What is self-construction and what to do with it

Recommendation points

• Definition and varieties
• Reasons for unauthorized construction
• What is the danger of squatter?
• Legalizing squatter is real?

Probably no other country in the world has received such a widespread self-construction. Of course, it cannot be said that this is a purely Russian attack, not at all, isolated cases are observed even in civilized Europe, however, it is in the vastness of the CIS that unauthorized construction has acquired the character of a mass phenomenon that is familiar to almost everyone..

What is samostroy, what does Russian legislation mean by this concept? Why is this phenomenon dangerous? Why does such illegal real estate appear so often in Russian cities? And what to do with unauthorized construction later, when the need arises for its correct documentary registration?

Definition and varieties

Self-construction, that is, unauthorized (and not at all independent) construction, most often means a residential building that was erected without the permission of the authorities. However, samostroy can be divided into several varieties. This is especially important in order to understand exactly how unauthorized development can occur and how to avoid such a contradiction with the law..

So, there are the following types of self-construction:

1. The building was erected on a plot of land that was not at all intended for construction. That is, even if we imagine that somehow the owner managed to obtain documents for the house itself, the construction will still be recognized as illegal, since first of all it is necessary to resolve the issue of the legal status of the allotment. This type of unauthorized construction sometimes arises in the case of illegal seizure of land, and this is already a criminal offense and it is practically impossible to legalize unauthorized construction in the future. However, most often the developer violates the purpose of the land plot, for example, erects a building on agricultural land, on a plot not intended for housing construction, and so on..
2. Lack of a building permit and an approved building design. In this case, we mean the absence of all the documents that, according to the law, must be obtained before starting the construction of a residential building. The main document that every developer must necessarily obtain is the permission of the city or village council to start construction work. Such a permit is issued on the basis of a finished project, which, among other things, is coordinated with the fire, sanitary and environmental supervision authorities, and a preliminary examination of the project is also carried out. Only a licensed organization, such as a design office, should develop a construction plan for a building, even a small house with two or three rooms. If the developer does not have such an approved project, no village or city council has the right to issue a permit to start construction..
3. Significant violations of the established building rules and regulations. This, as noted by lawyers, is the most difficult case of arbitrary rule to prove. If the absence of documents or violation of the intended purpose of the land plot is easy enough to detect, then it is rather difficult to prove that the developer violated the standards and safety requirements during construction. It will be necessary to conduct an examination, a thorough study of a residential building, which can only be entrusted to a licensed organization. In addition, usually violations committed during construction are not striking, so they are discovered after the roof has fallen or a crack has formed in the wall as a result of improper or poor-quality construction..
4. Redevelopment and reconstruction. Changes in the original layout of the building, a change in the appearance of an apartment building, reconstruction of a historic building, as a result of which it changed beyond recognition – all this is also a squatter, that is, an unauthorized change in the approved project. Such acts of illegal changes in the layout, in particular, include joining a loggia or balcony to an apartment, arranging a doorway in a load-bearing wall, and so on..

Reasons for unauthorized construction

As experts on foreign real estate unanimously point out, it is simply unthinkable to imagine that in Germany or Denmark the owner of a land plot began construction of a building without first obtaining all the necessary documents from the local government. In Europe, real estate is taken very seriously, therefore any alterations, redevelopment, and even more so the reconstruction of a historic building, must be approved by the regulatory authorities. Why did squatter construction become such a widespread phenomenon in Russia? Maybe it’s the mentality of our citizens who believe that on their site and in their apartment they can do whatever they want and the authorities should not interfere in their “private life”?

Of course, Russians have always had rather complicated and ambiguous relations with state bodies, it is difficult to suspect us of love for order and law-abidingness, at least with regard to private residential construction..

And yet, the main reason for the emergence of unauthorized construction in our country, and this, surprisingly, even the officials themselves admit, has become a very complicated procedure, which requires a lot of time and effort, to obtain all permits for construction..

