What questions to ask when buying an apartment

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Before purchasing, the Buyer will need to check the selected apartment for legal purity. The first stage of such verification assumes that the Buyer will ask certain questions either to the Seller or to the Seller and the realtor (with the participation of the latter in the purchase and sale transaction). Discussing all the nuances in person will help the buyer protect himself from possible risks, because this way he will receive information in advance about the pros and cons of a particular residential premises. So what questions should you ask when buying an apartment?

What questions to ask a realtor

A realtor is a real estate specialist who represents the interests of his client. If a Buyer needs help, the first thing he will need to do is choose a reliable and qualified agent. To do this, the Buyer will need to ask the specialist the following questions:

A list of questions:

What is his professional background and experience? How many years has he been in the real estate market?
How many transactions does he conclude/support per year?
What real estate agencies has he represented before (and has he represented them at all)?
Does he specialize in a specific professional area (a realtor can specialize in the purchase and sale of commercial real estate, the purchase and sale of residential real estate, the purchase and sale of offices, etc.)?
What sets him apart from other realtors? Here the agent must outline his objective advantages over competitors.
For what exactly, in what amount and when should he be paid remuneration (realtor commission)?

A realtor commission is a fee for services, which is either calculated as a percentage (usually from 2% to 6% of the cost of housing), or has a “solid” fixed value. The remuneration must be paid for specific actions - for example, for monitoring the real estate market, for analyzing current trends and current prices, for selecting a Seller and an advantageous offer, for communicating with the Seller, for discussing the nuances of the transaction, for agreeing on conditions that best meet the interests of the Buyer.

Read more: How much do realtor services cost when buying and selling an apartment?

Some agents begin to deliberately “spoil the water” when it comes to the services provided and the real estate commission. This is how a client can distinguish a professional with extensive work experience from a non-professional - the degree of specificity when listing services and terms of cooperation will be completely different.

The Buyer himself is required that, after familiarizing himself with the full range of services, he establishes certain boundaries - “from” and “to”. This way, the buyer will be able to avoid overpaying for something that he didn’t even need initially (for example, for legal support from a real estate agency, for negotiations with the Seller, etc.).

The Buyer will also need to check with the realtor what period of time it takes him on average to find an apartment of the declared price and parameters. It could be 2-3 weeks, or it could be months. Here the Buyer will need to draw his own conclusions, because sometimes it is important for buyers to buy real estate as quickly as possible.

Contacting a realtor personally with questions is only half the battle. If, after clarifying all the details, the Buyer has no doubts or suspicions, the honesty of the realtor and his company will need to be checked on paper.

To do this, you must request documents from the agent allowing him to conduct business and/or work activities. We are talking about:

Certificate of state registration of a legal entity (for a real estate company);
Certificate of state registration of an individual entrepreneur (for a private realtor);
Certificate of tax registration of a legal entity or individual entrepreneur;
an agent's diploma confirming that he has a higher specialized education;
diplomas of completion of additional advanced training courses, etc.

The veracity of the realtor’s words will also need to be checked on Internet resources intended for writing reviews. If a large number of users speak positively about the work of a real estate agency or a specific realtor, then you can apply for services without fear. Reviews must be detailed and also contain names, dates and lists of services provided.

Questions for a realtor when buying an apartment

It is important for a buyer to know what questions to ask a realtor when buying an apartment. They may concern both the real estate itself and the activities of the specialist.

Important! Questions about real estate for a realtor are the same as for a seller.

What agency does the realtor work for?

First, the realtor needs to know about the real estate agency in which he works. The agency's reputation means a lot. You can read reviews about it on the Internet or ask your friends.

How much do real estate services cost?

This point needs to be clarified before concluding a contract. The realtor's services are paid a fixed fee, but he can also take a percentage of the transaction. As a rule, the cost of services is immediately included in the price of the apartment.

What is the procedure for paying for services?

This is one of the main questions for a realtor when buying an apartment. He can take payment at the conclusion of the contract, or after the transaction. The second option is preferable for the buyer: in the first case, there is a chance that the realtor will take the money, but will not provide the service.

