New legislation aims to protect permanent residents in apartment blocks from discomfort caused by constant tenant turnover
FILE PHOTO. © Sputnik / Kirill Zykov
Russian apartment owners may soon have to get permission from their neighbors before renting out their property on a per-day basis, according to a new bill being debated by the country’s lawmakers.
According to the legislation, which passed its first reading in the State Duma last week and is now being prepared for the second one, at least 75% of block residents should vote in favor of allowing people to rent out their apartments short term. The belief is that this will be more courteous to neighbors and improve compliance with the Housing Code regulating the use of residential premises.
The legislation will not affect long-term rentals.
The initiative stemmed from a decree that prohibited equating hotel business arrangements with short-term apartment rentals. The court also suggested Russian MPs draft a standalone bill to better regulate this sphere.
The new legislation has drawn both positive and negative feedback from officials and business leaders. Rifat Garipov, a commission head at the Ministry of Construction, told Izvestia that the bill could help residents resume “normal life” and stave off “chaos” in the building. He also remarked that the purpose of the bill was not to pit landlords and the house community against each other, but rather to encourage them to reach a compromise.
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However, Maria Zhukova, the director of the Miel real estate agency, has sharply criticized the initiative, saying it would completely wipe out the daily rental business. She noted that most short-term rentals were not run by ordinary people, but rather by entrepreneurs who would have a hard time getting all the property owners – who may be living elsewhere and be out of reach – to vote in the first place.
Meanwhile, Svetlana Razvorotneva, the deputy chairman of the State Duma’s construction committee, stressed that the bill should be significantly amended before going to its second reading. According to the deputy, one of the main stumbling blocks is the definition of the minimum rental period, as well as the lack of a mechanism to hold those who violate the new rules accountable.
According to Izvestia, some experts believe that about 200,000 people are now renting out their property on a per-day basis in Russia. At the same time, the NAFI analytical agency estimated that, as of 2019, about 10 million Russians were living in rented apartments.
