How to restore a share in a privatized apartment

It is quite possible to sue a share in an apartment from its owner. To go to court, grounds are required. If they exist, winning the case will depend on the correctness of the actions, the availability of evidence of your innocence and the professionalism of the lawyers during court hearings. In this article we will tell you how to obtain the owner’s share of housing through the court.

Please note that the court in Russia is adversarial, and participation in it requires legal knowledge and experience. It is better to hire a qualified lawyer to represent your interests in court.

Is the right of ownership of housing inviolable?

The right to private property, including the right to real estate of citizens, is protected by law. No one can deprive a person of his property against his will, except in cases provided for by law. However, the law also provides for the possibility of restoring justice in relation to other persons if their rights were violated at the time of acquisition of real estate. In such cases, by a court decision, the owner may lose his or her housing in whole or in part as a result of the transaction being declared invalid.

It is also possible to seize part of the housing under family law during divorce and division of property. In this case, the law is guided by the principle of fairness towards all family members, especially minors or incapacitated ones. In addition, conflict situations when one of the heirs may be deprived of real estate under certain circumstances may arise and may arise during the inheritance process.

Whatever the reason for depriving a citizen of private property against his will, this can only be done through the courts.

Recognizing the transaction as invalid as a reason to sue the apartment

Among the grounds for declaring a transaction invalid are the following:

when concluding a transaction, the rights of minors or other incapacitated persons were violated;
the transaction was concluded on conditions that were obviously unfavorable for the seller under the pressure of difficult life circumstances;
the transaction was concluded by an unauthorized person on behalf of the owner;
at the time of the transaction, the seller was in an insane or otherwise altered state.

These are just some of the grounds for declaring a transaction invalid. A more complete list of reasons is presented below.

There is no such transaction that one could not try to invalidate. The main thing here is to provide convincing evidence of your case to the court.

To minimize the risks of challenging and invalidating a transaction, the parties to an agreement often enter into such agreements with a notary. It is no coincidence that all transactions involving the alienation of part of shared ownership to third parties are completed by a notary.

How to sue an apartment in case of violation of the rights of minors

When selling the only residential premises in which minor children live at the time of the transaction, it is necessary to obtain permission from the guardianship and trusteeship authorities. It does not matter whether the children are the owners of the property, whether they are registered in it or not. The main criterion is living in a living space in the absence of anything else suitable for living. The same requirements must be met when incapacitated citizens live in an apartment.

If, in violation of this norm, parents sold an apartment and did not provide their children with other equivalent housing, then such a transaction may be declared invalid in court. In this case, the plaintiff can even be the minor himself, if he is already 14 years old (if there is reason to believe that the parents abused parental rights), or the guardianship and trusteeship authority. Moreover, sometimes even the presence of permission from the guardianship authorities for a transaction is not fundamental for the court when making a decision. The court will be guided by real facts of violation of children's rights, if any.

Please note that the statute of limitations for civil cases is 3 years. Therefore, the child of the apartment seller who has reached the age of majority during this time can go to court.

How to sue an apartment sold at an unfavorable price

Unfortunately, sometimes situations arise when, due to a serious illness, the need to pay for various services or solve other problems, significant funding is required. At such moments, a person thinks little about his own benefit and is ready to sell the apartment for next to nothing. The law is there to protect citizens when such situations arise.

If you correctly collect evidence by providing certificates, checks, receipts and other documents to the court, you can prove that the purchase and sale transaction of an apartment was concluded on deliberately unfavorable conditions under difficult life circumstances. In this case, it is more than possible to sue the apartment from the owner. Only in this case you need to remember the statute of limitations, which is 3 years.

How to return a home that was not sold by you

If you once gave a power of attorney to sell your real estate to any person, but subsequently there was no longer a need for this, the document must be revoked. However, there are cases that people forget about such moments and lose their housing after a certain period of time. In this case, you can appeal the transaction in court only when the power of attorney has expired. If such a period is not specified, then it is 1 year from the date of issue.

Fraudsters can mislead the buyer regarding their competence to complete the transaction and enter into an agreement after the expiration of the power of attorney. In this case, there is a high probability that the court will satisfy your demands to invalidate the transaction.

Return of real estate sold by an insane person

Another basis for recognizing a transaction as invalid is the signing of the contract by the owner, who at that moment was in an insane state, under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or under the influence of strong medications. Naturally, all this requires documentary confirmation in court.

It is not uncommon for a family member suffering from alcoholism or drug addiction to sell an apartment for next to nothing and present you with a fait accompli. In this case, it is necessary to try to appeal the transaction by presenting to the court certificates from a medical institution, as well as confirm with other data that the seller could not control his actions at the time of the transaction.

How to sue part of an apartment when dividing property

Divorce and division of property are almost always accompanied by conflict. Of course, in some cases it is possible to carry out this process peacefully. In this case, the former spouses come to a consensus regarding joint real estate themselves and enter into an appropriate agreement. However, more often it is necessary to divide the apartment in court. By law, all property acquired during marriage is joint, regardless of who it is registered in the name of.

How to deprive a share in a privatized apartment without consent

In order to recognize a part in an apartment belonging to one of the co-owners as insignificant, the following conditions must be present:

Small size of the share. Not always the same number of square meters (or size of the share) will be recognized by the court as insignificant. For example, 1/5 in a one-room apartment (6 sq. meters) and 1/5 in a large five-room apartment (37 sq. meters). It is clear that in the second case, the area owned by the co-owner is not so small and can be commensurate with the size of a separate room.
Reluctance to participate in maintenance and management. If a person does not permanently live in the specified housing, does not pay utility bills for it, and does not participate in maintaining its normal condition (repairs). In this case, you will have to prove to the court that this is really the case. For example, provide an extract from the payment center, an apartment card, a certificate from the local police officer, present witnesses (neighbors) to the court, etc.
No urgent need for housing. When a co-owner, in addition to the disputed share in your common apartment, also has other real estate. This is what will indicate that the disputed part of the housing is not the only place to live.

