Investors into illegal house try to prevent its demolition in Rostov-on-Don

On November 20, about 20 residents of Rostov-on-Don, who invested their money in the construction of an apartment building No. 32 in Shakespeare Street, attempted to hinder the demolition of the building. The court declared it to be constructed illegally, and a criminal case was instituted against the developer. The real estate investors claim they did not know that the construction was conducted illegally and that they were sure that the building was being demolished unlawfully.

They sat under the building, thus making it difficult to demolish it, and refused to leave the territory when bailiffs and demolition organization worked there. However, the protesters still had to retreat.

The building is to be demolished, since the developer originally registered it as a private house building, but built a four-storey apartment building. About 30 real estate investors were left without the promised apartments, since the court recognized it as unauthorized construction and granted the request on its demolition.

Residents of Rostov-on-Don, who invested their money in the construction of the building, cannot return the money, and they try to stop the execution of the court decision. According to them, several arrests were imposed on the building and on the land plot, and the Federal Bailiff Service (FBS) has no right to demolish it.

"At present, we demand to suspend demolition of the facility, so we can see the prospect of our future actions, at least, selling of the land plot and building materials stored here, since all that purchased at the expense of real estate investors," said Igor Sorokov, the lawyer of the real estate investors. According to him, they filed to the Soviet District Court a complaint to suspend the demolition of the building, the "Yuzhny Region" reports.

Bailiffs state that they operate within the confines of the law, the "Website of Rostov-on-Don" reports.

This is the first major facility of unauthorized construction, which is being demolished in Rostov-on-Don. The developer had long evaded the voluntary execution of the court decision; and at present, the criminal case has been instituted against him under Article on fraud of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, and he is kept at the SIZO (pre-trial prison).

At present, in Rostov-on-Don, about 300 buildings were constructed illegally, and nearly one third of them represent residential apartment buildings. Claims with the need for demolition have been filed on all the revealed facts; however, the courts granted only 11 out of 65 claims, the "Bloknot Rostov-on-Don" reports.