Eviction from a municipal apartment for non-payment of utilities: can an owner be kicked out of a home for housing and communal services debts with a minor child? YurExpert Online

Last modified: January 2021

The state and municipal authorities provide housing to those in need under a social rental agreement in order to provide decent living conditions for families. In some cases, violations occur during the use of such housing, which are followed by eviction from the municipal apartment. Since the owner of the residential premises is the municipality, the authority has the right to terminate the contract and demand the vacancy of the apartment. To avoid troubles, it is worth studying in advance why you can be evicted from a municipal apartment, and what actions lead to the loss of the right to housing.

Is it possible to evict a registered person from a municipal apartment?

By receiving real estate from the state and municipal funds, citizens solve their housing problems without spending money on the purchase of expensive real estate. Unfortunately, some unscrupulous tenants forget that along with the rights to use the apartment, they are endowed with certain responsibilities in relation to the housing itself and their own neighbors.

Failure to comply with the rules for the use of housing, residents face forced removal from a municipal apartment under various conditions:

with the transfer of another premises for living;
with cancellation of the right to provide real estate and eviction to the street;
with voluntary termination of the social tenancy agreement due to relocation;
forcibly, without asking citizens' consent, based on a court decision.

There are various options for solving the problem of how to evict from a municipal apartment. If the owner is a municipality, he has the right to choose one of the following solutions:

Relocate to an equivalent or better living space in the event of force majeure, planned demolition of real estate, reconstruction, recognition of housing as unsafe, unsuitable for comfortable living.
Provide a smaller area or housing with fewer amenities if residents have chronic arrears in paying housing and communal services.
Organize forced eviction from a municipal apartment without providing other housing in return. The procedure is applied to violators of the rules of cohabitation, causing a lot of concern to neighbors, or when deliberately damaging municipal property. To expel people in need of housing onto the street, the desire of neighbors or the municipality itself is not enough - there will be a trial with hearing of the parties and consideration of positions, since the consequence will be complete deprivation of housing.

Unlike full-fledged homeowners, those living in an apartment under a social lease agreement are more vulnerable when considering the issue of preserving their living space, however, even if there is a desire to get rid of the tenants, the municipality is obliged to follow the established procedure, which includes collecting and submitting compelling reasons to the judicial authority.

List of valid reasons

Eviction from a municipal apartment due to debt may be postponed if the tenant has valid reasons. These do not include the resident’s problems with alcohol, drug addiction, neglect of duties, or unwillingness to work.

The list of possible explanations for non-payment is limited and defined by the Housing Code as follows:

Significant deterioration in financial situation caused by job loss;
Decrease in income due to delay in payment of wages, benefits or pensions;
The presence in the family of minors, disabled people and other dependents who are supported by the employer;
Fact of serious illness of the tenant or members of his family.

Such circumstances may be considered by the court as mitigating and making it possible to delay the fact of eviction, even despite the fact that the arrears in utility bills amounted to 6 months or more. To do this, you will need to confirm the fact of the family’s difficult financial situation with official documents.

Grounds, reasons, in what cases they can evict

When receiving housing for use, a citizen is endowed with certain obligations.

keep the apartment in order, avoiding unsanitary conditions;
check the serviceability of communications within the provided premises;
carry out periodic minor repairs without major changes to the home;
maintain silence at night without disturbing neighbors;
monitor the timely payment of utility bills;
live in an apartment, i.e. use the premises provided for their intended purpose;
use the property as a place for permanent residence (having another property and living in it for a long period of time will become grounds for eviction).

By violating these obligations, the tenant risks being left without housing provided by the municipality. Minor offenses and violations will not be a reason for loss of space. One-time disturbances to the peace of neighbors or missing payments for 1-2 months are not considered sufficient reasons for taking strict measures. The chronic nature of the offenses and the lack of reason to expect the situation to improve will be a reason for the court to deprive the residents of their apartment.

Absence from residence

Sometimes a citizen, who once received social housing, buys his own apartment and moves into it for permanent residence, without leaving his previous living space. If a person does not live at the address of the premises provided by the municipality, this serves as grounds for deprivation of the right of residence, especially in the absence of proper care and maintenance or when rooms are subleased to new residents who disturb the peace of other residents.

