Let's be honest: checking an apartment before buying

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2021-03-14

In order for the purchase and sale transaction to be considered legal, it is recommended to first check the documentation for the apartment. The proposed material will help you check an apartment or any real estate property for legal purity before purchasing in 2021, and determine which documents to check.

Checking the legal cleanliness of the apartment

is carried out in several stages. The procedure allows for a legal transaction of purchase and sale of a residential property, is carried out in stages, helps to verify the authenticity of documents and the legality of actions on the part of the buyer.

Ways to check the legal cleanliness of an apartment

Checking the legal purity of an apartment before purchasing is carried out in several ways:

1. Analysis of title documents - order an extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate .
2. Familiarization with the history of real estate.
3. Conviction in passing state registration.
4. Detailed review of the contract.
5. Receive an extract from the Unified State Register of Rights on the transfer of rights (find out the history of the transfer of rights)
6. Owner verification.
7. Verification of share owners, third parties (if any).
8. Order a comprehensive real estate inspection from leading lawyers.

Another way to check the legal purity of an apartment is to familiarize yourself with the house plan. Experts recommend that the buyer find out whether any redevelopments have been carried out and, if any, whether they are registered or not.

Pledge as one of the types of real estate encumbrance

Pledge is one of the mechanisms for guaranteeing the return of borrowed funds (loan security) or debt. Secured by real estate, both a mortgage loan from a bank and a consumer loan from one of the financial institutions can be issued. A frequent case is a lien in favor of the tax authorities, seizure of real estate in court. And even such apartments are sometimes put up for sale.

Thanks to the real estate law that came into force in 2021, any encumbrance (the emergence of rights to an apartment in third parties) is recorded in the Unified State Register. All information is reflected in the report from the Unified State Register of Real Estate, and any citizen can check the availability of rights to real estate from third parties by ordering this document.

Owner verification

to check the seller before purchasing , make sure the documents are authentic, the right to the property and find out if the owner has debts; if he has debts or court cases, then there is a risk that after the purchase your property will be seized by bailiffs.

Important! If the seller is incompetent, you need not only to familiarize yourself with the supporting documents, but also talk with neighbors, they will help confirm the fact of the owner’s incapacity or ask the owner to provide a certificate confirming his legal capacity.

If a trusted person acts on behalf of the owner of the square meters, make sure that the documents presented to him are genuine.

Free deals

Those owners who simply let relatives or friends live in their apartment without charging a fee may also come under suspicion of illegal rentals.

Since this excuse is often used by real landlords in order to avoid paying taxes, there is a high probability that such an owner will be approached with an inspection.

In this case, the tax office will need to prove that such accommodation is a paid rental, and the owner of the property receives a profit on which taxes must be paid.

The existence of a lease relationship is proven:

• A concluded lease agreement.

Step-by-step instructions for concluding an apartment rental agreement between individuals are given in the ConsultantPlus system. Get free online access to the system and proceed to the instructions.

• Confirmation of the remuneration of the relationship (transfers to a card indicating the purpose of payment “for such and such a month,” etc.).
• Testimony from residents and neighbors.

The burden of collecting evidence lies with the tax authority.

How to check a new apartment before buying

If you decide to purchase real estate, it is important to understand how to check the legal purity of the purchased apartment. You are the first owner of square meters. How to check a new apartment before purchasing for legal purity:

1. Read reviews. Internet sites will help with this; you need to pay attention to those reviews that contain the date, first and last name, specific facts/data.
2. Make inquiries about the seller. Pay attention to how many years the seller has been on the market, what positions he holds, and what reputation he has.

If no doubts arise during inquiries, you can complete the transaction. Otherwise, it is recommended to find another seller.

HOW TO CHECK THE “CLEANITY” OF A REAL ESTATE TRANSACTION?

17.04.2019

The acquisition of real estate, such as an apartment, a residential building, a plot of land or any other, is associated with considerable material costs. Therefore, it is necessary to be very careful in checking the legal “purity” of such transactions. In this article we will focus on the most important stages of such verification.

Firstly, it is necessary to check whether the person making the transaction has the authority to conclude it, that is, the availability of title and title documents for the property. Documents confirming the rights to real estate can be a certificate of state registration of rights, a contract of sale, gift or exchange, a certificate of inheritance by law or will, etc. It is best to check all of these documents in originals.

Moreover, if the title document is a certificate of inheritance, and the heir’s property rights are not registered in the Unified State Register of Real Estate (USRN), on the website of the Federal Notary Chamber (the “Reference” tab) it is possible for anyone to check the existence of an inheritance case and obtain information about the notary , whose competence includes conducting inheritance matters.

Secondly, in addition to documents for real estate, when making a transaction, it would not be superfluous to also check the documents certifying the identity of the alienator (for example, a passport), the data of which must be identical to the data of the title documents.

Thirdly, you need to be especially careful when purchasing real estate when the seller acts through a representative by proxy. Since the power of attorney can be revoked at any time, it is necessary to make sure that the owner actually wants to sell the apartment. You can check the power of attorney through a special service on the website of the Federal Notary Chamber at the address: https://reestr-dover.ru, service “checking power of attorney”. If in doubt, you should contact the notary who certified the power of attorney and find out whether it has been revoked.

Fourthly, it is necessary to check the accuracy of the information contained in the submitted title documents for the acquired property.

