Since apartment prices remain quite high, for many Russians the opportunity to inherit an apartment can help them acquire their own housing or at least improve their financial situation. But whether this possibility will become a reality depends largely on whether the apartment was owned by the testator or he lived in it under a social tenancy agreement.
If the apartment was owned
The owner of the apartment has every right to dispose of his property as he sees fit. No one has the right to oblige a person to leave the apartment that is in his ownership to close or distant relatives. If he wrote a will, in which he indicated the name or names of the heirs, distributed the shares of the inheritance due to them, it will be divided according to the will of the testator. In the event that the next of kin were not mentioned in the will, but believe that they have the right to claim this apartment as heirs, they can challenge the will in court.
When the will has not been drawn up, the next of kin of the testator are called to inherit according to the law in the order of priority established in Articles 1142-1148 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. Only those relatives who belong to the same line or receive an inheritance by right of representation can inherit instead of their deceased relatives who were the heirs of the owner of the apartment. The inheritance is divided among the heirs of one line in equal shares, the heirs by the right of representation for all receive only the share that was due to the person whom they represent.
If the apartment was not privatized
If the apartment is not privatized and the testator lived in it under a social tenancy agreement, having signed it on behalf of the tenant, he has no right to write a will on it. The actual owner of this apartment is the state or municipality. But, since the social tenancy agreement is unlimited and the family members living in it have the same rights with the tenant, the heirs of the apartment are the persons who are permanently registered in it. That is, one of them can renegotiate this agreement with the municipality on behalf of the new tenant.
In the event that no one else was registered in the apartment, it is impossible to inherit it. It will be transferred to the balance of the municipality, which will provide it to those who are in line to improve their living conditions.
The only option to obtain such an apartment by inheritance is the case when the testator, before his death, managed to submit an application and documents for the privatization of this apartment to the registering authority at the place of residence, but did not manage to obtain a certificate of ownership. In this case, the heirs by law must declare their right of inheritance within six months and complete the registration of the apartment in ownership.
