How to check the seller of an apartment. What you need to know when buying an apartment on the secondary market: it’s worth paying attention to and checking carefully. When is a notarized transaction required?

Purchasing housing on the secondary real estate market involves many risks. In order not to fall into the trap of scammers, before concluding a transaction, you need to check the apartment for legal purity. Many real estate companies offer this service. We will tell you how to independently check the apartment, owner and documents for cleanliness before purchasing a home.

○ Independent check of the “cleanliness of the apartment.”

It is not necessary to contact realtors to check. You can carry out all the necessary actions yourself. At the initial stage, you need to request and check documents.

○ What documents confirm ownership.

You can confirm that ownership was legally registered using one of the following documents:

Contract of sale, exchange, rent.
Certificate of inheritance.
Deed of gift.
Certificate of privatization.
Court decision recognizing ownership rights.

The seller must have one of these documents in addition to the certificate of ownership or an extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate (if the right has been registered since 2017).

○ What documents to request from the seller.

In addition to the document providing the basis for the emergence of property rights, the seller must provide you with:

A general passport and a second identification document (for example, a driver’s license).
Certificate of ownership or extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate.
Extended extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate.
Extract from the house register.
Technical plan of the apartment.
Cadastral passport.
Extracts from personal accounts to which payments for utility services are transferred.
Certificates from psychoneurological and drug treatment clinics (if the seller does not have a driver’s license).

To protect yourself, you need to carefully check all the above documents. Request originals. They should not show any signs of correction or blots. If there are any, it is necessary to have notarization of the changes made. Check for signatures and seals of government agencies.

○ Where to contact.

The necessary documents can only be obtained by the current owner or his representative on the basis of a notarized power of attorney.

To obtain an extract from the house register with a list of all citizens registered in the apartment, you need to contact the management company servicing the house or the territorial branch of the FMS.

An extended extract from the Unified State Register with data for the last 20 years is issued by Rosreestr or MFC. This document can also be ordered remotely on the official website of Rosreestr.

If the seller does not have technical documentation, or it does not correspond to reality, you should contact the BTI or MFC to obtain the necessary papers.

○ What data needs to be checked.

You need to pay attention to the following characteristics:

Number of persons registered in this living space. It is important to find out whether among the registered citizens there are those who do not actually reside due to military service, being treated in a psychiatric clinic, living in a nursing home or serving a sentence in prison.
Availability of debts to pay for housing and communal services.
The likelihood of claims to property rights from other persons.
Has any redevelopment been carried out? If yes, were all documents prepared according to the law?
Have minor citizens been registered and are they currently registered? If they were previously discharged, make sure that their rights are not violated.
Presence of encumbrances. If the apartment is the subject of a pledge, is rented out, is under arrest, etc., there is a possibility of refusal of state registration of the transaction.
Information about an apartment building. It is important to find out whether the building is planned to be demolished in the near future, whether it is unsafe, when the house was put into operation, whether repairs have been carried out and when new work will be carried out.

Let's tell you in more detail what exactly should be checked.

○ Rights of third parties to living space.

At this stage of the verification, four documents will be required - a certificate of ownership, the basis for the emergence of property rights, an extended extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate and an extract from the house register. If ownership was registered after January 2017, the usual certificate may not be available. In this case, the fact of registration is confirmed by an extract from the Unified State Register.

Make sure that property rights were obtained legally. Carefully study the document that provides the basis for the creation of rights – the effective date, special conditions, correctness of execution.

Particular care is required to check the legality of rights if the apartment was inherited by the seller. If the rights of other heirs have been infringed, they can file a lawsuit to redistribute the inheritance.

It is good if the seller acquired ownership more than three years ago. In this case, there is virtually no chance that your transaction will be challenged in the future. This is provided for in civil law.

Clause 1 of Art. 181 Civil Code of the Russian Federation:
“The statute of limitations for claims to apply the consequences of the invalidity of a void transaction and to declare such a transaction invalid is three years. The limitation period for these claims begins from the day when the execution of the void transaction began, and in the event of a claim being brought by a person who is not a party to the transaction, from the day when this person learned or should have known about the beginning of its execution.”

