For every resident of a high-rise building, landscaping the local area of an apartment building is an important issue, and in some cases, a pressing one. Unfortunately, in many of the courtyards of the apartment complex, there is practically no landscaping work being done, in the summer there are overgrown nettles and unkempt bushes, in the winter there is ice and unclean roads, garbage is not removed for weeks, bulls are lying around on playgrounds. But it shouldn’t be this way, because someone should be responsible for this?
Who should be responsible for landscaping the apartment building? What applies to the local area according to the law? Where can I complain if there is trash and dirt in the yard?
What applies to the local area of an apartment building according to the law?
Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated April 3, 2013 N 290 approved the minimum list of works for the proper maintenance of common property in an apartment building.
In accordance with paragraph 24 of this list, the adjacent territory of an apartment building is the land plot on which the apartment building is located, with elements of landscaping and landscaping, and other objects intended for the maintenance and operation of the house. In Article 1 (paragraphs 36-38) of the Town Planning Code of the Russian Federation there is a similar concept - adjacent territory, as well as the concept of territory improvement.
The adjacent territory is a public area. Its boundaries and dimensions depend on many factors: the number of storeys of the building, the density of buildings, the location of nearby roads, schools, hospitals, etc., so there is no clear concept of the boundaries of the local area.
If the land under an apartment building is registered in the cadastral register (registered in the Unified State Register of Real Estate), then these boundaries are determined by land surveying and are displayed on a public cadastral map. (You can learn about the specifics of preparing a multi-family residential land surveying project in 2020 from a separate article at the link.)
In accordance with Art. 36 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, the land plot on which the apartment building is located and the boundaries of which are defined in the Unified State Register of Real Estate is included in the common property. The same concept is duplicated by the Rules for the maintenance of common property, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of August 13, 2006 No. 491 (as amended on November 23, 2019).
What is landscaping?
To make your home beautiful and attractive, beautiful buildings are not enough, you need to keep the entire plot of land in order.
There are a huge number of options for decorating the area adjacent to your home, from which you can always choose exactly what suits you best. Types and options for landscaping entirely depend not only on your taste preferences, but also on the topography and size of the site. Interesting paths and small ponds will make your time as comfortable as possible. This is an opportunity to merge with nature.
Before landscaping the area, the project must be carefully thought out, all the pros and cons must be weighed, and what is desired must be outlined in detail in the sketch.
What does landscaping the local area of an apartment building mean?
Landscaping is the care of the surrounding area (landscaping, keeping it clean and tidy, repairing roads and building facades, arranging recreation areas, children's playgrounds, etc.)
Thus, landscaping the local area of an apartment building is continuous work and carrying out various activities aimed at making residents of an apartment building feel comfortable.
Basically, the rules for landscaping adjacent areas of apartment buildings located in a particular area, taking into account the climate and natural phenomena, are prescribed in municipal laws and acts.
There is also a Code of Rules (SNiP) SP 82.13330.2016 on Territory Improvement, dated 06/17/2017, and various GOSTs on landscaping, equipment and covering of children's playgrounds, etc. In fact, all responsibility for the improvement of apartment buildings falls on the owners of the apartments, and is paid by them, in proportion to the area of residence.
Improvement goals
Landscaping of the site is carried out with the aim of giving the territory an attractive, well-groomed appearance and its rational use. First of all, the beautification of sites involves the cultivation of nature and is the basis for the improvement of territories. This approach, with an awareness of the essence of landscaping, will help you competently realize your creative potential, without harming the environment.
General purpose of improvement
— creating the most comfortable conditions for relaxation and everyday life in harmony with natural nature. The main task of man here is to minimize harm from interfering with nature. Nature is a book that you need to be able to read, feel all its intentions and subtleties, understand and see the beauty that it presents to us at any time of the year. Our goal is to improve, preserve and highlight all the beauties of nature. A beautifully landscaped surrounding area emphasizes the design of real estate and makes people's lives and activities more comfortable and cozy. That is, if you want to leave your home or office and find yourself in a cozy, beautiful courtyard, then without a doubt, landscaping the area should be your top priority.
