What to look for when buying an apartment? Checking documents and legal cleanliness of the apartment

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Any transaction in the form of sale and purchase implies a cash settlement. Furniture, a fur coat, greenery at the grandmother's market - a certain number of banknotes flows from one wallet to another. And there is always a risk of getting for your hard-earned goods not of the quality you expected, or even being left without it if the seller is a scammer. Even with a small purchase price, the loss of a few banknotes can cause deep frustration, but if we are talking about millions? For example, when buying an apartment or a house? This is where you should check a hundred times before proceeding with the final calculation.

New or resale?

The likelihood of acquiring housing “with luggage” - debts for a communal apartment, unregistered owners of shares and other similar nuances that can subsequently interfere with normal living in personal square meters - is possible when buying real estate that previously belonged to someone, the so-called housing of the secondary fund. When deciding on such a deal, you should know for sure what to look for.attention when buying an apartment or house from the previous owner or his representative. The risk of getting a futile lawsuit instead of housing and, as a result, being left without your own corner and without money when buying a secondary property is quite high.

A more reliable option is to purchase an apartment in a new building. Especially if the house has already been commissioned and is at the stage of settlement. In this case, the list of housing documentation required for verification is much shorter. But even here it would not be superfluous to get advice on buying an apartment from a developer from an experienced lawyer, since any transaction has its own pitfalls. And in the case of real estate, when it comes to fairly significant amounts, you need to be extremely careful.

Dangers of a clean apartment

Today, the cheapest way to acquire real estate is to participate in shared construction. In this case, you can save up to 30% of the real cost of the apartment. But the risk, after years of finding an overgrown wasteland at the site of the pit, is also quite high. How to buy an apartment in shared construction - it is better to find out before meeting with the developer so as not to sign an agreement that will not give any guarantees at the stage of obtaining the keys to the housing. However, even the most reliable document certified by a notary does not protect against losses in certain cases. The developer may go bankrupt, not receive permission to build a house at the appointed time, and the money will depreciate by the time all signatures and seals are collected. Shareholders' funds sometimes disappear in an unknown direction. When deciding to purchase a home even before its construction, buyers should remember that in most cases, if the developer has unforeseen problems, the maximum that can be counted on is to receive the status of a defrauded interest-holder, but not the housing itself.

When a house under construction has already been built under the roof, the likelihood of a quick move into one's own housing is much higher than if it was purchased at the stage of digging a foundation pit. Where to buy an apartment, everyone has the right to decide on their own, but the desire to save money is not always justified. Often becoming a shareholder for the construction of a residential building is akin to acquiring a pig in a poke. Money given, but no goods.

If the house is built and put into operation with the approved technical documentation, you should personally make sure that what is written on paper corresponds to what is in reality. Compare the layout before your eyes with the design one, the number of square meters of total and usable area, the rights of the developer to sell a specific area. It will not be superfluous to check if someone is already registered in the new apartment. Selling the same home twice to different people is not a new type of scam.

Existing Pedigree

No one is immune from such a development of events with the acquisition of their own housing. Checking the legal purity of the apartment can take a lot of time, but you should not neglect it. Track the list of previous owners of real estate, the length of their stay at the specified address, marital status, availabilitychildren and other close relatives is difficult, but possible. In this regard, you can get relevant information and real help in several state institutions: the cadastral service, the passport office, etc. Complete information is necessary so that at the stage of completing the transaction or after moving in it suddenly turns out that not all square meters in the apartment belonged to the seller. Part of the living space, and sometimes individual rooms, may be owned by other persons. They can demand their rights to these meters at any time. And their claims are more protected by law, in contrast to the desire of the buyer to completely own the paid meters.

What else to look for when buying an apartment - the technical documentation. Often, residents carry out repairs with redevelopment of the kitchen, corridor, rooms. They demolish load-bearing walls, combine a bathroom or, conversely, share a single room. With problems of a legal nature, when the right to property is at stake, the pen alties from the BTI in case of detection of alteration of the layout cannot be compared. But they can also bring a lot of trouble. In any case, they will undoubtedly lead to additional cash spending. Pen alty, correction of violations in the form of an unplanned overhaul - the most likely development of events.

