Systematic work is being carried out in the Vitebsk region to reduce the number of vacant houses, which allows our region to be among the solid "middle performers" and, in some aspects, to hold second place in the republic, notes the Chairman of the Regional Council of Deputies, Vladimir Terentyev.
A detailed analysis of the situation regarding the implementation of decrees No. 357 "On vacant and dilapidated houses" and No. 116 "On the alienation of residential houses in rural areas and the improvement of work with vacant houses", which came into force in September, was carried out at a meeting of the presidium of the Regional Council of Deputies.
Work in this direction has been ongoing for over ten years, and considerable experience has been accumulated in resolving this issue. There are good results for the current year: 769 houses have already been demolished, with 521 demolished at the expense of the budget, and the rest at the expense of the owners, emphasized Vladimir Terentyev. These are the best figures to date.
In connection with the adoption of the new decree, a unified register of vacant houses is being created. And most importantly, there is an opportunity to sell these houses to the public for personal use, either for one base value without an auction, or with an auction, starting from one base value.
In the Dokshitsy district, for example, executive authorities, enterprises, and the public have actively engaged in the implementation of the new decree, and certain progress has already been made.
This issue is under constant control, emphasized Vladimir Vladimirovich. Field meetings dedicated to this topic were held in the Liozno, Dubrovno, and Dokshitsy districts.
In 2019–2020, 3762 vacant and 2263 dilapidated houses were identified. In the first nine months of the current year, 2466 vacant and 845 dilapidated houses were identified.
These figures are constantly changing as elderly residents pass away, leaving houses in villages unoccupied, falling into disrepair, and their grounds overgrown. It is fortunate if heirs visit their ancestral homes, but sometimes they do not return to their native abodes for years. However, it takes time to locate heirs and notify them that a house will be declared ownerless or escheated. In short, not only government bodies but also law enforcement officers and other services become involved in this work. Only when no relatives are found or they refuse the inheritance does the procedure for confiscating the house (it still needs to be declared escheated through court), or demolishing it, and including it in the register of vacant or dilapidated properties commence. The land where the former structure stood must be landscaped and brought back into agricultural use. Time passes, and houses, like people, age, so the number of "ownerless" houses sometimes does not decrease. The simplified system for selling such houses for one base unit, according to the new decree, will change the situation.
As of November 1st of the current year, there are 730 houses in the register of dilapidated properties and 1133 in the register of vacant properties. During October-November, almost 50 hectares of land were brought into economic circulation in the Vitebsk region. Over 9 months, more than 124 thousand rubles were spent from local budgets on the demolition of 107 dilapidated houses. The leading positions are held by Verkhnedvinsk, Dubrovno, and Chashniki districts. Property owners also contributed, through whose efforts 125 dilapidated houses were eliminated, and another 35 were restored for use.
Even from these figures, it is evident that extensive work has been carried out to identify owners and encourage them to make decisions regarding their property. In this regard, our region performs better than other regions. However, we can also learn from the example of the Grodno region, where they know how to find funds from local budgets for work with vacant houses.
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It is unsurprising that the priority task is not the demolition of houses, many of which are in good condition, but their refurbishment to keep villages alive. Thus, over the past two years, the areas around 320 houses that are not permanently inhabited have been tidied up and improved, Valentina Randarevich emphasized.
This situation is also characteristic of the district center, where there are 15 houses that are currently not inhabited, Valentina Randarevich continued. For 11 of them, there are heirs; for seven, documents on state registration of capital construction have been processed; for four, documents on land plots and buildings have been processed. To somehow compel owners and heirs to take action, in addition to reminders, notifications, and orders, of which over 700 have been sent, it is necessary to resort to penalties. 37 owners who have not complied with the requirements have been brought to administrative responsibility.
The new decree allows for more active work in this direction. If a house in a village can be purchased for one basic unit, such property will certainly not remain empty. At the same time, as Valentina Randarevich emphasized, the sale of vacant houses requires an appraisal by the organization for state registration of immovable property, rights to it and transactions therewith, and in the absence of a technical passport, the preparation of a statement of technical characteristics, which in turn requires about 400 rubles from the local budget. In practice, in rural areas, such houses are sold by agreement of the parties for reimbursement of the costs of preparing documents.
A proposal has been made to put up for sale to the public abandoned farms and other agricultural facilities.
These and other aspects will need to be discussed with the relevant services, lawyers, and notaries to develop a clear algorithm of actions for the implementation of the new decree.
Source: vitebsk-region.gov.by