Is redevelopment of an apartment in panel houses prohibited or not, and what are the typical options for redistributing the corridor, bathroom and toilet? Redevelopment in a panel house Redevelopment project for an apartment in a panel house.

22.08.2023 Paths and paving

The main load-bearing elements in panel houses are walls, both external and internal, which makes redevelopment difficult. In brick and monolithic houses, the load-bearing elements are external walls, crossbars and columns, so making any changes there is much more convenient and simpler. Basically, the redevelopment of an apartment in a panel house ends with combining a toilet with a bathroom, changing the area of the corridor and other minor work.

Decree of the Moscow Government dated October 25, 2011 N 508-PP “On the organization of reconstruction and (or) redevelopment of residential and non-residential premises in apartment buildings” slightly simplified the task for owners of apartments in panel buildings, offering opportunities for changes in the premises that do not require approval. You will find acceptable projects in our album by your home model number.

Cost of redevelopment approval

The price includes:

design work,
all permissions,
order of the authorized body on the legality of redevelopment,
obtaining BTI documents,
obtaining a passport for the apartment.

Design work

What ideas do apartment owners use?

Remodeling a bathroom in a panel house is not the only thing apartment owners come up with. Often dressing rooms are arranged in the room, the hall is combined with a corridor to increase the area of the first (in this case, redevelopment of the corridor in a panel house is necessary), an additional bathroom is installed in the corridor, storage room or hall.

Some apartment owners prefer to combine kitchens with living rooms or simply create a doorway in the wall between them. In this case, you cannot take kitchen appliances outside the kitchen area. It is important to understand that some types of redevelopment will not be approved by the Moscow Housing Inspectorate. For example, combining a living room with a gasified kitchen is strictly prohibited.

Remodeling a kitchen is one of the most difficult activities in a panel house. The refurbishment should be carried out in such a way that kitchen appliances are not located above the living rooms of the neighbors below.

Features of redevelopment in panel houses

99% of houses in Moscow were designed by MNIITEP, TsNIIEP and Mosproekt, so you must contact them for permission to affect load-bearing structures.

In some panel houses, until 2007, there were special places in the walls (“waffles”) in which openings could be installed. To install openings in other places, you must first order calculations from the institute that carried out the design, and the finished opening must be reinforced with metal structures.

Window sill blocks in panel houses can be dismantled only after approval of the redevelopment, but the door threshold cannot be dismantled, since dismantling can lead to a violation of the rigidity of the enclosing panel.

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There are many features that need to be taken into account when remodeling apartments in panel houses. If you want to change the premises in a new building, you will have to start from scratch; for older standard houses, an album has been developed with permitted redevelopments, from which you can select an example and carry out all the work without approval. Below you will find examples of houses with redevelopment projects.

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Many citizens do not know whether it is possible to remodel a panel house.

Remember! Change the design of an apartment in panel houses allowed, but with consent relevant authorities.

If you have permission, you can perform the following redevelopment actions:

Moving walls and partitions.
Demolition of walls, partitions.
Expansion of the living area due to the area of the storage room, corridor, etc.
Organization of doorways.
Laying openings.
Organization of an additional kitchen and bathroom.

There is a certain list of works when redevelopment in a panel house is prohibited:

deteriorating or destroying the structure of load-bearing walls;
damaging the façade;
worsening living conditions of owners or their neighbors;
inconsistent with all owners (if the object is jointly owned by several persons);
produced in buildings for demolition (if demolition is planned within 3 years), etc.;

Coordination

A large number of load-bearing walls in panel houses significantly limits the possibilities for carrying out repairs with moving or demolishing walls. Redevelopment of an apartment in a panel house should be legalized.

Inconsistent housing conversion will lead to the following consequences:

Violation of legal “purity” real estate object.
There may be conflict situations with the housing office, neighbors, etc. As a result, the homeowner may be charged fine or lawsuit.

Is it possible to remodel a panel house without permission? Yes, but in that case your rework will be illegal. And if you want, it’s very difficult.

Approval procedure

Redevelopment in panel houses and the process of its approval when affecting load-bearing structures consists of the following stages, generally accepted for all houses of this type:

We also recommend looking at the houses of the 504 series - Khrushchev, KOPE. Project options are available here.

Why is adding a balcony on the ground floor not affordable for everyone? Read how much it costs to add a balcony.

