Any apartment on the secondary market has a history. Before buying, you need to check it so that there are no troubles later. This is no joke: if the court invalidates the deal, you can be legally evicted. For example, if the seller turned out to be a fraudster and sold you someone else’s apartment, or if deprived heirs suddenly showed up.

The history of the apartment is checked using documents. We'll tell you what to pay attention to, where to look and in what cases to refuse a deal.

Checklist for verification

1. Apartment owner

Only the owner or an authorized representative can sell an apartment. Therefore, you need to check whether the seller actually owns the property. Such information is available in the extract from the Unified State Register of Rights to Real Estate.

The document can be ordered at the MFC or on the Rosreestr website, even if you are not the owner of the apartment.

What to pay attention to:

1. If several owners are listed in the extract, their consent to sell the apartment is required. Otherwise, after the purchase, one of the former owners may assert their rights. The court recognizes such a transaction as invalid.

2. If the owner is married, you must obtain the consent of the second spouse to sell.

Let's look at a simple example. Alexey is the owner of the apartment. He has a wife, Anna. They bought an apartment when they got married. Although Alexei is officially the owner of the apartment, Anna also has the right to it, since it is joint property. Therefore, it is impossible to buy an apartment without Anna’s notarial consent: she can challenge the deal in court and win.

The date of marriage is in Alexey’s passport, the date of purchase of the apartment is in the Unified State Register extract. It's easy to verify the data.

3. If there are minor children among the owners, you need to obtain permission from the guardianship authorities to sell the apartment from the seller. Otherwise, government agencies may challenge the deal.

In addition, the owner of the apartment must have a document on the basis of which the apartment became his property: inheritance, donation, privatization, exchange.

2. Previous transactions with the apartment

To check them, ask the seller for an extended extract from the Unified State Register. It contains information about the people who owned the apartment before. It is important to understand on the basis of what transactions the apartment was transferred into ownership.

If transactions have been one after another for a year, this may be a scam scheme behind it. They sold the apartment using fake documents and are hiding their tracks.

You checked the current owner, everything is fine with him. And two buyers ago the apartment was sold to scammers. When the real owner is announced, the court cancels all transactions. The apartment remains with the first owner. The new owners find themselves homeless and without money.

3. Power of attorney

If the seller is not the owner of the apartment, he must have one from the owner of the property. There is nothing illegal about this, but you should carefully check the documents before making such a purchase.

It happens that scammers forge a power of attorney and sell someone else’s apartment while the real owner is on a long business trip. To avoid getting into such a situation, it is worth checking the power of attorney on the website of the Federal Notary Chamber.

Sometimes scammers obtain a power of attorney from an incapacitated person and also sell the apartment. Relatives find out about the deal and file a lawsuit. The court declares the purchase and sale agreement invalid due to the incapacity of the owner. The apartment remains his property, you find yourself on the street, the scammers are in the Maldives. To prevent this from happening, you need to contact the owner of the apartment and ask him for a certificate from a narcologist and psychiatrist.

4. Registration

Information about who is registered in the apartment is in the archival extract from the house register. The owner receives it. At the time of purchase, no one should be registered in the apartment, but as an exception, you can indicate in the contract a condition when the former owners will be deregistered.

Although there are many subtleties here too. For example, if an apartment was privatized, one of the owners could refuse to participate in the privatization. In this case, he has the right to use the housing after the sale. Such a person cannot be discharged even with the help of the court. The same applies to children: if they did not participate in privatization and there was no permission from the guardianship authorities, the deal can be cancelled.

These details are in the extract from the house register. If you don’t check such little things, you can buy an apartment with registered residents. If in doubt, it is better to contact a lawyer.

5. Deposit

Check whether the apartment is collateral. This information is available in the extended extract from the Unified State Register, which is issued to the homeowner. Just remember the expiration date of such an extract. For example, courts accept certificates received no later than a month ago. Real estate experts recommend trusting statements that were issued no later than two weeks ago.

It is also worth finding out whether bankruptcy proceedings are underway against the seller and his spouse. You can find out about the decisions of the arbitration court, - about the cases that are currently underway. On the FSSP website, check whether enforcement proceedings are being carried out against the owner. In this case, bailiffs can seize his property, including his apartment.