The hidden past of the secondary

In addition to the information that the seller would like to hide until the completion of the transaction, there are many pitfalls that are often difficult to guess. What to pay attention to whenbuying an apartment, in addition to the listed nuances? For example, for a possible violation of the law during the privatization of the acquired real estate.

In the 90s of the last century, a law came into force, according to which everyone registered in a certain living space was en titled to their own square meters. It applied to everyone, including young children, former spouses who remained registered within the same apartment, a temporarily absent relative, for example, a long-term prisoner. Not all family members were listed in the privatization documentation. But, after a while, they could complain that they were cheated at the time.

The next nuance is a donation or rent agreement. As a rule, feuding relatives are rarely informed about such operations. The truth may emerge, some time later, after the purchase of the controversial housing. But the most common surprise that you may encounter when buying a property is an apartment with utility bills in arrears. Here, the problem can be detected before signing the contract, and it is important for the buyer to agree with the seller how to resolve it. As a rule, it is extinguished by reducing the cost of housing. But each case is different.

Most reliable information

Not all reliable genealogy of this or that real estate lies in official documents. Hidden relatives, possible applicants for housing cannot be found in them. In addition, utility payments can be made not by homeowners, but by completely differentthe people to whom it was promised. The scheme is as follows: elderly apartment owners sign an agreement with distant relatives or social workers that after their death they will get the area, but those who need to pay for the communal apartment now. They regularly transfer money to the management company, according to the contract, and consider the housing almost their own. Not taking into account such an agreement, the direct heirs after the death of the old people try to get rid of the unreliable gift. The purchase and sale of the apartment is being processed, but there are already two applicants for it.

There is the most reliable way to find out about all the possible pitfalls that can overshadow the joy of buying a home - to get information about its former owners from neighbors on the porch or gossip in the yard. If the apartment was owned by the same owners for quite a long time, it will not be possible to hide any secrets about it from those living nearby. The information received from them cannot be found in any documents when buying an apartment. Suddenly, someone in the seller's family is a mentally ill person or a disabled person who cannot independently dispose of his property, and the guardian does not consider it necessary to respect his rights. If the new housing is worse than the previous one, the transaction may be canceled at the request of the guardianship authorities. Therefore, information from neighbors should not be neglected either.

The best re altor is the buyer himself

It is important to remember the following - no remuneration to the intermediary will make him more vigilant when checking documents for the purchase of housing, except for the points specified in the contract. Therefore, turningfor assistance to re altors, it is necessary to clearly state their responsibility to their employer, if suddenly something goes wrong and the deal is disrupted. Buying an apartment through an agency is another rather risky undertaking. Plus, it's very expensive. The re altor does not collect information about the past of the former owners, does not try to protect his client in the future. He only compares data on housing with those that official structures have. And only after the registration of the bill of sale and payment of real estate, as well as remuneration to the agent, potential applicants for the purchased apartment may appear. In absolute plus there will be one re altor. And the previous and new owners will plunge into a series of litigations.

Buying an apartment without intermediaries is also fraught with unforeseen difficulties, if you do not have sufficient grasp, information about all the possible surprises associated with paperwork, money transfer and other subtleties of the transaction. But among these visible shortcomings there is one significant advantage: no one will defend his interests so zealously as the one who buys for himself, the one who pays. It is enough to enlist the support of an experienced adviser who will be able to tell you about all the intricacies of the operation, and the apartment you buy will be checked in the most thorough way.

Scammers are on the alert

Selling someone else's apartment is one of the most common real estate scams. Experienced swindlers have fake documents for the housing itself, a power of attorney by which theyempowered to conduct a transaction, often look better than real ones. In the field of buying and selling, renting real estate, highly professional scammers work, who are well aware of all the intricacies of the legal system on this issue. Just a power of attorney is the first thing that should alert the buyer. Why the owner does not sell his housing himself, how can he be contacted at least so that he personally confirms the authority of the intermediary. In any case, verification of documents when buying an apartment, starting with a power of attorney, cannot be avoided by a notary. He must confirm the authenticity of the document, verify its validity. It is best to go to the notary who issued this power of attorney.

