How to declare an apartment or house unfit for habitation

The conditions and requirements that characterize residential real estate are regulated by the Housing Code of the Russian Federation. It also contains the grounds and procedure for sequential actions for declaring an apartment or private building unsuitable for permanent housing. Such grounds include not only wear and tear over time, after which the building can be considered dilapidated or unsafe, but also violation of certain construction standards, sanitary standards, technical aspects, etc.

When identifying reasons for recognizing housing as subject to demolition, owners, tenants and third interested parties have the legal right to contact the local housing authority to document the fact and apply for relocation or financial compensation. Moreover, after

After conducting a series of examinations, the decision of the interdepartmental commission may be to carry out major repairs or reconstruction of the house.

The commission should consist of authorized state officials of local self-government bodies, housing inspectors, employees of the sanitary and epidemiological station, fire supervision, and others.

Unsuitability of houses

Recognition of any residential building in use as unsafe, unsuitable for permanent full-fledged habitation, or completely subject to demolition occurs by checking its supporting structure, layout, interior amenities, and compliance with hygienic and sanitary conditions. Residential buildings may pose a threat to the health and life of Russian citizens and are officially considered unsuitable as housing if:

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The wear and tear of any existing residential apartment building or private building made of stone is more than seventy percent;
The wear and tear of a wooden private residential building is more than sixty percent;
Residential buildings are located within the boundaries of a sanitary-protective, fire-hazardous, including explosive, facility, industrial enterprise, utility network, or are located in an area near which the construction of housing is prohibited;
The location of the real estate in a dangerous zone from the point of view of natural disasters, which include landslides, floods, mudflows, landslides, floods, etc.;
Barracks that have been in operation for more than ten to twenty years, which are not intended and are unsuitable for permanent residence;
There is a risk of collapse or an emergency due to natural wear and tear, deformation of a residential building in use or damage caused;
The house was damaged due to natural disasters, fires, etc.;
There is no possibility to carry out proper technical and utility services, or install communication systems.

The house was declared unsafe, what to do next? How to get a new apartment or house?

The main consequence of recognizing housing as unsafe is the inclusion of owners and tenants of residential premises in the resettlement program. In 2021, the program is being implemented throughout the Russian Federation.

Funds for housing provision are allocated on the basis of co-financing from the federal and local budgets. Every year, regional authorities create lists to include citizens in the list of those in need of resettlement.

Provision is provided in order of priority. The program is being implemented very slowly. For example, as of 2021, 802 houses in the Novosibirsk region were recognized as unsafe. Since 2015, residents of 182 houses (1,800 people) have been provided with housing.

Therefore, the issue of recognizing the house as an emergency owner must be initiated independently. Delay significantly delays the fact of obtaining a new living space.

The program provides for the provision of residential premises to owners of apartments in dilapidated buildings. The owner has the right to an apartment worth no more than the residual value of the housing.

If the proposed housing exceeds the cost of the emergency one, then the owner must pay extra. Otherwise, the property will be provided under a social rental agreement.

Important! In accordance with the Supreme Court ruling of 2017 No. 6-KG17-8, the owner has the right to choose between providing alternative living space and providing compensation.

The tenant has the right to similar living space. If the administration cannot provide alternative housing, then the citizen can get a larger apartment.

However, the area is calculated based on the total area of emergency housing, and not on the provision rate per person (Definition of the Supreme Court of 2021 No. 10-КГ17-7).

In the event of a threat of collapse, housing must be provided to the tenant immediately (Definition of the Supreme Court of 2021 No. 70-KG17-22).

Let's consider what owners should do.

The owner of a residential premises must:

Collect documents.
Contact your local administration.
Obtain a decree recognizing someone in need of improved housing conditions.
Submit documents for inclusion in the program.

If the owner refuses to evict, the administration has the right to initiate legal proceedings for forced eviction. In this case, the citizen will not receive alternative housing, but compensation. The payment is equal to the residual value of the apartment (Definition of the Supreme Court of 2021 No. 5-КГ18-19).