If the apartment was previously privatized, it is important to find out whether there were other participants in this process. The seller must have an officially formalized refusal from them to participate in privatization.

The second important point is registered persons. Information about registered citizens is contained in an extract from the house register. Ideally, all residents should be deregistered. When someone is registered at the time of inspection, make sure that there will be no problems with the discharge. If someone is registered, but is currently in prison, in a nursing home, etc., it is better to refuse to purchase this apartment. Such citizens may apply for housing in the future.

The third point is the presence of encumbrances. This information is contained in the extract from the Unified State Register. The apartment must not be the subject of a mortgage, seizure, lease or rent. Otherwise, your transaction may not be registered in Rosreestr, but even if this happens, your rights as an owner will be limited by the rights of third parties.

○ History of the apartment.

All data on changes of owners, conclusion of transactions in relation to the apartment, arrests, disputes and encumbrances are contained in the extended extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate. What should you pay close attention to?

If the apartment has frequently changed owners based on purchase and sale agreements, it is likely that there are some legal problems and the seller is trying to mislead you. It is better to find another investment option.

If the apartment has been the subject of disputes or seizures over the past three years, ask the seller to provide court decisions that have entered into legal force. This will ensure that he really has the right to sell the property.

The price set for the apartment is also important. If it is significantly lower than similar offers on the market, it means that the owner wants to sell it as quickly as possible. And this is something to think about. Most likely, a crime was committed in the apartment or it is not legally clean.

Buying an apartment is a very serious and responsible matter. Most often, buyers entrust the preparation of documents to experienced specialists and lawyers, since they are more competent in such matters. But the services of such specialists are not cheap, and no one can guarantee their honesty. If you have decided to buy an apartment without intermediaries (after all, you can save a significant amount of money), then you need to study the legal side of the issue and independently check the apartment for cleanliness.

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How to check the legal cleanliness of an apartment

Check documents for authenticity and correctness.
Check the seller (honesty, sanity).
Check if there are other legal applicants for the apartment (spouse, children, heirs, temporarily discharged persons).
Check the object of purchase itself (whether there is any illegal redevelopment, whether the house is subject to demolition, and so on).
Check the apartment for encumbrances.
Check the apartment for any debts for utilities.
Check the history of the apartment (how many times it was sold and why).

Why check the legal cleanliness of an apartment?

At first glance, when signing a deal, it may seem that everything is in order. The documents are present, they are completed as required, the money is transferred, the papers are signed, and now you are the owner of the apartment, and nothing and no one threatens you. However, there are cases when the apartment you bought is taken away in court, and no one returns your money. This is possible when the court decides that the transaction was illegal and cancels it. To avoid such troubles, you need to know under what circumstances the court may invalidate your transaction.

If the seller inherited the apartment, other heirs who have the right to it may suddenly appear and challenge their rights in court.
If the seller is declared insane and is registered in a psychiatric or drug treatment clinic, then the transaction is declared illegal and loses legal force.
When selling an apartment by power of attorney, the power of attorney can be revoked at any time. In essence, it turns out that you entered into a deal with a trusted person who did not have the right to sell the apartment. In this case, the law will not be on your side.
If certain categories of persons have been registered and temporarily discharged from the apartment, then they have the legal right to live in it. These could be:
- persons currently in prison;
- persons currently serving in the army;
- persons currently undergoing treatment, for example, in a psychiatric clinic;
- elderly people currently living in a nursing home;
- children who are currently kept in educational institutions.
If there are such persons, then after the end of their term of service they have the right to return and apply for residence in the apartment legally.
If children participate in shared ownership, then they have the legal right to claim their share. Therefore, it is very important to have documents confirming the renunciation of the ownership share. For example, if an apartment was purchased using maternity capital, then the child by default participates in shared ownership.
Other persons may also apply for the apartment. For example, spouses, if housing was purchased during marriage. Property is considered common and upon divorce is divided in half, so spouses have equal rights to the apartment, unless other options are specified in another agreement.
If minor children were registered in the apartment, then the law is always on the side of their interests. Even if the apartment was sold, the children will have the legal right to live in it.
If the apartment was pledged at the time of the transaction, then the lender has a legal right to it if the conditions specified in the agreement are violated. If disputes arise, the law will again not be on your side.
If the apartment was encumbered (under arrest, mortgage, rent, lease), then in the future the transaction may be declared invalid or other persons may apply to live in it:
- if the apartment was leased under a contract, then the tenant has the right to live in it until the end of the lease term, despite the fact that the apartment was sold;
- if the apartment was under arrest at the time of the transaction, the transaction is declared invalid. You can sell an object only after the seizure has been lifted;
- If the current owner has entered into a rental agreement with a third party, then after his death, according to the law, the apartment becomes the property of the renter, so your agreement will be invalid.
If there was a debt for utility services, it was not paid, and this point was missed in the contract, then all obligations to pay the debt are assigned to the new owner of the apartment.
If an unauthorized, unauthorized redevelopment was carried out in the apartment, and the deal was signed, if this fact is discovered, the new owner will pay fines and legitimize the redevelopment. Also, the new owner may be required to restore the apartment to its original condition, which will entail additional expenses.

