The addition of an attic allows you to turn an ordinary apartment located on the top floor into a two-level apartment, which makes it possible not only to expand the living space, but also to significantly increase the level of living comfort.
This article will discuss how feasible the idea of adding an attic is, as well as the sequence of actions that should lead to the implementation of plans.
The meaning of the idea
The attic floor is built, as a rule, in private houses, but nothing prevents you from doing the same on the basis of the attic space of a multi-story building with a sloping roof (however, the roof can be flat, and even usable, as long as the ceiling height allows it). Typically, attics, being a technical room that must be included in the design of the house, are not used in any way by the residents of the house and the usable area sits idle. The exception is isolated cases when building materials left over from home renovations and other items are stored on the attic floor.
To turn part of the attic into a living space, it is necessary to carry out a redevelopment, during which the apartment on the top floor will be combined with the area that is located directly above this apartment. As a rule, the technical part of the issue, although it requires certain (sometimes very significant) financial investments, is still feasible in many cases. But issues that relate to the organizational and legal part of the plan require time and patience, since their solution is more difficult, and in some cases, even with all the persistence of the apartment owner, some obstacles cannot be eliminated.
So, joining part of the attic space to the area of the apartment on the top floor includes the legal, organizational and technical part of the issue. Let's take a closer look at the problems that can arise at each level of idea implementation, as well as ways to overcome them.
Organizational part
The attic space is not a common space, but is the common property of the owners of the house (Article 36 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation), like other premises, utilities, roofs, etc. Therefore, in order for one or more owners of apartments on the top floor to use or To add the attic area for your own purposes, the consent of the residents of all apartments in the house is required.
Such consent can be obtained exclusively through a general meeting of residents of an apartment building, since only the competence of the meeting is to make decisions on repairs, reconstruction of the house, carrying out various construction works, and erecting additional structures (2 Article 44 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation).
In many cases, obtaining owner consent to operate a common area is very difficult. The reason for this is the complete lack of interest of residents in a positive solution to this issue. In addition, the motive for refusal may be the memory of past conflict situations that arose between the tenant claiming the attic and the neighbors. There may also be banal envy, because the remaining residents have no opportunity at all to expand their living space.
A constructive dialogue will help you make a positive decision - you can offer the neighbors to install a parking lot near the house or build a playground in exchange for concessions regarding the attic. However, you should not despair if you were unable to resolve the issue through a unanimous decision of the meeting of owners, since it is possible to use one of several methods, which will be discussed below.
Legal part
From a legal point of view, using the attic space as additional living space will be illegal even if the neighbors have no objections. The attic does not have the status of living space, so living there is prohibited. However, you can reclaim the space in the attic by arranging an attic room there (attic reconstruction), which, through redevelopment, is added to the area of the apartment and, after making changes to the documentation (state registration), will become a living area.
In order to carry out construction work in the attic and subsequently live there, a basis is necessary, namely, the square meters in the attic must be owned or used on a lease basis (free use). That is, the owner of an apartment on the top floor who wants to add part of the attic space to the area of his apartment can use one of the methods - take the attic space for a long-term lease (accept free use) or buy this area.
In turn, according to current legislation, owners at a general meeting can confirm their consent to the following actions:
- Reconstruction of the attic space with a reduction in the share of common property (or without reduction). In this case, a unanimous decision of all owners of the apartment building is necessary;
- Transfer of attic space for rent (free use). In this case, according to Art. 46 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation is enough for at least two-thirds of the owners to vote.
According to the chosen connection method, it is necessary to conclude a lease agreement (transfer for free use, reconstruction) and register this agreement in the prescribed manner.
The procedure for transferring part of the attic space
If we are talking about transferring the attic space into ownership, all the stages preceding the transformation of the attic into an attic are carried out on behalf of the group of owners. The procedure is quite labor-intensive, but doable; the procedure is as follows:
- Making a decision (unanimous) of the owners on reconstruction;
- Obtaining permission for reconstruction by owners;
- Carrying out reconstruction (by the owners);
- Acceptance of the reconstruction results and commissioning of the attic space (by the owners);
- Transfer of attic space, modification of technical documentation, registration of ownership.
In the case of transfer of premises under a lease agreement, everything is much simpler; after obtaining the consent of the owners, all actions are carried out by the future occupant of the attic premises. Therefore, the procedure is slightly different:
- Obtaining consent to transfer the attic space for rent (free use);
- Signing a lease agreement and state registration of the document;
- Obtaining permission to reconstruct the attic area;
- Carrying out reconstruction;
- Obtaining an act of acceptance and commissioning of the attic space;
- Making changes to the documentation (separately for the attic room).
Technical part
Before preparing documents for accepting attic space for rent or registering ownership, you need to find out whether it is possible to use the attic space as a living space from a technical point of view, and whether it is technically possible to carry out the work necessary to physically connect part of the attic.