Unsuitability of premises

In order for the interdepartmental commission to make the correct decision regarding the recognition of a residential premises as unfit for habitation, the following grounds must be present:

The location of the specified apartment in the building of an enterprise or other legal institution that does not belong to the housing stock;
The apartments and designated premises are located in a building that the commission has decided to recognize as unsuitable for housing;
The housing has a defect in construction and planning, as a result of which the level of internal amenities does not meet legal requirements;
Inconsistency of housing with sanitary and hygienic requirements;
The apartment is documented to be in disrepair.

As for the apartment, if we are talking about a living space, and not an entire building, then such issues are resolved purely individually on the initiative of the owner of the property. That is, the housing department and the interdepartmental commission must receive the appropriate request and documents in order to gain the right to act and begin to consider the situation. The commission will take into account:

Type and area of the existing apartment;
Depreciation of an apartment building as a whole;
Financial costs for major repairs, reconstruction;
Is it possible to carry out work to improve housing conditions?

The procedure for declaring an apartment unfit for habitation

In order for housing to be declared unsuitable

, first you need to go to the housing department of the municipal administration and write an application for the creation of an interdepartmental commission and its inspection of the required premises in order to decide whether it is suitable or not.

What documents are needed

To submit an application, you need to have copies of documents:

a document establishing the right to this housing;
a design organization plan made as a result of an examination of all load-bearing and enclosing structures;
if desired, the applicant can provide written complaints and statements from other residents, photographs of the property.

It must be remembered that if, when submitting an application, a citizen does not provide a legal document for housing or a conclusion from a design organization for consideration, then his question will not be taken into account and all documentation will be returned.

To get a conclusion

The design and survey organization needs:

Planning defects

Despite the fact that each owner can exercise his right to safety and receive new housing to replace the one that is documented to be in disrepair and subject to subsequent demolition, it is necessary to know what exactly is the cause of concern. An apartment or private house can be considered unsuitable for permanent residence if there are any defects in the layout of the residential property.

Such defects include the size of the rooms, which have smaller parameters than they should be in accordance with the requirements (wall height less than 2.25 m, floor width less than two meters, its location at a level below the street yard, doorways less than seventy centimeters wide with the impossibility of expanding them). Also, housing may be considered unsuitable if the distance from the window to the opposite neighboring building is less than three meters or the windows overlook a closed courtyard of five by five meters. In addition, inside the apartment there cannot be a hatch to the basement or access to the attic of the house.

As for landscaping defects, the location of sewer pipes and systems should not be above the living space. They also cannot pass through the apartment room, and entering the sanitary unit from the room is also prohibited.

If residents are not satisfied with the result

When a house is recognized as unsafe, this fact is the basis for terminating residential rental agreements and terminating rental relations. If such a circumstance exists, agreements may be terminated in court.

When owners do not agree with a decision made by the commission, they have the right to appeal to a judicial authority to appeal the decision.

After accepting the statement of claim, the court considers the arguments of each party and, if the results of an independent examination are available, makes an appropriate decision.

Violations of sanitary and hygienic conditions

Homeowners and interested parties can also exercise the right to conduct an examination if sanitary and hygienic conditions are violated. These include the lack of lighting in the room or the absence of rooms, windows opening under hanging arches or covered galleries, regular vibrations, the level of which cannot be reduced. It is impossible to determine their maximum permissible level on your own. This requires special devices. The same applies to increased noise levels, which are strictly regulated by law. Noise is the reason for declaring housing unsuitable for normal and safe living if its original cause cannot be eliminated or reduced with the help of any sound insulation.

Sanitary and hygienic violations include humidity and temperature conditions of the room. You can’t do without specialized equipment here either. Just as in the previous paragraphs, the defect must be eliminated or citizens must be relocated to safe housing. Harmful fumes are also taken into account when a house is located next to an industrial facility.

Special cases

When a home is deemed uninhabitable due to the possibility of a life-threatening risk, a decision is made within one day of the discovery of the hazards.