6. Inheritance

It is risky to buy an apartment from the owner, which he inherited. Distant relatives may suddenly appear and challenge the deal in court. In the end, you will suffer, not the heir.

Therefore, try not to buy an apartment if it is inherited within three years from the date of the transaction. During this time, distant relatives may appear and claim their rights to the property. The more time has passed since the inheritance, the better.

7. Documents

Check the seller's documents. Check personal data with ownership documents. Pay attention to the registration page. If there are many addresses there, be wary. Check everything again. If in doubt, go to a lawyer. This is better than losing your apartment and money.

8. Certificates from a narcologist and psychiatrist

Ask the owner to provide them to ensure his legal capacity. An incompetent person cannot carry out a transaction. This must be done by his guardian.

9. Debts for major repairs

If the former owner does not pay them off, you will have to do it. Therefore, ask him for a receipt or get a certificate from the management company. But this only applies to debts for major repairs. Electricity, water and other utility services remain with the former owner of the apartment.

1. Write down the full cost of the apartment in the contract

If the seller, under various pretexts, offers to indicate a lower price for the apartment, do not agree. If something goes wrong, you will only be able to return the amount specified in the contract.

2. If in doubt, go to a lawyer

Buying a home on the secondary market involves many risks. You need to figure them out, otherwise you will be left without money and without an apartment. If in doubt, consult a lawyer. He will figure it out and give advice.

3. Insure the deal

Insurance companies offer title insurance. If suddenly something goes wrong and the court declares the transaction illegal, at least you will not be left without money and will receive compensation.

Hello. I'll start with history. A family approached me and decided to buy an apartment. They found the right one and decided to find out whether the sellers were really the owners. To do this, we contacted a law firm and there they were asked for 1,500 rubles for this information. I jumped out of my chair when I heard this amount. I told them that you can find out the owners of the apartments yourself and much cheaper. Therefore, I wrote about these methods, which one way or another come down to.

Are there any free ways to find out the owners?

I am simply amazed at what they write on some legal resources. Allegedly, the tax office / housing office / passport office will give the full names of the property owners if you convince the employee that you want to buy this property and are checking it. This is complete nonsense. Remember - You can’t just find out the owners of an apartment for free, neither in these organizations nor anywhere else. But many people go there and then write in the comments that they weren’t told anything there. I had to use it.

Information about property owners is stored in the Unified State Register of Real Estate (hereinafter referred to as EGRN). According to paragraph 2 of Art. 63 of the Law on Registration, a free request to the Unified State Register can be made by law enforcement officers, prosecutors, bailiffs, notaries, etc. Ordinary citizens can make a paid request and receive an extract. It shows the owners - all the details are below.

The best online method No. 1 - you will find the owners in the extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate

All methods are in one way or another connected specifically with extracts from the Unified State Register of Real Estate. There are several types of them, the required one is called this - an extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate about the main characteristics and registered rights to the property.

Take a look at the sample below. In section No. 2 in clause No. 1.1 “Copyright holder” it is shown who owns the apartment. If the apartment is owned by several people, then the size of their shares will be shown with their full names.

One owner

Several owners

The service I use for ordering an extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate

Any person (not even a citizen of the Russian Federation) can order an extract for any real estate in the Russian Federation. They are provided electronically and in paper form. An electronic statement is more convenient for me: 1) it costs 250 rubles, and a paper one is already 400 rubles; 2) you don’t need to go anywhere - after payment the statement will be sent by email; 3) easily opens on a computer or phone - no additional programs need to be installed. Can be printed.

Previously, I ordered electronic statements on the official website of Rosreestr, but now I use its partner service Ktotam.pro (I indicated the reasons in the next paragraph). Cost of statements on both sites 250 rubles, but you can order from Whotam.pro 5 statements for 150 rubles. How to order an extract is written, how to order a package of extracts -. Whotam.pro takes official information from the Unified State Register of Real Estate, and not from any of its databases, because along with the extract they will send a digital signature of the Rosreestr registrar (EDS).

