Is it possible to rent out a room without the neighbors' permission? Rules for renting a room and share in an apartment under a lease agreement: is the consent of neighbors required? ○ Study of tenants
Our article will tell the reader how to rent out a room correctly, without breaking the law or falling for the tricks of scammers. We will consider various options for renting out housing, ways to find clients and resolve the issue of tax payments.
Who benefits from renting and renting a room?
Renting a separate apartment today is expensive. Not everyone can afford such a “pleasure”. Therefore, many citizens are interested in renting only one room. At the same time, they agree to live with the owner of the apartment or other tenants. Such offers are extremely relevant for students and nonresident residents who come to work.
Renting out one room in an apartment is just as profitable as renting it. Living in a large living space, the owner can occupy only one room and leave the rest empty. So why pay utilities in full? You can reduce these costs by renting out your spare rooms and still earn good money.
As a rule, single pensioners rent out rooms. Less common are enterprising citizens who own several real estate properties. For them, rent becomes an excellent addition to their pension or salary.
Ways to rent out a room
There are two ways to rent out a room:
- Through a real estate agency.
- On one's own.
A realtor will help not only find a suitable tenant, but also arrange the documentary details of the lease. The apartment owner will need to conclude an agreement with the client; standard forms will be filled out and certified by the real estate agency employees. Thus, the agreement will take official form. In the future, if the document is issued for a period of more than one year, it will need to be registered with Rosreestr. Realtors will also help with this.
The big disadvantage of using a real estate agency is the need to pay for their services. As a rule, it consists of separate parts. One involves finding a client, the other means concluding an agreement, and the third involves assistance in registering a transaction in Rosreestr. Whether it is worth applying for these services and overpaying, if you can settle all the issues yourself, is up to the owner of the apartment to decide.
How to rent out a room yourself
Since there are many people who want to rent a room without contacting a real estate agency, finding a suitable client will not be difficult. For this purpose, it is enough to take photographs of the premises and place advertisements on an electronic or regular board. It is possible to use thematic public pages on social networks.
When submitting an ad, you should provide only reliable information. It is mandatory to indicate the distance from metro stations and bus stops, the presence of educational institutions, shops and parks nearby.
In the process of verbal agreements with the client, it is necessary to discuss:
- Deadlines for renting a room.
- Monthly payment.
- Payment of fees for the last month.
- Rules for the use of common property.
- Other important points for both parties to the transaction.
After oral discussions, the parties should enter into an agreement. You can view a sample and download a blank form for free on the Internet.
Next, the owner will be faced with one important question: to rent out the apartment officially or bypassing the law. In the first case, you will not need to register a lease agreement, nor will you need to pay taxes. However, there are risks to consider here. If illegal rental of real estate is detected, the owner will have to pay a fine and taxes calculated for previous periods.
The official delivery of the apartment will involve registration of the agreement with Rosreestr. If the owner does not want to do this, he has the right to enter into a contract for 11 months, and after its end, sign a new document with the tenant. This way you can get around the law a little.
When officially renting out a room, it should be taken into account that the apartment must be privatized and belong to the landlord as property. It is not possible to rent out municipal housing. If the apartment belongs to several owners, their written consent to rent out the premises will be required to legalize the transaction.
Requirements for drawing up a room rental agreement
The lease agreement can be drawn up in any form, but it must include the following information:
- Passport details of the parties.
- Conditions of cohabitation of the parties.
- Terms of rental premises.
- The amount of rent and utility payments.
- Method of transferring money.
- Rights and obligations of the parties.
- Conditions for termination of the contract.
The parties have the right to agree on the transfer of money in cash or their non-cash transfer to the recipient's bank account. When choosing the first method, you should discuss writing a receipt for receipt of funds. This will allow you to avoid financial claims in the future.
The agreement is drawn up in two copies. If you plan to register it with Rosreestr in the future, you will need three copies. The document can be prepared in either written or printed form. Notarization is not required.