The following list of factors indicates the danger:

repeated violation of sanitary standards;
establishing that the house is located along the path of landslides, mudflows or avalanches;
location of the house in areas where the permissible noise level is exceeded;
identification of damage to load-bearing structures resulting from earthquakes, floods, etc.

Dilapidated houses may be considered uninhabitable when their condition cannot be changed due to renovation.

Notice! Housing is not subject to recognition as unsuitable when:

there is no sewerage system or hot water in low-rise buildings;
lack of an elevator or garbage chute in residential buildings where reconstruction work is planned.

Practice shows that housing must go through too many authorities to be declared unsuitable. This is due to the fact that legal norms are quite vague.

Basic principles

The law provides for the right to receive housing out of turn for certain categories of Russian citizens. This group includes persons affected by natural disasters that have rendered the designated residential buildings undeniably unsuitable for normal habitation. However, the mere fact of unsuitability is not enough. Relocation is carried out in a regulated manner, referring to the articles of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, only after the assembled commission makes an appropriate documented decision.

When the existing residential buildings in a populated area are officially recognized as dilapidated, and the property is classified as unsafe and subject to subsequent demolition, the owners are entitled to the provision of equivalent living space or monetary social compensation in non-cash form for the purchase of new housing.

Since the recognition of a residential building as subject to demolition in no way changes the original intended purpose of the property and does not cancel the requirements for it, it is incorrect to consider it an equivalent exchange with a classifying sign of suitability. This means that the latter only determines the possibility and right to use a house or apartment for permanent residence, and unsuitable housing serves as the basis for excluding the property from the housing stock and transferring it to non-residential use.

How to declare housing unsuitable for habitation

Important! To recognize a residential building as unsuitable for permanent residence, the following mandatory steps must be completed:

conduct a construction examination of the building, during which the condition of the building’s structures and the materials from which it is built will be studied;
apply to the local administration to convene an interdepartmental commission, which is responsible for making decisions on the quality of living in residential apartment buildings;
wait for the results of the consideration of the documentary information submitted by the commission;
in case of disagreement with the decision made, appeal the decision of the commission.

Watch the video. Recognition of a house as dilapidated (emergency):

Legislative norms

The responsibilities of the relevant government bodies are constant scheduled inspections, which affect the social and housing facilities on the balance sheet. If legislative grounds are identified to recognize the house as unsuitable for safe and normal living, but not subject to immediate demolition, government agencies undertake to carry out major repairs or reconstruction. If no action can correct the shortcomings, it will be considered subject to demolition. In some cases, a decision is made to transfer housing to non-residential stock and convert it into some kind of industrial building.

The procedure for conducting an examination for each region is provided for by the executive power of the Russian Federation and the local self-governing body that is responsible for residential real estate.

The recognition of an object as unsafe and unfit for habitation, subject to demolition, is controlled by the housing inspection.

The main tasks of the housing inspection:
Comply with the norms of the current housing legislation in relation to citizens and the state;
Protect the consumer's right to provide compliant utility services;
Identify and eliminate violations in the operation of housing stock.

Consequences of declaring housing unsuitable for residents

The country's housing legislation does not specifically indicate what consequences occur after a residential building is declared unfit for living in it.

Based on the analysis of the norms regulating actions related to the recognition of a residential building as unfit for habitation, the following consequences can be identified:

housing is subject to purchase by the local administration, or it is exchanged for another housing that will be equivalent in size, price and utility characteristics;
when several families live in a residential building, then, as a rule, in the future each of them is provided with new living quarters;
persons renting residential premises from the administration on the basis of social rent receive the right of priority to conclude a new agreement on the rental of residential premises. The owner of residential premises in a house that is declared unfit for habitation receives the right to payment of compensation or to receive ownership of residential premises of similar characteristics.

Please note that when the owner of a residential premises is a disabled person who needs constant medical care in a specific medical organization, the residential premises must be provided not far from the location of that medical organization.