The procedure for checking the legal purity of a transaction

The realtor must check the property from a legal point of view. The list of its services and responsibilities are specified in the contract. You need to clarify what exactly the realtor will do to check the apartment.

What questions to ask when buying real estate on the primary market

It is also important what kind of apartment the Buyer wants to own - on the primary market or on the secondary market. If the buyer plans to buy housing at the construction stage or in an already built new building, then you need to find out from the agency whether it has entered into a partnership agreement for the provision of real estate services with any developer.

Usually such an agreement turns out to be beneficial for the Buyer, because he gets the opportunity not to pay additional fees for real estate support of the transaction. The services of a real estate agency are automatically included in the price of residential premises sold by the developer.

However, even if there is a partnership agreement, the Buyer will need to check the developer’s reliability. To do this, you need to find out everything about its reputation (name of the company, how many new buildings it has already built, since what year it was registered as a participant in the real estate market). If this is the first house that the developer is working on, construction may never be completed for a variety of reasons (unexpected bankruptcy of the construction company, problems with permitting documentation, etc.).

The buyer will need to find out either from the realtor or directly from the developer (depending on who exactly the purchase is made through):

Who invests money in construction (this could be equity holders, shareholders, third-party organizations, etc.)?
Does the developer cooperate with financial institutions? On what terms is interaction with banks carried out, at what interest rates are housing loans issued, etc.?
What are the payment methods (payment of the full amount, mortgage, installment payment, cash payment, non-cash payment, etc.)?
Does purchasing an apartment involve any additional costs (for example, for installing an intercom, for registering documents with government agencies, etc.)?
What materials were or will be used in the construction of the house? Brick houses are characterized by the greatest durability, but their construction takes more time. Panel houses are built faster, but have poor sound insulation and are not suitable for internal redevelopment. A universal option is frame-monolithic houses. They combine the advantages of both brick and panel buildings, and are also considered the most common among other types of apartment buildings.
What kind of finishing will the apartment have? The fully finished apartment is equipped with all necessary household amenities and is available for immediate occupancy. An apartment with a rough finish is characterized by the presence of smooth walls, sockets, switches, glazed windows, etc., but repairs will still need to be carried out here. An unfinished apartment is a “concrete box” with only an entrance door and windows. The owner himself is responsible for setting up communication systems and carrying out repair work.
What additional amenities will the new building be equipped with, where and how will they be located (elevator, garbage chutes, concierge room, intercoms, etc.)?
What is the surrounding area like? Are there hazardous industries, cemeteries, potentially dangerous railway tracks, etc. nearby? How is the transport situation? Is the area sufficiently populated (are there hospitals, schools, kindergartens, shopping centers, etc.)?
What is the local area of a new building? Is there parking, playgrounds, sports grounds, and green spaces nearby?
Does the developer have the documentation necessary for construction?

To verify the veracity of the realtor's or developer's answers, the Buyer will need to request:

A valid permit to build a house, issued in the name of the developer.
Land documentation. It is better that the land is not owned by the developer, but is rented by him, because... regulatory authorities check the tenant and the leased land most carefully. In addition, a developer who owns land may not be in a particular hurry to build a house. It is also necessary to pay attention to the column “purpose of the land plot”. If it is indicated here that the land is allocated for the construction of an individual building, then an apartment building simply cannot be built on this site.
Agreements with resource supply organizations. It is desirable that already at the initial stage of construction the developer has agreements with energy, gas and water service companies. This way the Buyer can be sure that he will not be left without electricity, water, gas and heating. It is also recommended to read reviews on the Internet about the resource supply organizations themselves and study their reputation.
Design documentation for the facility (already under construction or just planned).
Certificate of registration of the developer as a legal entity.
Certificate of registration of the developer with the tax service.

You will also need to carefully study the developer’s website (every relatively large company has an electronic resource). Basic information about the developer and the selected property should also be presented here - documentation, reporting and accounting materials, layout diagrams, available offers, prices, etc. Additionally, it is necessary to study user reviews about the construction company. If the houses are successfully put into operation year after year, and the residents are satisfied, then the Buyer can trust the developer.