Damage to property

A tenant who intentionally damages a property may be evicted by the owner. The basis may be not only such actions as arson, but also illegal redevelopment. Uncoordinated changes to the structural elements of the premises threaten to cause collapse, up to and including complete destruction of the home.

Ignoring the sanitary conditions of residential premises can also lead to eviction. This includes cases of littering and the presence of animals in large numbers that are not proportional to the size of the premises.

Debts for housing and communal services

A frequent cause for concern is the formation of serious debt for housing and communal services, receipts from the owner. The basis for forced eviction will be debt for 6 months.

The defaulter is rarely evicted to the street in such cases, but a six-month debt will become a reason for relocating to a smaller living space based on a court order received. If there is no alternative premises, the municipality signs a debt restructuring agreement with the debtor, or demands forced cash payments with the help of bailiffs.

Deprivation of parental rights

Negligent parents who do not fulfill the duties assigned by law to raise and provide for their minor wards will also face eviction from a municipal apartment if the court deprives them of parental rights. Parents who have lost the right to raise and communicate with their former ward are not allowed to live together with their child in municipal housing.

Features of eviction with children

The principles of child protection are today enshrined at the legislative level. Minors often live in municipal apartments as a family member, and the law gives them such an opportunity even if they are not indicated in the contract. The fact that parents have arrears in payments cannot be a sufficient basis for depriving a child of living space.

In practice, eviction with children will only be possible in the following circumstances:

the family is provided with similar housing;
the child does not live in a municipal apartment, which often happens when parents divorce;
the imperfect person is provided for and does not need to solve the housing problem with the help of a municipal apartment.

The court makes a decision on the possibility of eviction of a family with children in accordance with the generally accepted rules of litigation. Such cases in most cases take a long time and require the participation of representatives of the guardianship authorities in the process.

If municipal housing tenants have arrears in utility bills, the duration of which is 6 months or more, it gives grounds for the owner of the premises to file a lawsuit in court demanding eviction.

The situation becomes more complicated in the absence of valid reasons that can act as a mitigating circumstance of the debtor’s guilt. During the proceedings, a situation is possible when an order is issued to vacate the municipal premises, and in the absence of voluntary consent, coercive actions may be taken.

Who cannot be evicted

In some situations, it is impossible to evict a tenant from a municipal apartment. The ban applies to:

minors or incompetent citizens of Russia, since this category enjoys protection from the state, in particular, their eviction will require the consent of the guardianship authorities, who will not agree to infringe on the interests and rights of children and incompetents;
low-income people who are unable to earn money and provide for themselves, including buying their own housing, after the loss of municipal space, will actually remain on the street;
elderly people, retirees and recipients of disability pensions, war veterans;
persons left without parental care cannot be left without housing even during the demolition and forced resettlement of a municipal apartment - the administration is obliged to provide them with equivalent premises.

Nuances: forced eviction from a municipal apartment

In the process of eviction from real estate owned by the municipality, many nuances related to individual circumstances must be taken into account.

If a citizen is registered in a municipal apartment

If the resident has registered and permanently resides in the area allocated from the municipality, this will not be a reason for rejecting the eviction claim. If there are grounds, a violation of the terms of the contract with the owner, a large debt, inappropriate behavior and the creation of life-threatening situations for the remaining residents, the judicial authority will issue a decision on the deprivation of the right to reside, regardless of the presence of permanent registration.

Lives without registration

The provision of living space does not always entail the conclusion of a social tenancy agreement. In some cases, the administration provides housing for temporary use for a limited period of time, after which residents are required to vacate the premises.

If a citizen living without registration refuses to voluntarily leave the apartment, he will face forced eviction.

With consent

When the need for social housing disappears, the citizen reports this to the municipality. The release of municipal living space occurs with the simultaneous termination of the social tenancy agreement, on the personal initiative of the person.

Without agreement

If the resident himself does not intend to leave the apartment provided by the municipality, the owner initiates a legal process and receives a court order, according to which a forced eviction is organized. If the tenant refuses to comply with the court decision after it has entered into force, the municipality will involve FSSP employees to help and force the citizen to vacate the living space. However, to obtain such a decision, serious reasons and evidence presented during the trial will be required. It is allowed to involve law enforcement agencies and the Ministry of Emergency Situations for assistance.

Can you be evicted for non-payment of utility bills?

