How to evict alcoholic neighbors from a municipal apartment

When you buy a new apartment and move into it, you expect only good things. However, the joy of the purchase can quickly disappear if it turns out that one of the neighbors is an alcoholic. Often such people become the curse of the entire entrance, and in especially severe cases, the whole house. They not only cause inconvenience due to noise and anti-social behavior, but can also cause death. For example, if such a person falls asleep with a cigarette or forgets to turn off the gas. How to deal with alcoholic neighbors? Are there legal ways to get rid of such a neighborhood? We will talk about this in our article.

Is it possible to evict an alcoholic from an apartment: nuances

Since the legislator is the guarantor of the rights of citizens, he must ensure the constitutional right to housing even for alcoholics. That is why the issue of eviction of such people from an apartment is very complex and requires careful collection of evidence. The greatest difficulties will be encountered in evicting a drunkard if:

• he is the sole owner of the apartment;
• he lives with minor children;
• he has a disability.

In these cases, the court usually sides with people with alcohol addiction.

Evicting neighbors: where to start?

Current regulations contain mechanisms for effectively protecting citizens from actions of residents that disturb their neighbors. Thus, the Housing Code of the Russian Federation determines that the operation of an apartment or other premises where people live must be carried out without violating the rights and interests of everyone who lives nearby. This applies to all aspects of life:

• Compliance with the norms and rules of sanitation and hygiene (absence of dirt, unpleasant odors, harmful insects in housing, its regular cleaning and keeping it clean, and so on);
• Compliance with environmental standards (in particular, timely removal of garbage);
• No violations of fire safety requirements to avoid fires or explosions;
• Compliance with the rules for the operation of residential premises (no noise after 23.00), respect for the interests of other residents, and so on.

Reasons

In order to evict a person from an apartment, it is necessary (depending on the form of ownership of the property) to prove that he:

• uses housing for purposes other than its intended purpose (warehouse, brothel, etc.);
• maintains an apartment in conditions that are unsanitary;
• violates the rights of third parties (neighbors);
• his behavior threatens the life and health of his neighbors;
• destroys or destroys housing or parts thereof;
• systematically fails to pay utility bills.

There may be other reasons, but these are the most common. Disputes about evicting an alcoholic from an apartment will pass most quickly if the person being evicted is not the owner of the apartment or at least part of it. Otherwise, you can only get rid of your drinking neighbor by buying the living space from him.

How to prove the existence of reasons and grounds for eviction

In order for the court to make a decision to evict a drinking neighbor or relative, evidence of the person’s alcohol addiction and confirmation from the tenants that he is violating their interests is necessary.

Certificates taken from the clinic where the alcoholic was treated can serve as evidence for the court. Also, evidence can be a report from the SES, which confirms that the tenant is violating sanitary and hygienic standards. Be sure to take with you to court copies of police reports, copies of complaints to housing and communal services, audio and video recordings of obscene behavior of a neighbor. Next door neighbors must be present in court and testify. The statute of limitations is usually three years.

Collection of evidence

The most important stage in evicting an alcoholic from an apartment is collecting evidence. The decision of the justice body depends 80% on this. Evidence that may be presented to the court includes:

1. Documentary evidence. These are official certificates and expert opinions of various authorities (independent examination bureau, police, sanitary and epidemiological control service, etc.).
2. Witness's testimonies. They can be provided by persons summoned to court in accordance with the established procedure. Each of the parties to the dispute can request to hear its witnesses, and the judge can also express a desire to hear them. Witnesses can be both private individuals (neighbors) and representatives of organizations (guardianship specialist, district police officer, representative of the housing inspection).

In each specific case, the necessary evidence is determined individually. Let's look at the best way to collect documents and search for witnesses.

Call the police

If your neighbor is an alcoholic, then you are most likely already accustomed to police cars and other special services in the yard. The police do not have the right to arbitrarily evict a drinking person from an apartment; only the court is vested with this function. However, in collecting evidence for the justice body, it is the district police officer who will be able to provide invaluable assistance. In every case of violation of your rights, be sure to call the police.

As a result of each such visit, the local police officer draws up a protocol and makes a decision to bring the alcoholic to administrative responsibility. Copies of all decisions for each summons must be provided to the court.

It is worth noting, however, that it is pointless to call a local police officer on a neighbor who simply drinks alcohol in his apartment, but does not make noise and does not violate the rights of other citizens - he will not be held administratively liable. But for noise at night, fights, appearance on the stairwell while intoxicated is a reason for imposing an administrative penalty.

In any case, if the district police officer forms an unflattering opinion about your neighbor, he will provide the court with a negative reference about him, which will definitely affect the judge’s decision.

Certificates from the district police officer will be able to confirm almost any violation of the rights of neighbors or those living in the same apartment with an alcoholic, that is, not a single trial concerning this issue will be possible without his participation.