Payment of taxes for renting out a room
When officially renting out a room according to the 2019 law, the owner of the apartment must take care of timely payment of the tax. Its size is 13% of the amount of rent received for one calendar year. Registration of an individual entrepreneur is not necessary here.
As proof of the amount of payment, the property owner can provide a bank account statement and a copy of the lease agreement. Once a year, he must:
- Submit a declaration in form 3-NDFL. This must be done before April 30 of the year following the reporting year.
- Pay the calculated tax amount by July 15 of the year following the reporting year.
Filling out a tax return is quite simple. It reflects the amount of income and expenses received, as well as the amount of tax payable. If the room was empty, i.e. no rent was received, zeros are entered in the declaration.
If you do not submit reports on time and do not pay the tax, the property owner will have to pay a fine.
Unilateral termination of a room rental agreement
When signing a room rental agreement, the apartment owner must pay special attention to the terms of its termination, as well as compensation for losses incurred in the event of damage to property. The reasons for unilateral termination of contractual relations may be:
- Failure to pay rent on time.
- Tenant's refusal to pay utility bills.
- Immoral behavior of the tenant.
- Failure to comply with other conditions specified in the contract.
The contract can also be terminated at the initiative of the lessee. As a rule, in this case the reason is a change of residence. This should also be taken into account when drawing up the document.
It is a way to generate additional income for the owner. The main thing in this matter is to correctly complete all the necessary documentation so that you don’t have to worry about the consequences of renting out your home.
If the room is not privatized
In the event that even when the rooms located in a communal apartment are not privatized, then renting out a room in a communal apartment is possible, but only it is necessary to obtain the consent of other neighbors.
If consent is obtained, then a sublease agreement must be concluded with the tenant. You need to get a written (preferably certified by a notary) consent not only of tenants of other premises, but also all family members living together with the employer.
But it's worth remembering that the sublease agreement for such a room will be valid, if after signing the norm for providing square meters per person has not become less. And the provision rate is 18 square meters per person.
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Therefore, if after the tenants moved in, this norm became less, others living in this apartment can challenge the deal in court. All these actions are dictated by the fact that each room is owned by the state and those living in it are tenants, and the room itself is rented by the state for .
A subtenant of a room located in a communal apartment cannot be a person who has a severe and contagious form of chronic disease. Living with such a person in the same living space can harm the health of other residents.
Rent a room in a communal apartment. The room is owned
If the room is privatized and has an owner, in this case, renting out a room in a communal apartment will not present any difficulties. Owner can dispose of his own living space at will, including renting out. But his actions should not violate the legitimate interests and rights of other people living in this apartment.
When renting out a room, you must enter into lease contract. This agreement must stipulate the responsibilities of both parties, both the owner and the tenant.
But we should not forget that so-called common areas are the joint property of all owners. That is bathroom, corridor, kitchen are common areas. Therefore, they are in general. And the use of property that is jointly owned is carried out with the consent of all owners. Consequently, the transaction for renting out a room affects the interests of other owners. Therefore, for hiring, you must have the written consent of all owners.
Renting a room in an apartment where there are both privatized and non-privatized rooms
Renting an apartment in a communal apartment, which has both privatized and non-privatized rooms, is possible. To do this you will have to go through the following processes:
- conclude (if the room is privatized) or sublease (if not privatized),
- it is necessary to obtain written (preferably certified by a notary) consent of all tenants (non-privatized rooms) and persons living with them, as well as all owners (privatized rooms).
Renting a room in a communal apartment is not easy; there are many nuances. Therefore, it is better to entrust this to professionals. It is best to contact those that have a solid Experience working specifically with communal apartments, and experience of successful transactions, without litigation.
Even before you begin the hassle of renting a room that suits your needs, you must realize that it will be a difficult task. First of all, you need to clearly understand that rooms of equal size are not at all equal in payment if one of them is located in the center of the capital, and the second one will take several hours to get to from the Kremlin.
But you shouldn’t despair, there are always chances, you need to not miss them.
When choosing a room to rent, you need to look for something specific
The room can be rented in three options. This could be a separate room in a communal apartment. You can live in a separate room, and your neighbors will be the owners of the apartment. You can find friends who will agree to rent an apartment with several rooms together with you.
