Housing cooperative

The procedure for purchasing apartments through a housing construction cooperative

This procedure can be divided into 3 stages:

creation of a housing cooperative;
purchase of a new building;
registration of property rights.

Let's look at each of them in more detail below.

Registration of housing cooperatives

This procedure is performed in the following sequence:

A meeting of the founders is held (they can be any adults), at which a collective decision is made to organize a housing cooperative. At the end of the meeting, a documentary protocol is drawn up, which will be the reason for state registration. On its basis, the housing cooperative receives legal status. faces.
According to the Housing Code, a housing cooperative must have at least 5 participants. However, their number cannot exceed the number of apartments in the future building. If the number of members of the cooperative is more than 50 people, a board is elected at the meeting, which will subsequently resolve all legal, financial and organizational issues.
An audit commission is elected - its duties include checking the stages of construction at least once a year. The term of the commission is 3 years. After this period (if construction has not yet been completed), re-election occurs.

Purchasing an apartment

The purchase of treasured square meters occurs as follows:

After joining the cooperative, each participant receives from the general budget the necessary amount to purchase living space.
To be a full member of a housing construction cooperative, a person needs to pay an entrance fee (usually its amount is within a few percent of the cost of the apartment). These funds are not taken into account further.
The next step is making the down payment specified in the charter.
Next, each shareholder makes regular payments according to the established schedule (usually once a month). When the total amount of his payments reaches 50% of the cost of the chosen housing, the cooperative buys real estate for him, registering it on the balance sheet of the housing cooperative.
The parties enter into a lease agreement between themselves and the person moves into the apartment, gradually paying in the remaining funds.
When the shareholder pays for the apartment in full, it officially becomes his property.

Important! Instead of interest on the loan (as in the case of mortgage lending), the housing cooperative withholds an administrative fee of 6%. In some cases, a reduced rate is allowed.

Property registration

In order to obtain rights to an apartment, you will need to provide the following list of documents:

membership book of a cooperative member;
share agreement;
receipt for full repayment of the debt;
act of acceptance of the object;
receipts for payment of initial contributions.

Organization and activities of housing and housing-construction cooperatives

By virtue of Art. 61 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, a legal entity can be liquidated voluntarily

by decision of its founders (participants, members) or a body of a legal entity authorized to do so by the constituent documents, incl.
in connection with the expiration of the period for which the legal entity was created, or with the achievement of the purpose for which it was created (for example, meeting the needs of members of the cooperative for housing). Forced
liquidation of a legal entity by a court decision is possible in the event of gross violations of the law committed during its creation, if these violations are of an irreparable nature, or carrying out activities without proper permission (license) or activities prohibited by law, or with other repeated or gross violations of the law or other legal acts.

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LCDs and housing cooperatives can be divided into two types: those created by citizens and (or) legal entities with the assistance of state authorities of the Russian Federation, state authorities of constituent entities of the Russian Federation or local governments (let's conditionally call them patronage) and organized by citizens and (or) legal entities on one's own.

Advantages of housing cooperatives

A housing construction cooperative has the following advantages:

Receiving installments when paying the cost of an apartment on favorable terms. Most developers provide the opportunity to make monthly share contributions. The terms can vary and reach ten years. There are no terrible interest rates, as is the case with a mortgage. The system is completely transparent. Companies involved in shared participation usually offer installment plans only until the house is put into operation. Housing cooperative members can pay their share for several years after moving in.
After completion of construction and commissioning of the house, the rights to manage it are transferred to the housing cooperative. If we make a comparison with the DDU, then upon completion of construction work its members create a homeowners’ association, which assumes all responsibilities for managing the common property of the house. It is possible to form an HOA only after completing the procedure for registering property rights, which, as a rule, takes a long time, and during this period the residential building remains without full management.
Security in case of bankruptcy of housing cooperatives. If the developer is found insolvent, members of the housing cooperative may complete the construction using another contractor. This expresses one of the main advantages regarding equity participation agreements. In the event of bankruptcy of the developer, participants in the DDU will be forced to demand the return of funds through the courts, and this takes a long time. Participants can create a new cooperative and apply to the authorities with a request to transfer the unfinished house to the balance of the new housing cooperative.
Members of the cooperative have the right to participate in the construction and future operation of the building. Moreover, housing cooperative participants are granted access to all financial documents, which ensures complete transparency of the system. Shareholders also have the right to re-elect the current management.
Share contributions are not subject to taxes. This seriously reduces the overall cost of construction costs.