In other words, you need to understand whether the work will affect the integrity of the building, whether there will be interference with the operation of engineering systems, whether access to them will be maintained, and also how the erected walls will affect the routes developed for fire evacuation (for residents of this and neighboring entrances) . If at this stage no obstacles to redevelopment are found, you need to order a project, coordinate it and obtain permission for redevelopment.
Procedure for connecting the attic space
1. Expertise
The first step is to order an examination, the purpose of which is to obtain an official conclusion regarding the absence of technical obstacles to the conversion of the attic. Such an examination is carried out by the city construction and architecture authorities;
2. Title documents
Now it is necessary to attend to obtaining the relevant decisions of the general meeting of owners of an apartment building and preparing documents giving the right to obtain permission to carry out reconstruction and subsequent actions.
3. Create a project
After the conclusion has been received, and all documents confirming the right to carry out the reconstruction have also been received, it’s time to start preparing the reconstruction project. The production of the project is carried out by state and private design organizations that have the appropriate licenses. After production, the project must be agreed upon with a number of authorities, for example, for Moscow it is:
- Architectural Management;
- State Fire Supervision;
- Mosgaz;
- Moskomarkhitektura.
4. Obtaining permission
For permission to reconstruct the attic, you should contact the city Housing Inspectorate with a list of documents:
- Agreed project;
- Technical passport for the apartment;
- Title documents (lease agreement, decision on reconstruction, etc.).
5. Carrying out work
During the work, it is necessary to strictly adhere to the design documentation, otherwise serious complications may arise at subsequent stages.
6. Acceptance of work and commissioning
Upon completion of construction work, you need to receive a certificate of completion of work, on the basis of which the premises will be documented to be put into operation. This is done by employees of the city Housing Inspectorate.
7. Changes in documents and state registration
The final stage will be the production of a new apartment passport (BTI) followed by registration of ownership rights (if the attic area has become property, Rosreestr). If the premises are accepted under a lease agreement (or for free use), it will be necessary to prepare documents and register a separate property (attic space).
Coordination of the connection of attics/technical floors is regulated by:
- Town Planning Code of the Russian Federation;
- Housing Code of the Russian Federation
Attic- the space between the roof structures (external walls) and the ceiling of the upper floor.
Attic floor- a floor in the attic space, the facade of which is fully or partially formed by the surface (surfaces) of a sloping or sloping roof, while the line of intersection of the roof plane and the facade should be at a height of no more than 1.5 m from the floor level of the attic floor.
Technical floor- a floor for placing engineering equipment and laying communications. It can be located in the lower (technical underground), upper (technical attic) or in the middle part of the building.
According to the Housing Code (Article 36):
1. The owners of premises in an apartment building shall own, by right of common shared ownership, the common property in the apartment building, namely:
1) premises in this house that are not parts of apartments and are intended to serve more than one room in this house, including inter-apartment landings, stairs, elevators, elevator and other shafts, corridors, technical floors, attics, basements in which there are engineering communications, other equipment serving more than one room in a given house (technical basements)…
4) the land plot on which this house is located, with elements of landscaping and improvement, other objects intended for the maintenance, operation and improvement of this house and located on the specified land plot...
3. Reducing the size of common property in an apartment building is possible only with the consent of all owners of premises in this building through its reconstruction
According to the Town Planning Code:
reconstruction of capital construction objects (except for linear objects) - changing the parameters of a capital construction object, its parts (height, number of floors, area, volume), including superstructure, reconstruction, expansion of a capital construction object, as well as replacement and (or) restoration load-bearing building structures of a capital construction project, with the exception of replacing individual elements of such structures with similar or other elements that improve the performance of such structures and (or) restoration of these elements
Necessary conditions for connecting the attic/technical floor to the apartment:
- the apartment should be located on the top floor;
- the apartment must be owned;
- it must be technically possible to reconstruct the attic/technical floor;
- engineering equipment and communications must be moved from the annexed territory or unimpeded access to this equipment must be ensured.
There are currently two options for connecting attics/technical floors:
- Through reconstruction
- By renting or free use.
"Pros" and "cons" of each option.
1 option
"PROS"
- You get the attic/technical floor as your property
"MINUSES"
- The consent of all homeowners in the building is required, including the municipality (DIGM of Moscow), if there is municipal housing;
- Price:
- Obtaining permission for reconstruction, including all the necessary design documentation, is not cheap;
- Repair and construction work on reconstruction;
- In some cases, in order to obtain the consent of all homeowners, residents can determine either compensation payments or improvement of common property;
- Designing an attic/technical floor conversion is also not free.
- Dates:
- Ownership of the attic/technical floor is registered only upon completion of repair and construction work and after the facility is put into operation. From the moment of obtaining the consent of the owners - about 1.5 - 2 years.
