An apartment for an office or how to transfer real estate to a non-residential fund

Recommendation points

• Under what conditions is it profitable to convert an apartment into an office or a store
• Procedure and required documents
• “Pitfalls” of the procedure for transferring housing to a non-residential fund
• How much does a transfer to a non-residential fund cost

There are often cases when the profit from renting residential real estate can be much higher if you convert your apartment into an office or retail space. For example, in October 2014 in Moscow, the average cost of renting a two-room apartment was 54,183 rubles. And the average cost of renting one square meter of office space in the same city is 22,428 rubles. Thus, multiplying this rate by the average area of ​​a two-room apartment (55-60 meters), we get an incredible figure – over a million rubles!

Of course, all these calculations are approximate, but the significant profit that can be obtained from the transfer of your real estate from residential to non-residential is undoubted.

Under what conditions is it profitable to convert an apartment into an office or a store

Not every apartment can be popular with tenants as an office or shop. There are a number of conditions:

• shortage of small commercial space in the city;
• proximity to the metro or other transport interchange;
• the possibility of creating a separate entrance to the premises: thus, it should be located only on the first or second floors (in the latter case, it is necessary that only non-residential real estate is under the apartment);
• the building in which the apartment is located does not belong to social rental houses: such a prohibition is established in Article 22 of the RF LC.

Procedure and required documents

All documents required to transfer an apartment to a non-residential fund, its owner is obliged to submit to the City Interdepartmental Commission for the Use of the Housing Fund. It is this institution that will give permission for translation.

The list of most of the required documents is established by Article 23 of the Housing Code:

• statements by the owner of the home about the transfer of his premises to a non-residential fund;
• documents of title to housing (originals or notarized copies);
• plan and technical passport for real estate;
• floor plan of the house in which the apartment is located.
• project of redevelopment of the premises: this document must be approved by a huge number of authorized bodies (APU, “GorGaz”, “GorEnergoSbyt”, and many others). A complete list of institutions can be found on the website of any company that provides services for the transfer of real estate to a non-residential fund.

It also follows from the norms of the Housing Code and other legislative acts of the Russian Federation that in order to transfer the premises, its owners must additionally provide the following documents:

• a certificate from the Unified State Register, which will indicate the absence of debt and the absence of registered persons on the living space;
• notification of the District Office about the absence of a house in the lists for reconstruction, major repairs, demolition or recognition of it as emergency.

If all the submitted documents satisfy the City Interdepartmental Commission on the Use of the Housing Stock, the applicant receives an extract from her protocol on the transfer of the premises to the non-residential fund.

Then, direct work is carried out on the reconstruction of real estate, all the necessary acts are signed, changes are entered into the inventory and technical documentation and a new certificate of ownership of the non-residential premises is obtained.

“Pitfalls” of the procedure for transferring housing to a non-residential fund

The greatest difficulty in converting an apartment into an office or shop is obtaining consent for its reconstruction from the tenants of the house or the asset holder (HOA or housing cooperative). Although there is no such requirement in the Housing Code, in many cities, municipal regulations may require such consent..

In order to convince all neighbors to approve the conversion of an apartment into an office or a store, its owner usually has to spend a lot of time, effort, and sometimes money. And it is not a fact that his efforts will be crowned with success. After all, if the premises are planned, for example, under a cafe, which is fraught with constant noise and crowds of people scurrying around the house, this will certainly cause indignation of residents.

It also takes a lot of time to collect documents and obtain all the necessary approvals for the transfer of premises from the authorized bodies. This procedure can take many months or even years. And that is why many owners of apartments on the first floors do not dare to transfer them to a non-residential fund..

How much does a transfer to a non-residential fund cost

All costs of transferring real estate to a non-residential fund can be roughly divided into three parts:

1. Design work is the least expensive part of translation. The cost of services of a design organization, as a rule, does not exceed 10,000 rubles .
2. Legal support – obtaining all necessary documents, permits and approvals, including permission to transfer from the residents of the house. The cost of such services in Moscow starts from 80,000 thousand rubles, and on average is several hundred thousand rubles.
3. The construction of a separate entrance and redevelopment of the premises is the most expensive part. The costs for it start from two hundred thousand rubles and can go up to a million rubles.

Despite the substantial costs of transferring an apartment to a non-residential fund, after the successful completion of this procedure, its owner is not left behind. The cost of such real estate after documentary registration increases by an average of 40%, so you can not waste time looking for tenants, but simply sell it, thereby receiving a solid profit.