The State Duma in the third reading adopted a bill banning hotel activity in apartment buildings.
"The proposed draft federal law prohibits the use of residential premises as a hotel, other means of temporary accommodation, as well as the provision of hotel services in them," the explanatory note to the document says.
“At the present time, cases of using residential premises as means of temporary accommodation have become more frequent, the so-called “Hostels”, mini-hotels, which, of course, leads to a violation of the housing rights of other residents of houses living in residential areas adjacent to “hostels”. The so-called hostels represent no less damage to houses that, in the manner prescribed by law, were recognized as objects of cultural heritage, ”the parliamentarians emphasized.
Now the draft federal law will have to be approved by the Federation Council, after which Russian President Vladimir Putin will sign it.
According to the current legislation, residential premises are intended for residence, however, owners can engage in individual entrepreneurial activities, if this does not violate the rights of other people. At the same time, the law prohibits setting up industrial production and conducting missionary activities.
By law, there is the possibility of legally formalizing a room for non-residential, if it is located on the first floor and there is a separate entrance for it. It is also possible to transfer to the non-residential premises and the object above the second floor, but only under the condition that there will also be non-residential premises under it. In the event that the owner decides to do so and organize a hotel, he will be obliged to prepare the premises accordingly.
"Activities for the provision of hotel services can be carried out only after the transfer of residential premises (or a set of residential premises) to non-residential and equipment of the specified premises with the equipment necessary to provide consumers with services of adequate quality: soundproofing system rooms, fire safety equipment storage of money and valuables, means for cleaning and sanitary cleaning of rooms, ”reads the explanatory note.
"Sent to the comfort and tranquility of the citizens"
According to Rosstat, in 2017 there were about 1.4 thousand hostels in Russia. Vice-President of the Russian Union of Travel Industry Yury Barzykin told RT in an interview that, according to their data, there are more than 400 hostels in Moscow, a little less in St. Petersburg. Barzykin noted that after the entry into force of the law, their number will decrease.
“Hostels in the living quarters will indeed be organized now. They need to be transferred to a non-residential fund, which is extremely difficult to do. As a consequence, the number of hostels, especially legal ones, that is, those that are registered, will be significantly reduced. These can be individual entrepreneurs, legal entities, ”he said.
According to Barzykin, the hotel “will not be able to replace such a segment in a minute”, and therefore the search for more efficient mechanisms for regulating this market will continue.
At the same time, the State Duma itself does not exclude that other options will be discussed in the future, however, it was important to adopt this law to ensure the comfort of residents. This was in a conversation with RT, said Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Physical Culture, Sports, Tourism and Youth Affairs Sergey Krivonosov.
“First of all, when adopting this law, we thought about our voters, who have hosted many hostels in their homes. Of course, we understand that for a business this will create certain problems. If there are too many of them, then different solutions will be discussed in the future, he emphasized. “This decision is aimed at the comfort and tranquility of our citizens.”