It is quite natural that most owners of residential premises in an apartment building want to have a landscaped yard: children need playgrounds, pensioners need benches, trees and flowers.
First, residents need to hold a general meeting of owners, voting on the improvement of the yard, and determining how much money can be allocated. Further steps depend on at whose expense you are going to improve the yard: for municipal money or on your own.
For example, in Moscow, every year all councils form a list of district courtyards that need improvement. The owners write an application to the council, then all the lists are transferred to the district prefecture. Every yard can count on landscaping of the local area.
If you decide to do the landscaping on your own, then the management company, the board of the HOA, or an initiative group of residents contacts the council with a proposal to improve the local area. Then the administration submits an application to the Main Architectural and Planning Department, which will prepare a project in accordance with your wishes, approved by the Committee for Construction and Architecture of the City of Moscow and the Housing and Communal Services Department. Owners of residential premises pay for a new house passport, after which a specialized organization carries out landscaping work.
If your yard lacks, for example, only an equipped playground or benches, but the funds on the house balance are sufficient, then you can do the following:
1. Hold a general meeting of owners, determine the location of the site or benches, and decide what budget can be allocated. Draw up minutes of the meeting.
2. Take the completed protocol to the government, where experts will tell you which organizations you need to coordinate with for the construction of a playground or the installation of benches. Typically, such organizations are:
— Rospotrebnadzor,
— Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection,
— Committee on Construction and Architecture.
The list of organizations may vary.
The collected documents are again transferred to the Board, where a final decision is made.
In a number of regions (for example, in Yekaterinburg, Krasnoyarsk, St. Petersburg), after holding a general meeting of owners and deciding that a children’s playground is necessary, you can submit an application to the city administration to participate in the “1000 Yards” and “My Krasnoyarsk Yard” programs ", "Our Yard", within the framework of which work is carried out to improve the local area.
To summarize, we can say that the algorithm of actions is as follows:
1. Conducting a general meeting of homeowners, at which a decision is made on the need to improve the local area.
2. Submitting an application to the management company, which coordinates the project with the improvement committee of the district administration, or submitting an application to the municipal administration to participate in existing programs for landscaping courtyards.
3. Development by designers of a project and improvement plan.
4. Approval of the project by residents.
5. Approval of the estimate.
6. Registration of decisions of the owners and signing of the protocol, determination of the contractor and deadlines for work.
Who is involved in construction and arrangement?
The courtyard area is usually the property of the municipality, so it is the local administration that should be responsible for landscaping the area, including building playgrounds.
As a rule, cities have special programs for improvement, in which a separate clause stipulates the construction of playgrounds for children. After construction, which is carried out by district engineering services (GU IS), playgrounds are transferred to the balance of management companies, which monitor its condition.
What official regulations exist?
Until 2003, there were no regulatory documents in the Russian Federation regulating the operation of children's playgrounds. Since 2003, the “Technical Committee for Standardization TK-455 “Equipment for Children’s Playgrounds” was created, which developed special state standards.
The construction and operation of playgrounds must be carried out in accordance with these standards, which contain safety standards and testing methods for playground equipment and surfaces. Thus, the standards specify the requirements for the materials used, for the strength and other technical indicators of structures, for the absence of jams (arms, legs, etc.) when the child moves. It also contains a description of what the playing areas should be, access elements (ladders, stepladders), ropes and chains, as well as the foundation.
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In total, 14 GOSTs were developed, which contain all the necessary information regarding children's playgrounds.
According to GOSTs, visual inspection of sites must be carried out regularly (the frequency is set by the operator), and if the equipment is used intensively or is subject to acts of vandalism, then the inspection must be daily. Functional inspection (including identification of structural wear) is carried out every 1-3 months. The main inspection must be carried out annually, on its basis a report is drawn up assessing the technical condition of the equipment. Sites must be regularly maintained: workers must tighten fasteners, update paint, maintain shock-absorbing coatings, lubricate bearings, etc.
However, formally these requirements are mainly advisory in nature. In addition, there is almost no system of public or expert control over the progress of construction and arrangement of playgrounds.
On June 1, 2012, the technical regulation “On the safety of the children's playground complex” came into force, however, it is also advisory in nature. In this regard, representatives of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation in the fall of 2012 made a proposal to establish mandatory standards for the construction and operation of children's playgrounds.
What should be on the playground?
According to current regulations, each playground there must be a safety data sheet (GOST 2.601). Those sites that were built before 2005 and did not have a passport were reconstructed in order to comply with safety standards.
