Refusal to purchase a room in a communal apartment: a sample of how to receive a document from neighbors and correctly execute it when selling real estate?

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When buying or selling living space in a communal apartment, it is necessary to obtain a refusal from the persons who have the pre-emptive right to purchase.

This rule is specified in Article 42 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation. Otherwise, there is a high risk of the transaction being annulled in court.

Who should I notify?

Each owner has the right to dispose of his own room. This rule also applies to home sales. At the same time, it is necessary to inform those who have the right of first refusal. According to Article 250 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, these are the owners of neighboring rooms.

Employers do not have this advantage.

If the apartment has non-privatized premises, then notifications must be sent to the municipality.

The terms of implementation should not be different. That is, the seller must offer equal prices and terms, both for neighbors and for other persons. The age of the owners should be taken into account. If the room belongs to a child under fourteen years of age, then notification must be sent to his legal representatives. At the age of fourteen to eighteen, a person himself can express his will, but the answer must be signed by a parent or a person replacing him.

Waiver of the right of first refusal to purchase a room

After notification is received from the seller, the co-owners issue a written consent to purchase the room or refuse to purchase it. The refusal, certified by a notary, is sent to the owner of the room being sold by registered mail.

If the co-owners do not provide written notice, the refusal is considered automatic after 30 days. Only after this can you offer the room to outside buyers.

The refusal can be issued according to the sample. It is important that it contains the following points:

full address of the apartment;
a description of the room, which is a clearly defined area and location;
redemption price indicated in rubles;
the period during which a decision can be made to purchase the room;
the name and passport details of the co-owner who announced his refusal of the room;
date and signature of the co-owner.

In the case of notarization, the form is stamped and signed by the notary.

Implementation procedure

The procedure for selling a room in a communal apartment does not differ significantly from the standard scheme for buying and selling real estate. The key difference is the need to send notices to priority buyers - neighbors. After registration of the refusal, negotiations are held with the potential purchaser.

Afterwards, an agreement is drawn up and signed and mutual settlements are made between the parties to the transaction. An acceptance certificate is drawn up and signed. Finally, the new owner registers his right with Rosreestr.

Waiver validity period

The refusal, as such, does not have a specific validity period. It concerns a clearly defined situation. It is impossible, for example, on the basis of one refusal to sell a completely different room, and not the one that was originally intended. Thus, the refusal is a one-time document, relevant only in certain conditions and for an extremely limited period of time.

By law, a potential neighbor buyer has exactly 30 days from the date of receipt of notification of the sale of the room. This period can be considered as the validity period of the refusal.

How to issue a refusal?

All neighbors are notified in writing.
The refusal to purchase is agreed upon and the date and time of the visit to the notary is agreed upon. Personal presence of all owners and documents required:
passports of the owners of neighboring rooms;
certificates of ownership of shares;
information about the property (address, area, cost, etc.).
The document is being drawn up.

Procedure for notifying neighbors

The procedure for refusing to purchase a room in a communal apartment begins with written notification of neighbors about the planned sale of their part of the real estate. The procedure will be as follows:

Compose the text of the notification.
Hand over the document to each co-owner of a communal apartment.
Discuss refusal to purchase.
Draw up the relevant document in writing (either yourself or in the presence of a notary).
Have the refusal certified by a notary.

Expert opinion

Semyon Frolov

Lawyer. 7 years of experience. Specialization: family, inheritance, housing law.

The ideal option is when you have good relations with your neighbors, so they will easily agree to draw up a document and have it certified by a notary. If they refuse to accept a written notice by hand, it should be sent by mail, even if they live in the same apartment. In this case, it is important to issue the shipment by registered mail with a list of attachments and a receipt notification, keeping postal receipts for payment for the shipment.

How to write a notification

The text of the notice of the planned sale should indicate:

Personal information of the room seller and recipient.
Intent to sell the room, indicating the details of title documents and a certificate of ownership/extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate.
Characteristics of the property being sold: address, square footage, price and terms of purchase.
A note about pre-emptive rights.
Deadline for making a decision.
Consequences of failure to provide a response (sale to an outside party).
Date of registration.
Author's signature with transcript.