To be able to live in a municipal apartment, a citizen must have a valid rental agreement in hand. Such a document gives the tenant not only a number of rights, but also imposes certain responsibilities. These include the need to pay utility bills on time. If the debt grows, the current legislation allows the owner of a municipal apartment to go to court, and the exceptional penalty may be the eviction of the tenant from the premises.

In practice, cases of eviction of residents from municipal housing are not common, which is due to the need to have sufficient grounds for such actions. The fact that there is overdue debt is not always sufficient, since a large number of related factors are taken into account.

To evict, the following prerequisites must be met:

the presence of debt for six months or more;
absence of valid reasons explaining the lack of payment.

In practice, eviction is used if other measures have failed. It is important for the court to have evidence that the debtor is maliciously deviating from his obligations to pay utility bills. If a citizen attempts to reduce the amount even to a minimum amount, then it will be difficult for the owner of the premises to count on a positive decision in the case.

If it is proven that the tenant does not have valid reasons to explain the inability to pay rent and he does not take action to correct the situation, then with a high degree of probability the court will decide on eviction.

How to evict a registered person from a municipal (non-privatized) apartment

A simple desire to deprive a tenant of an apartment provided by the administration is not enough. It is necessary to obtain a court order and wait for it to come into force. The following authorized bodies and interested persons have the right to file a claim:

owner of the premises (municipality);
an employee of the Housing Inspectorate when identifying facts of property damage;
affected neighbors;
representatives of guardianship authorities, after deprivation of parents' rights.

Regardless of the reasons for the appeal, the plaintiff will have to go through a certain judicial procedure.

Procedure, algorithm

The actions of the interested party can be represented in the following sequence:

Filing a complaint to the municipality (from neighbors, utilities, management companies).
Issuing a warning to the violator and demanding that the situation be corrected.
If there is no response from the resident, documents are prepared for the court.
Filing a claim with the judicial authority to which the premises belong territorially.
Taking part in meetings.
Receiving a court decision and waiting for the moment it comes into force.
Carrying out the deregistration procedure through the migration department of the Internal Affairs Directorate.

After the decision has entered into force and the person has been discharged from the apartment, the interested party, with the involvement of employees of the FSSP, police, and the Ministry of Emergency Situations, carries out the actual vacation of the housing.

Documentation

The court considers the claim, taking into account all the evidence presented. The plaintiff's claims must be supported by documents:

personal documents of the applicant (if the claim is from an individual);
power of attorney from the municipality (if the claim is filed by the administration);
social rent agreement;
paid state duty;
certificate of residents living in the specified area;
cadastral passport.

The statement of claim is prepared according to the number of persons participating in the trial.

Evidence base

In addition to the basic documentation for housing, you will need documentary support for the plaintiff’s claims:

a personal account certificate reflecting utility debt;
conclusion of the sanitary and epidemiological station, from the Technical Inventory Bureau or housing department, depending on the reason for the application - damage to property, unsanitary conditions, redevelopment, etc.;
written statements of witnesses;
protocols from law enforcement agencies if the evicted person disturbed the peace of neighbors;
a court decision on the deprivation of rights when evicting negligent neighbors on the initiative of the PLO.

The list may be supplemented with other documents that are required to confirm the plaintiff’s words.

Cost and timing of eviction from municipal housing

When filing a claim, you must pay a fee. If the application raises non-property issues, the fee is 300 rubles.

It is difficult to predict in advance how much time will be spent on forcibly vacating the living space, since each situation is considered individually. The judge schedules the first hearing within the first month, and then repeated hearings of the parties, witnesses, requests for examinations, and the inclusion and study of new documents are possible.

Judicial practice shows that eviction in court can take several months, and even years. It all depends on the legal preparation of both parties and the specific circumstances of the process.

Sample statement of claim for eviction from a municipal apartment

: Claim for eviction from a municipal apartment (26.0 KiB, 182 hits)

When drawing up a claim, adhere to the general norms of civil procedural law, taking into account the following sequence of writing:

name of the court, its address;
information about the plaintiff, defendant, involved participants;
the preamble should indicate the address of the apartment;
information about the form of ownership and owner;
data on registered residents and their number, including minors;
stated grounds for filing a claim;
the fact of an attempt to resolve the issue pre-trial and the results;
applicant's requirements;
information about the participants involved in the process, witnesses who are ready to speak in court;
list of attached documents (with numbering);
date of compilation and signature with transcript.