What questions to ask the owner or seller of the apartment when purchasing real estate on the secondary market?

The buyer can purchase a secondary home either independently or through an intermediary represented by a realtor. Even if the transaction is carried out with the participation of an agent, the Buyer is still recommended to contact the Seller directly This way the acquirer will save himself from distorted information, incorrect interpretation of information and possible problems.

Here are the questions to ask the Seller.

Who is the owner of the alienated property, and is the ownership right officially registered in Rosreestr?

The buyer is interested in having all the main aspects of the transaction discussed with him personally by the owner, and not by his agent, acquaintance, friend or relative. Representation is only permissible if the third party has a notarized power of attorney from the Principal (i.e., the owner). However, even in this case, the Buyer must insist that the Seller discuss key terms, agreements and provisions with him directly.

Ideally, the Seller should be listed as the sole owner of the apartment. To check who exactly is the owner of the residential premises, the Buyer must independently obtain or request from the Seller a fresh extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate . The extract must be supplemented by a title document on the basis of which the Seller previously received the property into his possession - this could be a previous purchase and sale agreement for an apartment, a deed of gift, etc.

If the title document for the apartment is a court decision, the purchase and sale transaction is considered potentially dangerous. The court's decision indicates that there has been litigation surrounding the apartment, which may continue in the future. The “risk group” also includes apartments that were transferred as an inheritance. At any moment, newly emerged heirs can claim their rights to such living space, so such transactions must be approached with great caution.

It is desirable for the Buyer that among the owners or persons registered in the apartment there are no minors, incompetent or partially capable citizens. Their involvement in the transaction leads to the fact that the Seller has to apply to the Guardianship and Trusteeship Authorities to obtain permission to carry out the alienation . However, PLOs do not always give their consent to the deal. As a result, this may result in a loss of time and effort for the Buyer (after all, the OOP will need to provide an already drawn up preliminary purchase and sale agreement, and even after that there is a high risk of being refused).

What is the history of the apartment for at least the last 3-5 years?

The buyer will need to find out how many owners the property has had over the past 3-5 years. If the apartment has recently unexpectedly acquired a new owner, or if it has been resold/changed/donated too often, then this is a reason to be wary. You can check the veracity of the Seller’s words using an extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate on the transfer of rights to the property. You can take it from Rosreestr yourself or request it from the Seller.

It is desirable that the Seller be listed as the permanent owner of the apartment for the last 3 years. This is the general statute of limitations for real estate matters. This means that the risk of possible litigation with suddenly appearing relatives and other persons will be minimized.

Are there any registered and/or temporarily discharged persons in the apartment?

The buyer should only purchase an apartment in which there are no registered persons. If they remain registered in the apartment, then even after the owner changes, they will be able to continue to use it. It is necessary for the Seller to begin issuing them at the stage of preparation for concluding the purchase and sale agreement.

The situation is much more problematic with temporarily discharged persons (prisoners, those serving in the army, etc.). Sometimes they cannot be written out even in court - neither before nor after the sale and purchase. In principle, it is not recommended to consider an apartment with temporarily discharged persons as an object of acquisition.

You can check the presence or absence of registered/temporarily discharged persons in the apartment by requesting from the Seller an archival (extended) extract from the house register .

Was the Seller married at the time of purchasing the apartment?

If at the time of purchasing the apartment the Seller was married, then the property is considered jointly acquired property. This means that the Seller will be required to obtain notarized consent from the spouse to conduct the transaction .

It does not matter here whether the partners continue to be in a legal relationship or have already divorced. The apartment itself can also be registered only in the name of one of the spouses, but consent will still need to be obtained and provided to the Buyer. Without this document, the sale and purchase will be considered invalid.

Are there any restrictions, encumbrances or arrests placed on the apartment?

Restrictions, encumbrances and seizures of real estate either partially limit the owner’s right to dispose of the apartment or completely prohibit him from disposing of the apartment.