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According to the regulations, information boards must be installed on playgrounds in which you can find operating rules when using the playground, telephone numbers of rescue and ambulance services, telephone numbers by which you can report a malfunction of this or that equipment.
There should also be a special fence to prevent children from getting on the roads.
There should not be any on playgrounds:
- loose swing,
- damage to slide railings,
- sharp corners,
- concrete curbs.
- The steps must be rubberized.
At the same time, owners often do not understand that the management organization only services common property. And a playground belongs to the common property of the owners only if it is located on an officially registered local area and is specified in the management agreement.
By virtue of sub. 19 clause 1 art. 14 Federal Law dated 06.10.2003 No. 131-FZ “On general principles local government organizations in Russian Federation", issues of local importance of urban settlements include approval of the rules for improvement of the territory of the settlement, monitoring their compliance and organizing the improvement of the territory of the settlement in accordance with the specified rules. Consequently, if the playground is not provided for by the house design, is located on municipal land and there is no decision of the owners to include it in the common property, then it is municipal property and the local government is responsible for its maintenance.
In cases where a children's playground belongs to the common property of an apartment building, the responsibility for proper maintenance of which rests with the management company .
In accordance with Part 1 of Article 161 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, the management of an apartment building must ensure favorable and safe conditions residence of citizens and proper maintenance of common property in an apartment building.
Proper maintenance of the common property of the owners of premises in an apartment building must be carried out in accordance with the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation, including in the field of ensuring the sanitary and epidemiological well-being of the population, on technical regulation, fire safety, consumer rights protection, and must ensure:
compliance with the requirements for the reliability and safety of an apartment building;
safety of life and health of citizens, property individuals, property of legal entities, state and municipal property;
availability of use of premises and other property included in the common property of premises owners in an apartment building;
compliance with the rights and legitimate interests of the owners of premises in an apartment building, as well as other persons.
By virtue of clause 42 of the Rules for the maintenance of common property in an apartment building, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of August 13, 2006 No. 491 (hereinafter referred to as Rules 491), management organizations and persons providing services and performing work in the direct management of an apartment building are responsible to owners of premises for violation of their obligations and are responsible for the proper maintenance of common property in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation and the contract.
Subparagraph "G" of paragraph 2 of Rule 491 establishes that the common property includes other objects intended for the maintenance, operation and improvement of an apartment building, including children's and sports grounds located within the boundaries of the land plot on which the apartment building is located.
The basic requirements for the organization of children's playgrounds are defined by a number of national standards, compliance with which must be ensured by the management organization:
GOST R 52167–2012 “Equipment for children’s playgrounds. Design safety and test methods for swings. General requirements".
GOST R 52168–2012 “Equipment for children’s playgrounds. Design safety and test methods for slides. General requirements".
GOST R 52169–2012 “Equipment for children’s playgrounds. Design safety and test methods. General requirements".
GOST R 52299-2013 “Equipment for children's playgrounds. Design safety and test methods for rocking chairs. General requirements".
GOST R 52300-2013 “Equipment for children's playgrounds. Design safety and test methods for carousels. General requirements".
GOST R 52301-2013 “Equipment for children's playgrounds. Operational safety."
GOST R EN 1177-2013 “Shock-absorbing coatings for children's playgrounds. Safety requirements and test methods."
GOST R 54847-2011 “Equipment and coverings of children's playgrounds. Design safety and testing methods for ropeways. General requirements".
GOST 33602-2015 “Equipment and coatings for children's playgrounds. Terms and Definitions".
GOST R 55678-2013 “Equipment for children’s sports grounds. Design safety and testing methods for sports and developmental equipment.”
GOST R 55677-2013 “Equipment of children's sports grounds. Design safety and test methods. General requirements".
GOST R 55679-2013 “Equipment of children's sports grounds. Operational safety."
The listed standards develop the basic safety requirements for children's play equipment. It is clear that equipment manufacturers are primarily obligated to comply with national standards. But if the playground does not meet the quality and safety requirements, then its owner (management organization) bears responsibility for this discrepancy.
The main documents defining the requirements for the installation and operation of playground equipment are GOST R 52301-2013 and GOST R 55679-2013.
In order to properly maintain playgrounds, the management organization is obliged to carry out the following activities:
Regular visual inspection is carried out to check the equipment to detect obvious dangerous defects. The frequency of regular inspection is determined by the owner based on operating conditions. Children's playground equipment that is subject to heavy use or vandalism requires daily visual inspection;
A functional inspection is a detailed inspection in order to check the serviceability and stability of the equipment, and identify wear of the equipment’s structural elements. Inspection is carried out once every 1-3 months in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions. During a functional inspection, the stability of the structure is checked, as well as the degree of wear of the sliding surface (slide), the strength of the fastening points;
Annual basic inspection is a check performed once every 12 months to assess the compliance of the technical condition of the equipment with safety requirements.
