- Статьи
- Society
- Unfeasible building: defrauded shareholders have not received apartments for 20 years
Unfeasible building: defrauded shareholders have not received apartments for 20 years
Omsk defrauded shareholders, who have been waiting for their apartments in the house at 11 Herzen Street since 2006, held an action to draw the attention of the authorities to their problem, and "settled" into unfinished apartments. According to the shareholders, the regional government promises to provide them with apartments only by 2036, and the Omsk Ministry of Construction announces its intention to pay monetary compensation by the end of the year. Alexander Bastrykin, Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, became interested in the story, although the criminal case against this house has been under investigation for a long time. Izvestia investigated why there are equity investors in Russia who have been waiting for their apartments for two decades, and how their problems will be solved.
How equity holders "settled" in an unfinished building
The deceived shareholders of HBC Tsentralny-2 held their action on June 12. They came to their unfinished apartments — they made their way into the frame of the building, which still had no walls, occupied their "cells", removed construction debris, set up tables to drink tea, and unfurled posters: "Return our apartments!", "Give people housing!".
Shareholders have been waiting for their apartments in this building on 11 Herzen Street in Omsk since 2006. They claim that the regional authorities promise to solve the problem only by 2036.
"Four generations of officials have changed in the region and the mayor's office, but the problem is not being solved. Four volumes of war and Peace were sent to different branches of government, and who is still there," writes Natalia Serebrennikova, one of the shareholders.
The Omsk residents' action has already attracted the attention of the supervisory authorities. For example, Alexander Bastrykin, Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia, instructed the Investigative Committee of the Omsk Region to provide a report on the progress of the criminal investigation. Izvestia sent a request to the investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia for the Omsk region.
However, as Natalia Serebrennikova reported, so far none of the representatives of the authorities and law enforcement agencies have contacted the defrauded shareholders after the action. Only in social networks: in the comments under the message of the Investigative Committee, residents of Omsk were told from the regional investigative department that a criminal case on violation of the rights of participants in shared—equity construction was being investigated, and from the Ministry of Construction of the Omsk region that "there is already a potential investor who will have to restore the rights of shareholders by the end of the year through payments." It is claimed that the "economic feasibility" is currently being worked out.
What is the problem at 11 Herzen Street in Omsk?
The construction of the house began in 2006. The general contractor, LLC Region, was supposed to complete its construction in 2009, and the money of the shareholders was collected by HBC Tsentralny. Construction was not completed either in 2009 or in 2012, when the MK-S Construction Company took over the project management, or in 2015, when a criminal case was opened on fraud.
In May 2025, the Minister of Construction of the Omsk Region, Alexander Rashko, announced the possibility of paying compensation to defrauded shareholders, while clarifying that it was almost impossible to complete the house: both the urban planning code had changed and the structures had already lost their strength because the unfinished building had not been mothballed.
Real estate developer Natalia Serebrennikova said that there are 225 families on the created list of defrauded real estate investors who are entitled to apartments instead of unfinished ones.
"But over the past three years, only four apartments have been given out according to this list,— she told Izvestia. — The scheme for solving the problem was as follows: the authorities find investors, give them land plots in exchange for the fact that 5% of the apartments built will be allocated to solve problems with defrauded shareholders and displaced persons from dilapidated emergency housing and orphans. But in the end, all these apartments go primarily to orphaned children. And at this rate, we are promised apartments by 2036.
At the same time, Natalia Serebrennikova does not like the idea of the regional authorities to pay monetary compensation to defrauded shareholders. She doubts that any investor will provide a payout at market prices. According to her, in fact, it is supposed to refund the money that people spent in 2006. That is, if the apartment was bought for 1 million back then, then this million must be paid now.
"Back then, there were completely different prices and different money," she notes.
The press service of the PPK Territorial Development Fund (FRT) said that the situation in Omsk "is in the focus of attention." However, it is not possible to solve the problems yet.
"The facility is included in the Unified Register of Problem Sites (ERPO), but a decision is currently impossible due to a regulatory ban," the Izvestia Foundation said. — Omsk region is recommended to apply regional mechanisms to restore the rights of citizens. In addition, there is a second stage of construction for this HBC, which is not included in the EPO due to the lack of a construction permit.
Alexander Yakubovsky, a member of the State Duma Committee on Construction and Housing, told Izvestia that this is one of the most difficult and protracted examples of problematic shared-equity construction.
"Unfortunately, it is still not clear when and how people's rights will be restored," he said. — The main problem here is the lack of sufficient funding at the regional level to directly compensate for the losses of the affected citizens or complete the construction at the expense of the budget.
Andrey Shirokov, chairman of the CCI Committee on entrepreneurship in the housing and communal services sector, says the same thing: according to him, the main problem is most likely the lack of money to solve it.
