None of the regulatory legal acts of Russia contains a definition of “domestic territory”.
In accordance with the Housing Code, all costs for maintaining the common property of the house are divided between the owners in proportion to the area of their apartments, and since the adjacent territory belongs to joint property, then payment for street light falls on the shoulders of the owners. Costs for street lighting are calculated using a common building meter and are included monthly in the residents' receipts.
Reference! If it is not documented that the territory around the house belongs to common property, the inclusion of such a line of expenses in the payment receipts is unlawful and can serve as the beginning of legal proceedings.
Returning home in the dark is much more pleasant and safer in a lit yard than getting to own apartment in the dark, shuddering at every rustle. The lack of light in the yard is a reason to contact the management company or administration.
Lighting in the entrances of residential buildings is quite an overhead item for any community of homeowners. Therefore, the question of saving on this type of expense is raised quite often.
Some people reduce the light level by unscrewing some of the lamps, while others optimize the control circuit. We will talk about the possibilities of such optimization in our article.
Before embarking on questions about the possibility of automating lighting control systems, you should understand the standards imposed by various regulations to this parameter. After all, this will allow us not only to arrange our lamps as efficiently as possible, but will also give us the opportunity to use the optimal automation system in our case.
Note! That, in addition to illumination standards for various rooms, there are standards for light pulsation, color rendering and some other parameters that the lighting of entrances must also comply with. These standards are given in SNiP II-4-79.
Automatic lighting in entrances is constantly being modernized. More and more complex and energy-efficient circuits are emerging, and regulations do not always keep up with these changes.
So:
At the moment, a wide variety of automatic entrance lighting systems have been developed and implemented. Analyzing each scheme will take a lot of time, especially since they are often intertwined and combined with each other, so we will consider only the most common and, in our opinion, successful options.
After all, for each individual entrance, the most relevant will be its own lighting scheme, which takes into account the geography of the entrance, location features, number of floors of the building, the consciousness of the homeowners and many other aspects.
This method of lighting control will be successful for low-rise buildings with a sufficient number of conscious citizens. After all, it only provides an opportunity to save, and the residents of the entrance must directly implement these savings.
Its main advantage is its simplicity and price, which is significantly lower than all the options listed below.
So:
Outdoor lighting plays a very important role in the infrastructure of any settlements. It is especially important for urban areas. Moreover great importance it is necessary to pay attention to street lighting of the local area.
External lighting of the area around the house
Lighting of the local area should be based not only on the law established by the authorities, but also on the relevant requirements and norms. What you should know in in this case, our article today will tell you.
The local area is a plot of land adjacent to an apartment building.
Note! According to the law of the Russian Federation, the right of ownership or use of all owners of a particular property extends to the local area. apartment building.
Part of the yard near the house
As the law of the Russian Federation says regarding urban land plots, the general network property within the local area includes:
Therefore, in order to understand the real boundaries of the straight territory that the law of the country speaks of, you need to have detailed information about this land plot on hand. To do this, you must submit an application to the relevant state cadastral registration authority. Here they issue a cadastral extract about a specific land plot. This statement must contain the following information:
As an owner, i.e. those responsible for a given territory may be:
Any division of powers carried out between residents (users) and the city (owners) must be enshrined in a special agreement, as the law says.
Note! The law also says who pays for lighting the area around an apartment building.
Yard lighting
A copy of the agreement must be kept in your HOA or management company, as well as in the local administration.
The signed agreement on the right of ownership of urban areas contains the following information:
But in a situation where ownership rights to the local area belong only to the owners of an apartment building, there are certain nuances.
In a situation where the owners of the land around an apartment building are its residents, the law will contain the following points:
Note! The share in the common property right will be proportional total area premises that belong to the person who has the right of ownership.
As a result, responsibility in this situation will be assigned to one of the above persons. Therefore, before demanding the installation of high-quality lighting in the assigned territory, it is necessary to establish not only what the law says about this situation, but also who has ownership rights to this land plot and is responsible for it (who pays, repairs, etc.). As stated in the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, the entire cost of maintaining a street lighting system is included in public utilities, as well as the structure of fees for residential premises.
The law (for example, the Housing Code, etc.) states that external and internal lighting of urban infrastructures (apartment buildings, local areas, etc.) must be based in their organization on certain norms and requirements. All norms established for urban house land plots are prescribed, as for interior spaces, in SNiP. Here, first of all, in the issue of organizing street lighting, the role is played by the level of illumination.
Lighting standards for the local area
The fact is that each object in the local area (entrance, road, flower beds, etc.) must have its own specific level of illumination, which is based both on the purpose of the object and the human visual system. This means that the illumination of each object in the local area should not cause discomfort to the observer, and also create adequate lighting.
This means that when organizing external lighting in the courtyard of urban apartment buildings, the structures responsible for this (defined by the municipality) must rely on the norms established in SNiP. Moreover, lowering the illumination level below the established limits is strictly prohibited.
