Three orphaned siblings in Russia's Kuzbass region, two sisters and their brother, were resettled from a condemned building into apartments that had previously been damaged by fire, according to the Telegram channel Shot.
The family's home in the city of Prokopyevsk was declared dilapidated between 2022 and 2023, Shot reported. Rather than being moved into new housing, the family was given money by the authorities to buy an apartment on its own.
Agents hid fire damage on three apartments
According to Shot, real estate agents persuaded the family to buy three apartments at once but did not disclose that all three properties had previously been sold off after a fire. The agents promised to return the money left over from the purchase so it could go toward repairs, but the paperwork for the apartments was not handed over to the family for a long time, the channel said.
After the children's mother died, the documents were passed on to the eldest daughter. The siblings then discovered that the apartments carried a housing and utility debt of about 330,000 rubles, Shot reported.
"A horror movie"
Showing a burned-out bathroom in one of the apartments, the victims asked where the guardianship authority had been when it should have inspected the property, and said the situation was like something out of a horror film, according to Shot.
The family reported the case to police. In early 2026 officers told them that no signs of fraud had been found in the actions of the real estate agents or officials, the channel said.
Orphan housing rights in Russia
Kuzbass, formally known as the Kemerovo region, is a coal-mining region in southwestern Siberia, and Prokopyevsk is one of its cities. Under Russian law, orphans and children left without parental care are entitled to housing from regional authorities once they reach adulthood, either through the direct allocation of an apartment or, as in this case, through funds meant to help them buy one.
Shot separately noted an earlier complaint from a woman in Kamchatka, the widow of a serviceman who fought in the military operation in Ukraine, who said she was being evicted from an apartment her late husband had received as an orphan under a social tenancy agreement.