In fact, many developers simply decide to start building a house immediately after receiving a land plot in order to celebrate housewarming as early as possible. The owners reason like this: “I’ll build it now, and I’ll draw up the documents only later, when I move into the house, why wait until you get all the permits”. Such new settlers are not afraid of the fines that await them in the event of an illegal construction, lack of a project or redevelopment. However, the fine is relatively small and for individuals it ranges from three to five times the minimum wage (minimum wage), today it is 4611 rubles. That is, the maximum fine for an ordinary citizen who builds a house without documents will be a little more than 23 thousand rubles, you must agree, it is not so scary. The fact that, according to Russian law, the authorities can force the owner of an unauthorized building to demolish the building, and at their own expense, developers, for some reason, rarely think.

True, for legal entities, the size of the fine for squatter construction increases many times and reaches 50-100 minimum wages.

By the way, in neighboring Ukraine, where until recently individuals paid a fine for unauthorized construction in the amount of only 850 hryvnia (about 3.5 thousand rubles), today such penalties have been canceled altogether. True, this only applies to objects of the first or third categories of complexity, to which all low-rise private residential buildings belong. The owners of buildings of the fourth and fifth categories of complexity, that is, industrial facilities and multi-storey residential complexes, will now have to pay increased amounts of fines – the requirements for them, on the contrary, have been tightened in Ukraine.

According to experts in the field of construction, obtaining all the necessary documents for the construction of a house, starting with the preparation of a project, approval in all instances and signing by authorized persons, takes at least four to five months, and in some cases it can take years. Many developers do not want to waste so much time, therefore they begin construction work without documentation..

Another reason for the emergence of unauthorized construction is the unwillingness to spend unnecessary, in the opinion of future homeowners, funds to order a building project in a licensed design office. In addition, it is no secret that often in the sanitary station, and in the fire department, and in the environmental service, you will have to pay “for a good attitude.” As a result, all this can result in a substantial amount. So self-construction can often be called an attempt to save money on building a house..

And, finally, very often unauthorized construction arises from the ignorance of law-abiding and decent citizens of the current legislation. A striking example – a person received a dacha from the state, which today no longer exists, many years ago. He built a house on the site, children grew up here and grandchildren are already playing. And he didn’t bother to arrange the documents for the land plot like that, he just didn’t know that it was necessary, he was used to considering the house as his inalienable property. Sometimes the documents are nevertheless executed, but incorrectly, there is no clear cadastral plan, an approved architectural project, entry of all information about the land allotment and each capital building located on it in the register of the Companies House.

The reason for the unauthorized redevelopment of an apartment, of course, is that standard projects are designed for a certain average tenant and cannot satisfy the needs of all apartment owners. So they are trying to expand the usable area at the expense of the balcony and corridor, move the doors and lay the windows in order to create a more cozy and comfortable, in their opinion, housing.

The Association of Lawyers of Russia also emphasizes that the main reason for the emergence of unauthorized construction is a clear imperfection of the organizational and legal mechanism for the implementation of the right of owners of land plots to develop them. This imperfection is expressed primarily in the length of the procedure itself for obtaining a building permit, developing and approving the necessary project documentation, registering ownership of an already completed construction and obtaining a permit to perform construction work. Another reason for the massive appearance of unauthorized construction, lawyers called the large financial costs associated with the implementation of design, legal and other work..

What is the danger of squatter?

Of course, if an unauthorized building is a garage that appeared on a properly designed plot of land, an outbuilding or a bathhouse, then the consequences of such construction will not be too severe. As already mentioned, the owner awaits an administrative fine and the need to go through the procedure, so unloved by him, to obtain the necessary documents for the construction, register it with the BTI and agree with the same fire and sanitary authorities.

Redevelopment in an apartment and joining a loggia or balcony can also threaten with a fine and the need to return the apartment to its original state by a court decision. Yes, this is a substantial cost and a waste of time, but, you see, not a disaster.

But a cottage, built on agricultural land, built right on the shore of a reservoir, in a nature conservation area, and so on, the authorities can really demolish. Such cases are regularly described in the news, so you should be very careful when choosing a site for construction, and the purpose of the land should be checked first..