In particular, housing is seized for debts. The Seller may offer the Buyer to make an advance payment, assuring him that thanks to the advance, all debts will be repaid, and the transaction will be carried out in a standard format. However, for the Buyer such an agreement is categorically undesirable, because no one will give him guarantees that the Seller will not disappear with his money.

The situation is different with a mortgaged apartment, which is pledged to the bank (the pledge is considered an encumbrance). Theoretically, it is possible to purchase and sell such real estate, but for this you will need to agree on all the nuances and details not only with the Seller, but also with the bank. The main question is whether he will give permission for sale or not.

You can obtain information about restrictions, encumbrances and seizures of the apartment from the latest extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate .

Have any redevelopments been carried out in the apartment?

The technical passport for the apartment will help the Buyer to verify the presence or absence of redevelopment . During the inspection, the diagram from the technical passport will need to be compared with the actual layout of the living space. If a discrepancy is identified somewhere, you will need to find out whether the redevelopment was legalized by the Bureau of Technical Inventory. It is also recommended to receive an official written response from the BTI about the admissibility of the redevelopment.

If the Buyer ignores this clause and purchases an apartment with illegal redevelopment, he will subsequently be obliged to return the property to its original condition. In addition to costly repairs, the new owner also risks facing a fine.

What is the technical and sanitary condition of the apartment?

When inspecting an apartment, attention should be paid to the technical and sanitary components - the condition of the walls, floors, toilet, bathtub, etc. If somewhere there is mold, cracks and chips, holes and smudges, then it is better to refuse to purchase such housing. It is necessary to check the water pressure in the taps, the intensity of flushes, and visually assess the condition of the pipes.

You will also need to ask the Seller and check with the technical passport what materials were used to build the house . Panel houses mean poor noise insulation, the impossibility of redevelopment and high thermal conductivity (quick and strong heating in summer, rapid and strong cooling in winter). Brick and monolithic frame houses are more preferable, because They retain heat and cool better. Additionally, you should find out whether the walls are insulated on the inside and outside.

Good sound insulation is especially important if the house is located near busy roads, tram and railway lines, industrial facilities, etc. To find out how comfortable it is to be in the apartment, you will need to achieve silence - first with the windows closed, and then with the windows open. The more noticeable the difference, the more extraneous noise is suppressed.

It is also necessary to evaluate the condition of the electrical wiring . Copper wiring is preferable, as well as connecting the wiring branches to separate circuit breakers of the Residual Current Device (RCD). If the Seller answers that the apartment has aluminum wiring installed or there is only one common RCD, then this is a reason to think about it. Such systems are considered outdated - they can withstand less load and can catch fire if a tenant connects several devices to the network at once (iron, electric oven, air conditioner, etc.).

It is also important to find out how well the living space is heated during cold seasons . If it’s spring or summer outside, then you can clarify this question with the Seller’s neighbors - are they comfortable living in the apartment, are any of the family members freezing.

The house can be equipped not with central heating, but with individual heating, i.e. own boiler. In this case, the Seller will need to request documentation confirming the legality of installing such a boiler. You need to make sure that the boiler has not yet expired. The boiler must also undergo regular maintenance. Additionally, the Buyer will need to find out who pays for the replacement of the old boiler with a new one, and how often this happens.

Finally, it is necessary to clarify whether the apartment has automatic metering systems for consumed water, light, and heat . The meters will allow the new owner to significantly save on utility bills.

Who are the Seller's neighbors?

First, you can get the answer to this question from the direct owner. However, then the Buyer is still recommended to walk through the floors on their own or talk with people near the entrance. During such an informal conversation, it may become clear that the residents of the house are dysfunctional and marginal individuals, whose proximity will result in discomfort and problems for the Buyer. Also, the Buyer may discover the truth about the criminal past of the apartment. Or the Buyer finds out that not everything is in order with payment of utilities and service companies.

Note! It is recommended to write down both the owner’s answers and your observations. Later, the Buyer will be able to verify the information received during the initial communication with the Seller and inspection of the apartment with the provisions of official documents and papers.

