"The contractor disappeared, the facade is in question": activists have taken on Kirov's troubled apartment buildings

      The Center for Public Oversight in the Housing and Utilities Sector under the Public Chamber of the Kirov Region held a scheduled field meeting and inspected the progress of major repairs in buildings that have long been in the “red zone” due to missed deadlines and residents’ complaints. Representatives of the Capital Repair Fund and apartment owners took part in the raid.

      Third year of repairs and not a single contractor

      The first site was the long-suffering multi-storey building at 72 Preobrazhenskaya Street. Major repairs have been underway here for the third year. After a working meeting in the summer of 2025 it seemed the situation would stabilize, however in August the contract with the contractor was terminated due to missed deadlines. The new tender announced in November 2025 has so far not led to the appointment of a contractor.

      The previous contractor’s work has not been accepted; the Capital Repair Fund is now deciding whether to dismantle the already installed structures. Public oversight representatives suggested an alternative — to assess their reliability and quality, in order to avoid protracted court cases and another rollback to square one.

      In addition, the public activists drew attention to the condition of the facade: the window reveals and windowsills have been removed from the building, which directly affects the preservation of the walls.

      63 Vladimirskaya Street: the scenario repeats

      At the building at 63 Vladimirskaya Street the situation is almost a mirror image. The contract with the contractor was also terminated in August 2025. The Fund is currently negotiating with a potential contractor. According to Acting Director of the Capital Repair Fund Andrey Antonov, they plan to complete the repairs by the end of 2027.

      They also separately agreed to address the problem of snow drifting into the attic — for this the Fund intends to involve the management company.

      "The worst-case scenario is when the contractor disappears"

      Chairman of the Public Chamber commission Sergey Ulitin noted that in both cases the Fund found itself in one of the most difficult situations — the contractor partially completed the work and disappeared.

      "The structures are installed but not accepted, which means they legally remain the property of the contractor. This complicates the transition to a new contractor and leads to protracted legal disputes," he emphasized.

      Public watchdog representatives recommended that the Fund step up negotiations with the previous contractors and seek ways to accelerate the change of contractors without additional loss of time and money.

      Not everything is so bad

      So as to avoid the impression of a total failure, the commission also visited the building at 17 Moskovskaya Street. Here the major repair of the roof, facade and foundation was successfully completed in December 2025 — an example that with proper organization the process can proceed without disruptions.

      The Public Chamber will continue monitoring problematic sites. The next checkpoint is scheduled for March 2026.