What you should immediately pay attention to
A communal apartment is scary because of its tenants, they will be your neighbors, find out more about these people, and only then move in. In a communal apartment, life is built according to the rules of the hostel, so it is best to learn how to diplomatically overcome problems, without leading to a scandal over an open tap or smoking in the kitchen.
There is a concept of “dead communal apartment”, this is not uncommon. It is important that you are not later presented with a claim that it was you who “killed” her. You need to inspect everything, take photos of the “amenities”, kitchen, walls, balcony on your smartphone before starting your stay, then you won’t regret it.
The owner who rents out the room may also not show his best side - check with your neighbors on the site. There are owners who strongly oppose guests, friends, animals, and increased consumption of water and electricity. The owners are against a lot of things, but nothing can be said - this is their apartment.
The best option is when several young people agree to pool their finances to rent a large apartment and each live in a separate room. In this case, cohabitation begins with the development of a kind of charter and living standards. This is a kind of communal apartment, in which neighbors can be pre-selected, and their composition can be approved only after that.
Where can I find an apartment for rent?
The best search option has long been recognized as the one where you rent a room from your relatives, friends or work colleagues. First of all, you avoid paying commissions to the rental agency. An additional benefit will be that you will not be evicted due to late payment of rent, you can agree over a cup of tea or other drink.
Relatives, friends and colleagues did not help - place advertisements with relevant content on social networks, this will help to reach a significant circle of previously unfamiliar apartment owners. Those who will soon move out of their rented room will also respond. Apartment residents who are looking for neighbors to rent an apartment together will also call.
“Looking for a neighbor” is how potential neighbors are addressed, and such advertisements need to be considered urgently. After all, we will be talking specifically about renting a room, and there is a possibility that it is you who are not enough to completely fill the intended apartment.
Help from a special agency
Contacting a real estate agency is a very popular way to solve a housing problem. It is important not to fall for scammers, which means you should choose an agency with an unblemished reputation. This is a reliable way to find the necessary living space.
In addition to agencies, brokers work with home owners; you can contact them if you have recommendations from friends and good acquaintances. The services of intermediaries must be paid, sometimes very generously.
The first payment includes, in addition to rent for a certain period (sometimes 6 months), commissions to the intermediary, and a deposit for keeping the living space in good condition.
Cost of monthly accommodation
How much you have to pay monthly depends on many factors. First of all, there is a direct dependence on distance. The further from the center, the cheaper the room. The area of the room, the number of neighbors, distance from transport interchanges and other housing parameters matter a lot.
Speaking about specific prices, we must indicate the average cost of an average room: 12-25,000 rubles. In any case, you need to understand that a room in the center of Moscow cannot be cheap, and at a low price you can only rent a “killed” room or move in with problematic neighbors.
What to look for when choosing a room
You will have to live in a rented room, so it is better to refuse uncomfortable housing and look for another one. After all, the first impression is always the most correct.
Make your final decision only after meeting the owners and neighbors.
After meeting, be sure to check the technical condition of the plumbing, water supply, and heating. If the neighbors flooded the room, it will be immediately visible. Otherwise, there is a chance that you will be forced to pay for repairs.
The important part is document verification
You need to start the final conversation only after checking the documents, otherwise you risk paying someone who simply waters the flowers at the request of the owners.
You need to check: passport, certificate of ownership, title documents - purchase and sale agreement for a room, document on inheritance, gift.
Copies or documents on film may be counterfeit, please review the originals.
Check whether the passport of the person who identified himself as the owner is original; do not trust copies. If they say that they forgot the original, repeat the meeting.
Keep in mind that if there are several apartment owners, they must all agree to your residence, otherwise you can be evicted at the request of one of the apartment owners.
How do simpletons get deceived?
The simplest and most effective way is to trade information about the base of available housing. For a small amount, scammers sell a database posted by other agencies in newspapers for free advertisements. It is impossible to reach the phone numbers from this database or the room has already been rented out. Contacting the police will not yield anything - the signed agreement states that money is charged for “information”, and not for a specific phone number or address of a free room.