Control of inspections

The regional housing inspection, where it is necessary to apply for an examination and the appointment of an interdepartmental commission, exercises direct and strict control regarding:

Use of residential inventory with adjacent land plots;
The technical condition of the housing stock with its engineering equipment and timely completion of work in accordance with the approved project;
Implementation of the established and pre-agreed framework of relationships between the participants in the concluded agreement with the management company, compliance with their rights and obligations;
The validity of established standards for the provision of utility services;
The sanitary condition of each premises of the housing stock in accordance with the standards of the sanitary-epidemiological station;
Implementation of measures to prepare the housing stock for each seasonal use;
Use of water supply and heating systems;
Compliance with the standards of levels and modes of provision of utility services (electricity, water supply, heating, gas, etc.);
Compliance with all conditions and requirements of legal regulations;
Compliance with the rules and procedure for recognizing an apartment or private building as unfit for habitation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOKPCc8k_cc

Legal standards

Today, one of the acute problems is the recognition of residential buildings as unsafe or dilapidated, as well as the subsequent relocation of residents to other premises.

Since 2010, in connection with this problem, the Presidential Decree “Resettlement of citizens from emergency housing stock” has been in force. At first, the validity period of such a program was set until 2015. However, the program was later extended until September 2017.

To date, the developed program has formed the basis of regional programs aimed at relocating citizens from dilapidated or dilapidated housing.

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This is due to the fact that, according to Art. 14 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, the procedure for declaring a residential premises unfit for habitation is the competence of local government bodies.

In this regard, citizens have the right to apply to municipal authorities to conduct an examination of their living conditions for the subsequent recognition of a residential building as unsuitable for living in it.

Thus, citizens have the right to demand that local authorities inspect their housing if there are grounds to recognize it as unsafe.

Rights of the interdepartmental commission

After an application with documents is submitted to the housing inspection, which will be reviewed within about ten days, an interdepartmental commission will be appointed to verify the accuracy of the facts and conduct an examination of the property. At the same time, when submitting a request, you must keep in mind that this body has the right to:

Conducting our own surveys and inspections of each and every immovable object that is in the department of the institution, while the form of its ownership does not matter;
Drawing up conclusions and instructions to property owners and management companies regarding the elimination of any deficiencies;
Verification of licenses of legal entities to provide certain services to citizens;
Requesting any documents from owners and organizations;
Submission of resolutions to cancel the license of legal entities if gross violations are revealed;
Application and collection of fines for violations of norms and requirements for the operation and safety of housing stock;
Checking compliance with the rules and regulations regarding the recognition of a house as unfit for habitation by citizens;
Making proposals regarding bringing officials to administrative and criminal liability.

Required documents

Please note! In order for the city administration to recognize a residential building as unfit for use and organize a meeting of a commission that makes a decision to recognize the house as unsuitable, the following list of documentary information must be attached to the application:

copies of documents for the immovable object confirming ownership of it;
floor plan, which was issued by the BTI, and a technical passport for the residential premises;
conclusion of the inspection on the inspection of residential premises.

Please note that this documentary information is basic for consideration of the received application.

Additionally, interested parties can attach complaints from residents who are not satisfied with the quality of living quarters in the building.

Responsibilities of the commission

After the appointment of an interdepartmental commission to resolve housing issues, its responsibilities are as follows:

Determine the suitability of a house, apartment, or other premises for housing, referring to legal requirements and regulations on the assessment of residential real estate;
Consider complaints received from owners or organizations within the prescribed period;
Determine the technical capabilities of carrying out major repairs, reconstruction, redevelopment, etc.

The activities of the interdepartmental commission are controlled and directed by its chairman, who in turn is authorized to:

Involve a variety of housing inspection specialists, other relevant organizations, and management companies in the process;
Carry out opening of structural elements of the building;
Involve employees of housing maintenance institutions in the examination;
Interview property owners and tenants to clarify the nuances and make the final decision of the commission;
Order the elimination of identified defects and instructions within a specified period;
Call responsible department officials to a meeting to consider the issue of a specific house.

Judicial order

A person has the right to apply to a judicial authority after an authorized commission decides that a residential building meets the conditions of suitability for habitation.