The initial check of an apartment for legal purity is not an easy procedure, requiring direct interest, attentiveness and legal knowledge from the Buyer. Even simple questions will help determine whether a property should be considered as a potential acquisition. However, the questions will not always be universal - they are drawn up, specified and asked to the owner depending on the conditions of a particular purchase and sale. Don’t know what questions you should ask the Seller in your case? Seek help from a lawyer at ros-nasledstvo.ru and get answers to your questions.

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Author of the article

Natalya Fomicheva

Website expert lawyer. 10 years of experience. Inheritance matters. Family disputes. Housing and land law.

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How to independently check the legal cleanliness of an apartment?

Buying an apartment is a significant and responsible event for most people - not every day you can afford to buy an apartment. And, naturally, everyone wants to secure such a significant financial investment. When buying an apartment, many people ask questions: how to check the history of the apartment, the purity of the transaction before purchasing, whether a lawyer is needed when buying an apartment or is it better to involve a realtor.

Unfortunately, there is an opinion that engaging a realtor automatically eliminates any legal risks and guarantees the purity and transparency of the transaction. However, this opinion is very erroneous. Yes, of course, the realtor checks the documents, but this check is very superficial and may be limited to ordering an extract from the Unified State Register for the apartment to confirm the authority of the owner. But in modern realities, legal risks lie precisely in the details.

You should always remember that the main goal of a realtor is to make the deal happen. And this is the key difference between a realtor and a lawyer. That is why checking the legal cleanliness of an apartment is an extremely popular service in law firms.

There is also a misconception that when buying an apartment with a mortgage, there is no need to check the legal purity of the transaction - the bank will check everything itself. However, the bank also carries out only a superficial inspection of the apartment, makes sure that there is a registered title and that there are no encumbrances (when lending to secondary housing) or analyzes the condition of the developer only according to certain criteria (when lending to shared construction). The main task of the bank when lending is to check the borrower himself. In addition, the bank is often reinsured with additional methods of securing obligations (for example, a guarantee), so no matter what happens to the apartment or the developer, you will remain in debt to the bank, and the problem with the unreliability of the developer or challenging the transaction with the apartment is only your problem. You should not rely on the bank to check the apartment and the developer; check the apartment before purchasing yourself or with the assistance of a specialist.

It is also necessary to understand that neither a realtor nor a lawyer will ever be able to completely guarantee the absence of risks - simply because situations occur that are sometimes difficult to imagine even for an experienced lawyer, or verification of these risks is impossible. For example, the previous owner of an apartment was declared missing by the court, which served as the basis for his relatives to challenge the transactions he made. Or a person suddenly finds out that the deceased is his father, establishes paternity and restores the deadline for accepting the inheritance.

The main task of a lawyer when checking the legal cleanliness of an apartment is to identify possible risks to the client and assess the likelihood of their occurrence. The decision ultimately always remains with the client.

What risks can await a careless apartment buyer?

It should be noted right away that buying a finished apartment in a new building is much less risky than buying on the secondary market. However, due diligence and care should always be exercised.

When buying a finished apartment in a new building, you need to make sure that it is the developer who is selling it. Very often, even well-known developers try to divide the functions of construction and sales between different legal entities, and in some cases, individuals. In the case where the apartment is being sold by the developer, but another legal entity or individual acts as the seller under the contract, you must understand that it is the seller, and not the developer, who will be responsible to you in the event of disputes. And this is where the first danger lies - as a rule, such a seller, used as an intermediary, does not have financial resources and in the event, for example, that a transaction is declared invalid, it will be extremely difficult to recover the money paid from such a seller, not to mention compensation for losses caused .

The second extremely important point is to make sure that the seller has made a financial settlement with the developer. Moreover, this fact must be confirmed not just by a letter from the developer stating that he has no financial claims against the seller, but also directly by a payment document confirming the actual transfer of funds to the developer. As a rule, such a document is a payment order with a note from the bank about the transfer of funds. The absence of fact of payment may serve as a basis for challenging the transaction - for example, by a bankruptcy trustee in the event of bankruptcy of the developer, or by the owner of the developer himself.

