Owners of non-residential premises in apartment buildings have banned the unauthorized alterations.

If previously only the owners of premises in apartment houses have agreed to the redevelopment with the regions, now the same fate awaits owners of non-residential premises. According to the amendments to the law "On housing policy of St.–Petersburg" unauthorized alterations prohibited.

In the expert opinion of the law it is written that in the document the concept of "accommodation" is changing to "room in an apartment house", that is, the status of residential and nonresidential buildings were equalized.

Information on the procedure of obtaining permits for the reconstruction of apartment buildings is available on the webpage of the State housing inspection of St. Petersburg. According to experts, is not a simple procedure, but to obtain the consent of the authorities is possible. The decision on approval to accept the interdepartmental Commission under the administrations of districts and housing Committee. Members of the Commission include representatives of state Supervisory bodies. Administrations of St. Petersburg districts monitor progress on agreed projects of alterations, and accept the work performed.

Meanwhile, representatives of the hotel industry's negative view of the consequences of the law for the market.

According to Alexander Ponomareva, the co-founder of the network of hotels "Peter Palace", the redevelopment of both residential and non-residential premises is time consuming and requires a lot of work.

"Without the stress, bureaucracy and lawyers do not do this. The standards had not changed, and despite the fact that the buildings in the old Fund individual, all spelled out the same procedure. For example, harmonization of redevelopment in a residential area is likely to take years and cost about 500 thousand rubles," — says the businessman.

In January of 2019 in the State housing inspection of St. Petersburg has received 3267 complaints of citizens on various issues of operation of residential buildings — 227 of them concerned illegal redevelopment (conversion). Most complaints about this are recorded in the Central area.

In 2016, the housing Inspectorate noted 2712 appeals concerning violation of the procedure of redevelopment in residential buildings — 530 of which dealt with the redevelopment of non-residential premises. 157 cases were related to the redevelopment of premises for use as a shop, bar, cafe, restaurant, etc., a 42 — at the hostel. Frequently the alterations affect the common areas: attics, attics, stairwells, and so on.

Source dp.ru