The prosecutor's office demands to strengthen control over shared housing construction in the Vitebsk region
The prosecutor's office demands increased control over shared equity housing construction in the Vitebsk region, as reported to BelTA by Marina Ryzhova, prosecutor of the department for supervision of legislation enforcement and legality of legal acts of the Vitebsk regional prosecutor's office.
According to her, participation in shared equity construction is the most popular and profitable way to acquire an apartment in the real estate market. However, it is often associated with numerous problematic issues. Shared equity holders frequently submit a large number of complaints regarding the quality of constructed residential premises and violations of their commissioning deadlines. The reasons for these problems include not only unscrupulous contractors but also shortcomings on the part of supervisory bodies responsible for construction quality and the observance of citizens' legal rights and interests in housing construction. In light of the relevance of these issues and the significant number of incoming appeals, the region's prosecutor's offices conducted an inspection of the enforcement of legislation on shared equity construction of apartment buildings within the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee's Committee for Architecture and Construction, as well as in local city and district executive committees.
"The inspection revealed violations of the requirements of Decree No. 396 of June 15, 2006, 'On Shared Equity Construction of Apartment Buildings' and other normative legal acts in the actions of developers, which indicate insufficient control over this work by local executive and administrative bodies," emphasized Marina Ryzhova.
For instance, interested departments did not always verify information regarding developers' arrears in taxes, duties (fees), and other mandatory budget payments. Facts were uncovered where, in violation of established requirements, project declarations containing information about the developer and the construction project provided incomplete necessary information. Furthermore, contrary to legislative requirements, project declarations were not always posted on websites.
One of the most pressing issues for co-investors is the untimely commissioning of residential buildings and the delay in construction deadlines, which leads to an increase in housing costs. In light of this, the regional prosecutor's office has analyzed the facts of extending the commissioning deadlines for residential buildings, revealing a number of legislative violations, the prosecutor noted. In particular, it was established that the extension of commissioning deadlines for construction projects in some cases was carried out without requesting all the documents required by law. A proper analysis of the reliability of the information provided in the applications for deadline extensions and the validity of the reasons for these extensions was not conducted.
The customer, KUP "Capital Construction of Vitebsk," violated construction deadlines for several residential buildings in the regional center without extending these deadlines in the prescribed manner. "At the same time, co-investors repeatedly appealed with complaints about construction issues to various authorities. The consideration of these appeals was incomplete, the applicants' arguments about legislative violations were ignored, and no measures were taken to eliminate violations in the developers' activities. These facts indicate a formal approach by authorized officials to carrying out this work," emphasized Marina Ryzhova.
Based on the identified legislative violations, the regional prosecutor's office has sent a corresponding representation to the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, as a result of which the guilty parties have been brought to disciplinary responsibility.