Half a room in a three-room apartment and almost 11 "squares" in a communal apartment sold in Minsk. What kind of deals?
Unusual lots—not entire apartments, but shares in them—are increasingly appearing at capital auctions. Despite legal complexities, demand for such square meters is growing, and prices significantly increase during bidding, writes Onliner.
For example, in spring 2025, 1/4 of an apartment on Vaneeva Street, 10 (Partizansky District) was bought out at an auction.
The bidding for meters in the three-room apartment with a total area of 61.1 "squares" in a building constructed in 1966 was not the first. The starting price, already reduced by 40% during previous attempts to sell, was 16,020 rubles ($5,440 equivalent). The bidding increment was 5%, or 801 rubles.
The winner bought the lot for 22,428 rubles ($7,616 at the exchange rate).
Nominally, the new owner acquired 1/4 of the apartment, which means slightly more than 15 "squares". The remaining meters in the apartment belong to the state (63/100 shares), and another owner (12/100 shares).
However, the living area of the three-room apartment is indicated in the technical passport as: one room of 11.5 "squares" and two rooms of 17.2 "squares". How to find your 15 square meters in these rooms?
The problem is that they are "scattered" throughout the entire area of the three-room apartment: not only the living area but also the common area. In other words, by acquiring a quarter of a three-room apartment, the buyer, figuratively speaking, received half a room and a little bit of "squares" from other premises: the kitchen, corridor, bathroom.
Why is that? This three-room apartment has a big drawback: the shares in the apartment are not separated as rooms. This means that each owner has a share in the common property. It is up to the owners themselves to determine which specific part of the real estate belongs to whom.
By the way, the buyer also paid the auction organizer 9% of the final lot amount as a reward for conducting the bidding, which is another 2,018 rubles ($685 equivalent). As a result, 15 "squares" with a tail, whose territorial location in the three-room apartment is difficult to determine, cost the new owner $8,301.
In October of this year, a buyer was also found for 7/50 shares in a six-room communal apartment in Minsk on Pukhovitskaya Street, 5 (Oktyabrsky District). The total area of the classic communal apartment is 103 "squares".
Part of it went from auction — a room of 10.84 square meters, which belonged to an owner who did not pay for utilities.
The winner paid 34,812 rubles for the room (almost $12,000 equivalent), as well as 9% of that amount (1,300 rubles, or $1,075 at the exchange rate) to the auction organizers.
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