Apartment for office: rental tips for beginning entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs starting their own business ask this question quite often. This is understandable. There is no profit, there are expenses, and the cash cushion is very thin. That's why entrepreneurs are trying to cut costs as much as possible and try to use their apartment as an office.

• For what purpose do we plan to use the housing?
• What about our legislation?
• Who can use residential premises for business?
• For what purposes can housing be used?
• What threatens entrepreneurs for using an apartment or house in violation of its purpose?

Is it possible?

You can convert a private house into an office on the basis of Art. 17 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation. The use of residential premises for professional activities is permitted when:

1. The business is run by the owner himself, who is registered at this address.
2. His activities do not interfere with other residents and do not violate the rights granted to them by law.

Either the owner of the premises, his relatives, or persons who have entered into an official lease agreement with the owner can become an entrepreneur.

A private house can be used as an office if the business meets a number of aspects:

• Does not create problems for neighbors living nearby. For example, a person decided to start selling putty and building mixtures. Now, bags of construction materials are being unloaded near his house and partly near his neighbors’ houses, because the entrepreneur has set up a warehouse in his garage.
• Cannot be an order collection point or retail outlet. You can’t just hang up a sign and start selling cakes or buns. This business format is only possible when the premises are converted into non-residential ones.
• You do not plan to work with large legal clients. In the office, you will be able to communicate with clients and discuss the details of cooperation, but it is better to conduct all meetings on neutral territory.

Individuals who have registered as an individual entrepreneur can set up an office at home. Legal entities have the right to do this only on the condition that the room in the house has been transferred to non-residential use.

How to draw up a contract correctly?

A transaction to rent an apartment for an office must be concluded on the basis of a written agreement. Thus, a lease agreement means an agreement under which the landlord transfers his premises to the tenant for temporary use. In this case, the latter must promptly pay the fee for the acquired right.

The following clauses must be included in the office lease agreement:

1. Subject of the agreement – ​​the main characteristics of the apartment being leased (address, area) are specified here, the details of the document confirming the landlord’s ownership of this property and other general provisions are indicated.
2. Rights and obligations of both parties - this section should detail all the powers and obligations assigned to both the tenant and the landlord.
3. The procedure for payment for rent - the amount of payment per 1 square meter, as well as the total rental price per month, the exact date before which the tenant must pay the owner of the non-residential apartment, payment periods (for example, monthly, every six months, for the whole year) etc.
4. Responsibility borne by both parties - this may include the amount of a fine for late rent or untimely provision of premises, the procedure for paying compensation in case of damage to the rented property, etc.
5. Procedure for terminating contracts - in this section it makes sense to list a complete list of situations when one or another party can unilaterally terminate a lease agreement.
6. Dispute resolution scheme - as a rule, the parties first try to resolve the problem through negotiations. However, if they fail, then further proceedings are carried out in court. All these nuances must be specified in the text of the contract.

Also, at their discretion, the parties can separately include additional conditions in the agreement (for example, valuation of the premises in rubles, number of copies of the agreement, etc.).

It is important to understand that the more conditions and nuances are specified in the office lease agreement, the easier it will be for the parties to resolve controversial issues.

In addition, this will allow you to protect yourself as much as possible from many misunderstandings that often arise between the tenant and the landlord.

Who does this and why?

Individual entrepreneurs resort to this option. They have the opportunity to legally conduct business from their own or rented home and pay taxes. The law does not prohibit legal entities from indicating the place of registration (registration) of the director or founder when preparing documents.

In practice, this is problematic, but you can protect your rights in court if you receive a refusal from government agencies.

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The following can organize an office in a private home:

• lawyers;
• persons providing consulting services;
• tutors and translators;
• those wishing to organize a call center;
• manicurists and women working in the beauty industry;
• outsourced accountants and other specialists;
• nannies and other professionals working remotely.

It is important to comply with the requirements for offices located in residential premises: organize an additional exit and comply with fire safety standards. Office placement on the ground floor and in the basement is not permitted.

Re-registration as a non-residential property

The transfer of living space to non-residential stock is possible only after its acquisition of ownership.

Re-registration is carried out within the framework of housing legislation. Transfer is not permitted if:

• there is a mismatch of technical parameters for providing access to the facility;
• the transferred area is part of the housing and is used for the purpose of permanent residence of people;
• there is a valid encumbrance on property rights.

Expert opinion

Smirnov Alexander Stanislavovich

Lawyer with 12 years of experience. Specialization: civil law. Member of the Bar Association.

If we are talking about an apartment building, then reclassification into a commercial fund is permissible in the case when the living space is located on the ground floor. Another permitted option is that all objects under the transferred apartment are non-residential.