The goals are commercial and non-commercial in nature. In the first case, investors have the right to use their own investment resources spent on construction. Subsequently, they open tenders for the residential premises of the high-rise building, which partially covers the costs incurred.

Issues of personnel management and work carried out are decided by the chairman. The board is charged with the function of an audit commission, which is specified in the charter in detail. She is authorized to supervise the work of the chairman and has the right to demand financial and other reporting for verification at her discretion.

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Disadvantages of housing cooperatives

Housing cooperatives also have disadvantages:

Procedures for purchasing real estate through a housing construction cooperative are carried out without state registration. This fact allows for fraudulent transactions (for example, double sale of an apartment).
Housing cooperatives cannot be held liable if construction deadlines are violated or construction defects are discovered. Participants can only re-elect management, but cannot subject the company itself to any sanctions.
The contract cannot specify the final cost of the living space.
Regulation of the process of real estate sales through housing cooperatives seems insufficient. It is carried out using the funds of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, and not by Federal laws.

In the video about housing construction cooperatives

Despite the existing shortcomings, housing cooperatives are now gaining increasing popularity in our country (according to statistics, the share of such developers is growing every month). Participants are advised to carefully study the contract for any pitfalls before signing. The optimal solution seems to be to order with other members of the cooperative.

What is a housing cooperative (housing cooperative)? Becoming the owner of an apartment in a new building is quite simple: you go to the developer, pay the money, and sign the contract. Is that all? Not really. There are a lot of subtleties, especially in the primary market. For example, you decide to buy an apartment in a housing cooperative. So, you need to understand what laws govern the process, what form of relationship with buyers the developer has chosen. Understand what a housing cooperative is and how this mechanism differs from equity participation agreements. We talk about all the features of buying an apartment in housing cooperatives.

Organization and activities of housing and housing-construction cooperatives

a) such a representation contradicts the purpose of creating a cooperative - meeting the housing needs of citizens;
b) in this case, the cooperative would be an association of legal entities - an association or union, i.e. a non-profit organization of another type, operating in accordance with Federal Law of January 12, 1996 No. 7-FZ “On Non-Profit Organizations”. Please note that this Law does not apply to consumer cooperatives [1].

State registration data is included in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, open to the public. The rules for maintaining the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and providing the information contained therein were approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of June 19, 2002 No. 438 “On the Unified State Register of Legal Entities.”

LAW

The main document that helps to understand what housing cooperatives are is Federal Law-215 “Law on Housing and Construction Cooperatives.” It spells out the procedure for organizing a housing-construction cooperative, the rights and obligations of its members, or, as they are called legally, shareholders.

RISKS

Let's clarify what a housing cooperative is and how it works using the example of differences from another common mechanism for implementing the construction of apartment buildings with the involvement of funds from individuals - the mechanism of equity participation agreements under Federal Law-214 “On shared participation in the construction of apartment buildings” (more about the difference between housing cooperatives and DDU).