Why did I start using Whotam.pro? 1) statements are sent on average within 1 hour. We had to wait an average of 47 hours from Rosreestr; 2) statements are sent immediately in readable form - you can open them on a computer or smartphone, no additional programs are required. From Rosreestr you will receive an extract in an unreadable .xml format and will have to convert it into a readable form. 3) It is easier to fill out the order fields and there are few of them. The Rosreestr website is inconvenient, there are many fields for ordering and you need to enter your passport data.

Instructions for ordering an extract in Whotam.pro

Order instructions with pictures. For clarity, I ordered an extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate for an apartment at the address Moscow, st. Vostochnaya, 13. I won’t show you the apartment number.

1. Go to Whotam.pro. Technical support: [email protected], [email protected]. You can also ask me questions in the comments, but keep in mind that I am not the owner of the service, I only use it in my work.
2. Enter the address of the apartment and click on the “Find” button.

   This is what happened to me.

   (click on pictures to enlarge)

   

   In the “Street” field, enter only the name of the street, alley, boulevard, etc. Examples of addresses: example No. 1, example No. 2, example No. 3, example No. 4.

   If the apartment address has a building, then do not worry about the lack of a corresponding field. Just enter the address without the body and click on the “Find” button. In the next window, select the address where the desired building is indicated.

   If you need the city of Moscow or St. Petersburg, then enter that in the “Region” field. To search for other settlements, first enter the name of the region, then the settlement.

3. In the window that opens, check the address and click on “Select object”.

   Package offers in Whotam.pro

   (to enlarge the picture, click on it)

   
   

   The package is valid for 1 year. Order like this:

   Online method No. 2 - on the Rosreestr website

   Please note that property owners are not shown for free on the Rosreestr website. I wrote about this in detail in my article, you will find proof there.

   On the Rosreestr website you will have to make a paid request, or rather, order the same extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate about the main characteristics and registered rights to the property. A paper one costs 400 rubles, an electronic one costs 250 rubles. I do not recommend ordering an electronic statement on the Rosreestr website, because... They send it on average after 2 days and in unreadable form. Above in method No. 1;

4. Enter the captcha below and click on the “Generate request” button;
5. On the page that opens, click on the apartment address. As you can see, the reference information does not contain the names of the copyright holders, and so it is with all real estate.

   For example, I entered the address - Moscow, Valovaya St., 6, apt. 15 and here is the reference information I received from the Unified State Register of Real Estate.

Method No. 3 - in the MFC or Rosreestr branches

Everything is the same here - they won’t just tell you the owners, you will need to order an extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate. Cost - 400 rub. in paper form and 250 rub. in electronic Statements are issued within 3-4 business days, but there may be delays. I know where for the same 250 rubles. Electronic statements are sent literally in 1 hour - .

If you nevertheless decide to contact the branches of the MFC or Rosreestr, you only need a passport and money for the extract. You can contact any branch, no matter where the apartment is located. If there is a MFC in the locality, then go there, because... in this case, Rosreestr branches do not directly accept citizens. If there is no MFC, then feel free to contact the Rosreestr branches. Tell the employee the address of the desired apartment, he will fill out an application, issue a receipt and indicate the date of readiness for checkout. You can also find out if your order is ready by phone. On the appointed day, come for an extract with your passport and receipt.

You must agree that buying real estate is not the easiest thing, especially for the first time. The agony of choosing the perfect apartment is combined with many questions about the registration procedure. There is a desire not to waste time, energy, and most importantly, your own money. Sound familiar?

the site will sort out all possible risks and tell you how to check the cleanliness of an apartment when purchasing.

Purchasing an apartment on the primary market

The primary market includes apartments in buildings under construction. They have not yet had an owner, moreover, they do not exist as a material object. Because of this, the buyer’s main risk is that the developer will not build and/or put into operation the property.

On the other hand, such a “new” apartment has a number of advantages in terms of risks:

• there is no need to check her history;
• there is no risk of illegal redevelopment;
• it is easy to obtain information about the seller, i.e. about the developer.