Only the combination of all these signs will allow the court to make a decision in your favor.

How to sue an apartment received by inheritance

Often, ownership of real estate passes through inheritance. Inheritance can occur by law or by will. In both cases, there are violations that can be both intentional and accidental. If you believe that you had the right to inherit an apartment or part of it after the death of a relative, but did not exercise your right, then you can restore it in court. However, first you need to familiarize yourself with inheritance law and decide in what part your rights were infringed:

you had the right to an obligatory share in the inheritance, but did not receive it;
you, for reasons beyond your control, did not know that your relative had died and therefore did not have the opportunity to claim your rights to the inheritance, missing the deadlines;
you have identified other violations in the distribution of inherited property, for example, unworthy heirs.

In order to reclaim an apartment that was passed on by inheritance to other persons, you need to provide the court with evidence that you also had the right to part of this real estate, but for good reason or as a result of the deliberate actions of other heirs, you lost it.

Obtaining the right to a share in court

It is not easy to win a share in an apartment. The owner or owners will resist this and will definitely hire lawyers to represent their interests, so you need to act legally flawlessly. Any mistake you make will be used by the other party to delay the process and deprive you of your legal rights to a share in the housing.

Pre-trial settlement of a dispute regarding the allocation of a share in an apartment

To be able to sue for your share in the apartment, you first need to carry out a pre-trial settlement of the dispute. Without this procedure, the claim will not be accepted in court and nothing will be sued. Pre-trial settlement involves the formal presentation of demands and proposals for a peaceful resolution of the conflict. It is necessary to negotiate with the other side of the case and obtain confirmation of this.

To do this you need to file a claim. In it, formulate in free form the rationale for your rights to a share in the apartment and set out your requirements.

Possible solutions:

pay the value of the share due;
sell a share;
enter into an agreement on the division of property;
give consent to include the late heir in the total number of applicants for the share.

Perhaps your opponent will agree with the arguments presented and you will be able to get your share of the apartment without going to trial.

Opponents can write and send an official refusal to fulfill your demands. However, in practice this usually does not happen. The defendant is satisfied with everything, he does not need a court, and you should not count on him himself confirming the pre-trial stage of dispute resolution. To prove the fact that you tried to reach an agreement, send the claims to all opponents by registered mail with a list of the contents and a receipt.

There is no other way to win your share and become an owner.

The judicial stage of resolving a dispute over a share in an apartment

The judicial stage of resolving a dispute over obtaining a share of housing is the most difficult. If at the pre-trial stage there is a chance to cope on your own, then it is almost impossible to win the share without the help of lawyers. To achieve the goal, legal knowledge and practical experience are required.

If you want to win a share in an apartment, here are the steps you have to go through:

Carrying out examinations. Depending on the specific case, this may be technical expertise: about the impossibility of allocating a share in kind or about the cadastral and market value of the property.
Preparation of documents. At this stage, it is necessary to make copies of documents, pay state fees, and collect evidence.
Filing a claim in court. The claim is written in free form, but the opposing party will try to challenge every letter of the claim. In order to sue for your share, the claim must be drawn up in a legally competent manner.
Filing a claim in court. The claim will be accepted by the district court at the place of registration of the property. The number of copies of the claim must correspond to the number of legal opponents plus one copy, which will remain in the case file.
Consideration of the case on its merits. In court there is a competition of evidence and eloquence. It will be possible to win a share of the apartment if you or your representative are more convincing than your opponents.
Obtaining a court decision. This stage does not require knowledge or skills, but after receiving a decision, further actions need to be taken. This may be an appeal or obtaining a writ of execution.
Registration of ownership of a share in an apartment. Occurs on the basis of a court decision in the MFC or Rosreestr.

In the absence of legal knowledge and experience, relying only on the correctness of your case and luck, it is almost impossible to win a share in an apartment. We recommend involving professional lawyers in the work to eliminate any accidents.

Procedure for going to court

Since any of the above methods requires going to court, you need to know the procedure for this action. Disputes regarding real estate are heard by the courts at the location of the property. One or another claim must be submitted to the court office depending on the context of the claims. This may be a statement of claim to declare a transaction invalid, a claim for the division of property upon divorce, or to restore the deadlines for accepting an inheritance. Any of them must be drawn up in triplicate: for yourself, for the court and for the defendant.

In addition, the following documents are required:

identification document;
a receipt for payment of the state duty, the amount of which depends on the price of the claim, that is, on the value of the disputed property;
housing documents, if available;
technical documentation for the apartment, if it is necessary to allocate shares;
documents confirming the violation of your right to own the disputed real estate or part of it.

The statement of claim itself must contain comprehensive information about the property, the essence of your claims and the available evidence of your case. In addition, the claim must indicate witnesses who are willing to testify in your favor and their places of residence.

If you believe that you have the right to own an apartment, but cannot reach an agreement with the owner, go to court to protect your rights. You may have a good chance of suing the apartment even from the owner.

Is it possible to sue a share in an apartment from the owner?

The law establishes the possibility of ownership of residential premises and other real estate by 2 or more owners. Such a right is called joint. Depending on whether citizens have determined the exact shares of property rights, they distinguish between common and shared property.

The size of the shares can be changed both voluntarily and in court.

The main situations when going to court is required:

when dividing property in case of divorce;
when challenging transactions that were made against the law (void and voidable);
in case of violation of children's rights;
when dividing inherited property;
in case of forced buyout of a share (minor share).