When filing a claim, attention is paid to the correct justification and references to legislative norms that give the right to demand forced eviction. If an individual files a claim, it is recommended to hire an experienced lawyer to help.

Nuances

When moving out of an apartment, a tenant may agree with this or not, which has a direct impact on both the process itself and its duration.

It is also important whether the person is registered in the apartment or not. It is necessary to analyze each of these options separately.

Registered

If it is necessary to evict a registered person from an apartment, then it is necessary to first establish whether the registration procedure was carried out in accordance with the law.

Thus, a person wishing to register in a residential area must obtain permission not only from the owner (municipality), but also obtain the consent of all citizens living there. If the process of moving a person into an apartment was disrupted, then his registration is considered invalid and it will be easier to evict him.

If a person is registered in an apartment, then upon eviction he must be provided with housing in the following cases:

if the housing is recognized as unsafe;
if the building, in accordance with the decision of local authorities, has been transferred to non-residential status;
if the home is destroyed (significantly damaged) as a result of a natural disaster or the actions of third parties (fire, flooding, etc.);
if the land on which the building is located is to be used for other purposes in the interests of the state.

In all other cases, the issue of providing housing is resolved on an individual basis with the involvement of the judiciary.

Not registered

If a person is not registered in the occupied living space, then in 100% of cases the court will decide to evict him from the apartment. To save time, the owner sends a request to evict from the property and sets aside a certain time for this. If after this the person does not leave the apartment, then an appeal to the court follows and, by a court decision, the person is evicted (either voluntarily or with the participation of the bailiff service).

Example. Dmitrieva N.D. cohabited in an apartment that she received under a social tenancy agreement with D.T. Argov. She did not register her roommate, she did not register her in the apartment. After a year of living together, Argov D.T. began to abuse alcoholic beverages and become rowdy. Dmitrieva N.D. She repeatedly filed complaints with the local police officer, who brought her partner to administrative responsibility. Since Dmitrieva saw no other way out, she filed a lawsuit to evict him from the apartment, providing, among other documents, a certificate from the district police officer about the inappropriate behavior of her roommate. The judicial authorities sided with Dmitrieva and ordered Argov to move out of the apartment. However, he did not comply with the court decision within the allotted time, and therefore the bailiff service received a writ of execution and Argov was forcibly expelled from the apartment with all his belongings.

With consent

The easiest way to evict a person from an apartment is to obtain his consent. Most often this happens if the house is recognized as unsafe or the housing that will be provided significantly improves living conditions (different area, larger square meters, amenities, etc.)

A person's consent to evict is in writing and kept by the property owner (municipality) so that it can be provided as evidence in the event of a dispute.

If he agrees to eviction, the person independently applies to the Department of Internal Affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation (formerly the Federal Migration Service of Russia) and submits an application for eviction. An appeal to the judicial authorities is not required, but permission from social security authorities may be required if the move also involves minors or incapacitated family members.

Without agreement

If the tenant of a municipal apartment does not agree with the eviction, then legal proceedings cannot be avoided. Tenants and their family members do not always agree to eviction because housing is not provided.

There are cases that new housing does not correspond to the evicted people’s idea of improving living conditions. For example, if the old apartment has undergone expensive renovations or the new apartment is located in a less prestigious area of the city.

In this case, regardless of the reason for the eviction, it is necessary to go to court.

A claim can be filed:

home owner (municipality);
third parties whose rights are violated (neighbors, cohabitants, etc.).

Let us consider in more detail how to act in a situation where a person does not agree with eviction from a municipal apartment.

How is the issue of allocating other housing resolved?

When it is established that the fact of living in municipal premises violates the interests of the owner, it is necessary to determine a plan of action and a measure for the resident: evict with the provision of other housing or leave without any social housing.

The decision to provide new premises is possible in the following cases:

loss of the current area's residential status;
inclusion of the house in demolition plans;
recognition of the object as unfit for life;
planned reconstruction;
significant housing and communal services debt (more than six months).

Sometimes a tenant is completely deprived of the right to be provided with alternative living space:

in case of unauthorized entry;
upon deprivation of parental rights;
the housing was not used for its intended purpose;
serious violations of the rights of other residents;
redevelopment without approval from the municipality.

Each case is considered individually, taking into account all the circumstances of the situation.