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The Federal Law on equity participation forces developers to first register agreements with Rosreestr, and only then take money from shareholders. Therefore, if you submitted the contract for registration, but it did not pass, in fact you have not lost anything - after all, you still have the money	The Federal Law on Housing Construction Cooperatives does not in any way regulate the popular fraud scheme of “double sales” of the same apartment. Yes, now there is an obligation to register contracts with Rosreestr, but at the same time you have already paid for the apartment, you have already concluded an agreement. You can give money and run after the chairman of the housing cooperative in the hope of getting your money back
To register the first share participation agreement, the developer submits documents to Rosreestr - including a project declaration, a construction permit and documents on ownership of the land plot. Problems with the site are excluded, unless it is a complex fraud scheme involving Rosreestr employees	Problems with registering contracts in Rosreestr do not end with banal fraud. Thus, judicial practice knows of numerous cases when the chairman of a housing cooperative simply erected a fence on a vacant lot, dug the foundation and began selling apartments at greatly reduced prices. People bought housing, and after a few months it turned out that the housing cooperative did not have permission for the land. The result is yet another defrauded shareholders
The price is fixed once and cannot change	If you have checked the housing cooperative and found out that there is still a land lease agreement, as well as a building permit, do not rush to rejoice - the price of the apartment may be lowered at the sales stage. But at the same time, it will simply increase after the general meeting on the basis of supposed inflation and rising prices for building materials
There is a penalty for missing deadlines. There are rights of shareholders to receive a penalty for the use of their funds. It is possible to either terminate the contract and get the money and the penalty back, or simply collect the penalty	There is no penalty prescribed by law for failure to deliver a house on time

In fact, a housing cooperative is a community of people who have united to build an apartment building. When you enter into an agreement for the right to claim an apartment in a housing cooperative, you do not receive the service as you are used to. You are entering a society of people who are doing one thing - building a house with the help of contractors. Therefore, all responsibility for the problems of housing cooperatives also lies on the shoulders of shareholders.

The key point is that in the case of housing cooperatives, the agreement is registered after payment of the share contribution. And in fact, it is not the purchased apartment that is paid for, but rather the membership in the housing cooperative.

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE CHARTER OF HUSICAL COMMUNICATIONS

The law imposes a whole list of requirements for housing construction cooperatives. All of them must be clearly stated in the organization’s charter. You can understand what a housing cooperative is by checking compliance with these requirements. First, read Art. No. 112 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation. It spells out the responsibilities of the group of founders regarding the organizational and legal form of creating a housing cooperative. It is the founders who must be responsible for all actions of the housing cooperative until the appointment of its chairman. Therefore, if you are joining a housing cooperative at the initial stage of its existence, this information will be useful:

The basic requirements for consumer cooperatives are specified in Art. 116 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. Study the text of the article; the charter of the housing cooperative should not contradict the civil code.
The charter must contain information about the name of the housing cooperative
Not only the legal, but also the actual address of the cooperative must be registered - community members must be able to find the place of registration of the housing cooperative
The goals and objectives of the community must be spelled out - the construction of such and such an apartment building, the construction of a complex, simply the construction and then management of residential buildings
The amounts that potential members of a housing construction cooperative must pay for joining the housing cooperative and also the amounts for apartments - the so-called share contributions must be specified.
The procedure for joining the cooperative must be spelled out - the future member of the community must understand which algorithm needs to be used to get into this particular housing cooperative.
The current account to which the funds of the members of the cooperative are transferred must also be known - if it changes, then the charter also changes
The charter must contain a clear algorithm for a citizen to leave the members of the housing cooperative. Moreover, not only the procedure must be prescribed, but also all the financial costs that are borne by both the citizen and the housing cooperative itself. We are talking about the return of the share contribution, the transfer of the right of claim to an apartment under construction and other expenses that the shareholder made when joining the cooperative

The Law on Housing Construction Cooperatives provides for the presence of management in them. The charter must specify both the rights and obligations of the members of the cooperative and, separately, the managers. After reading the charter, the degree of responsibility that is assigned to both the manager and the shareholders should be clear.

RIGHTS OF MEMBERS OF A HOUSING CONSTRUCTION CO-OPERATIVE

All rights of members of a housing construction cooperative are prescribed in the charter. They should not contradict the federal law on housing cooperatives and other regulatory documents, both in the field of consumer unions and in the field of civil relations and the consumer market.