A statement of claim may be filed by one plaintiff (the owner of residential premises in such a house) or several plaintiffs.

To confirm the arguments that the house is unsuitable, the plaintiff has the right to ask the judicial authority to organize a construction examination.

Attention! During the examination, the expert should be asked the following list of questions:

about the technical condition of a residential building;
about the possibility of major repairs and their necessity.

When, based on the results of the commission, it is recognized that the house is not suitable for habitation, the commission’s decision will be subject to cancellation.

The application is submitted at the location of the administration.

Please note that the statement of claim is drawn up in accordance with the requirements provided for by civil procedural legislation.

How to make a request

Since the work of the interdepartmental commission begins with the receipt of a corresponding application with a complaint, the interested person must contact the local government body that controls residential buildings. The basis for its filing is an instruction from a higher institution to recognize the house as unsafe, a submission from the sanitary or fire service about inconsistencies, a judicial request or a petition from the prosecutor's office, as well as the personal initiative of the owner.

In order for the application to be truly considered in a short time and the decision to be made immediately, it is important to prepare the necessary documents in advance:

Technical documentation from the Bureau of Technical Inventory with a recorded fact of the percentage of wear of the building and its individual supporting structures;
Scheme and plan of the apartment from the Bureau of Technical Inventory;
Certificate of independent inspections for the last three years with the obligatory indication of the date of the last repair and its volume;
Conclusions of sanitary authorities of the fire-fighting authority;
Other documents depending on the individual situation, for example, the applicant’s personal passport, title papers, etc.

Rules for making a request

After receiving the request, the interdepartmental commission must independently check the actual wear and tear of the property, verify the presence of defects and the degree of their danger to citizens, and also check all existing grounds for declaring the house unfit for habitation. As a result, the commission makes one of the following decisions:

Recognition of a house, apartment, or other premises as suitable for habitation;
Recognition of the property at the time of the examination as unsuitable for permanent residence, but with the designation of actions that will eliminate the identified inconsistencies (major repairs, reconstruction);
Recognition of a real estate property as unsafe, unsuitable for habitation without the possibility of eliminating defects and subject to demolition.

After inspections are carried out and a decision is made, an act is drawn up with its official recording. If any of the members of the interdepartmental commission does not agree with the decision, his protest must be made in writing and attached to the act. The final decision is made by the local government, not the commission itself. After the verdict is adopted, the owners are notified of it in writing no later than five days, after which the latter can exercise their right. If the building is recognized as unsafe and subject to demolition, this is the right to relocation or monetary compensation.

Standards for declaring residential premises unfit for habitation. Reference

1. The presence of identified harmful factors in the human environment that do not allow ensuring the safety of life and health of citizens due to: deterioration due to physical wear and tear during the operation of the building as a whole or its individual parts, leading to a decrease in the building’s reliability and strength to an unacceptable level and stability of building structures and foundations; changes in the environment and microclimate parameters of a residential premises, which do not allow compliance with the necessary sanitary and epidemiological requirements and hygienic standards in terms of the content of chemical and biological substances potentially hazardous to humans, atmospheric air quality, background radiation levels and physical factors of the presence of sources of noise, vibration, electromagnetic fields.

2. Residential premises located in prefabricated, brick and stone houses, as well as in wooden houses and houses made from local materials, with deformations of foundations, walls, load-bearing structures and a significant degree of biological damage to elements of wooden structures, which indicate the exhaustion of load-bearing capacity and danger collapse.

3. Residential premises located in residential buildings located in areas where sanitary and epidemiological safety indicators are exceeded in terms of physical factors (noise, vibration, electromagnetic and ionizing radiation), concentrations of chemical and biological substances in the atmospheric air and soil (nitric oxide , ammonia, acetaldehyde, benzene, butyl acetate, distylamine, 1,2-dichloroethane, xylene, mercury, lead and its inorganic compounds, hydrogen sulfide, styrene, toluene, carbon monoxide, phenol, formaldehyde, dimethyl phthalate, ethyl acetate and ethylbenzene), as well as residential buildings located in industrial zones, areas of engineering and transport infrastructure and in sanitary protection zones should be considered unsuitable for living in cases where engineering and design solutions cannot minimize risk criteria to an acceptable level.

