Why the State Duma rejects the bill banning hostels in residential buildings

“A neighbouring hostel is not a gift”

The authors of the bill proposed to change Article 17 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation — to replace the phrase “Residential premises in an apartment building cannot be used to provide hotel services” with “Premises in an apartment building cannot be used to accommodate hostels, hotels and other facilities for the temporary residence of an indefinite number of people.”

The explanatory note to the bill states that the practice of placing hostels and flophouses in non-residential premises on the first floors of residential buildings has become widespread, which sharply increases the load on the communications of houses, and hostel guests displace residents of houses from public territory. This lowers the quality of life and creates social tension, according to the initiators of the ban.

“A hostel in the neighbourhood is, to put it mildly, not a gift at all,” Kazan resident Saniya R., the owner of an apartment in a five-story building on Volgogradskaya Street, agrees with the authors of the bill. “Our hostel is on the first floor, the entrance to it is separate, on the opposite side from the entrances. And yet it is irritating — there are always strangers near the house, they smoke under the windows, sometimes they make noise. It is frightening when migrant workers move in — these are troubled times, we are afraid of terrorists, you understand. I believe that today there is no place for any hotels in residential buildings, even tenants — in a certain sense this is a risk for permanent residents, and crowds of constantly changing strangers in the house are very dangerous.”

“The ban contradicts the principle of freedom of contract”

Nevertheless, the bill was rejected by the deputies. The main reasons for refusing to amend the Housing Code of the Russian Federation are set out in the conclusion of the legal department of the State Duma Office and the Commission for Ensuring Citizens' Housing Rights.

The legal department pointed out that “based on the provisions of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, temporary residence of citizens is only possible in residential premises.” It turns out that from this point of view, the proposed ban looks unnecessary, since the organization of hotels and, in particular, hostels in residential premises was banned back in 2019.

The Commission for Ensuring Citizens' Housing Rights considered that the wording of “facilities for temporary residence of an indefinite number of persons is vague and contradicts the principle of freedom of contract. The conclusion also states that replacing the wording “residential premises” with “premises” and thus including premises from the non-residential category in the ban “may in some cases be interpreted as a restriction of the legitimate right of the owner.”

Lantratova emphasised that people staying in hostels often use the adjacent territory, children's and sports grounds, effectively depriving residents of apartment buildings and their children of a place to rest and play, and the proposed bill is designed to protect their rights and interests, and serve to create a comfortable and safe environment.

“I understand the stance of the government and the relevant committee, so we will take into account the comments made, finalise and submit the bill for reconsideration,” she told Realnoe Vremya.

A loophole for commerce and a “hole” in the law

The amendments to the Housing Code, which came into force in 2019, were aimed at protecting the rights of residents of apartment buildings — on the ban on providing hotel services in residential premises. That bill was turned into a law with great difficulty: it was rejected, then a conciliation commission was created and, as a result, the ban was established on the second try.

In addition, Kopvillem suspected that the problem may be based on a “hole in the law.” Today, the legislator has defined the concept of residential premises (this can be an apartment, room, house) and non-residential (they are classified by purpose, but hotels and hostels are not included in this classification). At the same time, the federal law on the sanitary and epidemiological well-being of the population” establishes a ban on both permanent and temporary residence of people in non-residential premises.

“The same problem exists with apartments, which are also not considered residential premises,” he noted. “In my opinion, it is necessary to prepare and adopt a law or a separate chapter of the Housing Code, which will regulate all issues related to apartments, hostels and hotels, as well as, possibly, apartments that are rented not for a long term, but for a day or several days, since this also causes inconvenience to the owners of the house.

And where are the measures?

The appeal about “hourly apartments” and those rented out daily in 2023 was considered by the Constitutional Court of Russia. It was filed by Pskov entrepreneur Pavel Bakhirev, who rented out two-level apartments daily. The businessman’s neighbour filed a lawsuit in the Pskov City Court, in which he asked to prohibit the use of the apartment as a mini-hotel and won the case.

Bakhirev, in turn, filed a complaint with the Constitutional Court — he sought to have the norm of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, prohibiting the use of residential premises in an apartment building for the provision of hotel services, declared illegal, since this norm makes it possible to equate daily rental of an apartment with the provision of hotel services. However, the norm of the law stood — the Constitutional Court considered it not to contradict the basic law of the country.

At the same time, it was noted that the norm does not establish what kind of set, volume and external expression of the services provided leads to the transformation of the permissible rental of residential premises into the prohibited provision of hotel services. The Constitutional Court held that when resolving disputes such as the neighbour's with Bakhirev, the court must establish whether the short-term rental of a specific residential property really creates inconveniences for other residents that significantly exceed those that arise during normal use of the property, or clearly increases the use of common areas in an apartment building to the intensity inherent in hotel operations.

As a result, the city court's decision regarding Bakhirev was reviewed.

The Constitutional Court also ordered the federal legislator to take measures to regulate the specifics of short-term rental of residential premises in apartment buildings, maintaining the necessary balance of interests of all participants in such legal relations. But so far, Realnoe Vremya has not been able to find any information in open sources about what has been done for this.

“The ideal option is a detached building”

At the same time, the publication's interlocutor believes: even if we touch upon the issue of a restaurant, we must understand that it will be necessary to coordinate any movements with everyone to comply with technical and sanitary standards. The same situation will arise with a hotel.

“In addition, the accommodation of guests may disturb residents, which means there will be a lot of complaints,” she added. “And it will be very difficult to comply with technical standards for the complete safety of guests — those requirements that apply to collective accommodation facilities.”

According to the head of the Association of Hotels, the ideal option for a hotel or hostel is a detached building, in which it is possible to ensure the fulfilment of all the requirements for such a facility. In a residential building, it is possible and advisable to use for these needs not the first floor, but a separate entrance, where there is a separate entrance and “it is possible to comply with the requirements that are put forward in relation to collective means of accommodating guests, based on the classification regulations,” the speaker concluded.