Published on 20 September 2021

FIFTH SECTION

Application no. 35659/13 Oksana Gennadyevna YESICHKO and Others against Ukraine lodged on 21 May 2013 communicated on 30 August 2021

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE

The application concerns the eviction of the applicants (mother and two minor children) from a room in a communal flat ( комунальна квартира ) [1] pursuant to a court order, which indicated that there was no legal basis for them to occupy it. The applicants allege that the judicial authorities had incorrectly interpreted the applicable law and had failed to pay due regard to their personal circumstances.

In that latter respect, in the course of the domestic proceedings the applicants argued, in particular, that the disputed room used to be an insanitary dilapidated storage closet, which they had renovated; that other flat occupants and the building owner (a State-owned company) had no objections against their settling in it; and that their eviction would place them in a precarious situation. More specifically, before having settled in the disputed room, the applicants had occupied a next-door room in the same flat, sharing it with three other members of their extended family, who continued to live there. Their return back to the same room would create adverse environment for the children’s upbringing in view of the extremely cramped conditions.

QUESTION TO THE PARTIES

Has there been a violation of the applicants’ right to respect for their home, contrary to Article 8 of the Convention, in view of their eviction (see, for example, McCann v. the United Kingdom , no. 19009/04, ECHR 2008; Paulić v. Croatia , no. 3572/06, judgment of 22 October 2009; and Kryvitska and Kryvitskyy v. Ukraine , no. 30856/03, judgment of 2 December 2010)?

APPENDIX

No.

Applicant’s Name

Year of birth/registration

Nationality

Place of residence

1.Oksana Gennadyevna YESICHKO

1975Ukrainian

Sevastopol

2.Yekaterina Vladimirovna POLIKHOVSKAYA

2002Ukrainian

Sevastopol

3.Sofiya Olegovna YESICHKO

2009Ukrainian

Sevastopol

[1] A flat accommodating members of more than one household unit. In such an accommodation each household unit typically occupies a room (or several rooms) for personal use, while other facilities (most frequently, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a hallway) are shared and used by all the occupants. The concept of communal flats emerged in the Soviet times in response to the housing crisis in urban areas. Some communal flats still exist.