To re-register, you must submit an application for the transfer of commercial residential premises to non-residential use to the authorized body. For example, in Moscow such a body is the Housing Policy Department. The following must be attached to the application:

• title papers – sales contract, deed of gift, certificate of inheritance, etc.;
• technical documentation from BTI;
• floor plan of the building;
• redevelopment project, if it is planned or required to provide access to the facility.

Submitted papers are reviewed within one and a half months from the date of submission. As a result, a decision is made to transfer the living space to non-residential stock or to refuse. If a positive decision is made, the next step is to make adjustments to the Unified State Register. To do this, you should contact Rosreestr or MFC.

In case of refusal, the authorized body issues a paper indicating the reason. The grounds for refusal may be:

• incomplete package of documents;
• incorrect paper submission address;
• failure to comply with the re-registration procedure;
• non-compliance of the redevelopment project with regulatory requirements.

The decision to refuse is sent to the interested person no later than three days from the date of adoption. The applicant has the right to appeal it to the judicial authorities. To do this, it is recommended to consult with a lawyer.

How to do this legally?

To repair shoes, write computer programs, or do tutoring via Skype, there is no need to transfer residential premises to non-residential premises. If the owner wants to set up a mini-production, it will not be possible to obtain legalization of the office. You will have to rent another production space.

Note! Article 17 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation states that residential premises can be used for business activities. It is enough to respect the legal rights of citizens and neighbors living on this property.

Restrictions on the use of housing for business

Another thing is that there are certain types of restrictions regarding how housing can be used.

For example, the same art. 17 of the RF Housing Code prohibits the use of housing for the creation of industrial production, hotels and, oddly enough, missionary activities. However, one should not conclude that all other types of business activities in apartments and residential buildings are permitted.

Business activity must not violate:

• rights and legitimate interests of other residents of the apartment and neighbors.
• fire safety requirements.
• sanitary, hygienic, environmental and other legal requirements.

In other words, you will not be able, for example, to open a store in your apartment, as this will disturb the peace and interests of other residents of the apartment or neighbors.

Also, you will not be able to carry out licensed activities. For example, banking or educational, since to obtain a license you must own or lease non-residential premises.

In fact, it is also unlikely that it will be possible to create a full-fledged office in an apartment, since in this case fire safety requirements and sanitary standards may be violated.

From all this we can conclude that, in general, residential premises can be used, but only for limited types of activities, as an office, for example, and only in a limited way. When a very limited number of people work in an apartment or house. Otherwise, there is a risk of violating sanitary rules and, more importantly, fire safety.

If your business goes beyond the local office, you need premises to accommodate a large number of employees, obtain a license, open a retail or restaurant business, then you need to buy or rent non-residential premises.

Purchase of commercial real estate by individuals and legal entities: 6 stages and step-by-step instructions.

In this case, you can turn to professionals, for example, who will find the optimal premises for your business.

Choosing interior and technological equipment for the office

With an average office area of ​​18-25 square meters, it can accommodate 3-4 people. If there are several adjacent rooms in the house, they can be efficiently arranged to make the most of the space.

Correct layout of the room is possible subject to the following rules:

1. Order a design project from a special company.
2. If you need to arrange several workplaces, use computer programs to view the layout of the room in 3D format - this will allow you to use the space rationally.
3. Separate the work area from the rest area. It is enough to buy a small soft sofa and a table in the corner.

Many people recommend applying the rules of Feng Shui when arranging an office: add more greenery, use wood and glass for design, maintain a balance of natural and artificial lighting.

Different equipment requires a certain workplace area:

1. For old PCs - at least 6 m2 per person.
2. For plasma and LCD displays – no less than 4.5 m2.
3. If you need to do creative work or require increased attention, the places are separated by partitions 2 m high.

If you will be the only one working in the office, it is better to place the table in the middle and facing the front door. Be sure to buy a chair with wheels. For office equipment, you need cabinets, tables, chairs and office equipment. Depending on the specifics of the activity, a telephone or several PCs may be required. Please remember that only licensed PC software can be used.

Non-residential premises above the first floor - is this possible?

Non-residential premises in high-rise buildings are usually located on the ground and first floors. It is allowed to place them higher, but in this case you will need to comply with some conditions:

• the room below must also be non-residential;
• a non-residential property must have a separate entrance.

Because of these restrictions, owners of apartments located above the first floor rarely transfer premises to the non-residential category. This operation is not economically profitable, since the attendance of the object is largely influenced by its accessibility.

Renting out a house for an office

The owner can easily rent out his private house for office use, even without the need to transfer the premises to non-residential use. However, housing must meet the following requirements:

1. Have a separate entrance or the ability to organize it.
2. There are no encumbrances placed on the property.
3. The owner of the premises acts as a lessor.