Redevelopment options

Most often, residents decide to remodel the following rooms:

Examples of projects

Below you can download and view real examples of redevelopment projects in panel houses.

In the territory of the former Soviet Union, most of the housing stock was built 4–5 decades ago. Typical projects of that time were called “Khrushchev”; the government’s goal was to provide housing for the country’s growing population. There were low requirements for the comfort of living quarters, so all the structures had many partitions inside, which means that the rooms in them are small.

According to modern design requirements, such apartments need redevelopment to expand the living space. Khrushchev houses include brick houses and block houses with 4 or more floors.

Dear readers! The article talks about typical ways to resolve legal issues, but each case is individual. If you want to know how solve exactly your problem- contact a consultant:

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Later, many panel houses with improved layout were built. Thus, today a fairly large number of families live in panel houses in Russia, many of them have already given the premises a modern look, others are just planning. Regardless of how many rooms there are in the apartment, the room can be reconstructed.

The most popular redevelopment is in a two-room panel house, because such apartments are the most liquid on the real estate market. Panel structures have their own characteristics; the demolition of partitions, combining rooms within one apartment and other changes must be carried out according to a previously prepared plan.

If the owner has carried out illegal redevelopment without having any idea how to reconstruct the residential premises, he risks not only paying a fine, but also ending up in court. It is also difficult to sell such an apartment; unauthorized changes will be detected, and the Housing Inspectorate will force him to undergo the legalization procedure.

If the owner finds buyers who agree to purchase housing and then independently legalize the redevelopment, he will have to reduce the cost of the apartment. The reconstruction of the premises is a redevelopment, which means it leads to a change in the original plan; this must be reflected in the technical documentation upon completion of the renovation.

Is it possible to do this

The owner of a residential premises located in a panel house must know whether redevelopment can be done and what changes apply to it.

The Housing Code specifies a list of works that can be carried out, for example, the owner has the right:

demolish and move partitions between rooms and walls if they are non-load-bearing;
expand the living space through a corridor, loggia, storage room;
install new doorways, but not in load-bearing walls;
expand the area of the bath and toilet at the expense of non-residential premises;
combine the bathroom;
, but this will require other steps to be taken first;
move engineering structures;
organize another kitchen and bathroom in the apartment, but not above or below the neighbors’ living room;
combine two adjacent apartments;
other.

Sometimes it is possible to carry out complex redevelopment that affects load-bearing walls, but this will require a technical report for the project. Reconstruction differs from major repairs, when the owners want to put up wallpaper, replace windows and doors, communications, install built-in furniture, and glaze the balcony.

An agreement with regulatory authorities is not required for conversion. In some cases, the project cannot be approved by the Housing Inspectorate, because the wishes of the owners do not comply with housing standards, and if the owner has already made unauthorized changes, then he will be required to return the premises to its original appearance.

It is prohibited to perform work that:

carried out without agreement with other owners of the premises or tenants of housing, residents of the house, when repairs should affect common property;
affect general building engineering structures, which leads to violation of the rights of other residents;
worsen living conditions;
violate the strength of load-bearing structures, and as a result of the entire building;
are organized in houses belonging to dilapidated buildings that will be demolished in the next 3 years;
they will combine the kitchen, where the gas stove is located, with the living room or “wet” rooms ();
other.

Legitimate side

If, after all, the owner carried out the redevelopment without affecting the load-bearing walls and did not violate other housing and construction standards, then changes are possible. For the convenience of owners of “Khrushchev” apartments, which are located in panel houses and others, the Housing Inspectorate has developed.

Catalogs of special projects can be found in every region of the country; they were developed specifically for apartments that can be found in a particular locality. Specialists worked on the projects, so owners do not have to spend money on creating an individual project, but use a standard one.

Today, for example, redevelopment in a three-room panel house is popular, which can:

do not affect the supporting structures, it is called simple (catalog A);
affects walls that are load-bearing (arrangement of niches, openings, partial or complete demolition), it is called complex (catalog B).

Owners of apartments located in panel buildings located in Moscow can select a standard redevelopment project on the Moszhilinspektsiya website, and then apply with documents to obtain permission (such a project will no longer have to be approved, so obtaining permission will take less time)

According to catalog A, for example, you can choose a project that will allow you to combine a bathroom and toilet, as well as expand the bathroom by adding a hallway into the area of which you can move plumbing equipment.

