Legal barrier: advantages
The barrier helps organize parking right next to the house. The key difference between a legal parking lot and an illegal one is free access for residents to its territory.
Motorists are required to keep the parking lot in proper condition: avoid clutter, clear it of dirt and snow, and provide unimpeded passage for ambulances, fire engines, snow removal and other special equipment.
Legal parking lots have level surfaces, markings, and special parking spaces for people with disabilities.
After installing the barrier, residents of a nearby building receive legal and accessible parking spaces, and a pre-agreed technical design allows for the optimal location of the barrier.
Parking lot or parking?
How is parking different from spontaneous parking in the local area? According to the definitions and requirements of legal acts described above, parking can be illegal in two cases: if it violates sanitary standards or is contrary to traffic rules.
As practice shows, the most effective way in such cases is to submit a written application to the traffic police so that the inspectorate issues an order. You can try to influence the violators yourself or with the help of the management company. In addition, more and more often in courtyards one can observe the formation of spontaneous parking in the local area, illegally “allocated” parking spaces. If the general meeting of residents did not make a decision on organizing parking, and third parties installed barriers, ropes or other objects that restrict apartment owners’ access to parking spaces, you should not get rid of them yourself: it would be more legal to apply to the traffic police or the prosecutor’s office.
How to legally install a barrier
In Moscow, since 2013, residents of houses can legally install barriers in their yards. To do this, it is necessary to jointly make a decision at a general meeting of owners. If there are several houses adjacent to the yard that is planned to be fenced, such meetings should be held in all of them.
If the area where the barrier needs to be installed belongs to the city, a majority of residents must vote in favor. If it is in common ownership and included in the common property, more than two-thirds of all votes will be required. You can save time by not holding general meetings in person, but simply voting for or against online in the Electronic House application.
The next step is approval by the council of deputies of the municipal district. To do this, you need to provide four documents:
— minutes of the general meeting or printed results of online voting;
— a land surveying project for the territory on which the house is located, or written confirmation of its absence;
— application for approval of the installation of a barrier;
— project for placing a barrier.
In Moscow there is a co-financing program for the installation of barriers from the Moscow Government. The commissioner, whom residents choose, needs to contact the district directorate of housing, communal services and improvement. He will need:
— application for a subsidy;
— minutes of the general meeting or results of online voting;
— approval of the installation of a barrier by the council of municipal deputies;
— a draft agreement on the provision of a subsidy signed by an authorized person in two copies;
— a copy of a document confirming the authority of the person who signed the draft agreement.
Within 10 working days, the authorized person will receive a signed copy of the agreement, and the subsidy will be transferred to his bank account. After this, you can install the barrier. The subsidy is awarded on the condition that the fence appears within two months from the date of receipt of the money in the current account.
How to install a barrier in the yard
Permanent parking near the house: problems and solutions
By the same decision of the general meeting of apartment building residents, permanent parking can be organized in the local area. But it's difficult because:
- To organize it, an appropriate territory must be adjacent to the house, which must be in the common ownership of the residents.
- The decision to organize parking and allocate parking spaces in the yard will be made by a majority vote of residents of the apartment building, and not just by vehicle owners or those who do not have enough space in the flowerbed.
- Just desire is not enough - someone must finance the organization of parking.
- Permanent parking should be located at a distance from the apartment building. For example, a parking lot for 60 spaces should be located no closer than 25 meters from the facade with windows (Table 7.1.1 SanPiN 2.2.1/2.1.1.1200-03).
- To install a fence, a barrier and place a guard, you will have to carry out land surveying and obtain permission from the local administration. The procedures are established by local regulations. For example, in the capital this is Moscow Government Decree No. 428-PP dated July 2, 2013.
This is the only way to solve the problem of lack of permanent parking. Otherwise - only guest parking, and only temporary placement of vehicles.
Illegal barrier: consequences
In Moscow courtyards you can still find barriers, concrete hemispheres, posts, chains and other restrictions installed for commercial purposes, but without the necessary permits. Parking cannot be paid if it is located on public territory.
The situation with illegally installed barriers is monitored by the State Inspectorate for Control over the Use of Real Estate in the City of Moscow. Last year, the department received 1,353 complaints about illegal fencing. For unauthorized restriction of access to public territory, violators were fined 2.8 million rubles.
After the residents apply, an inspector comes to the site. If the restrictions are indeed installed illegally, he issues an administrative fine to the violator, and the objects themselves are dismantled.
It is worth noting that in 2021 alone, the State Real Estate Inspectorate identified 120 unauthorized parking lots in the capital. After inspection, almost half of them are equipped with free parking lots for residents of nearby houses.
What to do with auto junk in the yard?
Almost every person living in a high-rise building is faced with the fact that people leave their cars in the yard, which they then do not use for a long time. Usually such cars are dilapidated and significantly spoil the appearance of the yard. Children use rusty abandoned cars for play, homeless people use them as shelter, and such junk cars may well take up parking space. The question arises of how to rid the territory of them.
Each district has a local police commissioner who must identify abandoned and ownerless vehicles. In practice, no one wants to do this. The city authorities shift everything to the police, but the police have no time.