If there are several owners in the house, and to convert the house into an office it is necessary to carry out redevelopment, it is necessary to obtain consent from all residents. The requirements for a private house that is planned to be rented out as an office are the same as for apartments in multi-storey buildings. You can focus on the norms of housing legislation (Article 17 of the Housing Code), according to which the owner living in the premises can legally rent it out for commercial activities.

A sample lease agreement can be downloaded here.

How to rent from an individual: procedure

The procedure for registering the lease of an apartment for an office includes the following sequence of actions:

1. First of all, you need to choose the most suitable room.
2. The next step is to negotiate with the owner of the apartment. You need to immediately discuss all the conditions in order to later include them in the text of the contract.
3. Then the tenant and landlord must carefully check each other's documents.
4. The final stage is the conclusion and signing of a lease agreement for office space.
5. Registration of a completed agreement in Rosreestr (clause 2 of Article 609 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

Possible problems when conducting commercial activities

An entrepreneur may encounter the following negative aspects:

1. Contradictions in regulations. It is not always possible for an entrepreneur who is not legally savvy to defend his point of view.
2. You can only operate in a private home as an individual entrepreneur. Legal entities need to look for premises in a non-residential building.
3. Problems with disgruntled neighbors. They may not like noise, strangers nearby, cars parked on the street, etc.

Using a private home as an office is legal as long as the entrepreneur adheres to sanitary and hygienic standards. If other persons who have the right to use the territory are against the office equipment, all that remains is to accept it. Violation of the norms of the Housing Code and Civil Code is fraught with administrative or civil liability.

What should not be opened in residential buildings?

Activities in non-residential premises are strictly limited by fire, sanitary and urban planning standards and should not lead to air pollution and residential areas, exceed the permissible noise level, or pose a threat to the life or health of the residents of the house. In particular, the law prohibits the placement in residential buildings of stores selling chemicals, explosive substances and materials, synthetic carpets, auto parts, tires, and motor oils.

The ban also includes establishments operating after 11 p.m., funeral service establishments, warehouses, specialized fish stores, baths and saunas, laundries and dry cleaners, and public toilets.

Risks and difficulties associated with registering a legal address in a residential area

• Possible disagreement of persons registered in the apartment to register an enterprise or a request on behalf of neighbors not to register at the specified address;
• Possible refusal to obtain a license or join an SRO;
• The risk of an unjustified refusal by the tax authority to register a company at its home address, which forces you to seek judicial protection;
• The risk of individual banks refusing to enter into a banking service agreement;
• It is difficult to obtain a loan, since banks consider such companies to be undignified and unprofitable, so they are reluctant to issue loans;
• A huge number of advertising letters will continue to arrive after the company’s activities are completed;
• The possibility of police officers or tax authorities entering the residential premises without the consent of the owner.

Methods of use

As already noted, the use of an apartment for office needs is associated with a number of significant restrictions. First of all, they are associated with a person carrying out entrepreneurial activities with or without the creation of a legal entity. Thus, the “office” of an individual entrepreneur by default is the premises in which he is registered at his place of residence.

To create an office in another apartment, he should enter into a lease agreement, actually live in it, obtaining temporary registration there if necessary, and obtain the tenant’s consent to organize workspaces in the apartment for his employees, if they are not his close relatives.

If the residential premises are in shared ownership, or are legally used by other persons, then you will have to obtain the consent of all adults in the specified categories.

The founders and head of the organization can freely determine the home address of one of them by its location. The same rules apply to the creation of offices in other residential premises as for individual entrepreneurs.

When will tax officers and police be able to come to the residential premises?

A citizen’s residential premises enjoys certain immunity.
Inspection of a home is carried out only with the consent of the persons living in it or on the basis of a court decision (Article 12 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation). In exceptional cases, when the inspection of a home, search and seizure of a home cannot be delayed, these investigative actions can be carried out on the basis of a decision of the investigator or inquiry officer without obtaining a court decision (clause 5 of Article 165 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation).

From the moment the address of the location of a legal entity is registered in a residential premises, other provisions of the law come into force.

In accordance with Art. 92 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, the tax authority has the right to inspect the territories and premises of the person in respect of whom a tax audit is being carried out. But now residential premises are the location of a legal entity, and tax authorities can inspect it without the consent of the owner. This is also confirmed by clause 1.1 of the Regulations, approved. By Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia and the Ministry of Taxes of Russia dated March 10, 1999 N 20н/ГБ-3-04/39: “Tax authorities have the right to inspect any premises used by the taxpayer to generate income.”