During the annual basic inspection, the following is determined: the presence of rotting of wooden elements; the presence of corrosion of metal elements; the impact of the repair work performed on the safety of the equipment. During this inspection, special attention should be paid to hidden and hard-to-reach elements of equipment.;
The results of inspections are reflected in reports using forms approved by GOST.
It should be remembered that if there is equipment on the children's playground that requires repair, the management organization may be held administratively liable. In addition, there is a risk of child injury (in such cases, the risk of criminal prosecution).
Clause 2 of Appendix 4 to the Resolution of the State Construction Committee of the Russian Federation dated September 27, 2003 No. 170 (hereinafter referred to as the Resolution of the State Construction Committee No. 170) approved the List of works on the maintenance of residential buildings.
Section B of Appendix No. 4 “List of works on the maintenance of residential buildings” includes, among other things, work in preparing residential buildings for operation in the spring-summer period, repairequipment for children's and sports grounds.
As follows from the analysis judicial practice, the courts take the following position: the management organization is obliged to bring gaming equipment (which is part of the common property) into compliance with the requirements of current legislation. If elements of the children's playground break down, they must be dismantled before repair work is carried out (Decision of the Central district court Barnaul, Altai Territory in case No. 2-1681/17 dated October 17, 2017, Decision of the Shchekinsky District Court of the Tula Region dated July 14, 2011 in case No. 2-1297/2011, Decision of the Leninsky District Court of the city of Murmansk in case No. 12- 236/2017 of September 27, 2017 in case No. 12-236/2017).
In the Resolution of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated December 11, 2015 No. 306-AD15-10772: the court refuted the management organization’s arguments about illegally bringing it to justice and pointed out the presence of the following violations: exposed elements of reinforced concrete structures; lack of equipment passports, installation and inspection instructions, a logbook for monitoring the technical condition of equipment and monitoring compliance with safety requirements.
Thus, if the common property of the houses in your management includes a playground, it’s time to check it for compliance with GOSTs and restore the missing documentation.
The story is this: in our area there are no problems with playgrounds, everything has been replaced with modern ones, but with my parents everything is very sad, so their neighbor asked me to “write to someone,” otherwise she and her grandson have nowhere to go. I’ll make a reservation right away, since it wasn’t me who needed the site; I used exclusively the Internet reception areas.
The first appeal was to the City Hall, to the prefecture, to the government and to the State Public Institution "Direction of Housing and Communal Services of the North-Western Administrative District":
Good afternoon. I ask you to give instructions to carry out landscaping of the children's playground in the courtyard of the house at the address: .
I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the playground is in a condition that threatens the health of the children playing on it. Since the playground has not been updated for several years, the metal structure with the slide is covered with rust, the swings are broken, and the old sandbox is generally scary to approach. In addition, there are only two benches installed on the site, which are also falling into disrepair.
I ask if possible as soon as possible replace the playground with a modern children's playground with a safe rubber coating.
The first response came from Housing and Communal Services and Security
An order was given to the State Institution "Engineering Service of the Shchukino District". In the near future, we will jointly inspect the site and inform you of the results of our work on the issue. We are notifying you because the fulfillment of all your requests (children's playground, benches and rubber covering) may take some time, as it requires additional funding. Don't worry - your request has been registered and will not be forgotten.
The fact that they won’t forget is already nice... we’re waiting, sir
After the examination:
Having considered your appeal, together with the State Institution "Engineering Service of the Shchukino District", we inform you.
In 2011, comprehensive landscaping work was carried out in the courtyard area at the address: As a result of the inspection of the engineering service, no emergency facilities threatening the life and health of children were identified.
Due to the fact that the address list of the comprehensive improvement program for 2013 has already been formed and approved, and the courtyard area of the houses at the address: is not included in this list, the issue of comprehensive improvement of this courtyard area will be considered in subsequent periods.
My answer:
Good afternoon. Your response to my appeal did not satisfy me. The fact that improvement work was carried out in 2011 is no longer noticeable in 2013; apparently someone saved on the quality of the playground facilities. Do you think that a slide covered with rust meets all safety standards? But I don’t think so. Or maybe a swing from which not a single child has already fallen is safe? Or should I wait for death? I ask you to make changes to the address list of the comprehensive improvement program for 2013, or I will be forced to contact higher authorities.