In fact, there are many possible situations. To protect yourself from unpleasant consequences, when purchasing an apartment on your own, you must carefully check the purity of the transaction.

What documents to check when buying an apartment

To avoid the above situations, before buying an apartment on the secondary market, you need to check everything correctly and comprehensively. Namely:

1. Check the certificate of registration of ownership of the apartment.

What you can find out:

How many times has the certificate been issued to the current owner. Reasons may be the loss of the previous certificate, repayment of the mortgage, and so on.
A document providing the basis for registering property rights. The basis for owning an apartment can be a contract of sale, gift, exchange, privatization, certificate of inheritance, court decision, and so on. Depending on the basis, the apartment is further checked for cleanliness upon purchase.
Seller details: full name, passport details. When checking, you can find out whether the seller is married or divorced.
- if the seller is married, you must obtain the written consent of the spouse to sell the property;
- if the seller was previously married, you need to find out whether the apartment was purchased at that time. If the apartment was purchased during marriage, then the property is recognized as joint property, and the second spouse has the legal right to claim half of it. In this case, it is necessary to obtain a written waiver of ownership rights from the second spouse.
How many owners does the apartment have? If there are several owners, then everyone should be involved in the transaction.
The name of the object of law (that is, status: apartment, room, premises), location address and some characteristics.
The presence of any encumbrance registered by law.

2. Check the basis document for registering property rights.

What you can find out:

On what basis did the current owner receive ownership of the apartment: did he buy it, received it as a gift or inheritance, and so on. Based on this information, you can check the possible presence of other legitimate applicants for the apartment.
The fact of state registration of the agreement. It is necessary to study the agreement itself, because it may indicate the reasons why the owner loses the right to property. For example, the contract stated that the new owner must pay the full cost of the apartment by a certain date. In case of violation of this condition, he is deprived of ownership rights. It may turn out that an apartment is being sold to you by a person who is actually deprived of ownership of the apartment and has no right to sell it at all.
Please note the effective date of the agreement. If the apartment was recently purchased and the new owner is already selling it, this should alert you. Also be careful if the seller recently received an apartment as a gift or inheritance from a person who is not his relative.

3. Check the extract from the Unified State Register (unified state register of property rights).

Before purchasing, it is important to check the history of the apartment. To do this, you need to request an extract from the Unified State Register from the seller, from which you can find out what transactions were made and when in relation to the object being sold.

What you can find out:

Presence of property disputes. If there are ongoing legal proceedings against the property, it means that someone else is laying claim to it. In this case, it is advisable to either refuse the transaction or wait until the end of the trial and obtain a court opinion that the owner legally owns it and the rights of other persons to the apartment cannot be satisfied.
Frequency of transactions regarding the property for sale. If the apartment is often resold, and no one has lived in it for a long time, the buyer should be careful with the transaction.
The presence of a seizure on housing, other restrictions, or a ban on transactions in relation to it.
The statute of limitations for legal proceedings and the conclusion of various transactions in relation to an apartment. According to Russian legislation, the maximum period for declaring a transaction illegal is 3 years. Situations may arise when the current owner received ownership rights on the basis of a court decision, which can be challenged by other persons within three years. And if three years have not passed since the court’s decision, the owner may lose the right to the property, which means that your transaction with him may be considered illegal. If more than three years have passed since the transaction was completed, then you can be more or less calm.
If the apartment is not registered in the Unified State Register, this confirms its legal purity, since no actions have been taken in relation to this object since the moment of privatization.

