Abandoned vehicles are found here and there in big cities. The local police are supposed to find such cars and send them to scrap, but very often the police do not have enough time for this. Management companies and owners of private territories often need to make efforts to clear their yard of auto junk on their own. After all, cars that have been parked in the open air for years not only interfere with landscaping, but can also provoke dangerous situations: fire, injuries to children who use old unnecessary vehicles as a toy. The evacuation of old abandoned cars must be timely and carried out based on regulations.
How to evacuate: step-by-step plan
Evacuation of cars abandoned by owners is carried out as follows:
- You must submit a statement to the administration that there is an ownerless car in the yard. Indicate the exact location, color and model. You can attach a photo to make the search easier for government representatives.
- The administration forms a commission of employees of the Internal Affairs Directorate, State Traffic Safety Inspectorate or OATI. They inspect the car, find out what condition it is in, whether no one really needs it or is it waiting for repairs.
- The owner of the vehicle will receive a notice that the property must be removed from the property within 2 weeks.
- If the owner of the car was not found or did not respond to the request, the car will be removed from the yard in any case, but now forcibly.
What are the criteria for identifying an abandoned car?
Determining that a car is truly abandoned is quite simple.
Important! Usually, the owners of such cars know that it is not suitable for further use for its intended purpose, but do not take any measures, because they simply do not know what needs to be done or do not want to spend money on transporting the car to a landfill.
Owners of apartments in a building cannot move someone else’s car on their own, so you must first make sure that it has really been abandoned by the owner.
To do this, the following signs are taken into account:
- there are no signs on the car;
- the machine is really in disrepair, so even from external signs it is clear that it will be impossible to repair or restore it in order to continue using it for its intended purpose;
- the vehicle does not have any important elements, such as wheels, doors or other parts.
For basic landscaping work on the local area, please follow the link.
If the car really has the above symptoms, then you can begin to take various measures aimed at removing it from the yard.
Abandoned cars, how is this problem solved in practice? Watch the video:
Parking period for an abandoned vehicle
The parking period for an ownerless car is not regulated. Abandonment is determined not by time, but by appearance, grooming, and the presence of a license plate. If a vehicle looks decent, it cannot be considered junk.
Still, there is a period that gives the right to take certain measures, including evacuating an abandoned car from the parking lot and recycling it. It can be several months or even years if the owner abandoned the car for an indefinite period or has not driven it for a long time. If the vehicle has significant damage such as broken glass, headlights, crumpled, rusty body, then these are good reasons to recognize it as ownerless.
What regulations governs
If you want to know how to evacuate an abandoned car, you should study Government Decree No. 569-PP of September 23, 2014 “On the procedure for identifying, moving, temporary storage and disposal of abandoned, including dismantled, vehicles in the city of Moscow.” The Resolution deals with how to correctly identify and remove vehicles that have been standing in the same place for years, where they can be temporarily stored, and what methods to dispose of them.
According to the law, both individuals and legal entities can address these issues to the governing bodies.
What is this new law and is it true?
So, as we already wrote above, this is a draft of the new Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. It has Chapter 21, which lists sanctions for traffic violations. But in this case we are talking about Chapter 16 of the Code, which is responsible for violations in the area of improvement of territories near residential buildings. Specifically about the new article 16.10.
- You can view the new draft Code of Administrative Offenses with this article and fines for abandoned cars and car washing, as well as the current status of entry into force on the official portal of the bills.
- On this page you need to go to the current version of the project, and the official text will open in front of you, or download it using the button at the bottom of the page.
However, if you see and read somewhere that new fines are already in effect, then this is not true. As we have already indicated above, as of May 29, 2021, this is still just a draft of a new law, and it is being discussed among the authorities. The changes have not yet been adopted and have not entered into force.
Signs that a car is neglected
Evacuation of abandoned cars takes place if the vehicle is truly ownerless. The car must be located on public territory - in a courtyard next to high-rise buildings, near an apartment building, on the roadway. If we are talking about a car that is parked on private property, then this concerns strictly its owner, and he himself decides how to dispose of his property.
How to evacuate an abandoned car? First you need to recognize it as trash. Such a car has the following characteristics:
- the owner abandoned the car, or they cannot find it;
- the vehicle is damaged beyond repair;
- the car is missing large parts - doors, wheels, tires, glass, etc.;
- no state numbers.