According to catalog B, you can choose a free project that will allow you to make a redevelopment where the load-bearing structures will be affected. But first, the owner will have to invite a specialist from the Housing Inspectorate, who will inspect the neighbors’ premises located above and below. There should be no changes in them that affected the supporting structures.

Owners of Moscow apartments, for example, who want to order an individual project, can contact a private design organization or MNIITEP, a special department under the BTI or the regional department of architecture.

Thus, upon approval of the project, the redevelopment will be considered legal.

The scale of redevelopment in a panel house

Apartments in panel houses, as a rule, have 1–4 rooms. By law, it is even allowed to combine two or three of these that are located next to each other on the same floor or adjacent ones. For example, a 1- and 4-room apartment combined into one apartment will have an area that is perfect for a large family.

Another option is to combine two adjacent two-room apartments. You can combine three one-room apartments, or a one-room apartment and a three-room apartment. In any case, this will significantly increase the area of the new premises. If a citizen owns only one apartment, it can also be redeveloped; the owner chooses the project at his own discretion.

In any case, it is necessary to ensure that:

each living room had at least 1 window;
heated;
had a separate doorway;
its area was at least 8 square meters. m.

	An apartment in which one room can easily be turned into a studio by combining the living area with a corridor. If you need to add a kitchen, the gas stove will need to be replaced with an electric one, i.e. you can make one large room from the living room, hallway and kitchen. It is better to combine the bathroom with the toilet to increase the area of the bathroom. In another case, part of the living room is combined with a corridor, and the other half is separated by a partition for the bedroom. This creates two separate living spaces.
	The redesigned "" with two rooms is suitable for a family with one child. Although in this case the parents will be left without a separate bedroom, the living room, combined with a corridor, and, possibly, a kitchen, will make it possible to create a large space for family relaxation. You can visually increase the area of the room with the help of special lighting and mirrors that will be used for decoration. In a large room, you can use a curtain to separate the space for your parents’ double bed, thus solving the issue of a place to rest. If the apartment has a loggia, then due to it the living space increases even more.
	A three-room apartment is a good purchase for a family with two or three children, where you can have two children’s rooms. As in the case of a two-room apartment, it is better to combine the living room with a corridor, and create a place for parents to relax behind a curtain or partition without a doorway. If one bedroom is needed for a married couple, it can be arranged from one room. The other two rooms can be combined into one large one, which will act as a living room. The kitchen can be combined with a corridor, thus not only increasing its area, but it will be possible to create space for a dining room.
4 rooms	A project for a 4-room apartment can be quite interesting due to the fact that it already has a large living area. In such a room, three bedrooms and a large living room, which is equipped with a room and a corridor, would ideally fit. The hallway in 4-room apartments is usually large. If you add a kitchen to the room and hallway, the space for the whole family to relax will be quite spacious. There can be an area for watching TV, separate for cooking and eating. The bathroom, as in all versions of such apartments, is equipped with a spacious one due to the combination of a bathtub and a toilet; a part of the corridor can be attached. Such an apartment is the best option for redevelopment, where you can implement the most interesting design ideas.

General formalities

The procedure, regardless of whether the house is panel, brick or block, is the same.

It assumes:

Obtaining a technical passport from the BTI.
Call a technician to the site to confirm that reconstruction has not yet been carried out in the premises.
Order an individual project. An owner who does not want to spend money on developing a project can consider standard options.
Collecting the necessary documents and submitting them to the Housing Inspectorate for approval.
Obtaining permission to carry out redevelopment and a log with a list of repair work.
Carrying out repairs within the maximum year for which the permit is issued. If the owner does not meet the specified deadline, he can renew the permit monthly.
Call from the Housing Inspectorate of the Admissions Committee. Specialists must check the changes made to the premises against the list of repairs specified in the log issued along with the permit. Upon completion of the reconstruction of the premises, the commission issues an acceptance certificate. If hidden changes were made, then the contractor had to draw up a report for each action, and the documents were also signed by the commission.
Receiving a new registration certificate for the apartment from the BTI after presenting the completion certificate for the reconstruction.

Related options

Each apartment has premises that are called residential and non-residential. By law, some of them can be connected to each other to expand the living space, while others cannot.