To whom to direct

Only neighbors who have the right of first refusal to purchase the property being sold should be informed about the planned sale. These are those who use housing on the basis of ownership , regardless of how it was obtained (through privatization, gift or sale agreement, inheritance). No approvals are required with persons living under a social tenancy or rental agreement. You can clarify the real rights of neighbors to the rooms of a communal apartment through a request to Rosreestr. The extract is issued on the basis of the applicant’s passport, after paying a state fee in the amount of 200 rubles .

For non-privatized rooms, the local administration is considered their owner. In this case, all approvals should be carried out with the municipal property management department.

When drawing up the text of the notice, it is important to take into account that among the co-owners there may be minors:

Children under 14 years of age - notice to parents or other legal guardians. They will subsequently formalize the refusal if such an agreement can be reached.
Children 14-18 years old - the notification is sent directly to them, but the written response must have the signature of one of the parents/legal representatives.

In relation to minor owners, it is also required to additionally obtain written permission from the guardianship and trusteeship authorities.

Response time

As soon as the notification is received, each of the residents of the communal apartment can issue a refusal to purchase the room being sold or buy it back at the specified price. In the latter case, there is no need to draw up a written response; you can immediately formalize the purchase and sale transaction and send documents to Rosreestr for re-registration of property rights to the new owner.

1 month to make a final decision (Article 250, Part 2 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation) from the date of delivery indicated on the postal notification. If no response is received within the specified time, the refusal is counted automatically. Thus, the legal formality will be observed, so the owner-seller then has complete freedom of action in selling the room to any person. At the same time, to register the transfer of ownership of the buyer in Rosreestr, a postal receipt of delivery will need to be attached to the package of documents. It will confirm the fact that neighbors have been notified in writing about the sale of their part of the property in the communal apartment. In addition, the owner has the right to confirm this fact and the lack of response from the co-owners with the help of an additional certificate from a notary. To do this you need to provide:

copies of letters sent to each addressee;
postal receipts confirming the sending of letters.

The holder of such a certificate, obtained from a notary's office, has the right to sell his property to anyone, without fear of litigation with disgruntled neighbors.

Cost of paperwork

First of all, the costs will be associated with notary services. The cost of his work varies from 1000 to 2000 thousand rubles. It is also necessary to pay for delivery of the notice to the owners. If postal delivery is used, the letter is sent by registered mail with acknowledgment of delivery to the addressee. The cost of shipping will depend on the remoteness of the recipient’s residence (see tariffs on the Russian Post website).

What to do if the notification is ignored?

If a waiver of the pre-emptive right is not submitted and the notice is ignored, after the expiration of a month the seller has the right to:

Put your share up for sale and find a buyer.
Agree with the buyer on the terms of the transaction and enter into a contractual agreement.
Submit documents for registration.

Legal advice: if the notice was sent by Russian Post, it is better to wait another 1-2 weeks or ask whether the second owner received it. This is necessary so that he does not subsequently challenge the transaction and transfer the pre-emptive right to himself.

Common problems with neighbors

They don't want to receive or ignore the notification

If neighbors do not pay attention to the notification received, this is an obstacle to completing a real estate transaction. It is enough to have a receipt for sending the letter, or a notification that it was not received. Then you can make a deal. You can turn to the services of a notary who will legally certify and forward the letter. This will be a fact of proper informing of neighbors.

How to find the owner of a living space in his absence?

If the owner is absent, then information can be obtained from Rosreestr. It is necessary to fill out an application and pay the state fee. The applicant cannot be refused.

The owner of the neighboring premises has died, and the heir does not enter into the inheritance

If the heirs of the deceased owner have not yet accepted the property, then you should wait until the end of the procedure. Its period is six months from the moment of death. The inheritance can be transferred earlier if there are no other claimants to the property.