When purchasing an apartment in a new building, it will not be superfluous to request from the developer permitting documentation for the constructed property - a building permit, documents for the land plot and permission to put the facility into operation.

An extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate is a fundamental document when purchasing any real estate. In addition to confirming ownership rights, it contains information about existing encumbrances - mortgage, lease, trust management, etc. Since most developers use credit funds for construction, it is necessary to make sure that the apartment is not encumbered with a mortgage in favor of the bank.

Any apartment on the secondary market has its own history and the primary task is that this history must be properly studied. Therefore, it is necessary to request documents from the seller for all transactions until the original owner is identified. Any gap in the chain of transfer of rights is a potential risk for the new owner. The buyer’s task is simplified by the possibility of obtaining an extract from the Unified State Register of all transfers of rights to the property. Based on the information on transfers of ownership indicated in the extract, you can require the provision of relevant documents from the seller. It should be taken into account that due to the fact that Rosreestr has been vested with the authority to register property rights only since 1998, information about transactions completed earlier may not be included in the extract.

In the process of analyzing the history of an apartment, it is necessary first of all to pay attention to non-standard grounds for the transfer of ownership - for example, court decisions, certificates of inheritance, acts of a government body, etc. All of these documents require additional verification.

The risks for the buyer are that each of the transactions in the chain must comply with the law and not violate the rights of third parties. Otherwise, challenging even one transaction in the chain may lead to reclaiming the property from the last owner. As judicial practice shows, the institution of bona fide acquisition in Russia is not developed - the courts impose very strict requirements on persons wishing to prove their good faith. But most importantly, conscientious behavior does not guarantee you protection from a vindication claim. Article 302 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation provides for the possibility of reclaiming property from a bona fide purchaser in the event that the property has left the owner’s possession against his will.

In addition to checking the previous owners, it is imperative to check who is registered in the apartment. To do this, you need to obtain an extract from the house register. And although currently the fact of registration does not give rise to ownership rights in relation to the apartment, in some cases it can significantly complicate the life of the new owner. For example, when a minor child or an incapacitated citizen is registered in the apartment. In this case, forcibly deregistering such citizens will be very problematic. In addition, the legal representative or guardian will be able to claim the right to live in the apartment in this case.

Also an important part of checking an apartment is checking the seller. This applies to both the seller-developer when purchasing a new building, and the seller-individual. faces. In addition to checking general information about the seller, it is advisable to assess his financial condition. To do this, lawyers use both publicly available services, such as the Bank of Enforcement Proceedings, and specialized services (for example, Kontur-Focus, Spark, etc.). It is imperative to check the seller for the presence of litigation and bankruptcy procedures to assess the risks of challenging a real estate transaction by creditors or an insolvency administrator.

Thus, checking the legal cleanliness of an apartment cannot be limited to ordering an extract from the Unified State Register and checking the seller’s passport or the developer’s statutory documents, but should include a more in-depth analysis of both the apartment itself and the seller.

Of course, a legal opinion prepared by a qualified lawyer will help you objectively assess the risks associated with purchasing an apartment and make the right decision.

Next, we post step-by-step instructions for checking the purity of the transaction when buying an apartment on the secondary market; these instructions can also be used to check an apartment with collateral. In this manual you will find answers to the questions: how to check an apartment before purchasing on the secondary market, how to check an apartment when purchasing from a legal entity or an individual.

If you are planning to purchase a new building, we suggest you read the instructions for checking the new building and the developer here.

Step-by-step instructions “How to check the legal purity of an apartment before purchasing?”

Checking the legal cleanliness of an apartment before purchasing it on the secondary market (legal due diligence of an apartment) should include the following steps:

Step 1. We order an “extended” extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate (an extract on transfers of ownership of the apartment) and a “regular” extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate about registered rights and encumbrances. We analyze the information received.

