Buying an apartment in a new building if you have money or an approved mortgage is not particularly difficult, but getting rid of the problems associated with sorting out relations with a developer or management company due to identified shortcomings or defects during the construction of a house is much more difficult.
Future residents should pay increased attention to the process of accepting an apartment and carefully study all the details of their future housing. It is necessary to agree on the elimination of all defects even before signing the acceptance certificate for the apartment, since after this it will be very difficult to receive compensation or force the developer to correct anything.
Apartment acceptance certificate
Acceptance of an apartment in a new building is regulated by Federal Law No. 214-FZ “On participation in shared construction...” and is carried out after the building is put into operation, recalls General Director Maria Litinetskaya. The developer is obliged to notify the client about the timing and procedure for accepting the apartment, and the buyer must make an appointment for a specific date and time for the inspection.
However, already at this stage, developers may encounter certain difficulties, notes Alexander Zubets, General Director of New Vatutinki LLC. “The fact is that construction usually takes a fairly long period, and during this time people change their passport details, permanent registration addresses, etc. By law, buyers in such cases, of course, must inform the developer, but in practice no one does this doesn’t, so the process of finding buyers is very delayed,” he says.
After all clients have been found, on average, according to experts, 9–10 apartments are accepted per day. In this case, representatives of the management company and the developer must be present during the inspection of the property. “If the client is satisfied with everything and no shortcomings are identified, then the apartment acceptance certificate is signed. If defects are found in the apartment, the buyer is required to provide a defect sheet, which will indicate the defects of the accepted housing,” notes Maria Litinetskaya.
Defective statement
The defective statement is signed by three parties (the operating organization, the developer and the buyer), and then a period is set for eliminating these defects, which, as a rule, ranges from 20 to 60 days. In case of delay, the shareholder may demand compensation from the developer in the amount of 1% of the cost of the apartment for each day of delay, says Ekaterina Fonareva, commercial director of the Barkley corporation.
The acceptance certificate is signed by the buyer only after all defects have been eliminated, during a re-inspection. Then the client receives the keys and can begin repair work. The specified document, according to Ekaterina Fonareva, must contain information about the date and place of its preparation, a description of the transferred property indicating the location, footage, cost and a certificate of the absence of mutual claims between the seller and the buyer. “Buyers need to be careful and not rush to sign documents. It will be more difficult to defend your rights if the act has already been signed, but there are shortcomings,” emphasizes Vladimir Zimokhin, deputy head of the legal department of NDV-Real Estate.
Why is the act needed?
The transfer and acceptance certificate is an annex to the purchase agreement. The need for its preparation is stated in Article 556 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. The act is a document on the basis of which the apartment is accepted - this is the final stage of the transaction. It confirms that the seller has fulfilled his obligations to the buyer and has transferred the property. If either party refuses to sign, this is considered a refusal to fulfill the agreement.
The deed can be signed simultaneously with the purchase agreement or later (for example, if the sellers need time to move). However, experts advise waiting until ownership is registered. Imagine the situation: the seller handed over the keys, the buyer began renovations in the apartment, and Rosreestr refused to register the transaction.
People often neglect to sign the transfer and acceptance certificate, considering it an empty formality. But such frivolity can lead to serious legal consequences for both parties.
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If the sellers of the apartment do not move out immediately, under no circumstances sign the transfer deed without looking at it. First, inspect the home, because during this time anything could happen: for example, a fire or a burst heating pipe. Or the former owners removed the plumbing and took out the furniture included in the price of the apartment. The signed deed confirms that the buyer accepted the home in the same condition as it was during the early inspection.
If the condition of the property has deteriorated or you notice a major defect (such as a crack in the wall), do not sign the transfer deed. Demand that defects be corrected (if possible) and set specific deadlines for this; If the seller refuses, it will have to be dealt with in court. An alternative option is compensation for the amount by which the price of the apartment has decreased due to identified problems.
In what case can the buyer refuse the transaction (not counting legal problems):
- the premises do not comply with construction and sanitary standards;
- the price is greatly inflated compared to the market average;
- it is impossible to live in an apartment.
Some shortcomings may only appear after a while: for example, a malfunction of the heating system. The buyer has the right to demand compensation for repairs or termination of the transaction if the shortcomings turned out to be significant and the seller kept silent about them. The issue is resolved pre-trial or will have to go to trial - in any case, you need to contact a lawyer.
You can play it safe and include in the purchase and sale agreement a clause on the transfer of part of the money only at the time of signing the acceptance certificate. In this case, the seller will not be tempted to delay handing over the keys and worsen the condition of the apartment.
You can do without signing a transfer and acceptance certificate for secondary housing - then the corresponding clause is included in the contract. The buyer receives the keys at the time of signing documents to register ownership. Experts warn against such a decision: if something happens to the apartment during the paperwork process (even through the fault of the former owners), it will only be your problem. Unlike the act of acceptance and transfer of a new building, it will be quite difficult to demand correction of various defects.
Act on mutual settlements
Another document required to be signed when accepting housing is the act of mutual settlements, which is drawn up after payment for the apartment based on the results of BTI measurements.
Irina Dobrokhotova
Chairman of the Board of Directors of BEST-Novostroy
As you know, changing the area of an apartment during construction is a common phenomenon. In this case, buyers are offered to pay extra for additional meters, but this is not due to the greed of developers, but to the peculiarities of construction technology. In typical panel houses, the differences are usually small - most often the difference does not exceed 1 meter. In monolithic and monolithic-brick houses, which are built according to individual projects, the difference may be greater.