If you do not know what a housing cooperative is, then when purchasing an apartment, the manager of the cooperative or its director should give you full information about the activities of the housing cooperative. That is, when deciding to acquire the right to claim an apartment in a housing cooperative, to sign an agreement to join the housing cooperative, you must be fully aware of your future responsibilities.
The shareholder has the right to know how the decision-making process takes place in the housing cooperative - whether a general meeting is required for any issues, or all shareholders gather only to vote for management, and the main changes to the processes are made by the chairman of the housing cooperative and his deputies.
It is necessary to understand the rights of each member of the housing cooperative regarding voting. For example, at the time of changing the charter and other documents related to money contributions - is a unanimous decision required or is a majority of shareholders sufficient? What is considered a quorum of the general meeting - how many people must come to the meeting for it to be considered legitimate?
How will members of the housing cooperative compensate for the losses of the organization. Does a shareholder have the right not to contribute funds to pay various fines imposed on a legal entity, is there direct responsibility of the chairman for such actions

Housing cooperatives are a complex mechanism in the housing construction market. On the one hand, the rights of members of a housing cooperative are quite broad - any shareholder can even come up with a radical change in the project to reduce the cost of building a house. But at the same time, members of housing cooperatives have an order of magnitude more responsibilities, including responsibilities, than in the case of equity participation agreements.

Consumer housing cooperative as an organization

The Civil Code of the Russian Federation does not determine what management bodies should be in a consumer cooperative, requiring only the mandatory presence in the Charter of a consumer cooperative of information about the composition and competence of its management bodies and the procedure for their decision-making. After analyzing the legislation of the Russian Federation, we came to the conclusion that the characteristic supreme governing body for most types of consumer cooperatives is the general meeting of shareholders V. Khinchuk. Organization and activities of cooperatives // Soviet Justice, 1988 No. 7, p. 10.. “General meeting - the highest governing body of the cooperative, it is competent if at least two-thirds of the members are present, and the decision is considered adopted when more than half the votes of those present are cast.”

Non-profit organizations can carry out entrepreneurial activities only insofar as it serves the achievement of the goals for which they were created and is consistent with these goals. At the same time, according to the general norms of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, given earlier, non-profit organizations do not have the right to make profit as the purpose of their activities and do not distribute the profit received among participants. According to paragraph 5 of Art. 116 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, income received by a consumer cooperative from business activities carried out by the cooperative in accordance with the law and charter is distributed among its members.

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PROS AND CONS of housing cooperatives

What is a housing cooperative from the buyer's point of view? Let's look at the main pros and cons of this scheme of becoming a property owner. Let's start:

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pros	Minuses
Housing construction cooperatives usually have installment programs - you have the opportunity not to take out a mortgage and pay off the cost of the apartment within a couple of years	The same mortgage - most likely, you will not be able to get a mortgage loan from the bank. And for anyone, both large and small. The most likely option is that you will be offered a consumer loan to participate in a housing construction cooperative. The fact is that the bank also understands all the risks of housing cooperative activities - and does not want to receive an apartment that will not be completed as collateral.
In the case of equity participation agreements, the developer is bound by a lot of obligations. This includes a compensation fund, billing requirements, and a host of other expenses. There are also guarantees and clear construction deadlines. Therefore, the price tag for the DDU is usually higher than the price that the housing cooperative is ready to offer for a similar apartment.	Yes, the price at the initial stage in housing cooperatives is quite low. But at the same time, it is necessary to understand what a housing cooperative agreement is. This is not a contract for the right to claim an apartment. This is an investment, a contribution, nothing more. Housing cooperative agreements usually stipulate that the amount of the share contribution may increase due to inflation or other reasons. Therefore, at first the price tag is small, but then you may need to pay several more times for the same apartment.
You, as a shareholder, can participate in general meetings and make decisions regarding the fate of the house	Despite the fact that there is a right to participate in the fate of the house, this is both a plus and a minus. So, you will have to be responsible for the decisions of the housing cooperative - and this can result in quite a lot of money
There is a peculiarity - when purchasing a share, you can either join a housing cooperative or not. This variability can be a plus in terms of immediate cost reduction	But in the long run this can be a problem. Yes, you will not join the housing cooperative - and you will not be able to influence the decisions of the general meeting. And if you join, you will have to pay both a one-time entry fee and monthly membership fees. Immediate payment is usually in the amount of 1-3% of the price tag for the unit (apartment)