— As for the investor, he should see the attractiveness of the facility, — said the interlocutor of Izvestia. — Apparently, in this situation it is not beneficial for a private developer, so the problem has not been solved. We must also not forget that the financial situation has changed a lot: the key rate is 20%. And developers don't build anything for their own money, they build only for money attracted from the market. Apparently, the schemes don't work in the current economic situation.
Alexander Yakubovsky emphasizes that "not all such facilities fall under the existing federal support mechanisms."
"If, at the time of signing the equity participation agreements, they did not meet the requirements of Federal Law No. 214—FZ, then the affected citizens formally cannot apply for assistance from the federal compensation fund," he explained to Izvestia. — This is a serious limitation, and that is why there are still "drop-out" objects for which individual, sometimes complex solutions need to be sought.
The head of the regional branch of the Popular Front in the Omsk region, Suzanne Yeghiyan, also calls the problem of shareholders at 11 Herzen Street "the most acute."
— Several options for resolving the issue are currently being considered. Firstly, through FRT mechanisms in the form of compensation payments to citizens involved in construction. Secondly, with the involvement of an investor who will pay shares to the construction participants. The final version will depend on the examination of the unfinished object. They haven't received it yet," she told Izvestia.
The Ministry of Construction and Architecture of the Omsk Region had not responded to Izvestia's request at the time of publication.
What mechanisms are used for shareholders
Ekaterina Podolskaya, an expert at the Presidential Academy in St. Petersburg, explains that several methods are currently being used to protect defrauded shareholders. The Foundation for the Protection of the Rights of Citizens Participating in Shared-equity Construction provides assistance in completing frozen facilities, citizens can also sue developers and demand compensation through the court; in addition, the state's obligations to equity holders are regulated by Law No. 214, and regions are adopting separate programs, attracting investors to complete unfinished construction. However, these measures are not always effective, says Ekaterina Podolskaya.
Alexander Yakubovsky is confident that the only realistic way in cases of defrauded shareholders, whose problems have not yet been resolved, is to search for mutually beneficial schemes in which the region provides the investor or developer with interesting plots for new construction, and the latter undertakes obligations to resettle the shareholders or compensate them.
At the same time, he notes that, in general, the problem of deceived shareholders is currently at the stage of systemic completion — out of more than 200 thousand victims, about 10 thousand remained, of which 7 thousand problems. A person is a commitment of the regions.
— But these are the most difficult cases, legally and technically difficult. And often these are the objects that were not originally designed according to the norms of current legislation," said Alexander Yakubovsky.
The FRT indicates that since 2019, it has been possible to restore the rights of 256.1 thousand defrauded shareholders through federal and regional mechanisms. With the help of federal assistance mechanisms, the rights of 121 thousand citizens were restored, of which half of the defrauded shareholders received payments, and houses were completed for the rest.
Will there be new shareholders
The FRT notes that the current escrow account mechanism, which is currently used for 99% of facilities under construction, has proven its effectiveness in terms of protecting citizens' rights. Alexander Yakubovsky also calls him reliable. According to him, thanks to escrow accounts, new cases of deception of shareholders are practically excluded.
Andrey Shirokov believes that there are problems here too: a developer builds not for his own money, but for credit — and whether there are enough funds in escrow accounts in all cases to repay the costs incurred by developers is a big question.
Alexander Tolmachev, deputy chairman of the Moscow Lawyers' Union, is also skeptical about the current system. He emphasizes that the main problem of the entire housing construction system is that the main goal has become not the construction of houses, but the receipt of windfall profits by developers. In his opinion, this led to an increase in prices for residential meters and to a deterioration in the quality of housing, as well as to the displacement of small developers by construction monopolies.
— And when the so-called escrow accounts were introduced, all developers, even with their own capital, were obliged to "get on the needle" of the bank, — he told Izvestia. — And prices have increased by another 20-30%.
According to Alexander Tolmachev, the current solution to the problem of equity holders can only be conditionally called help — even when completing a house, people are often required to pay extra "for the increase in the cost of building materials", "for new standards". In fact, the state does not compensate the shareholders for the funds already invested, but imposes a new contract, the expert is sure.
He sees self-organization of people through real housing and construction cooperatives as an alternative solution.: they must take the land plots that belonged to the developer to the balance of this housing and communal services complex, and then complete the housing themselves. According to Tolmachev, this reduces the cost of construction by 4-5 times, especially since small firms, rather than large monopolies, will come to such a construction site.
— I believe that for many shareholders this is the only way to get housing, — the expert believes. — People have already done this: they took everything they could from a bankrupt company and completed it themselves. It turned out that it was even cheaper than waiting for the completion of the house by some other companies.
He emphasizes that this will require additional expenses, but, depending on the situation, they may not be very large.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