This can be realized as a result of a well-thought-out layout of the site, taking into account all its features - local and everyday, climatic and natural, and other specific features. The artistic design of the site allows you to make the local area comfortable, functional, beautiful and aesthetic.
In order to create the surrounding beauty and keep the yard clean and tidy, it is necessary to devote a lot of time to this difficult and rather hard work, which requires a complex of special knowledge and skills from the performer. Of course, most owners of their own homes, shops, offices, business centers and other socially significant real estate do not have enough time, desire and energy for such feats. You can carry out these activities yourself or contact specialists for landscaping services.
Who is responsible for the local area of an apartment building?
Each building has a management company or Homeowners' Association. These organizations are required to monitor the common areas of the apartment building, as well as the surrounding area. The decision to improve the local area of the apartment building is made by the owners at a general meeting by a majority vote. When landscaping, it is very important to comply with the norms and rules established by regional authorities.
Ways to organize the management of an apartment building:
- management directly by premises owners;
- management organization
- Homeowners' association or cooperative (HOA, housing cooperative, etc.)
The minimum list of services for landscaping the local area, approved by the government (Decree No. 491 of 08/13/2006):
- checking and cleaning the roof and drainage systems from debris, dirt, snow and ice;
- restoration and painting of facades;
- checking and, if necessary, restoring pedestrian paths;
- monitoring the condition of electrical appliances, entrance lighting, lighting, etc.;
- cleaning manhole covers of wells and fire hydrants from snow and ice;
- removing snow and ice from the local area;
- cleaning garbage bins installed near entrances and washing them;
- cleaning before entering the entrance;
- sweeping and cleaning the local area;
- cleaning and mowing lawns;
- storm drain cleaning;
- work on the organization and maintenance of waste sites;
- If any damage or violations are identified, a restoration plan will be developed.
Work on landscaping and improvement of the territory of the apartment building
Work on landscaping and landscaping of an apartment building must be carried out at certain intervals. Caring for the landscaping and landscaping elements of an apartment building located in the local area is the responsibility of the management company, which is part of the common property. At the request of the owners, additional landscaping of the local area can be carried out, the main thing is that it meets the requirements of GOST, norms and rules of landscaping.
Activities to improve urban areas
Some landscaping methods can only be carried out by professionals. For people who decide to improve their territory, price and quality (the optimal ratio of these factors) play an important role. The latter depends on the number of events that need to be held on the territory.
List of main works for landscaping
Landscaping and landscaping in St. Petersburg by the hands of our professionals may consist of the following activities:
- work on leveling the road surface on the territory;
- dismantling old and destroyed structures on the territory;
- clearing the area of debris;
- landscaping, planting grass, trees and arrangement of public gardens;
- installation of benches, bins and other equipment necessary for comfortable rest;
- installation of playgrounds for children and sports equipment for adults;
- installation of small architectural forms (gazebos, benches and tables, canopies, etc.);
- creation of artificial reservoirs and waterfalls;
- creation of alpine slides and hedges;
- installation of street lighting.
This work can be carried out both in urban areas and outside the city. Services for landscaping the territory of a private home have recently been in great demand, as many people prefer to live outside the city in their home without losing the comfort of city life.
As can be seen from the list, most of these landscaping activities should be entrusted to professionals. Therefore, our specialists will be happy to carry out landscaping work for you.
Where can I complain about yard landscaping?
Unfortunately, not all residents of high-rise buildings and apartment owners take an active position in improvement. Everyone has their own opinion on this matter, some are ready to invest money to organize a comfortable life around their home, while others don’t need extra expenses. Parents of small children are usually always in favor of arranging playgrounds, while other residents take a neutral position.