Option 2
"PROS"
- Fast
"MINUSES"
- Not property (rent or free use);
- The consent of 2/3 of the homeowners in the building is required, including the municipality (DIGM of Moscow), if there is municipal housing;
- Price:
- Rent;
- Compensation payments to owners, or improvement of common property;
- Design of attic/technical floor reconstruction.
We can offer you THIRD option. COME!
The Supreme Court put a final point in the dispute between homeowners in a brand new high-rise building and a businessman who took over all the non-residential premises in the same building. And although only a few people filed this particular lawsuit, the issue that was on the agenda turned out to be not at all a private matter of just these plaintiffs.
In addition to the purchased apartment, new residents also receive ownership of the non-residential part of the house - attics and basements. Photo: Photoxpress
The situation when new residents, having moved into the purchased housing, find out that all the non-residential premises in their house are already someone’s private property, is found everywhere. Despite the prevalence of such a situation, it is, as the Supreme Court confirmed, fundamentally illegal.
Moreover, today the struggle for ownership of basements, attics and all kinds of technical premises in apartment buildings has acquired an important material aspect. With rising housing and communal services tariffs, apartment owners have a completely legitimate opportunity to dispose of non-residential premises in their home in such a way as to reduce the ever-increasing material burden for themselves and their neighbors.
So, the case was in Moscow, where three new settlers appealed to the Khamovnichesky District Court. In their lawsuit, they wrote that they purchased housing in a new building, but all the so-called technical premises in their house were already the property of a certain businessman. They sued him, claiming that by law the premises registered in his name belonged to them.
The businessman did not agree with the residents’ claims and did not recognize the claim. He stated that he was an investor in the construction of this particular house. And, investing in construction, he stipulated his conditions in advance: after the completion of the work, he receives ownership of part of the residential and all non-residential premises. His words were confirmed by documents.
The district court, and later the Moscow City Court, satisfied the demands of the new settlers. True, not completely, but in the main thing the courts agreed with the residents. . And the documents signed by the businessman stating that he received the non-residential territory in the house as his own property were declared void. That is, they have no legal force.
The decision in favor of the residents did not suit the businessman, with whose money the house was actually built. And he appealed to the Supreme Court. In the final version, the case was reviewed by the Judicial Collegium for Civil Cases of the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court began by checking the documents. It turned out that by decree of the capital's government, a certain company was allocated land for the construction of a housing and administrative complex with an underground parking lot. The standard lease term is 49 years. Our businessman invested money in this construction only a few years later. At first, with one document, he agreed on the transfer to him of a certain area of residential and non-residential premises in the building.
Later, additions appeared in which the volume of non-residential premises transferred to the merchant sharply increased.
Based on the results of construction and according to the documents, the businessman received a lot of property, including something that led to a legal dispute. Namely - a water metering unit, a pumping station, corridors and vestibules.
At the time of concluding the investment agreement, the Law “On the Fundamentals of Housing Policy” N 4218-1 was in force. It lists what is the common property of the house. To put it correctly, this is called “a single complex of real estate intended to serve more than one homeowner.” \
By law, all this property is in the common shared ownership of the homeowners and is not subject to alienation separately from the homeowners’ ownership of the premises.
Each apartment owner, according to the Civil Code (Article 289), has a share of all of the above. According to the law, a person, buying housing in an apartment building, becomes the owner of this common property in shares proportional to the total area of the residential premises belonging to him.
Based on this, common property in an apartment building cannot be owned by one person, as this would violate the rights of the other owners of the house.
The Supreme Court stated that the district court completely correctly explained why the contract of a businessman who invested money in construction turned out to be impossible due to the illiteracy of those who prepared it.
Usually such apartments are called penthouses and, by the way, they are not at all common in central Russia. On the contrary, such buildings are very popular abroad, and in our latitudes only elite cottages or multi-storey complexes can boast of such buildings.
Of course, every citizen wants to significantly improve his living conditions, which is why he resorts to seizing some premises that do not belong to him.
Is it possible to privatize?
Many houses built in our country have an attic. Some citizens, dreaming of making their dream of a two-story building come true, are going to buy the attic and, making it part of their property, create an attic out of it.
Is it possible to privatize the attic above the apartment?
Yes, if you live on the top floor and there is an attic above you.
But how can this actually be done in accordance with the law and will such an action be legal at all?
We will tell you about this in our article, and also give some tips that will help you bring your cherished goal of privatizing your attic closer to reality.
When is privatization impossible?
There are certain conditions under which the privatization of the attic above the apartment can be carried out. But there are also some factors that influence the fact that the attic can never become part of your property.
So, privatization of the attic above the apartment is impossible, if it is already someone's property. Then, in accordance with the Civil Code, you do not have the right to apply for privatization, you can only ask the owner option of renting or buying an attic.