Sometimes several people come to a meeting who want to rent a room; these are dummies pretending to be in great demand for a room. They take an advance from the applicant to “hold” the room and disappear. Demand from the person “renting out his room”, first of all, documents with registration, documents on ownership.
If you believed the photocopies of title documents and paid money, then the “owners” will offer to move in in a couple of days until they remove their furniture and personal belongings. In the meantime, they themselves will disappear with the money. These scammers rent an apartment for a short period of time (a day or two), receive keys from the owners, and place an advertisement for renting a room. They make fake copies of title documents in advance and rent out a room, supposedly in their own apartment.
Fraudsters can sign an agreement, take an advance payment and begin to deliberately mock the tenant - change the lock, prohibit the use of household appliances, etc. If you move out, they will give you only part of the money, the advance will be taken away, this is stated in the contract. And other rules are not written down.
Read carefully everything you are going to sign!
Typically, people living alone rent out a room in an apartment on the condition of sharing, because they do not want to live alone and they need additional income. Before this, the question arises of how to find a tenant in order to do everything according to the law, get additional income, and live in peace. From this article you will learn how to rent out a room in a communal apartment correctly and without intermediaries, find out from this article!
How to rent out a room in an apartment
For the landlord, it will also be a guarantee if the tenant turns out to be dishonest and does not pay.
Without drawing up an agreement or contract, you will not be able to demand compensation for losses if your apartment or property is damaged or stolen, which sometimes happens.
If your tenants flood the neighbors below, then without an official agreement that you have rented out the living space, you will have to pay the losses to your neighbors yourself.
To conclude a contract or agreement for the rental of living space, you need to prepare the following documents
The employer may ask for documents to verify your identity and that you have the right to dispose of the property. It will be good if all persons registered in the apartment are present at the time of signing the contract.
The room rental agreement must include the following information:
- the fact that there will be cohabitation between the tenant and the landlord;
- specify the period of residence of the tenant;
- how much the employer will pay per month, within what time frame he is obliged to pay, that is, indicate the end date.
- If prepayment is provided, then indicate the amount.
Also, in separate paragraphs, it is necessary to specify the rights and obligations of the tenant in the process of using utilities, communications, and personal property of the apartment owner, to specify which services the tenant will pay for, and what the landlord himself will pay for.
Specify the responsibilities of the parties towards each other and the rented apartment. Who and in what amount pays damages for property damage. You can also indicate other points that are fundamental for each of the parties, but do not violate the law.
The contract and agreement must indicate all members of the tenant's family who will live with him in this room. It is also advisable to prepare an agreement on the deposit and attach an inventory of the property. All forms and sample documents can be found on the Internet and printed at home. Also, all documents can be printed using a printer, or written by hand, but at the same time neat, clear and easy to read. All documents must be drawn up in two copies.
The tenant can pay for his accommodation in cash or by bank transfer. If payment for renting a house is made in cash, then the recipient must write a receipt stating that he received payment for renting a room, be sure to indicate the amount and date of receipt of the money. If payment is made by bank transfer, then the employer needs to keep all receipts with which he can prove the fact of payment if questions arise.
Termination of an apartment or room rental agreement
If it is planned to terminate the rental agreement, initiated by the landlord, then he is obliged to provide the tenant with an official notice of termination of the agreement 3 months before this date.
This must be done if the period of such notification is not specified in one of the clauses of the contract. If such a notice period for termination of the agreement is in the contract, then it is the main one and must be observed.
If the contract is terminated at the initiative of the lessor, then, as a rule, this is due to a violation of any terms of the contract by the lessee. The tenant terminates the contract if the landlord suddenly violates one of the conditions, or if the tenant himself finds another place of residence.
Typically, termination of a contract or agreement occurs in private and does not require any special actions. Only if there were no conflicts, disputes or legal actions, if the lessor was notified of the termination of the contract in a timely manner. Moreover, if a room was rented out in a communal apartment, then you need to make an act of acceptance of the transfer of the landlord’s property.