The last point is the most important. If license plates are present, the appearance of the vehicle may fade into the background, because in this case the car is considered the property of a certain person. And only he has the right to dispose of her, move her to another place and decide her fate. If in this case someone decides to independently move the car to another place or take it away from the yard, such actions will be illegal, this is theft of property, as stated in Article 35 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. The owner will be right if he goes to court with a claim, as a result of which a criminal case will be opened in accordance with 166 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
There is an owner
If the car has an owner, then the evacuation of the abandoned vehicle must occur with his consent. He himself decides what to do next: give the movable property for repairs, put it in the garage, sell it for spare parts, or dispose of it.
Concerned neighbors who know the owner can talk to them and politely ask them to decide the fate of the car themselves. If he doesn’t care what happens to the car, then he may lose his rights to it. This is stated in the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. After the owner has lost his license, the forced evacuation of an abandoned car from the yard will not be considered an unjustified action. The main thing is to coordinate any decisions with local authorities and obtain their consent.
No owner
In the absence of the owner, the evacuation of ownerless cars is carried out to a special parking lot using a tow truck. Transport can be stored there for up to three months. All this time, local authorities are looking for the owner in order to negotiate with him and decide what to do next with his property.
If during this time no one has responded or claimed their rights to the object, the administration writes a statement and submits it to the court. The statement states that the found car can be considered ownerless. After which the court decides whether it would be advisable to dispose of it. If so, then the iron parts will be run through a press, after which they will be used to make spare parts or other full-fledged products.
Where to go
Where to call to evacuate abandoned cars in Moscow? You can contact your local administration for help. Also to the district prefecture or engineering service. Specialists will either take immediate action or advise what actions need to be taken so that the export procedure takes place in accordance with existing rules.
Any car is someone's property
There are strict registration rules for cars in Russia. Each car must be registered with a specific owner in the traffic police, the owner must have a vehicle passport and a registration certificate. In other words, any car is someone's property.
From the right of ownership, a certain responsibility naturally follows.
. That is, the owner of the car must be responsible for the fact that his property causes inconvenience or direct damage to others. On the one hand, the law protects the ownership of a car - for example, if it is parked according to all the rules, an attempt to move it to another place or evacuate it may well result in a criminal case (such as theft or theft).
On the other hand, if the car is dismantled, has been sitting in one place for years, and no one has seen its owner, the interests of the public may outweigh. A car that sits in one place for several years can be dangerous - it interferes with passage and passage, it can catch fire, or children can be injured on it.
. Therefore, the problem of an abandoned car is, first of all, a search for a balance between the interests of the owner and residents of the house.
The local administration, of course, can hire a tow truck and take the car to the appropriate parking lot - but if it does this without the consent of the owner or without good grounds, it may receive a lawsuit from the owner. Therefore, officials usually do not respond very quickly to such statements.
The problem is complicated by the lack of a unified regulatory framework on such issues at the Russian level
– what can be done with an ownerless car is regulated by regional laws. In general, a car can be considered ownerless under the following conditions:
- he is missing both license plates;
- the car is dismantled (without wheels, windows, doors, etc.) or severely damaged in an accident;
- the owner was absent for a long time or he abandoned the rights to the car.
If the car has a state number, the second and third points most likely will not play a role - in this case, the vehicle is considered officially registered with one owner, and it can only be seized by a court decision.
However, in practice, everything depends on the legislative framework of the region
.
How to remove this vehicle
The evacuation of abandoned cars should not be solely a decision of neighbors or office owners. First you need to contact your local government and ask what to do in this situation. All steps must be followed before removal of an abandoned vehicle from a parking lot is possible.
The authorities will inspect the vehicle and determine its technical condition. They will also do everything possible to find the owner. If the latter does not appear in the near future, the decision on the evacuation of abandoned cars in Moscow is made by the court.
From the yard
If an old rusty car sits outside the windows for a long time, a natural question arises for residents: how to evacuate an abandoned car from the yard. The lack of numbers on it and poor technical condition gives every right to contact the authorities for a quick solution to the problem.
At the same time, local government employees often identify such trash in their yards themselves, and then register it. Typically they monitor the presence of scrap in the following areas:
- adjoining areas;
- arches, passages between houses;
- courtyard areas;
- places where city communications were carried out;
- garbage areas and so on.
Evacuation of an abandoned car from a yard follows the same rules as from a parking lot, private territory or public place. Evacuated vehicles are sent either to a special parking lot or directly to production, where the metal is processed.
From a disabled seat
There are few cases when a driver left a vehicle in a place intended for disabled people and went unpunished. Usually the traffic police monitors this and issues fines to those owners who do not have permission to leave their car in such a place.
This usually happens by accident or absent-mindedness and is eliminated very quickly. But it is much more difficult if disabled people leave their vehicles in suitable parking lots and forget about them forever. As a result, the object becomes unusable due to exposure to precipitation, vandalism and other negative phenomena. To remove vehicles, you need to do exactly the same as described in previous cases.