In any case, local legislation requires all owners to monitor their local area. Everyone enjoys walking along clean streets and returning home to admire the well-groomed lawns and plants planted in the local area. No one likes to look at scattered garbage and inhale the foul smell.
Where can you complain if the surrounding area is unkempt and not landscaped?
First, contact your management company . It would be a good idea to study the norms and rules of local and regional authorities for landscaping and operate with them. If there is no reaction to an oral appeal, write in writing.
If this does not help, you can complain to the local administration . Today, municipalities accept applications not only on paper, but also by e-mail. In many regions of our country there are various electronic platforms that help “reach out” to the authorities. This is one of the effective methods, as practice shows. Thus, in the Moscow region there is an electronic book of complaints - “Dobrodel”, in Yaroslavl a similar project for organizing improvement is called “We solve together”, in Kaliningrad - “Active Citizen”.
Why is it important to carry out landscaping?
August 28, 2019
Most people think that landscaping means digging the soil, planting plants, and mowing the lawn once a month. It would be interesting to see what such an area will turn into if you start caring for it in this way. Without doing anything else.
Look at the companies that managed to acquire their own buildings with adjacent territory. What order and beauty there! You just want to get to such an area to enjoy its beauty, when every blade of grass is in its place. Flowers form whole compositions, and are not scattered chaotically around the perimeter of the site. Such a “courtyard” will not only be a big plus for the company’s image, but also an excellent place for holding negotiations in a non-formal setting. Flowering trees, the aroma of flowers, singing birds - all this will encourage your partners to make decisions that are beneficial for your company. After all, it is almost impossible to resist an offer from the person who created such beauty.
If you are just thinking about doing something with the territory adjacent to the office building, be sure to invite a landscape designer for a consultation. Without a specialist in this field, it will be almost impossible to create a successful project, since only a true master who has been working in this field for many years can select and group different types of plants.
What is landscaping?
Improvement of the surrounding area includes activities that include:
• Approval of boundaries for future work. This is a preparatory stage, when a geodetic analysis is carried out, the area is cleared of excess vegetation, and garbage is removed.
• Design. Before you start landscaping the area, it is necessary to create a project for future zones. It is beneficial to highlight them at the preparatory stage, so that later you do not have to “break” everything that was built for a very long time, but was “built” in the wrong place.
• Improvement of recreation areas, creation of paths. By identifying an artificial pond or area as a separate zone that will be given over to employees for smoking, this zone will be erected at this stage. And for a small pond, but to a greater extent for a “smoking room”, additional landscaping and planting of large trees will be required so that the smoke from cigarettes does not spread beyond the area that is specially designated for this.
• Planting trees and shrubs. According to the plan that you received from the landscape designer, all the plants that will “live” in the adjacent area are planted. After this stage, it will really be clear that a huge amount of work has been done on landscaping and landscaping the area. Two photographs will clearly show this: the first should be taken before the start of work, and the second - when all work is completed. If you don’t notice much difference in the pictures, you will have questions for the employees and in particular the designer, which you have every right to ask them.
• Finally, small architectural objects are placed around the perimeter of the site: flowerpots, decorative lamps, birdhouses are hung - in general, the site is given a finished look that you don’t want to spoil.
Maintaining beauty
Spending so much effort on creating a stunning area and not spending a little money to maintain its condition would not be logical. offers its existing and new clients landscaping and landscaping services. Our agronomists and landscape designers will help you turn your site into “candy.” It doesn’t matter what condition the area adjacent to your building is in now - a little painstaking work, well-made joint efforts - and the result will please you.
How to use the beautiful area around your office is up to you to decide. It can be:
• Relaxation area where employees will spend lunch time.
• A place for meetings and negotiations “without ties”, when additional barriers are not needed.
• A platform for corporate events, as well as team-building games and seminars.
• Simply a beautiful place that will create a positive image about the company that created this piece of paradise and maintains it in pristine condition.
