Housing for orphans in 2021: procedure and conditions for providing apartments, documents, laws and news

The state is obliged to provide its citizens with social guarantees. This is the main purpose of its creation and existence. First of all, this circumstance manifests itself when it comes to the most vulnerable. And among them are children who, due to various circumstances, were left without parental care.

One of the most difficult problems for young citizens in this category is acquiring their own housing. Will apartments be allocated for orphans in 2021, and how can a young person of this category get one? More on that later in the article.

Definition of orphan

People find themselves in different situations. Therefore, we will define the concept of orphan as it is interpreted by current legislation. This category includes young citizens who have not celebrated their 18th birthday, and whose both or only parents have died. There is also the concept of children left without parental care - these are persons under the age of 18 who are left without parental care due to:

deprivation of parental rights;
restrictions on parental rights;
recognition of parents as missing;
recognition of parents as incompetent (limitedly capable);
declaring parents dead;
the court establishing the fact that a person has lost parental care;
parents serving their sentences in institutions that carry out imprisonment;
being in places of detention of suspects or accused of committing a crime;
evasion of parents from raising their children or from protecting their rights and interests;
refusal of parents to take their children from educational, medical, social organizations;
if the only parent or both parents are unknown;
in other cases.

The child is assigned an official status:

orphans;
a child left without parental care.

This work is carried out by the state guardianship authorities of the local administration. Only after recognition of their status and receipt of the appropriate document can a small citizen of a large country count on state support, including housing for orphans.

Important: two circumstances are important for assigning a category:

inability to receive care and financial support from parents for these reasons (or others - decided on an individual basis);
not reaching the age limit (18 years).

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.

Basic laws and the need to change them

The legislative acts on which experts rely when resolving the issue are as follows:

Federal Law No. 159-FZ “On additional guarantees for social support for orphans and children left without parental care.” Date of adoption: 12/21/1996 (last modified 12/31/2014).
Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated 04.04.2019 No. 397 “On the formation of a list of orphans and children left without parental care...”.

Previously, the rules for providing orphans and equivalent square meters looked like this:

they were not put in a queue, but were immediately given the premises that the municipality had;
there were no specific rights proceedings;
if an orphan has not been provided with housing before his 23rd birthday, he is removed from the register;
The living space was registered as social rent.

During the investigation of various situations, it was found that such rules open up opportunities for fraud. In particular, young people who received “free” living space:

they sold it, seduced by something less valuable, but currently desirable;
transferred to scammers under the influence of their pressure.

Download for viewing and printing:
Federal Law No. 159-FZ “On additional guarantees for social support for orphans and children without parental care”

Important: changes adopted in 2014 stopped the possibility of fraud in relation to the apartments of young orphans.

View information

In order not to miss your rightful turn for housing, you need to regularly find out your turn on the list. You can view it and find out the necessary information in several ways:

Submit a formal written request in duplicate to the housing department;
Send the application and notarized copies of documents via the post office by registered mail with a list of attachments and return notification in order to be able to track the response time. They should not exceed thirty days;
Contact the local administration, where you can find out your current apartment number almost immediately;
View your number via the Internet in the regional electronic database. For example, in Moscow this can be done on the public services portal pgu.mos.ru

As can be seen from the above, there is no difficulty in obtaining the necessary data and finding out your current serial number in the queue for an apartment or other housing. There are also no restrictions on request frequency.

However, it is worth remembering that not all of the answer options presented will have legal force if you suddenly need to transfer the information received to any authority or organization. Finding out your apartment number via the Internet is the easiest and most convenient way, but such data is for informational purposes only.

Who is entitled to housing from the state?

According to the legislation in force in 2021, municipalities provide housing for orphans and citizens deprived of parental care.
They are supposed to be given apartments from the social fund, if there is one. Important: an orphan’s living space can be replaced with a certificate for earmarked funds. They can only be spent on purchasing housing. The mechanism for providing houses to citizens of this category has undergone major changes. They touched on almost all aspects of the issue, except for the main one - the recipient of state aid.

Age restrictions

In 2021, housing will be provided to young people who meet the following criteria:

has the status of an orphan or a child deprived of parental care;
The citizen’s age must be between 18, but it is possible to obtain housing earlier;
this person officially announced that he needed government support to solve the housing problem.