4. Check the cadastral passport and technical plan of the apartment.

The cadastral passport and technical plan are checked to make sure that they are selling you an existing property and that all documents are true. To check, you must contact your local BTI (technical inventory bureau) and request the relevant documents.

What you can find out:

Characteristics and address of the apartment. They need to be compared with the data specified in the certificate of ownership to make sure that you are presented with documents for this particular object.
The presence of redevelopment and its legality. According to Russian legislation, any redevelopment and reconstruction of an apartment must be agreed with local authorities and have legal force. Otherwise, unauthorized redevelopment is equated to an administrative offense, which entails administrative punishment in the form of fines. If at the time of making the purchase this moment was missed, and housing was purchased with unauthorized redevelopment, all responsibility falls on the new owner.

5. Check the passport and identity of the seller.

To make sure that you are dealing with a law-abiding, sane citizen, you need to check his data. The seller may turn out to be either a banal scammer who is trying to get money from you for an apartment without legal grounds, or someone with mental health problems. In such cases, transactions are easily recognized as invalid.

What you can find out:

Seller details. By checking the passport, you can find out whether the seller is married, has children, where he is registered, and so on. Based on this data, you can inquire about the presence of third legal applicants for the apartment (spouse, children). To verify the authenticity of your passport, you can contact the passport office.
The seller has mental disabilities. To find out this fact, you need to get a certificate from a drug treatment and psychiatric dispensary and make sure that the seller is not registered. Another option is to conduct a medical examination and obtain an appropriate certificate of sanity from the seller. Certificates from such institutions are issued to the person being checked in person. You can also ask to see your driver's license. If they are not found, you need to be wary and carefully carry out such a check. In addition, you can talk to your neighbors, ask about the seller, his lifestyle, hobbies, and so on. If a transaction was made with a person who is registered in a psychoneurological dispensary, it can easily be declared invalid due to the fact that the seller is incompetent and cannot be held accountable for his actions.
Authenticity and validity of the power of attorney. If the seller is acting on the basis of a power of attorney from the owner, the first step is to meet with the owner of the apartment and make sure of his intention to sell the property. The power of attorney must be certified by a notary and have legal force at the moment. A situation may arise that a trusted person shows you a power of attorney, correctly executed and certified by a notary, but the person who issued the power of attorney has revoked it. In this case, the transaction may be considered illegal, since this person did not have any rights to sell the object. To verify the authenticity and validity of the power of attorney, you can contact the notary who certified it directly and verify everything personally.

6. Check if there are other applicants for the apartment.

It is important to know that you can apply not only for ownership, but also for living in the apartment. To exclude the presence of such persons, you need to request an extract from the house register, and an expanded one. It is issued for a fee and contains complete information.

What you can find out:

The number of persons registered in the apartment and who they are related to each other.
Who was discharged and where? When being discharged from their current place of residence, the place where these persons are being discharged must be indicated.
Do persons discharged from it still have the right to reside in this apartment?
The presence of persons temporarily discharged from the apartment. This is an important point. There is a category of persons who can be temporarily discharged from the apartment due to departure (for example, to prison, to the army, for long-term treatment in a psychiatric, drug treatment facility), and then they have the legal right to return to the apartment and live in it .

7. Check the presence of legal heirs of the apartment.

If the apartment was inherited, it is necessary to find out if there are other legal heirs. To do this, you need to request an extract from the notary book from the notary who opened the inheritance and conducted the business.

What you can find out:

The presence of other legal heirs who can claim the apartment. If they show up after the deal is concluded, they can challenge their rights in court and the law will be on their side.
Availability of a written refusal of inheritance if there were other heirs.

8. Check for utility debts.

Typically, when a property is sold, all utility debts must be paid off by the current owner. To check the absence of debts, you need to contact the house management or the HOA accounting department and obtain the appropriate certificate. The seller must receive it and present it to the buyer.