According to Natalya Shatalina, Deputy General Director for Legal Affairs of MIEL-Novostroika, the permissible percentage of deviation from the design area is usually prescribed in the DDU. Most often, a condition is prescribed there under which the parties will not recalculate if the difference between the designed and actual areas is within certain limits, for example, 0.5 sq. m. m, she notes.
What to look for when checking an apartment
When inspecting an apartment, the equity holder can use the services of construction experts. Experts can objectively assess the condition of a living space and point out problems that may not be visible to the average person, explains Ekaterina Fonareva. If the client arrives and wants to assess the condition of the apartment on his own, then he should follow a number of recommendations.
According to the head of the new buildings department of the MIC Group of Companies, Alexander Engel, it is best to inspect an apartment in a new building during daylight hours. In addition to the apartment itself and public places, it is worth paying attention to the area adjacent to the house, he advises. If the construction of new buildings as part of the project is not ongoing nearby, the lawns must be put in order; in accordance with the landscaping project, the yard must have green spaces, children's and sports grounds, fire lanes, and parking spaces for vehicles. The house should look finished in appearance and have no defects.
Upon entering the entrance, you need to pay attention to the quality and degree of readiness of the finishing work performed, continues Alexey Olenev, deputy director of the department of new buildings at Est-a-Tet. For example, if there are tiles in the entrance, they must be laid without damage. In addition, it is necessary to check the operation of lighting and heat supply and the availability of the necessary equipment for groups of citizens with limited mobility. “As for the garbage chute for household waste, the operating organization often seals the garbage chute for the first year or two, while new residents are making repairs in their apartments, so that unscrupulous workers do not throw construction waste there,” says the expert.
If the living space is in a new building
All the actions mentioned earlier relate to the acquisition of housing, secondary housing, and new buildings.
When decorating an apartment purchased in a new house, you must also do the following before what was previously described :
- Drawing up a transfer and acceptance certificate from the developer. He signs after a thorough inspection of the apartment. Do this with the utmost care, without missing a single detail that does not suit you. If you sign an acceptance certificate for an apartment with defects , it will be useless to file a claim later. Record all violations in the protocol and attach it to the report.
- Obtaining documentation from the BTI. A cadastral passport must be drawn up for a new apartment . To the BTI, submit an application for its receipt, a shareholder's agreement (DDU, if any), an acceptance certificate, copies of the owners' passports.
- Registration in Rosreestr. This organization receives a Certificate . To obtain a certificate, you will need the owners’ passports, cadastral passport, and DDU. Sometimes a building permit and developer's land documents may be required. After a month's verification of your papers, the apartment will be entered into the register, and you will receive a Certificate.
Continuation of inspection
In the process of accepting the apartment itself, you should, without any hesitation, carefully inspect room by room. It should be remembered that in apartments without finishing, at the time of putting the house into operation, electrical wiring must be carried out with the supply of several power points in the apartment, the installation of lights, meters and fire safety systems, notes Alexey Olenev, separately emphasizing the need to make sure that the sockets are working and that lighting is available during all rooms.
Next, you need to inspect the batteries by using the thermostat installed on almost all radiators. “True, their operation can only be checked in the cold season, since the heat supply is turned off in the summer,” the expert recalls. During the warm season, you can contact the management company and find out if the building is connected to the heating networks.
The next inspection points should be checking the water supply and entrance doors.
Maria Litinetskaya
General Director of Metrium Group
New residents should carefully examine windows and balconies for cracks, any mechanical damage to the glass and the operation of the mechanisms by which doors open and close. Next, you should check the ventilation, and then inspect the walls, ceiling and floor for cracks, and also check the installation joints and seams. There should be no moisture on them. Otherwise, this will lead to fungus and freezing of the walls.
When accepting an apartment with finishing, you need to pay attention to the quality of the wallpaper. According to Maria Litnetskaya, developers often do not add wallpaper in hard-to-reach places (batteries, window units, etc.). In addition, you need to check the floor covering to see if there are any chips on the laminate, if the floor is creaking, etc. “Of course, you should make sure of the quality of the finishing materials. When purchasing a turnkey apartment in a residential building, the developer is obliged to indicate all the materials used and provide quality certificates at the client’s request,” the expert emphasizes. In general, the guarantee on the quality of building materials during the construction of such housing is usually five years.
Documents after purchase
Since there are two parties involved in the transaction, each has their own set of documents.
For a complete list of documents required for sale, read this article.
Seller's documents
Ideally, all the documents that the seller had before completing the transaction should remain with him . Plus, he will have a purchase and sale agreement and a transfer deed.
Thus, the package of documents after the sale from the former owner is as follows :
- Contract of sale.
- The act of transferring the apartment.
- Certificate of ownership.
- Document on shared participation in construction (if any).
Sample apartment purchase and sale agreement
Purchase and sale agreement for an apartment in joint ownership of spouses
Apartment transfer act
According to the law, after the transaction is completed, some of the documents remain with the seller in the form of copies, since the originals are filed with the notary authorities .
Read more about what list of documents you need to independently register the purchase and sale of an apartment here.
What documents does the buyer receive when purchasing an apartment?
buyer's package of documents :
- Contract of sale.
- Transfer deed.
- Certificate of ownership.
- Cadastral passport.
- Technical passport from BTI.
- Certificate from the tax office confirming the absence of debts.
- A certificate stating that there are no debts for utilities.
- A certificate from the HOA stating that there is no debt on membership fees.
- Home Book.
