Privatization, which has been going on since 1991 and has been extended several times, is already perceived as a permanent phenomenon. And, meanwhile, its validity period expires once again. It seems that this time privatization will finally end on March 1, 2015. But the legislators left the opportunity for some categories of citizens to use their right to privatization in the future.
What is privatization
Privatization allows citizens living in state or municipal housing stock under social tenancy agreements to register this housing for free, both in shared ownership and in sole proprietorship. Thus, having become the owners of their apartments or rooms, citizens have the right to dispose of them at their own discretion: buy, exchange, sell, donate or bequeath.
Of course, privatization has both pluses and minuses - after all, now the care of the territories and common areas, as well as the overhaul of the house, falls on the shoulders of the owners, increasing the amount of utility bills. But we must admit that with the consistently high housing prices that distinguish the Russian real estate market, their own housing is becoming a good source of income.
According to statistics, about 90% of citizens eligible for privatization have already used it by now. The rest, apparently, have already firmly decided to remove it from the municipalities. But the legislators, limiting the period of privatization, provided for the possibility of it for some socially unprotected categories of citizens, for whom their own housing should not remain just a dream.
For whom privatization has been extended
Since March 2015, those citizens who will be recognized as needing housing before that date will still be able to register municipal housing for free. The current Housing Code, part 1 of article 51, includes the following categories of citizens as such:
- who does not own a home;
- who is not a member of the family of the owner of the dwelling or the tenant renting it in accordance with the social tenancy agreement;
- who has housing, but its total area is less than that established by social norms as a registration;
- who lives in premises that do not meet the established technical and sanitary requirements;
- who lives in a communal apartment, where there are people suffering from severe forms of chronic diseases, in which coexistence in one apartment is simply dangerous.
It was decided to extend the right to privatization to those on the waiting list who have been registered in municipalities since 1979, veterans of the Great Patriotic War and persons equated to them, residents of houses recognized as emergency or dilapidated, poor. The rest of the citizens who want to become owners can only buy their apartment from the municipality at market value.