4. Residential premises located in dangerous zones of landslides, mudflows, snow avalanches, as well as in areas that are annually inundated with flood waters and in which it is impossible to prevent flooding of the territory using engineering and design solutions. Apartment buildings located in these zones are recognized as unsafe and subject to demolition or reconstruction.

5. Residential premises located in the zone of probable destruction during man-made accidents determined by the authorized federal executive body, if it is impossible to prevent the destruction of residential premises with the help of engineering and design solutions. Apartment buildings located in these zones are recognized as unsafe and subject to demolition or reconstruction. The zone of probable destruction in the event of man-made accidents is understood as the territory within the boundaries of which there are residential premises and apartment buildings that are at risk of destruction due to a man-made accident.

6. Residential premises located in areas adjacent to overhead AC power lines and other objects that create an electric field strength of an industrial frequency of 50 Hz of more than 1 kV/m at a height of 1.8 m from the surface of the earth and an induction of a magnetic field of an industrial frequency of 50 Hz more than 50 µT.

7. Residential premises located in apartment buildings that were damaged as a result of explosions, accidents, fires, earthquakes, uneven soil subsidence, as well as as a result of other complex geological phenomena, are considered unsuitable for living if restoration work is technically impossible or economically infeasible and The technical condition of these houses and building structures is characterized by a decrease in load-bearing capacity and operational characteristics, which pose a danger to the occupancy of people and the safety of engineering equipment. These apartment buildings are considered unsafe and subject to demolition.

8. Rooms with windows facing highways with a noise level above the maximum permissible standard (55 dB during the day, 45 dB at night) are considered unsuitable for living if, with the help of engineering and design solutions, it is impossible to reduce the noise level to an acceptable value .

9. Residential premises, above or adjacent to which there is a device for flushing and cleaning the garbage chute.

The following cannot serve as a basis for declaring a residential premises unfit for habitation:

1. Lack of a centralized sewerage system and hot water supply in one- and two-story residential buildings.

2. The absence in a residential building of more than 5 floors of an elevator and a garbage chute, if this residential building, due to physical wear and tear, is in a limited working condition and is not subject to major repairs and reconstruction.

3. Non-compliance of the space-planning solution of residential premises and their location with the minimum area of rooms and auxiliary premises of the apartment in an operating residential building, designed and built according to previously valid regulatory documentation, with currently adopted space-planning decisions, if this solution satisfies the ergonomic requirements in terms of placement of the necessary set of furniture and functional equipment.

The Housing Code of the Russian Federation in Article 32 regulates the following procedure for the seizure of residential premises from the owner:

1. Residential premises may be seized from the owner through redemption in connection with the seizure of the corresponding land plot for state or municipal needs. The purchase of part of a residential premises is permitted only with the consent of the owner. Depending on for whose needs the land plot is seized, the purchase of residential premises is carried out by the Russian Federation, the relevant constituent entity of the Russian Federation or a municipal entity.

2. The decision to seize residential premises is made by a state authority or local government body. 3. The decision of a state authority or local government to seize residential premises is subject to state registration.

4. The owner of a residential premises, no later than a year before the upcoming seizure of this premises, must be notified in writing about the decision made to seize the residential premises belonging to him, about the date of state registration of such a decision by the body that made the decision on seizure. The purchase of residential premises before the expiration of a year from the date the owner receives such notice is permitted only with the consent of the owner.

5. The owner of a residential premises subject to seizure, from the moment of state registration of the decision to seize this premises until an agreement is reached or a court decision is made to purchase the residential premises, may own, use and dispose of it at his own discretion and make the necessary expenses to ensure the use of the residential premises in accordance with with its purpose. The owner bears the risk of attributing to him, when determining the redemption price of the residential premises, costs and losses associated with investments made during the specified period, which significantly increase the cost of the seized residential premises.