Contacting the SanEpidemStation

In order to prove that an alcoholic neighbor keeps his home in poor condition, which may threaten the life or health of his neighbors, it is necessary to apply to the sanitary and epidemiological station. The complaint must indicate the following:

• grounds for appeal;
• who you are the offender (neighbor, relative, cohabitant);
• did you contact other authorities;
• your requirements (conducting an examination, exterminating pests, examining living conditions in apartments adjacent to the problem, etc.).

In order for the employees of the sanitary and epidemiological station to conduct an inspection, it is necessary that the neighbor open the door for them, because otherwise they simply will not be able to get into the apartment.

Although it is possible to request an inspection of neighboring apartments and common areas (staircases, landings) in which there are consequences of improper care of the neighbor’s apartment. This could be mold, cockroaches, rodents, etc. In conclusion, the specialist must indicate whether there is a cause-and-effect relationship between the detected violations and the unwillingness of the alcoholic neighbor to take care of his home.

Contacting utility services

In order to prove that the tenant really violates the rights of neighbors and threatens their lives (for example, does not turn off the gas or does not monitor the general functional condition of the apartment), it is necessary to contact the utility services. The complaint can be from one neighbor or collective.

However, utility services in most cases are called upon to ensure the safety of other residents and can simply disconnect a particular apartment from electricity or gas. But in any case, they will draw up an inspection report for the residential premises, and it can already be presented at the court hearing.

Testimony from neighbors

Naturally, the easiest way to enlist the support of neighbors in the matter of eviction of an alcoholic is to talk with them. During the conversation, if they support your position, you need to write down their full name and contact information, and subsequently include them in the statement of claim, in a block intended to indicate the calling of the required witnesses. A request to hear neighbors can also be submitted during the trial, the court will consider it and decide whether to grant it or not.

Ways to deal with an alcoholic neighbor

How to evict alcoholic neighbors? There is no specific effective means to protect your home from such people. You can try all available methods, increasing the pace. We suggest starting to fight neighbors who interfere with everyone else with minimal measures.

Serious conversation with a neighbor

To do this, it is advisable for all dissatisfied people to gather, for example, families from below and from above. The more dissatisfied there are, the more difficult it is to suppress the indignation. If one woman comes to complain to a rowdy neighbor, it’s easy to slam the door in her face, but when five people come out to talk, there’s no way to get away.

In the conversation, do not forget to mention all the points that cause you indignation. For example, music at night or a damaged flowerbed at the entrance

It is important that your speech is confident and not ingratiating. The main task is to rein in and shame the violator of public order, and not to establish friendly neighborly relations

In order for what you say to have a greater effect, be sure to threaten to complain to the local police officer or write a statement to the city administration. Such actions can result in a number of problems related to summons to the police station, proceedings, and fines. Not every daredevil who breaks flower pots in the entrance will want such consequences.

It would also be a good move to put pressure on one’s conscience if the neighbor has been living in this place for a long time. Some people can be shamed by reminding them of their parents. However, avid alcoholics, who have been clutching a bottle for many years, do not take such intimate conversations seriously. And even the promise to write a statement to the police does not scare them.

Law Enforcement Assistance

If conversations with an alcoholic do not bring any results, it is time to contact the police. The principle of action here is banal and simple - if a neighbor disturbs others, it means he is violating the current legislation. For example, it makes noise that exceeds the permissible level or interferes with the rest of other residents of the house at night (after 23:00).

Such violations should be subject to administrative penalties - a fine or detention (up to 15 days). The police do not always respond to such calls and respond to requests from exhausted citizens, so a good lever of pressure on local police officers would be to contact a higher authority with a complaint.

Application to the prosecutor's office

It is best to write a collective complaint to the prosecutor's office, collecting signatures from all dissatisfied residents. It is also necessary to attach all available facts to the case materials, for example, photographs, video materials, audio recordings, protocols and acts.

Write a collective complaint to the prosecutor's office with the signatures of the residents

What to do with refusals from local police officers? If you refuse to draw up a report or issue a fine, write a complaint against the actions of the policeman. Such drastic measures will force the local office to work harder and respond more often to such requests.

Eviction

Extreme measures must be resorted to when other methods do not work. Often, for noisy tenants, warnings and several visits from a local law enforcement representative are enough, but apartment owners are more difficult to deal with. They don’t consider it shameful to start fights on the stairs, knock on other people’s doors, attack neighbors, or threaten with violence for complaining. In such cases, talking will not help; the issue of eviction must be raised.

How to evict alcoholic neighbors from an apartment

Not in every situation there are ways to evict a drunk from an apartment. That is why it is best to contact a professional lawyer. He will be able to help in this sensitive issue and defend your rights. Let's take a closer look at the most common situations of eviction of alcoholic neighbors.