Answer from the council:
Your appeal was considered jointly with the State Public Institution "IS Shchukino District".
According to information from the State Property Management Committee of the Shchukino district, I inform you that work on the improvement of the courtyard area at the addresses: was carried out in 2011.
A program for the comprehensive improvement of courtyard areas for 2013 has been formed and approved; the courtyard area at the addresses: is not included in the address list of the above program, and therefore the issue of improvement of the courtyard area will be considered in subsequent periods.
I also inform you that at the time of the inspection on March 11, 2013, it was established that small architectural forms on the playground located at the address: are in satisfactory condition.
The contracting organization SK Teplo LLC, which services the courtyard area, conducts a daily inspection of the condition of small architectural forms, the results of the inspection are recorded in a log, and any violations identified are eliminated as quickly as possible.
Deputy head of the council
Reply to the council
Good afternoon. Your response to my appeal did not satisfy me. The fact that landscaping work was carried out in 2011 is no longer noticeable in 2013; it looks like someone saved on the quality of the playground facilities. Apparently, the contracting organization SK Teplo LLC does not notice the rusty slide and swings from which children regularly fall. I don’t think that the playground facilities should be in “satisfactory” condition, it should be at least good, so that later on all channels do not show stories about the tragic events that happened to children on the playground. I would really like for children to be able to use the playground now, and not when they turn 18. Therefore, I ask you to make changes to the address list of the comprehensive improvement program for 2013, or I will be forced to contact higher authorities.
Meanwhile, another response came from Housing and Communal Services
The repeated commission, which went to the indicated address, found that: “small architectural forms on the playground are in satisfactory condition.” Despite this, when carrying out work within the framework of the “month” of improvement, the contracting organization SK Teplo LLC will carry out work to put small architectural forms in order.
The address list of the comprehensive improvement program for 2013 has been compiled and approved by all responsible persons. The specified courtyard area is not included in this list, and therefore funds for its comprehensive improvement were not established in the 2013 city budget. The issue of improvement will be considered in subsequent periods, or in the event of the allocation of additional funding for the comprehensive improvement of courtyard areas in the Shchukino district.
Letter to the mayor's office
Good afternoon. I have already contacted you regarding the improvement of the courtyard area at the following addresses: . My appeal was forwarded to the Prefecture of the North-Western Administrative District of Moscow and the Association of Administrative and Technical Inspections of the city of Moscow. To date, I have not received any responses from the above organizations. At the same time, I sent appeals to the Shchukino district administration and to the housing and communal services directorate of the North-West Administrative District. The answers from these organizations did not satisfy me. They established that the landscaping of the courtyard area was carried out in 2011 and they refuse to acknowledge the fact that already in 2013 the site was in terrible condition. These organizations believe that the rusty slide and swing from which children fall meet all standards. I'm not even talking about the shops, which have been in a deplorable state for several years now. Due to the fact that the address list of the comprehensive improvement program for 2013 has been formed and approved, but for some reason the site at the above address has not been included there, I ask you to make changes to this list and allocate money from the city budget for improvement playgrounds, because these “small architectural forms” and their condition cannot compete with children’s playgrounds in other areas of Moscow and simply disgrace the capital.
Answer from the council, nothing new
Having considered your appeal regarding the improvement of the playground located at the address: I inform you that the address list of the comprehensive improvement program for 2013 has been generated and approved.
The courtyard area at the addresses: is not included in this address list; the issue of improvement of the above-mentioned courtyard area, including the improvement of the children's playground, will be considered in subsequent periods.
At the same time, I inform you that in the spring from 04/01/2013 to 04/30/2013, as part of the work to tidy up the territory of the Shchukino district after the winter period, the contractor SK Teplo LLC will carry out painting work on small architectural forms.
Head of Housing and Public Utilities Department
To be honest, I was tired of it, and the period came when I had no time to solve other people’s problems, so I, let’s say, let the situation go. Letters with promises began to arrive in the mail
The last letter to me from the council
Your request has been reviewed. I would like to inform you that the district administration sent a letter to the head of the Intra-City Municipal Unit of Shchukino in the city of Moscow, T. A. Knyazeva, with a proposal to include in the title list of the program for the Socio-Economic Development of the district for 2013, at the expense of undistributed balances, the courtyard area at the address: .
Deputy head of the council
As a result, gradually, over the course of six months, the site was brought into divine shape, replacing everything there that there was no money for at the beginning of our correspondence