These extracts can be ordered by any person from Rosreestr (MFC). The cost of ordering these statements will be about 2000-3000 rubles (depending on the urgency of the statement and other parameters).

Based on the “extended” extract, we compile a list of transfers of ownership of the apartment and a list of documents related to these transfers for further verification.

What documents on the history of the apartment should be requested from the seller for verification before purchase?

Let's analyze the list of the main grounds for the transfer of ownership and draw up the “minimum” of necessary documents for verification (to determine the complete list of documents, a detailed study of the main documents is necessary from the point of view of the nuances they contain):

contract of sale
documents confirming payment for it

barter agreement
documents confirming the transfer of ownership of another property to the second party to the exchange agreement (extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate)

annuity agreement
documents confirming the fulfillment of obligations under the rent agreement and the occurrence of circumstances with which the rent agreement binds the transfer of ownership rights

gift agreement

agreement for participation in shared construction
document confirming payment for DDU
if the apartment was purchased under an assignment agreement under the DDU, then the entire chain of assignments under the DDU with documents confirming payment of the cost of the assigned rights

participation agreement in the housing cooperative (if any)
protocol, extract from the minutes of the general meeting of members of the housing cooperative on admission to membership
documents confirming payment of share and other contributions, certificate of full payment of share
housing cooperative charter

certificate of inheritance
agreement on the division of inheritance, if concluded
documents about the presence of other relatives

social tenancy agreement, warrant, decision to provide housing
agreement on transfer of ownership and decision on transfer of ownership

the court's decision
documents preceding this court decision (grounds of claim)

charter and other constituent documents
all documents (decisions, protocols, consents of other participants, etc.) accompanying the real estate transaction
documents confirming the status of a participant who has left the company (documents on acceptance as a participant, documents on payment of a share)

We have listed the most common situations, but in practice other situations may occur, as well as a number of nuances that cannot be covered even in a whole textbook on checking the legal cleanliness of an apartment. It is better to check such nuances with a lawyer who has a higher legal education and experience in supporting real estate transactions and judicial practice in challenging real estate transactions and protecting property rights.

In particular, it is necessary to pay attention to whether the previous owners or their family members have the right of residence, transactions using maternity capital funds, transactions with a minor, signing a transaction by proxy, etc. Also, to check the legal purity of the apartment, you need to make sure that the seller has these documents in the original or notarized copies. In addition, in addition to the specified documents for each transaction from the chain of transfers of rights to an apartment, you need to check the presence of related documents, which will be discussed below (the presence of the consent of the spouse to complete a transaction with joint ownership or make sure that the seller was not married , the presence of the consent of the guardianship authority to make a transaction with a minor, the presence of the consent of the body of the legal entity, if such consent is required by law, a power of attorney, etc.). That is, you must carefully and painstakingly check each transaction as “your own”.

What should you pay attention to in the “extended” extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate? What might alert a future apartment owner?

a) the presence of a large number of transfers of ownership

Since there is a risk of challenging any of the transactions in the chain, the more such transactions, the higher the risk. Moreover, for each transaction, in order to fully verify the legal “purity” of the apartment, you need to request a large number of documents, which the seller does not always have all of, even for one of the transactions in the chain of transitions, so the more transactions, the less chances to thoroughly check each deal. There is a misconception on the Internet that transactions need to be checked only for 3 years. They say that the general limitation period is 3 years, however, there are a number of exceptions to this general limitation period; in addition, the limitation period is not always calculated only from the date of the transaction.

b) recent transfer of ownership to the seller

It must be borne in mind that such a quick sale of an apartment can be caused not only by financial difficulties or the need to improve living conditions (usually such reasons are cited by sellers), but also by possible fraud.

c) transactions in the chain of transitions that have a high risk of challenge, the emergence of new “inputs” that are difficult or impossible to verify (inheritance, privatization, rent, court decision).