From a communal apartment

If in an apartment building the alcoholic is still somehow localized in his home, then in the case of a communal apartment the neighbors have the opportunity to “enjoy” the drunkard’s company to the fullest, because in this case they have to meet in common areas.

In order to get rid of such a neighborhood, you need to contact the police, municipality, sanitary and epidemiological station, prosecutor's office, and other organizations that you think will be able to record a violation of your rights.

It is necessary to file a complaint with the appropriate structure, and it will then go to court with a claim to eliminate the alcoholic’s violations. Most often, violations will not be eliminated within the specified period, and your neighbor will move into the category of persistent violators. After this, you can file a claim in court and with a 95% probability the decision will be in your favor.

From a privatized apartment

It is impossible to evict the sole owner from an apartment, and expelling a participant in shared ownership from a home is quite problematic. The only legal option would be to buy out the home.

A decision that can be made in court is deprivation of the right to use the apartment, but since the housing is private property, in practice this court verdict means that the alcoholic will continue to live next door to you.

If the drunkard owns only part of the apartment, then such a court decision is fully implemented, especially if minor children remain in the apartment - the guardianship authorities will monitor this situation.

From a council apartment

It takes a long time to evict an alcoholic from a municipal apartment, but in 90% of cases the court ends with a positive decision. Evidence is collected in the same way as described above; an application and copies of all collected documents are provided to the municipality. And the local government body files a lawsuit. However, neighbors can independently contact the justice authorities, but the opinion of the home owner will be taken into account during the meetings.

From the hostel

In case of eviction from a hostel, you must act in the same way as in the case of a communal apartment - neighbors must prove that the alcoholic threatens their life and health and (or) has lost the right to use the housing.

If there are children

If the person evicted from the apartment has children and he is the only legal representative, then it is first better to contact the guardianship authorities, who will decide on the future fate of the children.

If an alcoholic is deprived of parental rights (and most often this happens), then it will not be difficult to evict him. At the same time, children will not lose their right to housing.

If the children remain to live with their mother, and only the drinking father is evicted from the apartment, then the guardianship authorities will also most likely side with the plaintiff and support the removal of the defendant from the apartment in order to protect the interests of minors.

Example. The Vavilov couple lived in a two-room apartment with two minor children of different sexes. Vavilov constantly drank alcoholic beverages for a year, made scandals while intoxicated, and beat his wife (for which he was prosecuted under Article 116 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Also, in relation to the head of the family, the district police officer repeatedly drew up decisions to bring him to administrative responsibility. Vavilova was forced to divorce her husband and after that repeatedly asked her ex-husband to move out of the apartment. The woman contacted the guardianship authorities, who conducted a survey of living conditions, talked with the children, Vavilov, and neighbors and concluded that the presence of a drinking man in the apartment negatively affects the development and upbringing of children.

Vavilova filed a claim for the eviction of her ex-husband from the apartment to the court, provided copies of the decisions from the district police officer, the conclusion of the guardianship authorities, and the court sided with her, obliging Vavilov to evict from the apartment.

Subtleties and nuances

In modern society, people are embarrassed to speak up when they suffer from rowdy relatives. They try to hide the presence of a relative who drinks alcohol on a regular basis, but there is a limit to everything. Most often, women begin to fight the alcoholism of their husband, brother, father or son when it is no longer possible to stay at home. It is problematic to evict such relatives, but it is possible.

When an alcoholic brother who drinks is not the owner of a share of the property, he can be forcibly evicted by court. When a husband suffers from alcoholism, the eviction takes place after a divorce and is also forced through the court.

The main thing in this matter is not to tolerate the antics of rowdies, not to allow lawlessness around you, to promptly contact law enforcement agencies and fight for your rights.

Procedure for going to court

The only legal way to get rid of an alcoholic neighbor is to go to court. After all, only this government body is vested with the authority to evict people from their homes. Let's take a closer look at the stages of the trial.

Step by step algorithm and process

What needs to be done to evict a drunkard from an apartment:

1. Try to resolve the issue out of court. This point includes contacting various authorities in order to influence the alcoholic. Of course, the chance that your neighbor will stop drinking and stop disturbing you is small, but in any case, you will still have documents confirming the legality of the eviction (decrees on bringing to administrative responsibility, home inspection reports, etc.)
2. Collect evidence. This may include certificates from specialized organizations and testimony of witnesses.
3. File a claim. Here it would be best to contact a professional lawyer.
4. Pay the state fee.
5. Submit a claim and documents to the court. Jurisdiction is determined according to the general rule - the application will be considered in the judicial authority at the place of residence of the defendant.
6. Participate in court proceedings, file necessary motions, and raise objections. Since this process is quite lengthy and complex, contacting a specialist will not be superfluous.
7. Obtain a court decision and, if necessary, appeal it.
8. Achieve execution of a court verdict. The neighbor may perform it voluntarily, or the participation of the bailiff service may be required.