Most often, owners reconstruct “wet” rooms (bathroom and toilet), kitchen, balcony and corridor. But the reconstruction of these non-residential premises must be carried out in accordance with housing standards.

Bathroom	The bathroom can only be expanded by adding a corridor and part of the toilet, if it is connected, as well as a storage room. It is allowed to move plumbing equipment within the “wet” rooms, as well as to the area of the former corridor and storage room. But it should be borne in mind that the bathroom cannot be located far from the sewer riser and drainage system. If, as a result of reconstruction, the bathroom borders the living room, then plumbing cannot be installed on the adjacent wall.
Toilet	If the wall between the bathroom and the toilet is load-bearing, then it will not be possible to demolish it. In some cases, after approval, partial demolition may be allowed. When it is expected that 3 or more people, including adults and children, will live in the apartment, it is not recommended to combine the bathroom with the toilet. But connecting a toilet to a bathroom or expanding it through a storage room or corridor is possible. When the owner of the apartment only decided to combine the toilet with the bathroom without moving the plumbing equipment, and to replace the non-load-bearing wall, for example, with a floor-to-ceiling shelving unit, then there is no need to obtain permission. Such redevelopment will not change the general layout of the premises. If the toilet is planned to be moved, then the standards for connecting to the sewer pipe must be observed.
Bathroom	The large area of the bathroom will allow you to place on it not only plumbing equipment, but household appliances, bathroom furniture, a jacuzzi or shower, and additional built-in shelving. It is best to connect part of the corridor to the combined bathroom, then you will get a spacious room. Also, it is better to make the entrance to the combined bathroom not next to the entrance to the kitchen, as in all apartments located in panel houses.
Kitchen	To expand the kitchen where the gas stove is located, it is necessary to use a pantry or part of the corridor. In order to combine it with an adjacent living room there are two options: replace the stove with an electric one; demolish the non-load-bearing partition between the kitchen and the room, but put sliding doors in its place; make two redevelopment projects, with the help of one the kitchen is connected to the corridor, and with the help of the second the latter is combined with the living room, thus creating one large space like a studio. If, for example, the kitchen borders the room with a partition in which the ventilation or heating system is located, the project for combination cannot be approved. There is also a restriction for one-room apartments. If you connect a single room, a corridor and a kitchen without additional false partitions or sliding openings, then the room will not be residential, which does not correspond to its status. An excellent solution to this problem is a bar counter.
Balcony	Reconstruction of the balcony can be carried out by completely or partially demolishing the partition separating it from the room or kitchen. The new space can increase the living area of the room, but placing heavy objects in the place of the former balcony is prohibited. If the wall is demolished to the level of the window sill, the remaining partition can be used as a work surface. Reconstruction must be legalized because it changes the floor plan. It is prohibited to move radiators to the balcony, so it must be insulated using modern materials. If the balcony is only glazed, these changes relate to refurbishment, for which permission is not required. If the wall between the balcony and the room is load-bearing, then it cannot be demolished.
Corridor	In panel houses, especially in 4-room apartments, the corridor is large and not very functional. Therefore, it can increase the living space, as well as the kitchen, bathroom and toilet. Due to it, a large dressing room can be equipped. In another case, if it is small, then using a storage room or part of the living room you can make it large.

Features of the walls

Load-bearing walls in panel houses have a thickness of 12-14 cm. They are not only external, but can also be indoors. Therefore, before preparing a redevelopment project, it is recommended to measure all the partitions.

It may turn out that it will not be possible to demolish a single partition. Some panel houses are equipped only with load-bearing walls, which is not the case in brick or monolithic houses, where almost all walls inside the premises are non-load-bearing.

In some cases, if it turns out that it is impossible to demolish more than one partition in the apartment, they will only be allowed to install an additional doorway

When independently determining the walls in an apartment, it is necessary to take into account that in panel houses the load-bearing:

always external;
they are located towards the staircase;
if they are inside the apartment, then they are facing the neighboring one.

Nuances of the series

There are many options for remodeling an apartment in a panel house, and most of them are aimed at expanding the most cramped spaces - the kitchen, bathroom and toilet.

If you intend to make minor changes, for example, moving an opening in a plasterboard partition, then you can coordinate the redevelopment of your panel apartment yourself. However, in most cases, complex transformations are envisaged, affecting capital structures. This is due to the fact that in most panel houses of standard series, the majority of interior walls are load-bearing.

