In the Novosibirsk region, an orphan is forced through court to pay for a collapsed wall in an apartment given to her. The 19-year-old resident of the village of Chany, Maria Yurchenko, received free housing according to the law in the summer of 2017 and settled there with a young daughter, but it soon became clear that it was dangerous to be there.

The girl claims that the walls of the two-room apartment issued to her did not fall apart only thanks to the wallpaper. The main problem was dampness. In addition, the walls in the house were loose, the floor was rotten, and because of the high humidity even the bedding in the apartment did not dry out completely, Maria recalls.

“The neighbors said that this house was going to be demolished, that the building was in emergency, they really hoped for resettlement,” said the girl RT.

In December 2017, the wall in the apartment collapsed. According to Maria, this happened after the family removed the drywall from the wall - from the damp beneath it created favorable conditions for the breeding of cockroaches and other insects. At night, a large piece broke off the wall and fell a meter from the bed of the one-year-old daughter. The wall was torn down, fearing that one day it might collapse on a child.

After this incident, Maria complained about the condition of the apartment to the district administration, and a commission was sent to the apartment. “They told me to clean the remaining curtain walls, because they all consisted of dust and it was scary to leave them. The problem is that they simply cleaned the walls with words, they did not give me any official papers, but I didn’t ask for them, ”Yurchenko complains.

Now the administration claims that the commission did not give any permission for the demolition of the walls, but they demand from Mary to restore the apartment’s original condition at its own expense. On December 7, the Changovsky District Court held preliminary hearings on the case. Maria does not even know how much an apartment repair can do.

"Daughter failed under the floor"

According to Yurchenko, after the collapse of the wall and the visit of the first commission, a month had not passed before a new state of emergency occurred in the house - Maria's daughter collapsed under rotten floorboards on the first floor. The girl, fortunately, did not suffer, but there was a hole in the floor, filled to the brim with water.

“There was water in the hole, and very deeply, the water comes right up to the floor boards. - Maria explains. - I also complained to the first commission of dampness, linoleum bullied, showed. They told me that I invented everything and poured the water myself. ”

Yurchenko again appealed to the district administration. The second commission visited Mary’s apartment in May 2018. During the inspection, other shortcomings were found, including a large crack on the wall in the bathroom. Commission members acknowledged that the damage was not due to the demolition of the walls. This happened because of the redevelopment made by the old owners of the living space - they installed a brick wall on the wooden floor, under the weight of which the floor began to fall, which led to the formation of a crack.

Nevertheless, the administration of the Chanovsky district made it clear to Maria that no one was going to resettle the house, since the building was not yet old. According to the documents submitted to the Chanovsky District Court on December 7, it was built in 1981.

At the same time, residents of the house claim that the data in the papers were falsified. According to them, in reality, the building was built back in 1969 - since then, the oldest tenant of the house, who is now almost 90 years old, has lived here.

Illegal demolition

Denis Genin, Head of the Construction and Housing and Public Utilities Department of the Chanovsky District Administration, told RT another version of how the orphan's apartment was in disrepair. The official assured that the housing was given out to Maria Yurchenko in 2017 in good condition, but then the new tenants started a major overhaul.

“She was given a normal dwelling, the house was not emergency, and now it is not emergency. They decided to do a major overhaul there, destroyed all the walls, and then they began to take pictures and put all this on the Internet, ”said Genin.

He stressed that he was a member of the commission, which allegedly advised the girl to tear down all the curtain walls in the apartment. According to Genin, no permission was given for the demolition of Maria’s walls, since she is not even the legal owner of the apartment - it is municipal housing. In order to make redevelopment, Yurchenko had to get permission from the owner.

Denis Genin also noted that at the time of the commission’s visit the apartment issued by Yurchenko less than a year ago was not recognized: “I was there personally, and everything was destroyed there. True, there were no holes in the floor, as they were on the Internet right now. When the housing was given out, there was a repair, everything was beautiful, completely hung with wallpaper. ”

Return to the old owners

After the story of Maria Yurchenko got into the federal media, the Ministry of Labor and Social Development of the Novosibirsk Region formed a commission to check the housing provided to orphans in the region.

On December 10, the regional commission declared that the administration of the Chanovsky district should have no complaints against Maria Yurchenko. According to members of the commission, in the current situation the former owner of the property is guilty, who hid the true state of the apartment.

Local human rights activist Armen Arakelov told RT that a lawsuit was also filed against the previous owner of the emergency apartment.

“Now they decided to postpone the trial until the issue with the former owner is clarified,” the human rights activist explained.

Members of the commission also noted that the apartment of Maria will be returned to the old owner, and the girl will receive a new living space.