IS IT POSSIBLE TO PRIVATE A PLACE OF COMMON USE IN A RESIDENTIAL BUILDING?

Common areas that belong to the entire area of ​​a residential building can be of the most diverse types. For example, these are stairwells, elevator halls, common corridors, lobbies, vestibules, etc. There are also auxiliary premises in the form of various pantries, wheelchair spaces, attics, garbage chambers, basements and other premises that perform a technical or auxiliary function.

What legal norms govern the order of ownership and use?

As for the order of ownership of such places in an apartment building, their owners are all residents. They own the mentioned objects in the format of joint co-ownership. This means that disposal of certain premises is possible only with the consent of all co-owners. Therefore, if we talk about the main features and the procedure for regulating the ownership of such premises, it is worth mentioning the following restrictions:

• Co-owners do not have the right to share among themselves objects that belong to common property in an apartment building;
• None of the co-owners can claim that a share (or shares) in kind was allocated from such common property for further privatization.

The key legal norms regulating this issue are in the Civil Code of Ukraine. We are talking about Articles 355 and 382. There is also the Law of Ukraine "On the Peculiarities of Exercising the Right of Ownership in an Apartment Building." So, Article 5 of this normative legal act deals with issues related to joint co-ownership in such a building. Therefore, these objects are subject to the rules of ownership that have already been mentioned above.

What does the legislation say about privatization?

Sometimes people who want to privatize housing in a dormitory or other building, where it belongs to the state housing fund, consider whether it is possible to privatize an apartment or room and part of a common room at once. Here, again, the answer is negative. This possibility is not provided.

Instead, becoming the owner of a new privatized residential object, a person acquires the status of a co-owner of public premises. This means that it is impossible to dispose of them without her consent. But she does not have the right to such an individual order. These conclusions are derived from the analysis of the Law of Ukraine "On Privatization". The same was confirmed by the Constitutional Court of Ukraine.

Perhaps those people who would like to privatize public places and organize them will have questions about whether the ban on this is too strict. However, in reality, this prohibition is intended to protect the rights of each of the co-owners of an apartment building. Otherwise, a situation where one of the co-owners would prevent others from accessing such places after such privatization would become quite real. Therefore, the law stands guard over the rights of everyone.