The situation can become more complicated if there is a dispute between potential recipients. In such a situation, you will have to wait until the court makes a decision. In any case, it is necessary for the new owner to take ownership and register them with Rosreestr. Then the deal can be implemented without legal violations.

Why you might need to refuse to buy a room in a communal apartment

A communal apartment is in shared ownership of all residents.
Each of the premises is dedicated and has its own entrance, as well as a significant part of the communications necessary for a relatively comfortable life. Thus, each of the neighbors in a communal apartment is essentially a co-owner of the entire apartment as a whole. This means that when selling any of the rooms (shares in the apartment), you first need to focus on the pre-emptive right to purchase this apartment.

This right allows neighbors to buy this property as a priority, regardless of what agreements were reached between the seller and the buyer. The only thing that must be observed in all cases is the terms of sale. Thus, the neighbor must be subject to the same conditions of sale as the potential buyer.

If the neighbors do not intend to purchase this property, the seller may ask (but not require) to write refusals to purchase the room on the basis of the pre-emptive right. This is necessary in order to close the deal as quickly as possible. However, neighbors are not required to provide such a document.

On the other hand, in order to maintain a good relationship with a person and, potentially, make friends with a new neighbor, it is still recommended to do this, especially since the refusal itself is not something difficult or dangerous, it only indicates the fact that the neighbor does not is going to buy the apartment in question in this case.

Implementation without consent: is it possible?

Notifying your neighbors of your intention to sell your room is a prerequisite for completing a real estate transaction. Otherwise, there will be grounds for legal action.

Legal practice shows that it would still be correct to obtain the consent of neighbors. If any of them is interested in the offer, then there is no need to issue additional notifications. A purchase and sale agreement is simply concluded and mutual settlement is made.

What if the owner is against it?

Sellers often face this situation. When any or all of the neighbors object to the transaction. This fact is not an obstacle to the transaction. It is necessary to inform each owner properly (see above) and in a month the room can be sold.

The sale of a room in a communal apartment is carried out according to the rules established for any other housing. A distinctive feature is the fact that it is necessary to inform neighbors of your intention. If they are properly notified, the transaction can be carried out without legal violations.

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Options for solving problem situations

The actions of the owner in accordance with the law do not yet guarantee the conscientious fulfillment of obligations in return by neighbors in the communal apartment. Thus, the following problem situations are possible, which require different options for action:

Refusal to accept the letter. In this case, it is returned to the sender with a mark indicating refusal of receipt. It is important to keep the envelope sealed and then present it together with receipts for payment of postage to the Rosreestr authorities when registering the transfer of ownership rights to the name of an outside buyer.
Unknown whereabouts of one of the co-owners. In this case, it is necessary to initiate a procedure in court to declare the person missing, and indicate as a basis the need to respect the right of first refusal. This status is assigned if there is no information about a person’s whereabouts for 12 months.

If the disappeared person is not found, the court appoints a manager for his property, to whom you should address your notification and wait for a response.

Actual residence of the co-owner in another city or country. Here you should seek help from a notary, who will send a notarized notification, and if there is no response to it, issue a corresponding certificate.
Inheritance not accepted by legal successors after the death of a co-owner. One of the most difficult situations. In this case, you can go to court to identify the person who inherits the deceased’s room, or recognize it as escheatable property, which the local administration is obliged to accept on the municipal balance sheet. In any case, a person will be identified to whom you can send notice of the planned sale and wait for a response. Upon subsequent re-registration of property rights in Rosreestr, a court decision, notification and written refusals must be attached.

Are you having difficulty processing your neighbors' refusal to buy a room in a communal apartment?
At a free consultation, experienced lawyers will tell you what steps are best to take in your case. They can also accompany further purchase and sale transactions with third parties in order to save the parties from possible problems and proceedings with the judicial authorities. Attention!

Due to frequent changes in legislation, information sometimes becomes outdated faster than we can update it on the website.
All cases are very individual and depend on many factors. Basic information does not guarantee a solution to your specific problems.

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