Moreover, the premises can be inspected not only in the case of an inspection of the legal entity itself, but also in the case of an inspection of its counterparty!
From practice, I know of cases where police officers inspected residential premises used as the location of an enterprise, which was carried out as part of a pre-investigation check (before the initiation of a criminal case).

Reconstruction and redevelopment

Of course, an apartment with a standard arrangement of rooms without renovation is not suitable for professional activities. Therefore, a project for its reconstruction or redevelopment must be developed.

Reconstruction of a residential premises is the installation, replacement or transfer of utility networks, sanitary, electrical or other equipment that requires changes to the technical passport of the residential premises.

Redevelopment of a residential premises is a change in its configuration, requiring changes to the technical passport of the residential premises. Redevelopment may include moving and dismantling partitions; moving and installing doorways; disaggregation or consolidation of multi-room apartments; installation of additional kitchens and bathrooms; expansion of living space due to auxiliary premises; eliminating dark kitchens and creating entrances to kitchens directly from residential premises; installation or refurbishment of existing vestibules.

Redevelopment and redevelopment are carried out only in agreement with local authorities.

The prepared redevelopment project is agreed upon by:

• SES;
• fire inspection;
• KGIOP (Committee for State Control, Use and Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments) - if the house is a historical and cultural monument;
• administration of the district in which the premises are located;
• housing agency;
• State Institution "Dortechnologies";
• IMC (interdepartmental commission).

The list may vary depending on the specific situation. After approval from all authorities, the MVK issues permission to carry out the necessary work on the premises.

After all work is completed, the premises are accepted. For this purpose, the local government authority at the location of the premises being transferred creates an acceptance committee.

She draws up an act confirming the completion of reconstruction and (or) redevelopment work. This act is sent to the organization (body) for recording real estate objects.

• owner of the premises (tenant, subtenant, owner);
• balance holder (homeowners association, management company);
• the enterprise responsible for the technical condition and operation of the building (GREP, REP, etc.);
• the organization that compiled the redevelopment project (design);
• a construction organization that carried out work on office redevelopment;
• fire supervision service.

After receiving the signed act, you must obtain a new passport from the BTI, a new cadastral number and register property rights in Rosregistration. After this, the organization has the right to use the apartment for office space.

When can apartments be used for business?

Residents of the first floors who live in typical high-rise buildings of old buildings usually move their apartments into the non-residential category. When designing them, the possibility of arranging commercial facilities was not taken into account.

With the introduction of amendments to the Housing Code, the process of organizing business activities in apartment buildings has changed. Now it is not enough to contact the relevant structures with an application to change the status of residential premises to non-residential.

Before changing the status of the premises, the property owner must obtain written consent from the owners of adjacent apartments. You will also need permission from the majority of owners of the entrance and house premises. The law does not have retroactive force, but now residents will be able to decide for themselves whether they need another commercial premises.

The innovations will protect owners who bought real estate next to residential ground floors. Later, they were faced with the prospect of living next to an office, store, warehouse, which did not suit them.

The adopted amendments will make life more comfortable for residents of apartment buildings. At the same time, the changes clarify and clarify the rules for commercial activity in high-rise buildings.

After registering a company and starting operations, one of the main issues facing an entrepreneur is purchasing or renting suitable premises for his office. Finding this is often difficult.

Expert opinion

Smirnov Alexander Stanislavovich

Lawyer with 12 years of experience. Specialization: civil law. Member of the Bar Association.

It is desirable that the office is located in a place convenient for work, its area is sufficient for conducting activities, the layout is good, and the cost of rent or purchase is affordable.

There are several options for solving the problem of finding office space:

• rent;
• purchase of specially equipped work premises in a non-residential building;
• purchasing an apartment in the city's housing stock with subsequent registration of all documents.

In this article we will consider in detail the features of using residential premises for commercial purposes, as well as their transfer to non-residential (commercial) stock.

If you purchase or rent premises in a residential building, you must check whether there is permission to use this premises as an office. If there is no such permission, it should be obtained, since the law prohibits the use of residential premises as an office.

Despite the fact that the apartment was not originally intended for these purposes, buying it for an office is beneficial from an economic point of view. This makes it possible to save on purchasing a full-fledged office space - the cost of a finished office will be much higher.

In addition, it is easier to find an apartment of a suitable size in the right location - you can use the help of real estate agencies, newspaper advertisements, Internet searches or personal connections.

After completing the transaction, you need to draw up the necessary documents, plan the premises in accordance with your requirements, carry out repairs and begin work. But in order to avoid negative consequences, before starting operation it is necessary to properly convert the apartment into an office.

In most cases, especially if the company’s activities are related to the provision of services to the public, it is most preferable and convenient to rent or purchase an office on the ground floor of residential buildings with the obligatory possibility of organizing a separate entrance.