Each of the criteria is equally important. If you do not comply with at least one, then the state will relieve itself of responsibility for where the orphan will live. Moreover, this will turn out to be a completely legal act.

An orphan standing in line for an apartment remains there until his right to state support is fully realized. Even after he celebrates his 23rd birthday. It can be removed from the queue only after:

provision of residential premises in ownership or under a social tenancy agreement;
loss of the basis for providing comfortable residential premises;
inclusion in the list in another subject of the Russian Federation in connection with relocation;
termination of citizenship;
death or declaration of death.

Property criteria

The next gap corrected by the legislator is related to property law.
At the date of adoption of this act (1996), this institution had not yet been developed in the Russian Federation, therefore it was not taken into account in the old version of the law. Now the fraud hole has been fixed. Before an orphan is given housing, his other property rights are carefully checked. Download for viewing and printing: Housing Code of the Russian Federation

The beneficiary must meet the following criteria:

not be a tenant of residential premises under social tenancy agreements;
not be the owner of the residential premises;
recognition of the impossibility of living in occupied residential premises under a social tenancy agreement or by right of ownership. This includes the following circumstances:

residence in such premises on a legal basis of persons deprived of parental rights in relation to such children;
residence in such premises for persons suffering from a severe form of a chronic disease, in which living together with them is impossible.
the residential premises are declared unfit for habitation;
the area of living space per person living in it is less than the accounting norm. The accounting rate is calculated taking into account the beneficiary's move into the premises;
other circumstances that may be established by the law of the constituent entity of the Russian Federation.

Important: each of the listed circumstances must be documented. Simply announcing it is not enough.

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 housing provision is implemented in practice

The housing issue of citizens of this category begins to be resolved subject to:

reaching their 18th birthday;
upon completion of stay in educational organizations, social service organizations, medical organizations, and other organizations;
after completing vocational education, vocational training;
after completing military service under conscription;
after serving a sentence in correctional institutions;
recognition by law as fully capable before the age of majority (a rare case).

Attention: it is strictly prohibited to provide citizens of this category with a room in a communal apartment.
Housing must be separate. The procedure for transferring housing has been improved so that it cannot be transferred to other hands (including scammers). Now the process looks like this:

According to the changes made, a young citizen who meets all the criteria is provided with an apartment (house) under a rental agreement.
This document has a limited validity period: exactly five years.
After the expiration of the specified period, the rental agreement can be concluded for a period of five years again an unlimited number of times. This procedure is established if circumstances are identified that indicate the need to provide assistance in overcoming a difficult life situation. The procedure for identifying such circumstances is established by the law of the subject of the Russian Federation.
Upon expiration of the contract term and in the absence of circumstances indicating the need to provide assistance in overcoming a difficult life situation, the housing goes into the owner’s indefinite use.

Important: The right to provide housing is reserved for persons who belong to the category of orphans and children left without parental care, persons from among orphans and children left without parental care, and have reached the age of 23 years, until they are actually provided with residential premises.

Application and documents

Due to the fact that providing orphans with apartments and other separate housing is the responsibility of the regions, they themselves develop procedures for working with this category of citizens.
In particular, they assign work in this area to different departments. As a rule, this is handled by the guardianship and trusteeship authority. You need to submit an application to the government agency. As a rule, people are added to the list of those in need of housing upon reaching 14 years of age, but if this has not been done, they can be placed on the waiting list even after reaching 18 years of age. The application may be submitted by the legal representative of such a child, by the guardianship authorities if the legal representatives improperly perform their duties, or by the beneficiary independently.

You should go to the administration with the following documents (and copies):

statement;
passport of a citizen of the Russian Federation (also photocopy the page with registration);
birth certificate;
a social tenancy agreement for residential premises or other documents confirming the right to use residential premises on the terms of social tenancy (if any);
a document confirming the authority of the legal representative;
power of attorney of the applicant's representative;
documents confirming the impossibility of living in the previously occupied residential premises. Such evidence must be prepared in accordance with the procedure established by law;
a document confirming the loss (absence) of parental (sole parent) care.

The main package is described above. Some regions may require additional documents. It depends on the established rules. In addition, federal legislation does not say anything regarding the application form, but a list of information has been approved that should be reflected in it. In principle, you can compose it at your own discretion. However, a region may develop its own form of this document. It is advisable to check this with an administration specialist.