You need to know that electricity debts are often not shown in this certificate. Therefore, you need to obtain a separate certificate.

When concluding a transaction by mutual agreement of the parties, unpaid debts can be included in the cost of the apartment. Then the buyer will have to pay the cost of the apartment with a decrease in the amount of debts that he subsequently undertakes to pay.

Provided that the debt is repaid by the seller himself, a clause must be included in the contract stating that if unpaid debts are identified, the seller undertakes to pay them.

It is not enough to have documents on hand and inspect them visually. To check the purity of the transaction, you need to establish the reliability, authenticity and legal force of these documents so that problems do not arise in the future.

Ask the seller for original documents.
Any certificates must be printed on special stamped forms.
Check for signatures and stamps in the required fields.
Ask the seller for permission to make copies of documents.
Corrections, blots and erasures using proofreaders are not allowed in documents. If there are corrections, they must be certified with special phrases and the signature of authorized persons.
Check data on different documents with each other. Do the owner’s passport details and technical characteristics of the object of sale correspond to different documents?
For greater reliability, request copies of documents for the apartment from Rosreestr.
Do not hesitate to communicate with the seller’s neighbors, with the notary who certified the documents, with the persons who issued certain certificates in your absence, in order to eliminate the possibility of forgery and clarify the reputation of the seller.
If you work with a trusted person, carefully check the power of attorney and check whether it has been revoked.
Do not hesitate to request a personal meeting with the owner of the apartment and with the participants in shared ownership.
Check your marriage certificate. Require a written agreement from your spouse (both current and former) to sell the apartment. The agreement must be certified by a notary.
Pay attention to the date of certificates, statements and other documents that the seller presents to you. Many such documents have a limited validity period.
If the apartment was previously encumbered, ask for a written document from the encumbrancer stating that there are no claims to this object.
Check your utility bills from the previous few months.

If the seller gives veiled answers to your questions, evades, refuses and does not want to provide you with the requested documents, think about his honesty and integrity. A respectable seller who sells an apartment on the secondary market will not have any difficulty in obtaining the necessary certificates and extracts from various institutions, especially since the responsibility for paying for such documents rests with the buyer.

If the property is located, then according to the new rules The agreement must be notarized.

Next, the document is submitted to Rosreestr along with the rest of the paperwork. The parties to the transaction can do this in person or transfer them through the multifunctional center. As for the transfer of money, the apartment owner and the buyer must agree on this in advance. Money can be transferred to a current account, handed over personally or through a safe deposit box.

Additional expenses of the parties during the transaction differ. If there is a need for notary services, the buyer pays for them. The approximate cost is about 1% of the housing price. Both parties must pay the state fee for registering the contract, dividing the amount between themselves.

Also, the seller must pay from the amount received if the property belonged to him for less than 5 years.

Documents

The purchase and sale agreement must be drawn up according to the rules established by civil legislation. The document must include essential conditions:

the address where the property is located;
characteristics of the property (footage, floor, etc.);
price;
information about the owner;
terms of payment.

It is advisable to attach it to the contract.

To complete the transaction, the parties are required to provide:

personal documents;
documents confirming the seller's ownership;
power of attorney (if necessary);
application (for registration of the agreement);
certificate of payment of the duty;
additional papers.

Additional documents include consent to the transaction from co-owners or guardianship authorities. The buyer has the right to demand from the owner of the living space:

certificate from the EIRC (about absence);
registration certificate

Please note: if the owner of the apartment refuses to show these papers, there is a possibility of fraud with the apartment.

Purchase rules

Real estate transactions should always be carried out slowly, thinking through every step. There are many ways to deceive buyers that at first glance seem completely legal. Therefore, when purchasing an apartment on the secondary market, you must adhere to the following rules:

Payment. The seller may require a small amount up front and has every reason to do so. For the buyer, the advance is a guarantee that the deal “will not fall through.” But lawyers still advise concluding an advance agreement, which will allow the buyer to take his money back in case of unforeseen circumstances. The document must also contain information about penalties for refusing the transaction.
If the parties decide to enter into an advance agreement, it is also necessary draw up a separate application about the technical condition of the apartment. It is accompanied by photographs and other documentary evidence.
By transferring the advance to the seller, the buyer must receive. It is she who confirms the receipt of money by the seller, and not the advance agreement.
At the next stage, the buyer must start the document preparation procedure. If it is an apartment, then the list of required papers will be provided by the bank.