The next trick of the scammers is a fake passport. Homeowners are on a long business trip or on vacation, and their area is managed by strangers who got hold of samples of original documents for it or even the originals themselves. There are many criminal schemes that scammers can use. Do not forget about black re altors. So, when planning the purchase of housing, it is better to consult a lawyer and keep close contact with him throughout the transaction. He is able to give practical advice on when it is better to buy an apartment, focusing on the current demand of the real estate market.

Documentation under the microscope

No matter how attractive the conditions of the deal and the favorable price, you should not rush to pay. First you need to collect second copies or copies of all documents on housing, its owners and go with all the papers to the notary. If real estate inamong the owners there are minor family members, the lawyer will tell you how to correctly write down the clause on them in the contract. In addition, he will recommend which authorities to visit, what certificates to get so that the rights of young children are not violated, and no one can later invalidate the sale and purchase of an apartment.

Useful advice from a lawyer will help in the implementation of the bill of sale, if the owners are spouses with different shares of ownership of the property, or the apartment is owned by only one of them, and the second one is only registered in it. In this case, how to properly draw up documents and what receipts to get - again, you can’t do without a notary. Even if the buyer himself is a pro in legal matters, each paper certifying the authenticity of the transaction must be carefully checked so that there are no mistakes in writing the address, seller and buyer data, date, amount and other essential details.

Struggle for value

What to look for when buying an apartment, in addition to the points already listed, is the amount of money spent on the documents and actually handed over to the hands of the bill of sale. It is more profitable for the seller to declare in the income statement (and the sale of housing falls under this provision) a lower value of the transaction, since he will have to make tax payments on it. The main thing is that the specified amount should not be lower than the market by 20-30%, as this may cause suspicion of the inspection authorities. If the moment of collusion between the seller and the buyer is proved, then the latter may becomedefendants in an administrative fraud case.

It is beneficial for the seller to indicate a lower amount, and he can ask the buyer for this service.

You should not agree for many reasons:

• Firstly, such a concession really violates the current legislation and is fraught with consequences.
• Secondly, the buyer has the right to return about 13% of the amount spent on the purchase of housing. The corresponding opportunity is regulated by the Tax Code.
• Thirdly, if the transaction is subsequently disputed by one of the parties and declared invalid, the seller has the right to return to the buyer only the amount indicated in the documents. The victim will not be able to prove the opposite when a certain figure is prescribed in the contract.

Smart calculation

And the last big danger that can await both the seller and the buyer is the final settlement. The difficulties of choosing (to purchase primary or secondary housing) are behind us, the time frame is determined when it is better to buy an apartment, the ordeal of collecting and verifying all documents, accumulating the required amount or obtaining a loan from a bank has been completed. And everything can collapse at the last moment, if you do not play it safe with the transfer of money. It can be carried out by transferring the required number of banknotes into the hands of the seller, or by transferring to a bank account, which is more secure. If we are talking about a large amount, then they are usually afraid to mess with cash. However, if one of the parties prefers this particular method of payment, money can betransfer by renting a safe deposit box, from which they have the right to pick up the one who presents certain documents, issued when buying an apartment. Their list is checked by a specialist of the institution. It also guarantees their authenticity. All the nuances of both this type of calculation and non-cash can be found in the bank.

What else is important to remember at the stage of the final payment of the cost of the apartment is not to confuse the size of the deposit and the advance, as they have different purposes and return options if the transaction does not go through for some reason. The amount of the advance is taken into account in the final calculation, but the deposit is not. It is either returned to the buyer if the purchase was successful, or remains with the seller if the operation failed for no reason. In any case, the deposit remains with the injured party in the event of a disruption of the transaction.