There are other disadvantages to the housing cooperative scheme. In fact, you have fewer rights than the same participant in shared construction under Federal Law 214. The price for an apartment is rising, the developer has no responsibility, and there is no way to get a penalty. And constantly additional expenses - all this is the reality of the modern approach to housing cooperatives.

Is a housing cooperative a commercial organization or not?

In terms of content, these cooperatives are consumer cooperatives. Regulation of the activities of cooperatives is carried out on the basis of the provisions of Art. 116 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. A consumer cooperative is a non-profit organization, i.e. a legal entity that does not pursue profit as its main goal.

At the general meeting, the founders (persons wishing to create a cooperative) decide to create a cooperative. Founders, individuals, can participate in the meeting in person or through their representatives. The interests of legal entities may be represented by their executive body (director, general director, etc.) or other persons by proxy.

25 Jan 2020 etolaw 592

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Housing cooperative agreement (SAMPLE)

We are not trying to dissuade you from buying an apartment in a housing cooperative. Often this is a really profitable investment and getting an apartment in a fairly short time. In almost all cities of Russia there are successful examples of the construction of apartment buildings through the housing cooperative mechanism. And a lot of elite housing, in principle, is built only using this mechanism. Therefore, check the housing cooperatives, weigh the risks and make your own decision.

If you still decide to purchase an apartment this way, let’s figure out what a housing cooperative agreement is when purchasing an apartment. There are a few things you need to pay attention to.

You need to read the contract with the housing cooperative very carefully. There is no form, the form and content of which is regulated by regulatory documents. Therefore, we check all information for compliance with the law. It is best to show such an agreement to a lawyer who can voice an expert opinion on the preservation of your rights as a citizen
Responsibility of the housing cooperative - the contract must contain information about what happens if it becomes impossible to transfer the apartment
The algorithm for transferring the apartment after the construction of the house, the time frame for its transfer and related information must be prescribed.
Check whether the chairman of the housing cooperative has indicated the distinctive features of the house in which you are purchasing an apartment - its number of storeys, project declaration, improvement facilities according to the project, the presence of an elevator. Of course, a general meeting of residents can change this without any problems, but it is better to have such data in the contract - it may be useful in court.
You will also need the details of the housing cooperative - usually everyone indicates this data, but it would be a good idea to check their availability.
Distinctive features of your apartment - what floor it is on, its area, layout, number of rooms, area of each room, direction of windows, presence of a balcony and loggia

Check out the standard form of an agreement with housing cooperatives on our website ()

CHECKING HOUSING BC

Of course, you will not be able to completely protect yourself from delays in the delivery of your house, from an increase in the cost of the apartment and other problems. But it’s worth trying to check not only the contract with the housing cooperative itself, but the organization

Check with the chairman to see if the company is in bankruptcy. Data can also be viewed in local media
Find out how many more houses the chairman of the housing cooperative manages. If several projects are launched at once in different parts of the city, this is a bad sign. It often happens that the chairman begins the construction of one object, collects money and spends it. Then he needs funds for completion - he opens another facility, collects money from the second and spends on the first - and so on until the number of facilities becomes too large and his activities come to the attention of law enforcement agencies
You need to know how decisions are made to increase the cost per square meter - check the organization’s charter
You need to get to the construction site, find a stand with information about construction - it should contain information about the general contractors. They also need to be “monitored” by the media.
Find out from the chairman whether the land plot under the future house is owned. Ask to review the title documents.