6. The redemption price of residential premises, terms and other conditions of redemption are determined by agreement with the owner of the residential premises.

7. When determining the redemption price of a residential premises, it includes the market value of the residential premises, as well as all losses caused to the owner of the residential premises by its withdrawal, including losses that he incurs in connection with a change of place of residence, temporary use of another residential premises before acquiring ownership another residential premises, moving, searching for another residential premises to acquire ownership of it, registering ownership of another residential premises, early termination of one’s obligations to third parties, including lost profits.

8. By agreement with the owner of the residential premises, he may be provided with another residential premises in exchange for the seized residential premises, with its value included in the redemption price.

9. If the owner of the residential premises does not agree with the decision to repossess the residential premises or an agreement has not been reached with him on the redemption price of the residential premises or other conditions for its redemption, the state authority or local government body that made such a decision may file a claim in court for redemption living space. A claim for the repurchase of residential premises may be brought within two years from the date of sending the owner of the residential premises a notice of seizure of the residential premises.

10. Recognition of an apartment building as unsafe and subject to demolition or reconstruction is the basis for presenting a requirement to the owners of premises in the specified building for its demolition or reconstruction within a reasonable time. If these owners do not carry out the demolition or reconstruction of the specified house within the established period, the land plot on which the specified house is located is subject to seizure for municipal needs and, accordingly, each residential premises in the specified house is subject to seizure, with the exception of residential premises owned by right property to the municipality.

11. If, in relation to the territory on which an apartment building is located, recognized as unsafe and subject to demolition or reconstruction, a decision is made to develop the built-up area in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation on urban planning, the body that made the decision to recognize such a house as unsafe is obliged present to the owners of the premises in the specified house a requirement for its demolition or reconstruction and set a period of at least six months for filing an application for permission to build, demolish or reconstruct the specified house. If the owner or owners of an apartment building do not submit an application for permission to build, demolish or reconstruct such a house within the established period, the land plot on which the said house is located and the residential premises in the said house are subject to seizure for municipal needs.

12. Confiscation of the land plot on which an apartment building is located, recognized as unsafe and subject to demolition or reconstruction, and residential premises in such a house before the expiration of the period specified in paragraph 11, is permitted only with the consent of the owner.

The current version of the Moscow City Law of May 31, 2006 “On ensuring the housing rights of citizens during the relocation and vacancy of residential premises (residential buildings) in the city of Moscow” contains the following provisions regarding the relocation of owners of residential premises:

1. Owners who vacate residential premises (residential buildings), at their choice, are provided with equivalent compensation (compensation) or a redemption price in cash or in kind. The amount of compensation (compensation) or redemption price is determined by agreement of the parties based on an independent assessment.

2. The amount of monetary compensation (compensation) to the owner must correspond to the size of the market value of the vacated residential premises.

Monetary compensation (compensation) to the owner is provided in non-cash form and is used for the acquisition of residential premises or for other purposes if the owner has another residential premises in respect of which the owner has the right of use or right of ownership. Compensation (compensation) in kind is provided to the owner in the form of another comfortable residential premises by concluding an exchange agreement or another agreement defining the transfer of ownership of residential premises.

The cost of residential premises provided as compensation in kind must correspond to the market value of the vacated residential premises, except in cases specified by law.

3. When determining the redemption price of a residential premises (residential building) seized from the owner in connection with the seizure of a land plot, it shall include the size of the market value of the vacated residential premises (residential building), as well as all losses caused to the owner in connection with its seizure, compensation for which provided for by federal legislation when seizing residential premises. By agreement with the owner of the residential premises, he may be provided with another residential premises in exchange for the seized residential premises, with its value included in the redemption price.

4. With the consent of the owner, an exchange agreement may be concluded with him, according to which the owner is provided with another comfortable residential premises equivalent to the vacated residential premises. In this case, an equivalent residential premises is recognized as a residential premises, the area of which is not less than the area of the vacated residential premises, and the number of rooms corresponds to the number of rooms in the vacated residential premises. In this case, there is no additional payment for the difference in the prices of the exchanged residential premises.