The draft law has been introduced by deputies Igor Lebedev, Yaroslav Nilov and Sergei Ivanov.
The Government has concluded its review of the draft federal law.
The draft law envisages amendments to the Housing Code of the Russian Federation and the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (hereafter referred to as the Housing Code and the Civil Code, respectively).
In accordance with the explanatory note, the draft law aims at preventing violations by residential accommodation owners, tenants and landlords through allowing an unlimited number of residents to live in flats, rooms in shared flats and residential houses, turning them from an object of housing rights into an object of business activity. The draft law also aims at restricting the permitted number of residents in a single residential unit to prevent the violation of rights and legitimate interests of other individuals, and the inadmissibility of falsified registration at a place of stay and residence.
Sub-item A of Item 1 of Article 1 of the draft law stipulates the introduction of an amendment to Article 30 of the Housing Code, which allows residential property owners to conclude rental and free use agreements, as well as lease agreement, only on condition that the total area of the premises is no less than the required standard per person in a flat and no less than the standard per person in a shared flat.
The draft law makes an exception only for relatives of the owner or the tenant.
The corresponding amendments on the sub-rental procedure will also be introduced to Article 80 of the Housing Code and Article 680 of the Civil Code.
The draft law provisions are in line with Clause 2 of Article 1, Article 17, Item 1 of Clause 3 of Article 67 of the Housing Code and Article 209 and 679 of the Civil Code.
The Government has made the following remarks concerning the draft law.
The draft law uses the terms "relatives of the premises' owner" and "relatives of the premises' tenant." Yet, the housing legislation and the Civil Code (as regards regulation of rental accommodation issues, Chapter 35) use the term "family member" or specify whether the relative is a spouse, parent, child, et cetera. To avoid conflict, the draft law should incorporate more precise definitions as regards the term "relatives."
In Article 3 of the draft law, the date of the draft law's entry into force must be specified.
In view of the above, the Government supports the draft law subject to revision for the second reading.