There is no need to move or remove someone else’s car yourself, as this is considered a serious violation, even if the condition of the car is really terrible. This is due not only to the fact that a lot of money will have to be spent on the process, but also the owner of the car can involve the police in the investigation, who will consider such actions as illegal.
Therefore, you first need to make sure that the car is really abandoned by the owner. This is quite easy to do, given the following signs:
- there are no signs on the car;
- the machine is in disrepair, so even from external signs it is clear that it will be impossible to repair or restore it in order to continue using it for its intended purpose;
- the vehicle does not have any important elements, such as wheels, doors or other parts.
If the car meets the above signs, then you can begin to take various measures aimed at removing it from the yard.
Cars in disrepair can only be located on the territory that belongs to the car owner, for example, in a garage or service station. To legally remove a vehicle from the territory, you must contact special organizations.
When such a machine is detected, the following actions are performed:
- Initially, you need to try to find the owner of the vehicle, and if this is accomplished, then you need to ask him to voluntarily remove the car from the territory;
- Next, you need to come to the Management Company to complain about the car (in writing);
- If it was not possible to find the owner or he refuses to remove the car from the parking lot on his own, then you need to fill out an application for the traffic police or the police department (if you know who the owner of the vehicle is, then it is advisable to indicate his full name and registration address in the application). If an abandoned car is parked in violation of traffic rules, then it is more likely to be towed than a car that is parked without violating Russian traffic regulations;
- Contact local authorities. An application is written to the local administration. The application contains references to local regulations (if any). The government agency is forming a commission that will inspect the abandoned car and draw up a report. A copy of the act and an evacuation warning are attached to the windshield of the vehicle. After 30-60 days, if the car is not removed by the owner, it will be towed away. Such a scheme does not work if the region does not have appropriate regulations or there are no funds in the local budget for such events.
If there is no action from the local administration, then you can submit an application to the prosecutor's office. If the decision of even this organization is not optimal, then the residents of the building will have to go to court with evidence of the loss of consumer characteristics of the transport. Demand to legally establish the fact that the car has become waste or garbage. Then put forward demands for garbage removal and recycling of auto junk legally. Going to court usually takes a long time, but the results are rewarding.
Legal disposal of junk cars requires time, material costs, and serious work. It is possible and necessary to deal with rusty remains of vehicles. The main thing here is to follow the laws, without arbitrariness.
Paid parking in the courtyards of Novokuznetsk - legal or not
Residents of Novokuznetsk contacted the editors of VashGorod.ru. They report that in the Zavodskoy district, in the courtyards of houses No. 23, 25, 27 on Klimasenko Street, which are located like a “puck”, all parking spaces are illegally divided between motorists.
“All common areas are illegally divided between vehicle owners living in these houses. Namely: a cable is stretched at a level of approximately 2 m and plates with numbers duplicating the state registration numbers of vehicles are attached.
I come to my grandmother in this yard. Leaving my car in a public place, I listen to insults from the owners of “plates with numbers”, threats that they will damage my car (kicking and knocking on it), as well as a demand to leave their parking place, since they bought this place.
When asked to show a document on ownership, they refer to the chairman of the board of TSN “23,” say the townspeople.
Residents of Novokuznetsk are worried that if some kind of emergency occurs, fire trucks or ambulances will not even be able to drive up to their houses.
“More than once I have witnessed the fact that an ambulance cannot drive up to the entrance, and these “wretched owners” are kicked out of “their” places. So she drives several circles around the yard of the “puck” in search of a place and, not finding anything, leaves, and the team of doctors walks. And this is when sometimes seconds count and someone’s life depends on speed. What if the patient is seriously ill and requires hospitalization? What if there’s a fire and fire trucks won’t be allowed to park either?” - Residents of Novokuznetsk are indignant.
In addition, townspeople note that residents of houses on Klimasenko can even sell these places for cars.
“They still manage to sell these places, I heard that the price of such a place is 5,000 rubles,” share Novokuznetsk residents.
To find out whether it is legal to make personal parking spaces in the courtyard of a house, we contacted an expert in the housing and communal services sector, Irina Tikhonova.
“This question is very specific, each house has its own rules. As a general rule, there are no parking spaces in the courtyards, but in practice, there are times when people do not occupy a parking lot, but fill up some adjacent territory or hang up signs and take advantage of this, so they kick everyone out of there.
If motorists decide to arrange parking on the paved local area just for themselves, then it is definitely not legal. You can’t just fence off some area in the official local area just for yourself ,” said Irina Tikhonova.
In order to sort out parking in the courtyards of houses on Klimasenko, we contacted TSN “23”. We were told that parking was made based on the decision of the homeowners, who were guided by Article No. 44 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, so they dispose of it at their own discretion.
“The fact that there are signs with car numbers hanging up does not mean anything at all and does not mean that there are paid parking lots there. There is not a single paved area in these yards. There is a decision of the general meeting, held in accordance with Article No. 44 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, where, who and what funds are arranged and how they use it, so there are no violations and everything is legal,” said TSN “23” specialists.
Let us remind you that VashGorod.ru previously reported that in Novokuznetsk, because of the bars in the courtyard of a house on Kirov Street, a disabled person could not get into the street, and people had to go around the 12-entrance building in a circle to get to the right point.
What do you think, do the owners of an apartment building have the right to dispose of the local area so freely? Write your opinion in the comments.