Nuances

Negotiations with the seller should include not only the transfer of money, but also the resolution of other important issues:

When is the seller and his family members?
When will they physically vacate the living space (if the seller lives in the apartment)?
What will the seller leave in the premises for the buyer?
How long will it take for the former owner to remove the items?

All these and other important issues must be resolved by the parties to the transaction before the conclusion of any official papers.

Note: this is especially true for deregistering residents, since after the sale and purchase, this procedure may take a long time. And the new owner will have to sign strangers out on his own.

Real estate transactions often fall through because the owner of the apartment raises the price. The buyer has several options:

Refuse to purchase.
Insist on the old price. A good argument in this case is an advance agreement. It can be used as evidence of the seller's misconduct during legal proceedings.
Agree to increase the price.

For your information: unscrupulous realtors are often involved in raising prices, while the owner of the living space is not even aware of it. Therefore, lawyers recommend discussing this issue only with the seller.

Risks. How to avoid being deceived

Such a transaction has some pitfalls that the buyer must be aware of:

. It is necessary to carry out purchase and sale with a trusted owner only after a thorough check of the documents. Case study: N. bought the apartment under a power of attorney, which the owner K. issued in the name of M. But after completing the documents, it turned out that K was mentally ill and did not have the right to carry out such transactions. The contract was terminated.
Participation of legal entities in the transaction. The buyer should be wary if the seller of the property is an organization.
The apartment was purchased by the seller. By law, such housing is registered in the name of all family members, including children. And with children, they must be registered in another living space. If the seller ignores this rule, the transaction may be considered illegal.
The owner of the property is a partially incompetent citizen. Most often, such a seller suffers from alcoholism, drug addiction or mild mental disorders. He can enter into transactions, but his state of health may give rise to a claim to invalidate the sale by his relatives.
Both spouses are the owners of the property. Will be required notarized consent of the husband or wife to the transaction.
Quantity. Case study: the apartment was bequeathed in equal shares to the brother and sister. But the brother illegally sold the property without notifying his relative. As a result, the court declared the deal illegal and demanded the return of the property. The buyer in this case remained the injured party.
Availability. The apartment may be mortgaged, etc.
. The new owners will have to eliminate its consequences (pay a fine or make repairs).
The property is located in. The co-owners have a pre-emptive right to buy out the seller's share. Therefore, the deal can only be carried out after their refusal. Violation of this rule will lead to legal proceedings, and the court will be on the side of the co-owners.
The house is on the list for resettlement. It is prohibited by law to sell apartments in such a building to private individuals.

These are the main points that a buyer must pay attention to before buying a home. Any alarming fact should force him to double-check the documents provided or continue searching for an apartment further.

Questions and answers

How to check the history of an apartment before buying it?

Answer: First you need establish the identity of the seller. To do this, his civil passport and documents for the apartment are checked. Passport details can be checked on the migration service website. With an apartment it’s even easier - you need to order an extract from Rosreestr.

How to protect yourself when making a transaction by proxy?

Answer: Firstly, the power of attorney to carry out this type of legal action must be notarized. The authenticity of the notarization can be checked in the Spark system. Secondly, it is important to find out why the owner does not sell the property personally. The buyer must pay attention to the date of conclusion of the document. If the validity period is not specified, then the power of attorney is valid for only 1 year. If possible, it is advisable to communicate with the owner of the apartment without his authorized representative.

Knowing how to buy a home on the secondary market, it is easy to protect yourself from scammers. The main thing is not to rush, anticipating the housewarming, but carefully check the documents and take into account possible risks.

About the risks and rules of buying housing on the secondary market - a personal opinion on Roman Grinev’s blog.

How to check the cleanliness of an apartment yourself when buying, the essence of the risk check, how to do it (with legal examples), documents to be checked, a video from a lawyer about the risks, nuances and features of the check.

