Relocation with additional payment: a proposal to reform the process of resettling residents from dilapidated buildings

The Ministry of Construction and Housing plans to introduce a surcharge for relocation from dilapidated housing if the new apartment is more expensive than the old one. This bill is being prepared for consideration in the State Duma.

The initiative proposes amendments to a number of federal laws and regulations, including the Russian Federation Housing Code. The gist of it is this: the owner of dilapidated housing will pay the difference between the old and new housing, but this difference will be less than 100% of the cost of the new housing.

“The amount of compensation [for emergency housing – ed.] per square meter of total living space cannot be less than 50% of the average market value of one square meter of total living space established by the federal executive body.”,
it is said in the bill.

Thus, in St. Petersburg, the average market price of housing established by the Ministry of Construction is 165,300 rubles per square meter. However, the actual market value of in-demand housing is 285,000 rubles per square meter. In Vladivostok, the average price per square meter, according to the Ministry of Construction's methodology, is 177,624 rubles. The market price ranges from 196,000 rubles on the secondary market to 271,000 rubles in new buildings.

Owners of square meters in dilapidated housing often wait decades for the resettlement promised back in Soviet times. They simply won't be able to "buy" additional square meters in newer buildings, which would be significantly more expensive than their dilapidated properties.

Fontanka publication notes, that sometimes, when moving from dilapidated housing to new housing, additional payments were required before, but for improved conditions and "extra" square meters if the owner chose a more spacious apartment than the old one. Now, however, the additional payment will be for the difference in price between the old and new housing, which will obviously be more expensive than the dilapidated housing. 

Now over 1,3 million people Live in In dilapidated buildings, they are awaiting resettlement. In fact, their number is even higher, as not all residents can afford to have their building's technical condition assessed.