It is important to correctly conclude a contract for renting a room in an apartment.
This will enable the apartment owner to protect himself from non-payment for housing and the use of utilities in the event of damage or theft of property. If necessary, a contract or agreement can be presented as evidence of damages in court.
Why going to court in a case of renting a room in a communal apartment leads to a “vicious circle,” an expert told the site.
What do you need to know when renting out a room in a communal apartment? There are many questions. For example, the most important thing is whether this requires the consent of the owners of other rooms in the communal apartment? It would seem that this question has long since disappeared... But no - it suddenly became very relevant in judicial practice. The site discussed the intricacies of renting out a room with Alexander Perepelkin, head of the legal service of the capital's agency Nora-Real Estate.
My room - I have the right to rent it out!
As far as I know, there is a surge in litigation on the topic “you have the right to rent out a room without the consent of your neighbors, but in order for your tenant to use the kitchen, toilet and bathroom, you must persuade all other owners.” Where does this strange logic come from and why do the courts side with the plaintiffs?
This is a legal conflict. It was formed due to the legally controversial Determination of the Judicial Collegium for Civil Cases of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated September 24, 2013 No. 5-КГ13-101.
But it’s better to look at the problem in order. A room in a communal apartment belongs to residential premises and is an independent object of ownership (Article 16 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation). Article 30 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation and Article 228 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation guarantee that the owner is free to dispose of residential premises as he wants, if this does not contradict the law. That is, for example, the owner cannot set up a store in a room (residential premises) (for this the premises must be in the non-residential category and meet various requirements), but he can live in it, sell it, rent it out, donate it...
An exhaustive list of restrictions on property rights for owners of rooms in a communal apartment is established in Part 5 of Art. 45 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation. In particular, it says that the owner of a room in a communal apartment does not have the right to allocate in kind his share in the right of common ownership of the common property in this apartment and alienate his share of the right of common ownership of the common property in this apartment, as well as perform other actions , entailing the transfer of this share separately from the ownership of the said room.
In other words, you cannot allocate a piece of the kitchen, toilet, bathroom and corridor to yourself in a communal apartment. And, say, sell “your” piece of the kitchen, reserving the right to the room.
Absolutely right. But in the legislation there are no restrictions for the owner of a room in a communal apartment to rent out a room. And there is no need to obtain the consent of neighbors living in other rooms of the communal apartment.
- But what if the neighbors still don’t agree with my decision to rent out my room to a tenant?
In the event of a dispute with your neighbors in a communal apartment about whether you can or cannot rent out your room without their consent, you do not need to look for a rule in the law that establishes such a rule, but you need to ask your neighbors to find in the law and show you the rule of law obliging ask you for their consent.
Disputes over a piece of toilet
- But these disputes still arise. And they are often transferred to the courts, where for some reason these norms are forgotten...
This state of affairs has arisen recently. Here's the thing.
As a rule, we are talking about common areas. After all, the persons whom the owner of the room moves into his room use the common property of the communal apartment, such as the kitchen, bathroom, toilet and more. And these premises (in accordance with paragraph 1 of Article 41 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation) belong by right of common shared ownership to all owners of the premises in a given apartment and are used to service more than one room. Consequently, when the tenant uses them, the rights of the neighbors are also affected.
But common areas in a communal apartment are not an independent object of law. The rights to them are derived from the rights to living rooms in a communal apartment. Consequently, the rights to public places follow the legal fate of the rights to rooms (clause 3 of Article 42 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation).
Therefore, a tenant who rents a room in a communal apartment automatically receives the rights to use this common property. After all, when, for example, they rent out not a room, but an apartment in an apartment building (where the owners of residential premises have a similar share in the common property of the house), a similar question - about the need to obtain the consent of other owners in order to rent out the apartment - does not even arise.
Guided by precisely this legal logic, courts until recently resolved disputes between the owners of rooms in a communal apartment.