An extract from the Unified State Register of Registered Rights and restrictions is needed to check for the presence of encumbrances on the apartment (collaterals, legal claims, arrests, etc.). Also in this extract you can check the presence of the registered ownership right of the seller himself, as well as the mode of ownership (individual, joint, shared), which is important for determining further actions for purchasing an apartment, for example, the need to comply with the right of first refusal when purchasing shared ownership or obtaining a notary consent of the spouse to sell in case of joint ownership.

Step 2. We request documents along the chain of transactions specified in paragraph 1 and analyze them, identify the risks of challenging transactions, the sufficiency of all documents

Step 3. We ask the seller for an extract from the house register and order an archival extract from the house register

The first extract provides information about the persons registered in the apartment or residential building on the date of its issuance (on the date of the transaction it is necessary to request a “fresh” extract); pay special attention to minors, since they cannot be “discharged” from the apartment later. The second extract allows you to check the history of registrations and deregistrations in the apartment, indicating the reasons, and allows, together with other documents, to assess the risks of challenging transactions with the apartment by third parties. In addition, this extract is especially important if the apartment was previously purchased through privatization and perhaps one of those registered in the apartment was deprived of the right to privatize, and therefore, in accordance with the law, has the right to live in the apartment.

It is better to order these extracts from specialized organizations, rather than from the seller, to ensure their authenticity. The buyer cannot independently obtain such extracts (unlike extracts from the Unified State Register of Real Estate). The cost of agency services for providing such statements ranges from 3,000 to 7,000 rubles (depending on the region of the apartment being inspected).

Step 4. We check with the seller who signs the contract on his behalf

If a representative signs an agreement on behalf of the seller, then it is necessary to check the representative’s power of attorney: the power of attorney must be notarized, check the authority to sign such an agreement, the term of the power of attorney. We check on the website of the notary chamber whether such a power of attorney has really been certified and whether it has not been revoked. At the same time, signing an agreement with the owner’s representative always has a number of risks.

If the contract is signed by a legal representative, we also check his powers and check for the consent of the guardianship and trusteeship authority to the transaction.

If the agreement is concluded by a legal entity and signed by a person who has the right to act without a power of attorney, then we check his powers: we request a decision on the appointment of a person acting without a power of attorney, the charter, and also check on the website of the Federal Tax Service of Russia the availability of information about this person in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities.

We also check the passport of the signatory of the agreement (the main agreement and the agreement on making an advance/deposit): we check the original passport, compare the photograph with the face of the person signing the agreement (are they similar or are there differences?), “feel” the passport for the presence of a photo pasted in, etc. d. We check the validity of the passport on the Ministry of Internal Affairs website.

Step 5. We check for the presence of legal disputes regarding the apartment, enforcement proceedings

Unfortunately, the verification options here are very limited. There is no way to check the existence of disputes in which this apartment appears, for example, by cadastral number. But, as a general rule, disputes regarding real estate are considered at the location of the property. Therefore, we determine the territorial jurisdiction at the address of the property and look at the database of cases of this court. We also check the database of cases in court at the location of the seller (and all “alienators” of the apartment in the chain.” In the search, we fill in the data of the seller, known third parties (from documents), and past owners. Don’t forget to also check the file of arbitration cases.

We conduct a similar check on the FSSP website (bailiff service).

Step 6. Verification of the apartment seller

The possibilities for verifying an individual are not very large, but they should not be neglected. What is important for us to check? We check for bankruptcy cases, filed bankruptcy applications, publications of bankruptcy intentions, tax arrears, as well as legal disputes regarding the collection of funds from the seller (for example, under a loan, loan agreement, tax disputes, etc.), enforcement proceedings in in relation to the seller (the seller’s debts are a possible risk of challenging a real estate transaction by creditors), family disputes (this is also a possible risk of recognition of property as joint, and, accordingly, division of property and challenging the transaction).

The buyer must pay attention to the presence of minor children with the owner of the apartment. In particular, the owner may use maternity capital funds to pay for the cost of the apartment and subsequently fail to register a share in the ownership of a minor child. This fact may serve as a basis for declaring the transaction invalid at the request of the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation. Therefore, it is important to carefully check the payment documents (who transferred the money towards the cost of the apartment).