Sverdlovsk Resident Loses Apartment After Registering Migrants

A resident of Alapayevsk in the Sverdlovsk Region (a citizen of Azerbaijan who obtained Russian citizenship) decided to help an acquaintance and lost his apartment. Criminal charges were brought against the man under the article for fictitious registration of foreigners for migration purposes. In 2024 and 2025, he registered nine people (one of them twice) in his two-room apartment of 46.6 square meters, none of whom ever actually lived there.

In court, Elnar (name changed) did not admit guilt and claimed that he did not take money for registering the foreigners and thought they would wash, live, and sleep there in turns—there would have been enough space. This despite the fact that at the same time, a tenant with his family lived in the apartment and was also registered there.

The tenant and his wife were also interrogated in the case. They confirmed that from time to time, some people came to the apartment to wash, stored their belongings there, but only one person stayed overnight, and only once.

All those whom Elnar registered in his two-room apartment worked at a sawmill in a neighboring settlement. His acquaintance, who works as a foreman there, asked for the favor, and in return, he paid the utility bills for the apartment.

As a result, the court found the Sverdlovsk resident guilty under the criminal article, fined him 200,000 rubles (approximately $2,000 at current rates) for all crimes, and also ordered him to cover the costs of his appointed lawyer. But the key part of the verdict is the decision to seize the apartment where Elnar registered the migrants. The value of this property is about two million rubles (approximately $20,000).

«The apartment, owned by the defendant, was used by him as a means of committing all crimes, while this residential premises is not used by the defendant himself for living. In connection with this, this apartment is subject to confiscation through forced and gratuitous seizure into state ownership,» stated in the court materials.

After the trial, Elnar turned to lawyer Zarina Adiyeva for help. She has already filed an appeal to have the regional court review the verdict regarding the confiscation of the apartment.

«In this case, the apartment cannot be a means of committing a crime, and therefore cannot be confiscated. If we follow such logic, let»s also confiscate apartments where murders or rapes have been committed,« says the lawyer.

At the same time, the defender emphasized that in such cases, the court does not consider that the property may have been acquired during marriage and be considered joint property.

«Even having the apartment owned by several persons, including spouses, will not save it from confiscation. In this situation, if the person could have foreseen that his apartment might be confiscated, he should have done something about it. Now, transferring the apartment to another person is unlikely to help save the property, since the alienation transaction will later be declared invalid, which means the apartment will be returned to the convicted person»s ownership,« emphasizes Zarina Adiyeva.

Elnar«s case, it turns out, is not the first in the region. Thus, at the end of 2025, a resident of Nizhny Tagil was found guilty of fictitious registration of a foreigner and fictitious registration of a Russian citizen at a place of residence. The court fined him 100,000 rubles (approximately $1,000 at current rates) and confiscated a private house and the land plot under it. The court decision has already entered into legal force.

Previously, we reported on another high-profile court case related to real estate. An architect from Yekaterinburg sold an apartment and then sued the buyers and banks, claiming she was a victim of fraud. The court ultimately dismissed the lawsuit, and we reported on how this process went.