To understand what can and cannot be done during a complex redevelopment of an apartment in a particular panel house, you will need a technical opinion on the possibility of redevelopment. Based on this document, a redevelopment project for the apartment in a panel house is then drawn up.

The possibility of redevelopment of an apartment in a panel house affecting the load-bearing structures depends on the condition of the building itself, its engineering systems, as well as the presence of redevelopment among neighbors.

For example, you will not be able to change the layout with an opening in a load-bearing wall if a major renovation is planned in the house or if the neighbors above/below have already made a similar opening.

Redevelopment of the corridor in a panel house

When remodeling an apartment in a panel house, the corridor is often affected. They either try to get rid of it by expanding the bathroom onto it, or combine it with the living room.

Often, the corridor, on the contrary, is expanded at the expense of adjacent residential premises to a full-fledged entrance area. This option for redesigning the corridor in an apartment in a panel house makes it possible to arrange a stylish and modern dressing room.

Remodeling a kitchen in a panel house

If you want to carry out a rather popular redevelopment option in your panel apartment - combining a kitchen and a room, then before starting work, you should consult with specialists from the design organization about the possibility of combining the premises.

If the wall between the rooms turns out to be load-bearing, then its complete demolition will have to be abandoned, although the advantages of carrying out such a redevelopment in a typical apartment of a panel house are obvious. But all the opportunities offered by combining the kitchen and room spaces can only be taken advantage of if they are separated by a non-load-bearing partition.

If, after all, the wall turns out to be load-bearing, then under certain conditions it will only be possible to create a doorway, and only with the condition of strengthening it with the help of metal structures.

The housing inspection will not give permission to remodel the kitchen in a panel house even if we are talking about a one-room apartment. This restriction applies not only to apartments in panel houses, but also to any others, because the resulting living room when combining premises will have the status of non-residential premises, which means that the entire apartment will be considered non-residential.

Difficulties will also arise if there is a gas stove in the kitchen. You will have to either change the gas stove to an electric one, or install a door or an additional partition that formally separates the kitchen and living rooms.

Redevelopment of a bathroom and toilet in a panel house

Combining a bathroom and toilet is also a fairly common redevelopment option in a panel house . When organizing a combined bathroom, changes sometimes affect not only the walls.

For a more rational use of its space, it is necessary to rearrange the plumbing, or replace the bathtub with a shower stall.

Coordination of such redevelopment without affecting the load-bearing structures usually takes place in a simplified form, without the development of design documentation.

A more complex option is to remodel the bathtub and toilet with the expansion of the resulting room due to the adjacent corridor. In this case, the development of design documentation is mandatory due to the need to lay a waterproofing coating, which means changing the floor structure.

Redevelopment example two-room panel apartment

Project for remodeling a bathroom and toilet in a panel house of the P-3 series:

Redevelopment project in a panel house

So, most redevelopments in panel-type houses, due to the design features of the buildings, require the development of design documentation with a technical conclusion.

Situations often arise when a home owner turns to a designer to develop a project for his apartment, who prepares an option that takes into account all the wishes of the customer, but in the future attempts to agree on it are doomed to failure. Why is this happening?

The fact is that only projects developed by the design institute that authored the house or by commercial organizations with the approval of an SRO have legal force. The organization you choose, based on a technical survey and engineering calculations in accordance with current standards, will develop a redevelopment project, which can then be easily approved by the housing inspectorate.

Coordination of redevelopment of an apartment in a panel house

You can coordinate redevelopment in a panel house yourself, or you can contact intermediary organizations. As a rule, simple redevelopment work that does not affect load-bearing walls and utilities can be approved by notification, with a minimum number of permits and documents. Typically, such approvals take place within a fairly short period of time (1-2 months).

But if you have neither time nor patience for independent approval - collecting documents, going through authorities, or your redevelopment requires the development of a redevelopment project with technical specifications, then the best solution would be to turn to intermediaries.

When choosing a suitable organization, pay attention, first of all, to its experience in this field, reviews of clients who have already used this service.

Experience shows that when coordinating complex redevelopments for a project in a panel house, turning to intermediaries allows you to obtain permits in the shortest possible time, and sometimes even save money at the stage of preparation for work.

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