To do this, before purchasing, obtain an extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate. Do not forget - only the extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate that is received immediately before purchasing the property has value. This document provides basic information about the property, information about the owner, restrictions, and prohibitions on alienation. An extract from the Unified State Register can be ordered at any MFC or obtained from the Rosreestr portal: www.rosreestr.ru.

You can also obtain an extract on the transfer of rights to a real estate property, in which you should pay attention to how many owners there were and how often they changed. If there have been several transfers of ownership recently, there is a possibility that all of them were done in order to disguise the illegality of the first alienation, or some restrictions.

When concluding certain types of contracts, there are specific features that are also worth paying attention to.

It should be taken into account that in cases where the owner of the purchased object is a minor, the preliminary consent of the guardianship and trusteeship authority is necessary, that is, such consent must be obtained before signing the contract.

In addition, if under a purchase and sale agreement not all property as a whole is acquired, but only a share in the right of common shared ownership of it, the seller in this case must obtain from the persons owning the remaining shares a refusal to purchase the share belonging to him or notify them in writing and only if there is no response within a month, he has the right to sell the share to an outsider. In addition, such an agreement is subject to notarization.

If the property acquired under the transaction is an apartment or a residential building, then immediately before the transaction you should check that among those registered there are no persons who may have the right to maintain residence in this apartment (for example, a citizen who refused to privatize the apartment and was removed from registration registration due to a conviction to imprisonment, may retain the right to use this apartment). To do this, you can request a personal account for the apartment, issued by the management company or the HOA.

It is also necessary to check whether the purchased apartment has been rebuilt or remodeled. The legality of the redevelopment carried out is confirmed by an act of the acceptance committee.

In addition, if the property alienated under the contract was acquired during marriage through a transaction for compensation, it is considered joint property, regardless of which spouse it was acquired in the name of. Consequently, the alienation of such property requires the notarized consent of the second spouse.

In any case, if doubts arise about the “purity” of the transaction being made, it is easier to refuse to conclude it than to subsequently defend your case in court.

Press service of the Rosreestr Office for the Vologda Region

Documents for checking the legal purity of the apartment

Checking the legal purity of an apartment upon purchase is carried out in the presence of the following documents:

1. Owner's passport. It is recommended to check its authenticity by submitting a request to the migration service.
2. Proof of ownership. The type of document depends on how the current owner received the residential property - by inheritance, gift, or purchase.
3. Extract from the MFC, passport office. This will help you understand how many people are registered.
4. Documents confirming payment of utility bills. Make sure there is no debt.
5. A document confirming the seller's sanity. It is necessary to determine whether the subject is capable or not. If he is incompetent and this fact is established after the purchase of square meters, the transaction will be considered illegal.

If necessary, the future owner can check the owner’s passport details independently by contacting the passport office.

It is recommended that you carefully read the extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate and check the data specified in the certificate with the information on other documents.

If the owner carried out redevelopment, there must be supporting documents authorizing the procedure. If the owner has not presented a document authorizing the redevelopment, submit a request to the BTI.

You need to deal with original documents that contain no errors, typos, blots, or unclear font. The buyer needs to have copies of all documents except the owner's passport.

How is seized property sold?

The compulsory sale of seized property is carried out in two ways: on a commission basis and through auctions. Everything that is worth less than 500 thousand rubles is sent for consignment sale. Anything above half a million can only be sold through auction.

The organizers publish a notice about the auction on the official website of the Russian Government at www.torgi.gov. From the moment of publication to the start of trading, the minimum period is 30 days. The document contains information about the place, time and form of the auction. The following information is also posted here:

• Subject of the auction.
• The order in which they are carried out.
• The starting price, which cannot be lower than the estimate specified in the Resolution.
• The person who won the auction.
• Owner of the property.

The notice of the auction is also duplicated on the FSSP website. They may be declared unsuccessful if less than two applications were submitted for participation in the tender, or one of the participants did not appear. There are other reasons too. In such a situation, the auction organizer may schedule secondary auctions after 10 days. At this stage, the bailiff will send the claimant an offer to accept the property as payment for the debt.

Results

Real estate transactions attract increased tax attention. The owner of a property may be charged with conducting illegal business activities, non-payment of taxes, etc. And although it is the responsibility of the tax authorities to prove this, home owners should protect themselves from possible fines in advance: draw up contracts correctly and register as an individual entrepreneur in advance if they intend to receive money from the property income.

Find out about the nuances of registering and running a business in our “Individual Entrepreneur” section.
You can find more complete information on the topic in ConsultantPlus. Free trial access to the system for 2 days.

"Tricks" with the contract

In the field of real estate transactions, all sorts of small tricks and tricks are common when concluding purchase and sale agreements. Participants in the transaction go for them in order to save on taxes or inflate the price in order to get a mortgage without a down payment.

It should be remembered that any discrepancy between the real state of affairs and the content of the contract can lead to unpleasant consequences: from fines to termination of the transaction.

Thus, indicating in the contract the value of the object below the real value entails a violation of tax legislation. If such a fact is revealed, the Federal Tax Service has the right to additionally assess and collect the underpaid tax.

Signing a fictitious purchase and sale agreement (without actual sales) will also be a violation of the law. The consequence of such actions may be termination of the contract or return of borrowed or targeted funds, if this was done in order to obtain a loan or subsidy.

To protect yourself from risk, you should draw up contracts and related documents with the assistance of an experienced lawyer.