Important: when visiting the administration, be sure to have all original documents with you.

From January 2021, not only orphans themselves, but also their legal representatives can submit these applications. If, after 3 months from the moment the orphan child turns 14, the latter do not do this, such a right arises with the guardianship authorities.

About the queue for orphans

Registration of all children in this category is carried out by state agencies of guardianship and trusteeship.
In particular, civil servants carefully monitor compliance with the housing rights of orphans. Those who need apartments are put on a waiting list. It is formed on the basis of data on the date of birth of orphans registered by the relevant authority. When a young person initiates the issuance of housing, he ends up in the queue for the place where the specialist from the guardianship and trusteeship authority has placed him. He will receive an apartment immediately after the demands of the citizens registered in front of him are satisfied.

Important: changes in the law abolished the extraordinary distribution of housing to orphans. Now their demands are met depending on the capabilities of the municipalities.

From January 2021, the procedure for registering orphans in housing has changed. Now registration can be carried out from the moment the orphan or child without parental care turns 14 years old. The responsibility for setting them rests with legal representatives. And in case of inaction of the latter within 3 months after the ward turns 14 years old - to the guardianship authorities. From the age of 18, an orphan can apply in person for registration.

Procedure

What steps should you take to get on the waiting list for an apartment? There are many nuances to this procedure and it is very important to correctly and properly prepare all the necessary papers. Sometimes it makes more sense to contact the guardianship and trusteeship authorities and get help from specialists.

What documents does an orphan need to get an apartment?

To obtain housing, a citizen’s personal application with attached documents is submitted to the competent government agency (the list is adjusted taking into account the region):

passport of a citizen of the Russian Federation;
certificate of family composition (original provided);
confirmation of orphan status (for example, death certificates of both parents);
a document confirming that the citizen does not own other housing;
certificate from place of work or study;
if available, provide marriage and birth certificates.

Where to submit documents for preferential housing

And now the collection of documents is completed and the beneficiary submits his application and a set of documents to the competent government agencies. Before starting the process of obtaining social housing for young orphans, check which government agency in your region has the authority to resolve these issues and where in the future you can find out about the waiting list for housing.

Statement of claim for housing for orphans

If you are denied consideration of your application or provision of a place of residence, you can file a claim with the court to provide housing for the orphan. Attach a copy of the statement and the response to it, if any, to the statement of claim. Such measures help to achieve the allocation of a place of residence for the orphan.

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.

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.
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.

These civil servants are obliged to make every effort to help the applicant in solving his problems. That is, they will tell you:
how to compose it;
what papers to collect;
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.

Requirements for residential premises

Part 7 art. 8 Federal Law No. 159 determines that housing is transferred to orphans on the basis of specialized rental. The agreement is concluded for five years; after this time, the agreement can be extended for the same period an unlimited number of times. Or, after the completion of the contract, it is possible for the provided real estate to become the property of the citizen. Residential houses or apartments are provided as housing.

What apartments are available:

The housing provided must be located in the same region where the applicant lives.
The property should not be in dilapidated or disrepair.
All necessary communications must be connected to the premises.
Independent living space is provided, not part of a communal apartment.
The number of apartments provided to orphans in apartment buildings should not exceed more than 25% in one building. Exceptions: less than 10,000 people live in a settlement, the number of apartments in a building does not exceed 10.

Allowed area standards:

per person at least 33 m2;
for a family of two – from 42 m2;
for a family with children - from 18 m2 per person.

The legislative framework

The right to own housing for orphans is guaranteed by several regulations:

Law No. 159-FZ of December 21, 1996;
Article No. 54 of the Family Code;
Article No. 123 of the Family Code;
Article No. 292 of the Civil Code.

In 2013, the basic law regulating social support for orphans (No. 159-FZ) was slightly amended. If previously children received housing on a social tenancy basis immediately after leaving the orphanage, serving in the army, etc., with the right to privatize it, now this opportunity is not provided.

Changes in the law on the provision of housing imply the transfer of an apartment on a special lease basis. It limits the tenant's rights to the property. An orphan cannot privatize an apartment, sell, exchange or donate. The duration of the special hire is 5 years. After its completion, the housing goes into social rent and can already be privatized.

The previous option often led to orphans being left homeless due to ignorance of the law and fraudulent activities. Now these risks are practically eliminated.