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.

Details of privatization with rent arrears

Additionally, they can request an extract from the house register to see where each participant in the privatization lived previously or a certificate of minors who have been discharged, and others. The list of documents in each individual case will be provided to the applicant in the privatization department or the Housing Policy Department.

• passports of all those permanently registered in the premises;
• for minors who are registered in the apartment together with both or one of their parents, birth certificates are submitted;
• a social rental agreement that the owner of the premises concludes with the main tenant;
• order for an apartment;
• registration certificate, which is issued by the BTI;
• a certificate stating that previously persons wishing to take part in privatization did not receive ownership of housing from the state;
• an extract from the personal account, which should indicate the presence or absence of rent arrears;
• certificate of composition registered in the premises.

We recommend reading: What Tax is Paid on the Sale of an Apartment Owned for Less than 3 Years

How it happens in practice

Based on the data presented, two conclusions can be drawn:

• an apartment with a debt can be privatized legally;
• The municipality is able to apply specific enforcement measures only by appropriate decision of the courts.

However, in practice, obstacles arise during the procedure for transferring real estate into private ownership. In order to force the tenant to repay the debt, management company employees do not issue certificates of registered tenants. Responsible employees of the local administration refuse to accept documents for the privatization of real estate with rent arrears. Below are ways to solve the identified problems.

They do not issue a certificate to the Criminal Code

To privatize an apartment (with or without debts), they provide a personal account and an extract on family composition. To obtain these documents, the responsible tenant contacts the office of the management company.

If the responsible employee refuses to issue certificates, you should refer to a gross violation of the following Federal Laws (both dated July 27, 2006):

• 149 (art. 8);
• 152 (vv. 14, 20).

In some situations, negotiations with the head of the relevant organization will ensure a positive result. If a “peaceful” solution to the problem is impossible, they contact the prosecutor’s office (housing inspectorate) on the basis of the rules of the Code of Administrative Offenses (Article 19.1 - arbitrariness).

For your information! Sometimes you can complain about the Criminal Code online - through the website of the housing inspectorate or the prosecutor's office.

Administration is denied

You can appeal the decision of local executive bodies in the courts. The statement of claim must be filed no later than three months from the date of receipt of the relevant refusal. Officials make a refusal to privatize an apartment with debts in accordance with current regulations in writing, with the obligatory indication of the reasons.

Having studied this data, they make an appeal to the court. If debts are noted as the reason, a positive decision in favor of the plaintiff can be obtained within 1-2 months. It, along with the necessary accompanying documents, is transferred to the Rosreestr branch for re-registration of ownership to a private owner.

The consideration of the case may take 5-6 months or more. It is possible that counterclaims will arise with demands for payment of debts. To eliminate unnecessary risks, you must carefully prepare convincing evidence that you are right. In difficult situations, you can only privatize an apartment with a debt with the help of an experienced lawyer.

Attention! Download the court claim form.

They threaten to terminate the social rent agreement

Termination of a social tenancy agreement with relocation and other compulsory actions is permissible only by court decision. During the proceedings, the following are taken into account:

• loss of employment, other objective reasons for temporary deterioration in financial situation;
• compliance of the apartment proposed for relocation with current housing standards;
• presence of dependents and minor children in the family.

The municipality has the right to claim only debts for the last three years. Additionally, court costs, fines and penalties may be charged.

Conclusion! If employees threaten to terminate the employment contract “as early as tomorrow,” you need to remember that if there is a large debt, this is only possible through the court.

How to privatize an apartment with debts

It is quite difficult to privatize an apartment with debts. If it is not possible to pay them off before the procedure begins, you will have to take it upon yourself and pay it in the future.

Order and stages

1. Re-register the debt to the user-future owner in the Management Company (Management Company).
2. Collect consent for privatization from all residents.
3. Prepare the necessary documents.
4. Send an application to the MFC or local administration along with documents.
5. Get a solution.
6. Sign the privatization agreement.
7. With the agreement, visit the Rosreestr branch and, on its basis, register ownership.

Procedure

The first step is to conclude an agreement with the Management Company to transfer the debt from the municipality to the housing user. Otherwise, all other actions are meaningless - refusal will follow. Yes, according to the law this will be an unjustified refusal and in theory you can try to challenge it in court, but in practice only a small part of such cases end in favor of the plaintiff, and even in this case the court obliges the applicant to transfer the debt to himself. So, in order not to waste time, it is recommended to do this right away.

The next stage is to collect consent for privatization from all residents. Some of them may not participate in the procedure if they write and notarize the refusal, but it should be borne in mind that this only concerns the very fact of non-participation. That is, they are deprived of their share of property, but retain the very right of privatization, which is given once in their entire life. If a person is fundamentally against the very idea of ​​privatization, it will be impossible to carry out the procedure. You will have to first convince and/or negotiate.

Once all consents have been collected, you can begin collecting the necessary documents. This is the most difficult and lengthy stage, since you need to go around several government offices and get different papers, some of which have a limited expiration date. It is recommended to start with the BTI registration certificate, since this is the document that takes the longest to prepare and, at the same time, has no expiration date. It is much more convenient to formalize it first and only then deal with everything else.

