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Transfer of residential premises to non-residential premises

Transferring residential premises to non-residential premises can be a great opportunity, giving you access to a wide selection of new and unique services, such as more business-oriented functions or more space and amenities. Advantages of this transfer include improved security, privacy, safety, and an increased level of convenience. Moreover, businesses can also enjoy the flexibility of being able to change their premises easily, or to set up a new business in a previously residential area. The distinctive quality of this transfer is that it allows businesses to expand quickly and conveniently while keeping up with busy city life.

The search for a free and more or less decent non-residential premises for an office, retail outlet or warehouse, today, for representatives of the Russian business audience, often turns into a real problem. Very often, the only possible solution to this problem is the use of residential apartments for the above purposes. That is why we have the opportunity to observe how apartments located on the first floors of old residential buildings, over time, turn into hairdressers, laundries, grocery stores or even bank branches..

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Many entrepreneurs who decide to use residential premises for commercial purposes, due to a lack of experience in such matters, make serious mistakes when planning the process of converting an apartment into an office, as a result of which they incur serious financial losses. Usually it looks like this: an entrepreneur decides to equip his own or recently purchased square meters for an office, and begins to figure out “how to do it now”. Moreover, most of all he is worried about two questions: how to do it legally competently (i.e., without violating the current legislation) and spend a minimum of time? Gathering information inevitably leads the entrepreneur to the conclusion: there is a rather troublesome, tedious, and most importantly a long process ahead, and the planned date of launching a commercial space into operation is postponed at least 3-4 months in advance.

So, do not think that the problem of office placement can be solved only by buying an apartment..
According to Russian legislation (clause 3 of article 288 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation), the use of housing for commercial purposes is allowed only after the transfer of this premises to the status of non-residential.
In general, the procedure for transferring a residential premises into a non-residential fund looks like this:

1. Determination of the possibility of transferring residential premises to non-residential.
According to the current Russian legislation, non-residential premises must meet the following requirements:
– non-residential premises must have an entrance isolated from the residential part of the building;
– the premises must be located on the first floor (if the residential premises are located on the second and third floors, then its transfer to non-residential premises will be possible if the lower floors are occupied by non-residential premises (shops, offices, banks));
– it is necessary that the house in which the dwelling is located does not stand in the plans for major repairs and is not recognized as emergency;
– no one should be registered in the apartment;

2. Preparation and collection of necessary documents.
At this stage, the owner must visit a number of public services (PIB, Gossanepidemnadzor, Goszharnadzor, KGIOP, KGA, passport service of the regional police department, etc.), collecting a package of documents, in the following composition:
– an application for the transfer of a separate residential premises to a non-residential fund (according to the established model) with an indication of the intended functional purpose of this premises;
– a photocopy of the owner’s passport;
– notarized documents of title;
– notarized copies of constituent documents of a legal entity;
– technical passport BTI, explication of premises, floor plans (PIB);
– certificate of absence of citizens registered in this premises;
– the consent of the relevant passport and visa service to the owner’s application to terminate registration in the residential premises transferred to the non-residential fund;
– conclusion on the results of a technical survey from the service organization;
– conclusion of KGiOP;
– the conclusion of the State Sanitary and Epidemiological Supervision;
– conclusion of the State Fire Inspection;
– technical conclusion of a licensed organization for design and survey work;
– premises redevelopment project;
– conclusion on the possibility of a separate entrance device;
– a certificate from the district administration that the house is not in the capital repair plans and is not recognized as emergency;

3. Submission of a prepared package of documents to the Committee on Housing Policy.
At this stage, the city interdepartmental commission on the use of the housing stock decides the issue of the possibility of using the declared residential premises as non-residential, considers the possibility of redevelopment and coordinates the proposed design solution.

4. Registration of owner’s rights to non-residential premises.
This is the final stage, during which, directly in the registration chamber, the owner’s rights to the non-residential premises are registered. This requires the following documents:
– statement;
– receipt of payment of state duty;
– documents describing the object of law (BTI documents);
– documents describing the subject of law (constituent documents, TIN certificate, Goskomstat codes, etc.);
– documents of title (order of the Municipal Housing Committee, minutes of the IAC on the transfer of premises, order of the prefect on permission to change the functional purpose of the premises, certificate of ownership);
– an extract from the order of the Committee on Housing Policy with an extract from the minutes of the city interdepartmental commission on the use of the city’s housing stock on the issue of transferring residential premises to non-residential stock;
– the decision to approve the project for the reconstruction and (or) redevelopment of the premises and permission to carry out repair and construction works (order of the governor);
– order on permission to change the functional purpose of the premises;
– a document confirming that the applicant’s right to a dwelling is registered in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities or a Title Deed for a dwelling acquired before 1998;

So, we see that the procedure for transferring residential premises into non-residential premises is a rather laborious and lengthy process. In addition, it should be noted that this article presents only a general algorithm of actions that does not take into account a huge number of nuances, and, for the most part, is applicable to large cities (Moscow, St. Petersburg). It should also be taken into account that the work of the administration in each separate region has its own specifics..
In most cases, an entrepreneur simply does not have the opportunity to independently deal with this issue. Therefore, in order to save time, effort and money, I strongly recommend that you immediately resort to the help of professionals, since there are more than enough of them today.

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Comments: 1
  1. Levi Nelson

    Could you clarify the process of transferring a residential property to a non-residential property? What are the legal considerations and requirements involved? Is this a common practice, and what are the potential implications or challenges that one might face during this conversion?

    Reply
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