When buying an apartment, you found out that a person is registered in it. Non-standard situation. Is it worth making a deal or is it better to terminate it? Let's try to understand this issue.
Firstly, you can buy housing with a registered person. Secondly, you risk virtually nothing if you are familiar with all the features of such a transaction. Thirdly, the seller does not have the right to hide information about registered people (clause 1, article 558, Civil Code of the Russian Federation). Otherwise, you can terminate the purchase and sale agreement, as well as return the amount of money paid in full.
Is it possible to buy an apartment with registered people?
The law does not prohibit the sale of housing with people registered in it. The fact is that in case of purchase, the rights to use and dispose of the apartment are transferred to its new owner. Therefore, residents who are registered as citizens in this premises are required to move out of it as soon as possible.
In this regard, we can conclude that it is possible to buy an apartment with registered residents, but we must remember that there are categories of citizens who are almost impossible to discharge from the apartment. These include minors and incompetents. You can read more about the nuances of discharging children in this article.
Possible risks
The cost of apartments with encumbrances is 20-30% lower. However, all issues related to the discharge of tenants fall on the shoulders of the real estate buyer. So, what are you risking anyway?
- Problems with further real estate transactions. The presence of registered people complicates the processes of selling, dividing and exchanging property.
- Availability of tenants is a burden. Not all people can be discharged from an apartment after purchasing it. Let's talk more about this below.
- Endless promises to check out. Often, when an apartment is sold, family members of the owner are registered in it. He complains that there is no place to register them before purchasing a new home and asks them to wait. Days, weeks, months go by, but no one is in a hurry to be discharged. In this case, all that remains is to go to court, which will require additional financial costs.
- "Invaders". The situation is rare, but it does occur. They sell apartments with “invaders” at a lower price precisely because they do not want to fight them. In fact, there are people living in the apartment who do not want to be discharged voluntarily. Naturally, you can go to court, which will satisfy the owner’s demand. However, such a matter may drag on for several years. The “occupiers” will challenge the court’s decision, then avoid bailiffs and delay the eviction process in every possible way.
But the problems may not end there. Each individual situation requires detailed consideration. Therefore, I do not advise entering into such transactions without the participation of a professional realtor or real estate agency.
What problems may arise
Buying a home with people registered in it is a tempting proposition. It is usually sold much cheaper than a similar one without tenants. Such a purchase may cause problems in the future. A person who is registered must deregister after the transaction is completed, but it often happens that citizens refuse to deregister voluntarily.
Even if the person registered does not live in this apartment, the owner will still have to pay utility bills for him. Difficulties may also arise if he decides to sell or exchange the apartment again.
In addition, there are persons who cannot be discharged. These include:
- people who can use housing by testamentary refusal;
- who refused to privatize the apartment in favor of other residents.
Such categories of citizens have the right to live in specific housing for life. Also, before purchasing an apartment, you should find out whether a convicted person serving a sentence in prison is registered in the housing. Because even if you deregister him, he can easily restore his registration if the deregistration procedure was carried out at the time he served his sentence.
If residents refuse or delay voluntary discharge, the issue will have to be resolved in court. To avoid this, before making a transaction, you need to check whether there are registered citizens in the apartment.
When drawing up a purchase and sale agreement, the owner is obliged to indicate in it the existing encumbrances (including registered persons). If he hides this fact, the buyer will subsequently be able to terminate the transaction in court.
What if the person lives in another country?
In this case, you can enter a person in three ways:
- court. It is necessary to file a statement of claim, which is best drafted with the help of a lawyer;
- consulate. You will need to contact the consulate of the country in which the registered person lives and obtain an extract through it;
- notary. The registered person gives written consent to the discharge and has it certified by a notary (at the discretion of the management of the passport office).
The last method is the simplest. However, before buying an apartment, it is better to find out the contacts of the registered person and contact him in advance to agree on all the nuances.
How to check an apartment before buying
In order to eliminate the risk of purchasing housing with registered residents, it is necessary to check the presence of encumbrances in advance. To do this, you should ask the owner for an extract from the house register. You can get it at the passport office, but it is worth considering that it will only be issued to the owner. It will contain all information about all persons registered in the apartment.
It is important to know that only registered citizens appear on a regular apartment card. To find out information about people who are temporarily deregistered, you need to ask the owner to provide a detailed statement. This is the only way to find out whether there are persons in the house register who have been temporarily discharged but will be able to restore their registration. These include, for example, convicts serving sentences.
Prisoners who own an apartment and who signed an agreement to sell it while in prison will be able to cancel the deal through the court after their release.
Procedure
Below you will find step-by-step instructions for canceling your registration for the voluntary and compulsory method.
By mutual agreement
In order for the new owner to freely discharge the person, it is necessary to notify the latter of the need to undergo this procedure. You can read about how to correctly draw up a demand, an eviction notice, here. If consent is obtained, then the owner's participation is no longer required. A registered citizen must perform the following series of actions:
- contact the Department of Internal Affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation at your place of residence;
- fill out an application on a special form, which can be obtained from employees of the migration authority or downloaded from the link below);
- provide the required documents to the specialist;
- come again to receive a passport with the appropriate stamp.
This method does not present any particular difficulties for the new owner.
Forcibly
If a person refuses to register voluntarily or his whereabouts are unknown, then the owner has every right to cancel the registration through the court. To do this, you need to draw up a statement of claim and apply to the district court at the location of the apartment. If the appeal is satisfied, obtain a court decision. With this document, go to the Department of Internal Affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation to deregister the former tenant.