Having the money to buy an apartment is only half the battle. Knowing how not to lose them and how to invest them profitably is the second. If you learn how to check an apartment for legal purity, then at least you will be guaranteed a restful sleep.

But in any case, if you do not dare to check all the documents on the legal purity of the apartment on your own because you are simply not confident in your knowledge, consult with a lawyer, it is free.

How to check an apartment for cleanliness when purchasing: stages

check ownership of the apartment

Certificate of registration of ownership
Base document
Cadastral passport and technical plan
Power of attorney

verification of the apartment owner(s)

Passport
Certificate from the IPA
Availability of other applicants for the apartment
Apartment debts

Ways to check the cleanliness of an apartment when buying it yourself

Stage 1

Checking ownership of an apartment (video)

What documents to check

1. The first and main document for checking the legal purity of the apartment is the Certificate of Registration of Ownership. In itself, it does not have any legal force, since it only informs about where to look for information about the owner and apartment. But it also provides valuable information.

From the Certificate you can find out:

1. How many times has the certificate been issued to the current owner?

For example, he can receive it several times during the entire period of ownership of the apartment. Reasons may include loss of the Certificate, cancellation of the mortgage, registrar errors, etc.

2. A document that confirms the ownership of the apartment by the current owner. There can be many reasons: privatization, purchase and sale, court decision, inheritance, etc. Depending on what exactly was the basis for acquiring ownership of the apartment, you will further check the apartment.

For example, if the basis of ownership was privatization, then you need to check whether all family members, especially minors, participated in it or wrote a refusal. Otherwise, according to the law, they have the right to live in the apartment for life.

And you are unlikely to like such a neighborhood after buying an apartment.

Checking the presence of other applicants for the apartment

Who else can claim the seller’s apartment, besides the owner indicated in the Certificate or the basis document.

First of all, these are the owner’s relatives (parents, spouses, brothers, sisters), who were temporarily evicted from the apartment due to emerging circumstances. For example:

those who went to serve in the army for compulsory service
elderly parents placed in a nursing home
prisoners who have been sentenced and are serving time in places not so distant
children who have been assigned to study in special schools or special educational institutions
patients being treated as inpatients in a neuropsychiatric hospital.

How to identify those temporarily discharged

An extract from the house register will help you, which can only be ordered and received by the owner himself. Read more about it in the article How to take an extract from the house register.

Checking heirs

If the Certificate indicates that the owner acquired ownership by inheritance, find out whether there are still applicants for the apartment you are buying. To do this, contact the notary who opened the inheritance and take an extract from the notary book from him.

From the extract it will become clear to you whether the other relatives wrote a refusal of the inheritance or not.

3. Last name, first name and patronymic, as well as passport details of the owner, his age.

No less valuable information that will help you prevent claims to the apartment by other persons entitled to it after you purchase it.

For example, the surname in the Certificate and in the owner’s passport may differ if she got married and changed her surname. This means that you need to check whether your ex-spouse has the right to the apartment and, if so, get a notarized consent to sell from him.

There are some other nuances that this information allows you to check - they affect the suspension of the transaction.

4. The certificate will show what type of right this owner has to the apartment, the cleanliness of which you are checking. This point in the Certificate will let you know whether this apartment has one owner or several of them, and who else to involve in the transaction.

For example: if it is indicated “ownership in 1/2 share” or common shared or common joint, it means that there are other co-owners with whom you need to get acquainted and they must be present at the transaction.

5. The certificate clearly states which property you are buying: an apartment, a room or a room in a section. Do not be misled by the price of the apartment, because depending on the type of property there is an appropriate price. Those. The room should obviously cost less than the apartment.

For example, a full-fledged “hotel” is for sale, i.e. a mini-apartment at an appropriate price. And looking at the Certificate, you understand that it says not “apartment”, but “room”. This means that the cost of such an “apartment” should already be significantly lower.

Learn more about how to check the cleanliness of an apartment and more in 10 videos

6. The Certificate indicates the date of registration of ownership, and therefore the statute of limitations for ownership of the apartment. This doesn’t make you cold or hot, but if the owners insist on carrying out a “million-dollar” transaction, then maybe they are just looking at the wrong date.