The regulatory documentation (SNiP) specifies all the requirements that must be observed and adhered to when organizing external lighting in the local area of any apartment building. These today, as the law states (the Housing Code of the Russian Federation and other documents), include the following requirements:
Entrance lighting
Note! Management Company or other organizations responsible for organizing outdoor lighting, based on the level of illumination, determine the style of lanterns, limiting their functionality, etc.
Achieving the required level of lighting in different areas of the city can be achieved in the following ways:
For optimal external lighting of the local area of an apartment building, it is worth using both lighting options: facade wall lamps and lamp posts. In such a situation, you can achieve the optimal level of illumination in the yard at minimum costs, which will be balanced by economical light sources, as well as the number of lanterns and wall lamps. In this case, darkened areas of the territory can be avoided with a high probability.
For urban apartment buildings, the building of the apartment building itself is used as a power source for outdoor lighting systems.
Lighting in the courtyard of a high-rise building
To account for consumed electricity in this situation, a common house electricity meter is used. In this regard, the costs will be distributed among all owners. In this regard, in order to reduce the costs of this item, economical light sources began to be installed to illuminate streets and courtyards located near apartment buildings: fluorescent, gas-discharge and LED light bulbs. From this list, maximum energy savings can be achieved using LED light sources.
Some believe that reducing the cost of paying for consumed external system Electricity lighting is possible using motion sensors.
Motion Sensor
These devices showed high efficiency at home, but on the street, as an element of the external lighting system for the adjacent area of an apartment building, they demonstrated less successful results. The fact is that here the operation of motion sensors will not be entirely correct. This is due to the fact that although the timing of the lighting can be programmed depending on the natural light level, the device may respond to the flight of a bird or the movement of pets. As a result, the frequency of false alarms at moments when light is not needed will be many times higher.
Note! Frequently turning lights on and off often has a more negative impact on the outdoor lighting electrical network than constantly burning lights.
Modern lighting fixtures for homeowners' associations and housing cooperatives, equipped with photocells, are to a certain extent devoid of the above problems, since they have several operating modes (for example, duty).
Since lighting devices for external illumination of the local area of any multi-apartment building can be located within a person’s reach, without the use of additional means (for example, stairs), it is necessary additional protection lamps from vandals. In this regard, everything lighting installations located in the courtyard of an apartment building must be equipped with anti-vandal devices.
Anti-vandal protection of the lamp
This will prevent premature damage to the lamp.
The organization of lighting in the local area of any apartment building must be approached not only taking into account the letter of the law, but also the standards that must be adhered to. This will allow you to illuminate the house with high quality and spend a minimum of effort, time and money on supporting this system.
In order to find out exactly who cares about the performance of yard lights, you will have to turn to Federal Law No. 131.
It clearly states that all streets, roads, and alleys are under the auspices of local governments, just like courtyards.
The organization of lighting in the courtyard of an apartment building at night, in the evening, and also early in the morning is a matter of local importance. Thus, the district administration is responsible for this.
But despite this, the immediate responsibility for maintaining lighting fixtures in working order falls on the shoulders of the residents themselves.
It is citizens interested in lighting that must necessarily enter into an agreement with the administration or other organizations that are able to organize electricity to power the lanterns.
As for the repair, operation and maintenance of power lines, these issues are dealt with by the same companies that specialize in this. They will properly fulfill their duties if you conclude an agreement with them on time.
However, the yards in question are not territories common use. They fall into the category of local area, and this is a slightly different concept.
The last case is regulated by Article 161 of the RF Housing Code.
Such an agreement specifies the responsibilities of the organization, which include various services and actions for proper care and maintenance property belonging to the house. Utilities may also be included here.
All these services are provided for a reason. Residents must pay them monthly. This is also regulated by the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, namely Article 154.
Thus, the payment for maintaining street lights is included in the receipts that residents receive every month.
Lighting standards for the local area of an apartment building are established in accordance with, namely:
In addition, there are pre-designed lighting options. They provide for a specific placement of lighting fixtures and their corresponding type. The options are as follows:
When residents are faced with the task of designing lighting for their yard, in addition to the financial component, they must take into account such factors as the resistance of the lanterns to hooligans and protection from falling icicles in the winter.
Whatever option the citizens living in the house choose, they must first of all be guided by the lighting standards that are adopted in Russia.
They were invented for a reason, and failure to comply with them can result not only in liability before the law, but also in some human casualties.
If there is no light in the yard for any reason, residents of the house who are dissatisfied with this state of affairs may legally come with your complaints to the local administration.
Before making fiery statements addressed to employees of the above-mentioned administrative body, you need to carefully read Federal Law No. 131, which states that Local governments and no one else are responsible for organizing street lighting.
Even in Russia, there is a special GOST, which sets out the requirements for the order in which lighting is organized.