When the documents have been collected, you need to contact the local administration or MFC, write an application and attach all the collected documents to it. Despite the fact that it will be faster and more convenient to formalize privatization through the administration through the MFC. Moreover, the difference in time is at most 1 week, or even a couple of days. After reviewing the application, a decision is made on consent or refusal. If a refusal occurs, you must request it in writing with a clear indication of the reason. We correct it and submit all the papers again. If the refusal is not justified, you can go to court. If you have consent in hand, you must sign the appropriate privatization agreement, which should be submitted to Rosreestr. This is where ownership is registered.

Documentation

When submitting an application for privatization of an apartment with debts on utility bills, you must attach the following documents:

• An account statement indicating the amount of debt.
• Agreement with the Management Company that the debt is transferred to the user.
• Residents' passports.
• Birth certificates for those residents who do not yet have a passport.
• Consent or refusal of privatization (from everyone, including children aged 14 years and older).
• Certificate of non-participation in privatization earlier.
• Consent to privatization from the guardianship authorities (relevant only if there are children registered in the apartment).
• BTI technical passport.
• Social tenancy agreement.
• Application for privatization.

Deadlines

The period directly depends on how actively the applicant will collect all the required documents. On average, this takes about 1-2 months. The application will be considered for another 2 months. Please note that 2 months is the maximum period and a decision may be received earlier. And it takes about 1 month for the title to the property to be registered. Thus, the entire procedure will take from 3 to 5 months.

Price

Since privatization is a free procedure, there is no need to pay the cost of the apartment. However, this rule does not cancel the state duty. Registration of property rights will cost 2,000 rubles per resident. In addition, about 1-2 thousand will have to be spent on collecting all the necessary documents. And if you need to issue notarized waivers or a power of attorney for a representative, the amount will increase by another 1-2 thousand rubles.

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.

Privatization of an apartment with debts on utility bills

The next action will be to contact the prosecutor's office or court. Many people ask where is the best place to go? It is recommended to go to court immediately. But you can send a complaint to the prosecutor’s office - the inspection time frame will be approximately the same. At the third stage, you need to draw up a complaint/statement of claim, prepare documents and send the appeal to the right authority. If this is a court case, then the claim is transferred to the secretary of the Magistrates Court office. First, you need to pay the state fee for the claim (at the court cash desk or at the bank).

How does this work in practice? Despite the ban on refusals, they are still issued. And not only for malicious defaulters, but also for monthly debt on housing and communal services. The main calculation of the organizations is that citizens will not complain and will stop privatization at the initial stage. However, there are appeals to the court, and there are many of them.

The procedure for privatizing an apartment with debts

You can privatize an apartment using the standard algorithm:

• clarify the opinions of other owners on the implementation of privatization, formalize consents/refusals;
• receive O&P permission if there are minor children registered at this address;
• collect supporting documents;
• contact the relevant department of the local administration;
• after a positive decision, a privatization agreement is signed;
• if they refuse, they act according to the methods discussed above (they go to court, the prosecutor’s office);
• complete the procedure by registering property rights in Rosreestr.

List of required documents

To carry out privatization you need to prepare:

• participants' passports;
• refusals of other residents;
• consent of the OiP (if the child refuses);
• technical passport (extract from Rosreestr) with data on the technical parameters of the property;
• order, social rental agreement;
• confirmation of the absence of debts;
• information about registered residents.

Important! Download the privatization application form.

Contacting the administration

In order to privatize an apartment with debts without unnecessary problems, they check the composition and condition of the accompanying documentation in advance. If necessary, old originals are restored using archival data. It is preferable for all interested persons with identification documents to be present in person at the time of application.

For your information! When privatizing an apartment, we must not forget about temporarily absent residents. They have the right to a corresponding share of the real estate.

According to current regulations, the administration must give a positive (negative) answer no later than 60 days after completing the application for privatization.

Registration in the Unified State Register of Real Estate

The received positive decision of the municipality is the basis for concluding an agreement on the transfer of state property to private owners. The signed agreement along with the application is sent to the MFC office. The state duty is the same in any case - 2,000 rubles. Registration speed (working days, maximum):

• 7 – “Rosreestr”;
• 10 – MFC;
• 3 – through a notary.

An application for registration will be filled out by an employee at the reception at the MFC. There is no need to fill out anything in advance.

Is it possible to privatize an apartment with debts?

The legislation only states that a person has the right to privatize an apartment in certain cases. He must be the actual user of the property, he must have a social tenancy agreement, he must register in this premises. There are no other requirements. Thus, theoretically, an apartment with debts can be privatized, since there is no direct prohibition.

Problems arise precisely because of rent arrears. Any debts to banks, private or government agencies that are not directly related to the apartment are not taken into account.

On the other hand, during privatization, the apartment becomes the property of the user, but the debt remains with the previous owner - the municipality. Of course, but no one will do it. It should be borne in mind that the resulting debt allows the state to terminate the social tenancy agreement and thus deprive a person of the opportunity to privatize real estate.

The easiest way to avoid the problem is to pay off the debt. If it is small, this will not be difficult. And if the debt is very large, then you need to act as quickly as possible so that the social tenancy agreement is not terminated. Alternatively, you can try to negotiate with the management company. To do this, you should write a statement according to which all debts for this apartment are transferred from the municipality to the user. The debt on the apartment will remain in full, but now it will “hang” not on the municipality, but on the user, the future owner. In some cases, such a system allows you to bypass the restriction and obtain ownership of the apartment. True, you will still have to pay off your debts.