For example, the issuance of the Certificate and the registration of title may be dated differently.

7. Encumbrances and history of transactions on the apartment. The Certificate may not directly state that there are encumbrances on the apartment, but you should check them. To do this, you need to take an extract from the Unified State Register from the nearest MFC branch or Rosreestr branch.

You will also learn the history of transactions for the apartment from the Unified State Register extract, but this option can only be taken by the owner himself.

The basis document and what you can find out

There can be many types of documents, depending on how ownership was acquired. Was it privatization, purchase and sale, exchange or rent, a court order or a share participation agreement.

But one way or another, there is general information that you need to look at if you decide to check the ownership of the apartment:

The person indicated in the document is the same as the one who offers you to buy the apartment
Is he the only one entitled to the apartment being sold?
The basis document is whether it is an original or a copy and whether the document has blue seals from the registering authorities.

For example, apartments for which ownership was acquired before 1996 must have two seals of the BTI (Bureau of Technical Inventory), and after 1998 - seals of the Rosreestr authority.

These are the two main documents on the basis of which you can check the legal purity of the apartment when purchasing.

A cadastral passport and technical plan will also help

A cadastral passport and a technical plan with an explanation will help you find out whether there is any redevelopment in the apartment and whether it is legalized. If, when inspecting the apartment and getting acquainted with the technical plan, you notice inconsistencies in the layout, do not hesitate to check with the owner why they exist and where the documents on the legal redevelopment are.

This is an important point, especially if you are buying an apartment with a mortgage, since the bank may not approve an apartment with unauthorized redevelopment. In addition, if the redevelopment is not legalized, then after the purchase you will have to legalize it (which means time and additional waste), or return everything to its original state.

Power of attorney for sale

If you decide to buy an apartment using a power of attorney, make sure that it is valid. The fact is that the owner can revoke it at any time.

Stage 2

Checking the owner (video)

1. The owner’s passport is the main document for you when checking the owner of the apartment. From the passport you can find out information such as the age of the owner, the composition of his family, valid or dissolved marriages. How will this help you? For example, there will be a reason to ask. Do the children indicated in the passport have the right to an apartment?

For example, the owner used a mortgage when buying an apartment, then paid it off and used maternity capital, which means that the children also have a share in the apartment by default. The owner himself may not even think about it, but you should.

2. Certificate from the PND (psycho-neurological clinic)

It will help you if you are checking the legal purity of an apartment that is being sold at a discount, because the owners are marginal (drug addicts or alcoholics). It doesn’t hurt to ask them to take a certificate.

However, you should keep in mind that they may not be registered, although in fact they may be “out of their minds,” and only a court has the right to recognize them as incompetent. But it will be superfluous for you to play it safe.

If the owner (co-owner) is registered with the PND, then it is better to refuse the purchase - it will be declared invalid!

3 Checking apartment debts
There has long been an established custom in the real estate market: before selling an apartment, the owner must pay off all debts on utility bills for the apartment being sold.

To prove the absence of debts, he provides the buyer with a document, the so-called. A sales certificate containing this information.

He receives a certificate from the building management or the accounting department of his HOA. At the same time, you should know that information about the debt for electricity is often not indicated in the Sales Certificate. In this regard, the amendment about the absence of debts for electricity must be taken separately.

Additional payments:

TV
Internet
landline phone (if you have one)
intercom

Be sure to indicate in the purchase and sale agreement that the seller is transferring the apartment to you without debt. If it turns out otherwise, he will be obliged to pay them

If the seller is not able to pay his debts on his own, for example, if you are buying an apartment from marginal buyers, then you need to include the amount of debts that you pay for the former owner in the price of the apartment and indicate this in the purchase and sale agreement.

By the way, buyers often have a question, for example, did the seller pay all utility bills before the transaction. You have agreed to a deal, then the registration of ownership and the transfer of keys to the apartment takes, for example, 1 month.

Final video

Who should pay for utilities in this case? After all, the buyer already owns the apartment, but the seller actually lived in it for 1 month!

Today you learned how to independently check the cleanliness of a home for a buyer, what documents to ask from the owner to check the legal cleanliness of an apartment.

Happy shopping!