Complaints to in writing must be submitted to the administration that deals with the municipality. Oddly enough, they are the ones who should be responsible for maintaining street lighting.
When drawing up a complaint, you must be guided by the Federal Law, which was mentioned above.
It clearly lists all the responsibilities that are assigned to bodies involved in local self-government.
It is among their responsibilities that the organization of energy supply for the entire population is included.
For greater persuasiveness, the written complaint must be accompanied by the signatures of all residents of the dissatisfied building. This will give it collective order and within a month it will definitely be reviewed and action taken.
If the administration refuses to take action, then residents can immediately apply to the court. Such a statement must indicate the very fact of inaction of local government bodies.
You can also add that they refuse to fulfill their legal duties. However, in such a situation, it should be remembered that no one needs a conflict with the administration that is blown out of nowhere, especially if it promises to drag on for a long time.
But if the power supply magically disappeared, in general, then something should definitely be done about it, and a statement to the court would be a completely adequate response on the part of the residents.
The same should be done if the lighting equipment is completely faulty.
In the case when the question concerns several burnt out light bulbs, it will be enough to simply contact the Municipal Economy Committee under the Administration.
Most often, they respond very quickly to signals from residents and ensure that the yard is illuminated as required by law.
From everything that was written above, we can conclude that organizing the lighting of the local area and maintaining the lanterns in working order is essentially a simple task.
However, there are also pitfalls here, and in order not to stumble upon them, you need to carefully study the lighting standards and Federal laws, which were discussed.
For lighting apartments, entrances, basements and adjacent areas There are a number of legal requirements that have clear regulated parameters. This is especially true for outdoor lighting, since it also affects appearance yard, and the crime situation in it, as well as injuries. The requirements for organizing the lighting systems of the apartments themselves are largely based on fire safety and on the rules of electrical installations and electricity metering. Of no small importance in the lighting of public residential apartment buildings is allocated for entrances and stairwells, since their organization is most often entrusted to the organization providing housing and communal services.
For any homeowner organization, lighting in the entrance is a very significant expense item. There are a number of norms and rules that it must comply with. All of them are clearly described in GOST and are standardized in accordance with VSN 59–88 and this is the law.
Here are their main requirements required by law:
However, over the past few years, the technology for the production of lamps and lighting systems has stepped forward and with the advent of LED lamps, as well as the reduction in the cost of these products, new horizons are opening up in lighting entrances and staircases. LED light sources used for lighting have a number of advantages not only in relation to incandescent lamps, but also in comparison with fluorescent devices that emit light. They can also be equipped with motion and light sensors, which allows you to further save energy costs, and therefore money, on lighting public multi-apartment buildings.
When organizing lighting for basements of apartment buildings and buildings, as well as their so-called ground floors, there are special strict requirements for electrical safety, as well as fire safety. The power supply for such lighting should be reduced to at least 42 volts, since there is a lot of moisture in basements, and even the floor is made of conductive material. It is recommended to reduce the supply voltage by galvanic isolation, that is, using a transformer. The primary winding of which must be designed for a voltage of 220 volts, and the secondary winding for 36-42 volts, while the secondary winding must be grounded so that if this step-down device breaks down, a direct breakdown does not occur and something dangerous to humans and their health does not appear in the secondary circuits voltage. 
Another requirement for basement lighting is the use protective grounding lamp housings. When laying and installing wiring, it is worth considering one iron rule: you cannot connect copper and aluminum wire, especially in wet areas. Such contact is not durable due to chemical reaction these materials.
The protection class of luminaires from moisture and dust must be no lower than IP 44. This will protect not only the luminaire and lamp itself, but also ensure their reliable, trouble-free and durable operation throughout their entire service life. All lighting wiring is most often laid open type, or in metal pipes and corrugated special tubes, called sleeves by electricians. This will protect the wiring from mechanical damage. The metal sleeve is grounded, again to protect a person from the phase breaking through to the body. As for the illumination standard, it should be at least 10 Lux for incandescent lamps; other sources are not standardized, but experts still recommend using economical ones for this type of lighting. LED lights with high IP ratings.
Organizing good lighting of local areas is a guarantee not only of aesthetic comfort and convenience, but also of safety, since all thieves and robbers prefer to attack in the dark in unlit or poorly lit areas. Also high quality and correct lighting the yard is necessary for safe movement and reducing injuries when people move along the sidewalks of apartment buildings. 
To illuminate the local area of any multi-apartment building or structure, the requirements specified in the set of rules SP 52.13330.2011 must be clearly met. This document is an official publication, which states that:
If these requirements are not met, citizens living in the building have the legal right to write a complaint to the administration responsible for municipal services or to the city government. There are many hotlines for contacting the city mayor, hotel ministries, or directly to the court. If the entire entrance or house signs the complaint, this will only speed up the solution to the problem.
