cost
The procedure for privatizing an apartment will cost a reasonable amount. Privatization does not involve the purchase of living space from the state. In general, property privatization is a free procedure. You will only have to pay the state fee and some certificates.
The state duty for privatization is 2000 rubles. The cost of obtaining the necessary certificates will be about 1,500 rubles. The cost of notary services varies depending on the region.
If you go to court, you must pay an additional state fee of 300 rubles. This amount can be recovered from the defendant (the agency that issued the refusal).
What will happen to the debt next?
Privatization does not relieve you from debts on rent and utility bills . Debts for major repairs are tied to real estate, however, Article 158 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation exempts the new owner from paying the debt that arose due to the municipality’s failure to fulfill obligations. And if the owner has already paid, he is entitled to a recalculation.
Debts can be paid off in no more than 3 years. It is during this period that the statute of limitations applies.
Payments are made based on an agreement with the management company on an installment plan. You can pay off the debt when selling the apartment by transferring the debt to the buyer, reducing the cost of the apartment by the amount of the debt. When selling, the debt is usually repaid from the advance received, for which an agreement is drawn up. If you don't pay utilities, the amount will increase. As a result, provided utilities may be interrupted.
Registration procedure
Attention! To privatize housing, you must obtain permission from several organizations:
- find out the number of people to whom the property will be registered and obtain documents from government agencies;
- submit documents to the BTI;
- clarify which housing and communal services management company provides utility services;
- prepare a package of documents;
- pay the state fee.
A receipt for payment of the state duty must be attached to the application for inclusion of the property in Rosreestr.
If you don’t have time to prepare the documents yourself, you can prepare a power of attorney for a representative of interests in government departments.
ATTENTION! Look at the completed sample application for privatization of an apartment:
Residential premises not subject to privatization
The state has identified several categories of housing that are not covered by Law No. 1541-1.
You cannot privatize:
- living space in a house that has the status of emergency housing;
- dorm room;
- an apartment located in a closed settlement (military town);
- service housing;
- premises in a building recognized as an architectural monument.
In some situations, it is possible to obtain ownership of an apartment provided for the duration of work duties.
Who can participate in the procedure?
The presence of outstanding payments for an apartment does not change the composition of persons entitled to participate in privatization. According to the law, the citizens specified in the social tenancy agreement, namely the tenant and all family members, have the right to privatize an apartment. Or the persons indicated in the order - the main tenant, as well as all family members.
Persons registered in the apartment can also participate in privatization . All of these citizens either directly participate or, in accordance with the established procedure, formalize a written refusal of their share in the apartment. If there is no consent from at least one of the persons, the documents will not be accepted or privatization will later be refused.
If an adult refusenik does not live in the apartment and does not pay utility bills, he is deregistered through a judicial procedure, and then the procedure begins. Adult citizens can use this right only once. If a citizen participated in privatization before reaching 18 years of age, he, upon becoming an adult, will be able to participate in privatization a second time.