Unfortunately, a situation that often occurs is that real estate, which seems to be in an abandoned state, turns out to be already belongs to someone by right of ownership, they just forgot about her.
It is also impossible to privatize the attic if it is the center of intersection of some important communications and connections. Electrical wires, gas and water pipes - all of this goes directly to the top of the building, and there must be access to this facility around the clock.
It is very rare that a management company decides to transfer communications data in order to free up space for privatization - this is actually a difficult and very dangerous task. Since craftsmen must have access to wires and pipes around the clock.
Agree, it probably won’t be convenient for you to receive strange guests, and having communications in your apartment that are responsible for the entire residential entrance also doesn’t fit into your plans. Therefore, in this case, appropriating the attic will also not work.
Another reason why the attic cannot be privatized is residents' disagreement.
In fact, the attic is a common property, for which responsibility lies Management Company, and by right of ownership it equally belongs to all residents.
But in case if there are opponents this idea - you do not have the right to carry out such actions.
Also, the attic cannot be privatized if if it is in disrepair. Then, unfortunately, neither you nor anyone else will be able to privatize this property until it is brought into ideal condition, which would not pose a threat to life.
What options are there?
You can only use the attic in case of rent or privatization of premises. Since rent represents the temporary nature of ownership and use of real estate, we will not consider this option. But if you want not only to use, but also to own and dispose of the attic, then we can only talk about privatization.
You have two options on how to privatize the attic above your apartment - the first case is negotiate with the management company.
If the attic does not have any communications and is not in disrepair, the management company, which during the development reserved the right to use the residential premises, may allow you to carry out the privatization procedure.
But often, the management company does not have the right to dispose of such real estate, since the shared construction agreement, and even the charter of the management company, states that the residents have equal rights to the ownerless real estate of the house.
Remember! Before you begin your privatization actions, you must obtain the agreement of everyone inhabiting this building.
We invite you to familiarize yourself with information about how a citizen can apply for registration and in what case.
Step-by-step instruction
So, in order for you to become the rightful owner of the attic space, you need:
- Conduct a house-wide meeting of residents;
- Ask them to vote;
- If you receive one hundred percent of the votes to engage in privatization, you can begin collecting documents;
- You must provide the documents both to the management company for review, and to the city administration, namely to the privatization committee;
- Wait for the result of the review;
- If the answer is positive, privatize the property in Rosreestr.
Do not forget! Before you begin the complex procedure of collecting documents, make sure that this living space is not actually occupied by anyone, otherwise all your efforts will be in vain.
Collection of documents
Documents can be divided into two large groups. First of all, for privatization of attic space you will need documents from various authorities, but we will talk about them later and in a separate topic. You will also need papers for the apartment that you already have on hand. These include the following papers:
- Cadastral plan of your apartment;
- Technical plan of your living space;
- Legal documents, which include:
- certificate of ownership in your name or the name of one of your household members;
- deed of gift;
- documents confirming the right to inherit this residential premises.
- Photocopy of your passport.
Obtaining neighbors' consent
Obtaining consent from neighbors – the most important point in the issue of privatization.
After all, the attic according to all the rules - common property, if no one managed to privatize it much earlier.
If all 100% of those living in the house voted that they are not against you taking up privatization, feel free to start collecting documents, but if some abstained, did not vote, or even thought that you were neglecting the rights of other residents, you cannot apply to the attic space.
Appeal to authorities
In addition to the documents that, one way or another, you already have in your hands, you need to visit a number of authorities and collect documents required for privatization.
- Yes, it is necessary go to Rospotrebnadzor and get a certificate that this premises and its use will not pose a danger to the residents of the house.
- The next point of your visit is Main Directorate of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. There they must check or simply issue a certificate stating that this structure is safe in technical terms.
- Architectural Management must approve your plan for connecting the attic with the apartment or simply joining it into a single property.
- Gas inspection must also issue permission for connection and confirm that in this way the most important communications will be open to access.
- Contact an architect, which should draw up a project for your new home with the condition of adding an attic.
Weight these documents are submitted to the housing committee, where in the end you should receive a final conclusion, which will determine whether privatization is possible or not.
If possible, you contact the city administration and already there you carry out the final stages of this action in the form of obtaining documents and processing in Rosreestr.
Price
Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to determine the cost of such an action, since it varies depending on the region. Also, different prices are set for obtaining technical documentation.
You can spend from one and a half to three thousand rubles for the design of an architectural plan, and more from twenty to forty thousand to register the attic space as a property through privatization.
Unfortunately, There are no uniform tariffs anywhere and fees for collecting documents and necessary fees.
Now you know how to register an attic as your property, and having correctly calculated the forces and actions, you can begin this procedure today.
Video
After watching this video, you will learn how to privatize the attic above your apartment.