Example. Citizen Sazonov purchased an apartment under a purchase and sale agreement. At the time of registration of the transaction, citizen Romanenko (owner) and citizen Dmitrienko (distant relative of the owner) were registered in the apartment. After the purchase, Sazonov notified the former residents of the need to check out of the apartment. Citizen Romanenko voluntarily underwent the discharge procedure at the Department of Internal Affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation. In contrast, Dmitrienko refused to voluntarily deregister, pointing out that he had no time to contact the migration authorities and in general he needed registration to get a job. In this regard, Sazonov appealed to the court with a demand to forcibly discharge citizen Dmitrienko and provided the court with all the necessary documents. The court satisfied the plaintiff's demands. Having received the court's decision, Sazonov turned to the Main Directorate of Migration Affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs at his place of residence, where employees of the passport office discharged Dmitrienko from the apartment within 3 working days.
✅ Useful tips
When buying an apartment with registered people, the new owner acts at his own peril and risk. Situations can be very different, but general recommendations from lawyers apply to all of them:
- Be sure to request an extended (!) extract from the house register. It is also called archival. The buyer of the apartment is unlikely to be given an extract, but you can ask the seller for it. The latter does not have the right to refuse, since a violation of paragraph 1 of Art. 558 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation threatens to annul the contract of purchase and sale of housing.
- Pay attention to the share of the heirs. It is most convenient to stipulate in the contract that their shares are paid by the seller. Consequently, you will buy the apartment as a whole, and not in fragmented shares.
- When purchasing an apartment with registered children, be sure to require the consent of the guardianship authority . There are cases when parents want to discharge their child, but the family simply has nowhere to live. Therefore, the OOP should refuse to discharge minors. All this affects the fate of the future transaction.
- Transfer money for the apartment only after the owner's family members registered in the apartment have checked out. Many people prefer to rent a safe deposit box. As soon as the seller fulfills his part of the agreement, he will be able to receive money for the apartment. The intermediary is a banking institution, which reduces the risks of financial fraud.
If you have a clear intention to buy an apartment, read our articles “What questions to ask when buying an apartment” and “Term for vacating an apartment after the sale by law” - they will help you take into account the intricacies of the transaction.
Thus, buying an apartment with a registered person is always a risk. The new owner has the right to demand that the tenant be discharged on the basis of clause 2 of Art. 292 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. There are two ways to deregister previous residents - voluntarily or forcibly . In the second case, you need to draw up a statement of claim and provide convincing evidence. Deregistration of minors is accompanied by difficulties.
Statement of claim
To properly draft a claim, it is best to contact a qualified lawyer. He will not only help you fill out this document correctly, but will also advise you on all the questions that arise in your specific situation. Such services require additional costs, and not everyone has the opportunity to use them. Therefore, you can try to draw up a statement yourself. It is filled out in accordance with a specific form. The header of the application states:
- Full name of the judicial authority to which the appeal is made.
- Last name, first name and patronymic of the plaintiff and his residential address.
- Information about the defendant in the same form as about the plaintiff.
Below in the text of the application, the circumstances in connection with which the applicant is applying to the court should be indicated. Then describe the reasons for the discharge procedure. The next step is to outline all the requirements that, in the plaintiff’s opinion, the court must satisfy and list all the attached documents. At the end of the claim it is necessary to put the date of preparation and the personal signature of the applicant.
You can find a sample statement of claim to recognize a person as having lost the right to use an apartment here
✅ Legal assistance
Purchasing real estate with encumbrances requires a comprehensive analysis of the situation. Practice shows that not all residents want to leave the apartment - as a result, disputes between old and new homeowners. Many are immediately determined to resolve the conflict forcibly. But before going to court, you need to form a legal position. This becomes a problem for an unprepared person.
Our portal's lawyers provide free consultations on population registration issues.
Lawyers will help resolve your issue in accordance with the law. Having sufficient knowledge, lawyers will select a sample of the required statement of claim, formulate requirements for the court and advise an effective strategy for protecting interests. Legal assistance is aimed at resolving complex situations by professionals in their field. Contact us! Attention!
- Due to frequent changes in legislation, information sometimes becomes outdated faster than we can update it on the website.
- All cases are very individual and depend on many factors. Basic information does not guarantee a solution to your specific problems.
That's why FREE expert consultants work for you around the clock!
- via the form (below), or via online chat
- Call the hotline:
- 8(800)302-39-65
— All residents of the Russian Federation - +7(495)128-69-80
— Moscow and the Region - +7(812)509-13-65
— St. Petersburg and region
- FREE for a lawyer!
By submitting data you agree to the Consent to PD Processing, PD Processing Policy and User Agreement.
Anonymously
Information about you will not be disclosed
Fast
Fill out the form and a lawyer will contact you within 5 minutes
Tell your friends
Rate ( 4 ratings, average: 3.00 out of 5)
Author of the article
Maxim Privalov
Lawyer. 2 years of experience. I specialize in civil disputes in the field of housing and family law.
Author's rating
Articles written
614
Deadlines
The period of time required to cancel registration when applying to the Department of Internal Affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation is about three days. It can be increased if a person deregisters and simultaneously registers in another home. In this case, the period increases to one month. During this time, instead of a passport, a person is issued a temporary identity card, which is valid on the territory of the Russian Federation.
The period for canceling registration through a court procedure can be from two months to six months. To this interval is also added the period for completing the procedure at the Department of Internal Affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, which is 3 days.
If children are registered
There are cases when the person registered in the purchased apartment is a minor child. A minor tenant can be discharged only with permission from the guardianship and trusteeship authority.
Permission can only be obtained by the child's parents or legal representatives. A minor can only be discharged to a living space in which the living conditions are better or equal to the conditions of the apartment in which he is registered. In this regard, transactions with minors registered in housing are the most risky.