If a squatter building arose due to a violation of construction norms and rules and the authorities managed to prove this fact, the owner will be obliged to put the building in order and eliminate the shortcomings. And only if he refuses to comply with the orders of the regulatory authorities, the question of demolishing the building will arise.

The main inconvenience that awaits ordinary citizens who have built a house without permits and a project is the inability to formalize the ownership of housing, and as a result, the inability to officially perform subsequent actions with it. So, self-construction will not be able to be realized, inherited, donated, and so on. According to the documents, it does not seem to exist, so before looking for buyers, you will have to go through a lengthy procedure of legalizing the unauthorized construction and, of course, pay a fine.

Much more serious consequences arise if an apartment building, in which the sale of square meters has already begun, turned out to be a squatter. In this case, the main victims are precisely the equity holders who invested their funds in the construction of a house, the developer of which did not have the necessary package of documents or violated the established norms and rules of construction. The situation is very unpleasant, such a large building is much more difficult to legalize than a private cottage, so as a result, buyers find themselves without money and without housing.

In addition to troubles with the authorities and penalties, unauthorized construction in itself can pose a danger to its inhabitants – it was built without a competent project, on a site where, most likely, no geodetic and engineering surveys were carried out. Therefore, it is rather difficult to guarantee the safety of residents..

Serious redevelopment in the apartment can also lead to dangerous consequences – cracks on the load-bearing walls, the ceiling that has fallen from the neighbors from below, damaged common house ventilation – these are just some of the results of the thoughtless redevelopment of the apartment. For example, according to fire safety requirements, a blank wall with a width of at least 1.2-1.6 meters should remain on the loggias. Here the owners could wait for the firefighters and hide from the flames if the exit to the stairwell is already blocked by fire. By attaching a loggia to the apartment, the owners deprive themselves of such an emergency “escape route” in the event of a fire.

Legalizing squatter is real?

If the owner of an unauthorizedly erected real estate object is faced with the question of giving it an official legal status, he will have to go through almost all the stages that he neglected before starting construction.

First of all, you still have to draw up a project of an already finished house by contacting an architectural bureau that has an appropriate license. Sometimes specialists go to the location of the building and independently make all the measurements necessary to draw up the plan, sometimes the owner can send photos of the cottage and an approximate plan of the site indicating the size of the house and the location of outbuildings.

Further, the project of the house must be coordinated with all regulatory authorities – fire and sanitary services, utilities supplying gas, electricity and water, as well as with the local department of architecture and construction. After that, you need to get the so-called copy of the master plan for the development of a city or village, where the red lines will indicate the area occupied by unauthorized construction.

Then you will have to contact the bureau of technical inventory to obtain a technical passport for the building.

Experts note that this path is very long, it takes at least a year, and in terms of the costs required for the approval and receipt of documents in each instance, it is quite comparable to a major overhaul of a house..

In this regard, the owners of unauthorized construction prefer to go to court in order to prove their right to own the house in court. The court may recognize unauthorized construction as legal if “the construction of the object does not violate the interests of other persons,” that is, does not interfere with neighbors, urban development plans, and so on. It is worth remembering that before going to court, you will still have to draw up a project of the house and stock up on documents confirming that the samostroy meets all building codes and regulations.

Another easier option is to take advantage of government programs that facilitate the process of legalizing small country houses and low-rise buildings. There are similar programs in Russia and Ukraine, but they are valid only for buildings of the first and second categories of complexity.

To legalize the redevelopment, you will have to redo the apartment project, call the BTI representatives, who will assess the scale of the restructuring and make changes to the technical passport of the apartment. The penalty for such an apartment building will have to be paid in any case. Apartment owners who have already passed the redevelopment legalization procedure note that good relations with representatives of the management company, BTI and neighbors are of great importance.

In any case, such a complex procedure for the legalization of unauthorized construction often frightens off even those owners who would like to give their home an official status. And the services of intermediaries, of which there are a great many now, are very expensive..

It remains only to note with sadness that both the preliminary obtaining of permits for construction, and the legalization of the already erected new building are very similar to the “battle with windmills”, which in this case is the bureaucratic system.