- But in the fall of 2013, the Determination of the Judicial Collegium for Civil Cases appeared...
Yes. And judicial practice on this issue has ceased to be virtually uniform.
In this Determination, the RF Armed Forces indicated the following: “Since the procedure for using common property in a communal apartment is not regulated by housing legislation, then in accordance with Art. 7 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, the norms of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation on common shared property are applied to these relations, in particular the norms of Art. Art. 246 and 247 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. The disposal of property in shared ownership is carried out by agreement of all its participants (clause 1 of Article 246 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation). In accordance with paragraph 1 of Art. 247 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, ownership and use of property in shared ownership is carried out by agreement of all its participants, and if agreement is not reached, in the manner established by the court. Based on the content of the given norms of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the owners of rooms in a communal apartment must exercise the rights of ownership and use of common property in a communal apartment by agreement. The provision by the owner of a room in a communal apartment under civil law contracts for the possession and use of the room to other persons (for example, tenants) assumes that these persons will also use the common property in the communal apartment, and since this property is in common shared ownership, then to ensure balancing the interests of participants in shared ownership, the issue of the use of common property by room tenants must be agreed upon with other owners of residential premises in a communal apartment. If such agreement is not reached, then the procedure for using the common property is established by the court.”
Alexander Perepelkin / editorial archive
Translated into simpler language, this means: if, according to the law, the use of common property requires the consent of all owners, then this should also happen in the case of a communal apartment. Therefore, if the neighbors are against your tenant going to their toilet (and it doesn’t matter to them that it’s your toilet too), then go to court. Right?
Exactly. Thus, according to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, until the owners of rooms in a communal apartment voluntarily - or on the basis of a court decision - determine the procedure for using common property (corridor, bathroom, toilet, kitchen, etc.) in case transfer by owners of rooms they own for use to other persons under civil contracts, renting out a room in a communal apartment is illegal.
It turns out that I can legally rent out a room without the consent of my neighbors, but if the procedure for using common property is not defined, then this will be an illegal action on my part?
Yes. It is difficult to agree with such legal logic - if only because then it is necessary to recognize the illegality of concluding all contracts for the social rental of rooms in communal apartments, which are concluded by authorized municipal bodies without any consent to this from the owners of other rooms in a communal apartment and with regard to their opinion, including in the absence of any agreement with them in this regard.
Therefore, if the city owner, when moving tenants into one of the rooms in a communal apartment under a social tenancy agreement, does not ask for any consent from the owners of other rooms in the communal apartment, the other owner of the room in the communal apartment should not receive such consent to conclude a rental agreement.
Whose side are the courts on?
- But the owner of the room has the right to go to court. What's going on there?
As my practice shows, the result is disappointing. People who, obeying the indicated logic of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, turn to justices of the peace with a claim to determine the procedure for using the common property of a communal apartment in the event that the owners rent out a room, receive this refusal as a requirement not based on the law. The result is a vicious circle.
- Will this definition be revised?
We really hope so. After all, in addition, this contradicts the position of the RF Armed Forces itself, which was voiced earlier by it in the Decision of October 10, 2007 in civil case No. 5-G07-76, when the subject of consideration was a dispute about invalidating certain provisions of Moscow Government Resolution No. 859 -PP of October 31, 2006 “On approval of the Rules for registration and deregistration of citizens of the Russian Federation at the place of stay and place of residence in the city of Moscow”, limiting the rights of the owner of a communal apartment to move in and register other persons at the place of residence.
The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation confirmed in this ruling: the Moscow City Court, when considering the case at first instance, rightfully drew attention to the fact that in Part 5 of Art. 42 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation for owners of rooms in a communal apartment, an exhaustive list of restrictions on property rights is established. And such a restriction of property rights as the consent of the owners of all living rooms in a communal apartment for the owner to move members of his family into his room is not provided for by law.
The inconsistency of the RF Armed Forces in this matter, unfortunately, does not add stability to civil society and is, in some cases, fertile ground for abuse of their rights by unscrupulous neighbors in a communal apartment.
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