“I sent my mother’s passport”: schoolchildren rent country cottages for New Year’s parties

This year, a record number of private houses in the Moscow region were rented out for New Year’s Eve – and most of them, to the displeasure of intermediaries, found guests for the holiday directly on the RuNet.

We found out who the clients of country cottages are, and what the owners of rental housing fear most.

The fact that 70% of cottages and small winter dachas for rent near Moscow are rented for the New Year holidays, mainly from December 30 to January 2-3, is reported by real estate agencies, referring to their bases – that is, country houses, whose owners use the services of realtors when renting them out. In this case, as is known, the agency or individual intermediary takes a percentage from the landlord, but is responsible to him for the identities of the guests selected for him and for a legally correctly drawn up and signed contract by the clients, protecting the landlord from any unpleasant surprises.

“Anything can happen,” Alena, a suburban real estate manager at a real estate agency in the capital, answers the question about “surprises.” – And especially on holidays like New Year. After all, these include fireworks and other “incendiary” entertainment, coupled with strong drinks. This means that the risks include not only damage to property, but also fire at home. Anything can happen, because country houses always have stoves, baths and fireplaces. The “simplest” difficulty is if someone does not want or cannot move out within the specified period because they have drunk too much. Usually we quickly solve this by sending our driver. All possible force majeure, if anything, is resolved by the agency – our brokers and lawyers.

– In the case of such risks, how is it possible that someone is not afraid to rent out their country property directly?

– Out of greed, they don’t want to pay a percentage to the intermediary. Moreover, now any house near Moscow, almost a summer cottage, is flying away for such money that the owners simply turn off their brains.

– For example?

– If a good cottage is in a good direction, then it can be over half a million rubles a day. For example, today we rented a house for 600 thousand rubles per day, although this price is only from December 28 to January 10, at other times it is rented out cheaper. House of 600 square meters in a guarded business class village 20 km from Moscow along the Kievskoye Highway, in an area formally belonging to New Moscow, with an indoor pool, SPA area, servants, a large territory and loyal neighbors warned of what is there they will make noise. The house was rented by a large company, but the contract was signed with one of them, he made a substantial deposit in case of unforeseen surprises – breakdowns, damage to furniture, which is expensive there, and so on.

According to realtors working with suburban real estate in New Moscow and the Moscow region, among their clients the leaders are wealthy residents of Russian regions who come to the capital for the New Year holidays with their families, relatives and friends – in general, with a company with which they would like to celebrate the New Year in one table. Having money, they want to stay in an “iconic” place that is popular throughout the country.

“Rublyovka, Barvikha, Zhukovka, Gorki-10,” Alena lists requests from Russians from the periphery who want to celebrate 2024 not just in the capital, but in its “holy of holies,” as they understand it. – But you start to convince them, they agree. I tell them that the Rublevo-Uspenskoe highway is narrow and there are checkpoints at every step, it will be difficult to travel to Moscow. But guests of the capital do not want to stay in the house all holidays, but before the New Year and immediately after they are going to walk around Moscow. And rich residents of the regions have not yet matured to the electric train; for them it is still “not cool”, “with the people” and so on. Well, even where they want, the neighbors can be capricious and the prices are prohibitive. And in general, very few people rent there, with Kievka and Kaluzhka agencies at the top.

We check which mansions are offered directly on thematic sites of the Runet and how much they cost. Predictably, there are no elite palaces with swimming pools in elite areas, because without an intermediary, renting occurs at the peril and risk of the home owner. I choose an “average hospital” (in Moscow and Moscow region) house – 50th km of the multi-lane “traffic-free” Simferopol highway, an insulated and heated dacha in SNT, but one where some people live all year round – that is, water and electricity in the winter the village is not disconnected. The house has two floors, 4 bedrooms, two bathrooms, a shower and a spacious dining room combined with a kitchen. On the site there is a Russian bathhouse, a well, a tall spruce that can be decorated, and 12 acres for individual celebrations. Neighbors have been warned, there is a general village watchman. Price – 15 thousand rubles per day.

“Excuse me, but I will ask for your passport and only in person,” warns Gennady, the owner of the house. – Last year, a girl called in a pleasant voice, saying that the company was leaving work. I sent a photo of my passport to my phone, everything is fine, Muscovite, 35 years old. And then it turned out that a group of schoolchildren had been hanging out in my house for three days! And their parents were searched. They all lied that they were visiting each other, otherwise they would not have been allowed to go to the country house alone. Then I got tired of fighting off the parents when the children were finally discovered. Barely proved that I had nothing to do with it. You have to look after your teenagers yourself. It’s fortunate that they didn’t burn down the house and didn’t get too drunk, everyone is alive and well. But since then, minors in my house have been my worst nightmare. No more correspondence agreements, come in person with your passport.

– Whose passport was it?

– One of the girls sent her mother’s passport, and that’s how they were found.

And the worst thing for parents is that their children will secretly rent a house together, for which they have enough pocket money. And cheap houses are the most dangerous and fire hazardous. Therefore, some parents of teenagers prefer not to let them leave home at all on New Year’s Eve, but there are also those who rent a cottage for a group of schoolchildren themselves, provided that they will also be present at the New Year’s Eve.