Statement of claim

A claim for eviction of an alcoholic from an apartment is drawn up according to the general rules enshrined in the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation. It must contain the following information:

• full name of the justice body to which the documents are submitted;
• the most complete data of the plaintiff and defendant;
• circumstances of the dispute;
• plaintiff's claims;
• a list of attached documents and persons to be subpoenaed;
• signature and date of the application.

The claim is drawn up in a number of copies that is a multiple of the number of plaintiffs and defendants participating in the case, plus one copy for the court.

You can learn more about the rules for filing and drawing up a statement of claim here.

Documentation

In each specific case, the list of required documents may differ. The following are usually required: a copy of the plaintiff’s identity card, documents on ownership, apartment card, etc.

Additionally, you may need to provide documents from various organizations that will confirm the legality and validity of your claims (decrees on bringing to administrative responsibility, conclusion of guardianship authorities, certificate from utility services)

It is better to check with a professional lawyer for the exact list of documents required in your case.

Deadlines

The time it takes to evict an alcoholic from an apartment can be very long. After all, it is necessary to collect enough evidence, and for this you will have to involve various authorities (police, guardianship, housing inspection, etc.). This may take more than one year.

The consideration in court will definitely not be less than two months, and it is very difficult to name the maximum period - it all depends on whether the tenant is being evicted from a privatized apartment or from a municipal one, whether he agrees with it or not, as well as on many other factors. An experienced lawyer will be able to minimize the time it takes to consider this issue.

Price

The state fee for claims to resolve issues in this category is 300 rubles for individuals, and for legal entities - 6,000 rubles.

You can pay in cash at the cash desk of any bank or use an online transfer, but a receipt for payment must be provided along with the claim.

Eviction of neighbors from non-privatized and municipal housing

The Housing Code of the Russian Federation gives regulatory authorities the right to evict people from a municipal apartment in case of violation of the rights of other residents, as well as mismanagement of the property. If you are evicted for this reason, no alternative accommodation will be provided.

The procedure for the administration of a city or district to terminate a contract with an alcoholic employer is as follows:

• During every loud feast, contact the police;
• Regularly write complaints to the local police officer (preferably collective);
• If there are unsanitary living conditions in the apartment, invite specialists from Rospotrebnadzor to record violations of norms and rules.
• Send a complaint to the city or district administration with a demand to terminate the tenancy agreement with such a tenant, attaching all documents confirming the violation of the rights of neighbors.

Arbitrage practice. The court's decision.

In the practice of Russian courts, quite often there are claims for the eviction of people from an apartment on the basis of their alcoholism and, accordingly, immoral behavior. If there are sufficient grounds, then in 90% of cases the court satisfies the plaintiff’s demands.

However, it is necessary to carefully approach the issue of collecting evidence, since the law provides that the burden of proving the validity of the claims lies with the plaintiff.

Example. V.P. Andreev, who lived in one of the privatized rooms of a communal apartment, constantly drank alcohol for a year, brought company, started scandals with neighbors, and kept his room in unsanitary conditions. His neighbors repeatedly turned to the district police officer, who drew up a report on him about administrative violations, but Andreev did not draw any conclusions for himself.

The tenants were forced to go to court with a demand to evict Andreev from the room. Considering that the court could not deprive the defendant of his property, a verdict was made that Andreev was limited in the right to use the apartment.

How to deal with neighbors who are alcoholics legally?

Drinkers are quite common among residents of apartment buildings.

They cause a lot of inconvenience to neighbors that they have to endure. And most citizens do just that, believing that it is useless to fight alcoholic neighbors.

Meanwhile, in such situations, the law still stands on the side of respectable residents. The Housing Code of the Russian Federation (Articles 17, 91 and 83), the Civil Code (Article 293) and the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (Article 7.21) provide for protection measures against noisy and otherwise inconvenient neighbors.

A neighbor who is an alcoholic, on the basis of these laws, can be punished with an administrative warning, a fine, eviction, and even deprivation of living space . Eviction is a last resort, and the procedure depends on the basis on which the rowdy lives in the given living space. Read here what legal methods exist to deal with troublemakers.

Stages of legal actions to evict an antisocial tenant

Before applying the extreme measure of eviction, you should:

1. Determine who is the owner of the property. This may be a private individual or a municipality.
2. Find out what rights the rowdy neighbor lives in the indicated apartment. He is either registered at his place of residence or is the owner.
3. Determine the composition of the neighbor’s family, the presence of other housing in his property, the level of health of the offender and the sanitary condition of the premises.

These points significantly influence the degree of complexity of the problem being solved. If an alcoholic neighbor has minor children or a disability group, then the eviction process will not be easy.

Also, depending on what rights the tenant lives under, a different sequence of measures to evict him is required.