From private territory
What to do if you find an abandoned car on your property? After all, you can leave your car on someone else’s territory only with the consent of the owner. If a person does this silently, most likely he thinks that the existing rules will not affect him, and he maliciously violates them.
The owner of a vehicle may make the wrong parking location by parking in the wrong place. Even in this case, you have every right to collect a penalty from him. In another case, you can resolve the issue peacefully by asking the person to remove the vehicle and not leave it there anymore. If he goes into conflict, remember - the law is on your side.
How to evacuate an abandoned car from private property? If the owner of the abandoned car never shows up, the vehicle may remain on the property for several months, or even years. To remove it, clearing private property of clutter, you need to follow all the same procedures as when leaving a car in the yard, in a public parking lot or a place for the disabled.
Regional and federal regulations
The problem of littering the territory with abandoned cars in some regions has become quite serious, and they have come up with their own rules for clearing yards and streets. As a rule, everyone uses the way this is organized in Moscow as an example.
So, according to the resolution of the Moscow Government
, a statement from one of the residents of the house is enough to start the procedure:
- upon application (it can be submitted on the city hall website, to the district government or district prefecture), a special commission will examine the car within 3 days and try to determine its owner;
- when the owner is found, they will try to contact him (when re-registering a car with the traffic police, you need to indicate a telephone number) and demand that the car be removed;
- if the owner is not found or he does not comply with the order within 14 days, the commission comes for a second inspection, where he recognizes the car as abandoned;
- within 3 days the car will be evacuated to a special parking lot;
- The owner will be able to pick up his car only after paying the fine, tow truck services and parking costs.
Similar rules apply in St. Petersburg and some other regions of Russia.
They are not accepted in the final version everywhere, and some regions (like the Sverdlovsk region) allow a car to be towed only if it violates parking rules - which is almost impossible to prove for a courtyard area.
In many regions this is not the case - and removing abandoned vehicles is much more difficult. This can only be done through the court, and the application must be drawn up by the management company or residents' association. An example instruction would be:
- First contact the management company. Most likely, they will be reluctant to respond to such requests - it is unlikely that you will receive a fine for littering yards, but a lawsuit from the owner of the car is much easier. It will be easier if the car is blocking passage for special equipment (for example, a fire truck or an ambulance) - then the traffic police will have to evacuate the car as quickly as possible;
- The management company or residents' association should try to identify the owner of the car and contact him. If the owner’s contact information is found, the management company will order him to remove the car, residents can ask him to do it “in a good way” (if desired, collect money and help take the car to a landfill if it is no longer drivable);
- if the owner is not found, or he does not respond to requests, all that remains is to file a lawsuit. Photographs, videos and witness statements of residents must be attached to the statement of claim;
- Having received a court decision, you will need to contact either the owner of the car (ignoring such a decision is much more difficult than requests), or the local authorities - they should have a predetermined procedure for this case.
Most likely, the procedure will take more than one month
– the management company will delay the process, several court hearings will take several weeks, and local authorities are also unlikely to comply with the requirement immediately. Therefore, whether to get involved in this story or not is up to the residents to decide for themselves. But if an abandoned car really interferes with travel and passage, you can try to solve the problem - perhaps residents will be able to quickly “reach out” to the owner of the car.
Scheme of the prefecture's actions on the application of residents
First you need to submit an application, after which technical inspections carry out a series of actions. In three days, they are required to form a commission for a technical inspection of the object, find its location and conduct an inspection. They will also be sure to draw up an inspection report and take the required number of photos. After this, a search will be conducted for the owner - if he is found and takes action himself, this will greatly simplify the further procedure. If he does not want to do anything, the car is sent for three months of storage in a special parking lot.
As soon as the 3 months have expired, the local government submits all completed inspection reports of the property to the court. After this, the judicial authorities must confirm the ownerlessness of the vehicle and make the right decision regarding its disposal. After 15 days, you can begin to implement the court order. Local authorities enforce all instructions regarding the vehicle.
Local authorities are inactive
Contacting your local government or recycling company may not yield any results. A month is given to consider the application, then you can go to the prosecutor's office. The last authority to protect your rights is the court. The court will oblige the traffic police to search for the owner.
If it is still not found, a court order will require the local authority or recycling company to remove the vehicle from the yard. According to the law, rusty equipment cannot be located in the courtyards of apartment buildings, so the court’s decision on the claim of the residents of the house is usually always positive.
If the owner of the car is known, he will pay the costs of towing, disposal, and most likely legal costs.