So, you are paying money for a “pig in a poke”, and therefore you are dependent on the developer. That's why it's so important to choose it correctly. Details on how to do this The key point is to first pay attention to the formal data of the company: history, financial statements, delivery dates of previous construction projects.

Yes, there is no 100% guarantee against rescheduling or freezing the construction of a residential building. But it is possible to minimize the risks. An alternative is to buy housing on the secondary market, that is, from the owner.

Buying an apartment on the secondary market

On the secondary market, a property is not “ghostly”, but quite real. Therefore, the risks associated with the transaction are very diverse.

Most cases of customer fraud occur in the secondary market. Learn more about popular types of fraud

All the main risks when buying an apartment on the secondary market can be divided into several groups. Let's look at each in more detail.

Risks associated with the identity of the seller

Risks associated with the rights of others

Risks associated with the property

How to find out the history of an apartment

With the advent of the Unified State Register of Rights, and then the Unified State Register of Real Estate, it became easier to verify the legal purity of an apartment before purchasing.

You can receive several types of statements from the registry, including:

• about real estate objects;
• about the owners of real estate;
• on the emergence, change and termination of rights to real estate;
• on the cadastral value of the property.

How to get an extract? The simplest information – about the property – can be found in electronic form on the official website of Rosreestr. It is available to anyone. For others please contact:

• branch of Rosreestr or cadastral chamber.

Thanks to the extract, you can minimize the chance of buying an apartment with a bad history.

Another important document is an Extract from the house register, also known as a certificate in form No. 9 or a Certificate of Registration. It contains information about currently registered and deregistered individuals. Only the owner or registered person can receive it.

Where to get it?

• in the MFC;
• at the territorial branch of the FMS;
• in a housing maintenance institution.

How to check the legal purity of a purchase and sale transaction

If you have made sure that there are no problems with the apartment, then do not rush to relax. You need to check the legal purity of the transaction when purchasing an apartment. Remain vigilant during the signing of the purchase and sale agreement.

What kind of contract must be in order for it to have legal force? The law establishes a mandatory form - written in the form of a single document signed by the parties. You will need three copies: for you as the buyer, for the seller and for Rosreestr.

In addition to the form, the content of the contract is also important. Make sure it contains the following:

• information about the parties to the contract: seller and buyer;
• information about the subject of the contract, i.e. about the apartment itself;
• the direct obligation of one party to transfer the apartment, and the second to accept it and pay the price;
• information about the price and payment method;
• a list of persons indicating their rights to use the residential premises being sold, if any.

If you refuse the services of an agent, you can save several tens of thousands of rubles on checking the legal purity. With the proper approach, even an independent check will reveal possible weak points of the object. Moreover, some of the verification stages can be carried out using Internet resources, in particular, the Rosreestr website. The portal site provides several recommendations with which the buyer can independently check the legal cleanliness of the site with the house before purchasing. The recommendations are also suitable for cases of purchasing a plot with an unregistered house.

In the eyes of a significant part of buyers, it is an unregistered private house that is more interesting for purchase. It is cheaper in price. In addition, until the house is registered with the cadastral register, you do not have to pay tax on it (usually more than 10 thousand rubles per year). However, even when buying such an “unofficial” property, you need to be sure that it is built in accordance with building and fire regulations, and it can be registered if such a need arises (for insurance, inclusion in a will, etc. ).

Step 1. Online pre-check

The buyer usually conducts a legal check of the purity of the purchased property after he has personally examined all the offers that interest him and made a choice. However, quite important information about plots with houses put up for sale can be obtained even before going to the viewing party and meeting with the seller. This will allow you to remove objects with legal problems from the list for inspection and not waste time getting to know them personally.

Preliminary verification of the legal status of an object begins with a telephone call to the seller. During the conversation, it is necessary not only to set a time for a meeting and inspection of the plot and house, but also to find out the cadastral number of the plot or the exact address (if the plot/house has been assigned an address). This is not secret information, there is no point in hiding it for the seller. Knowing the address or cadastral number, you can get information about the plot and house on the Rosreestr website. However, it is worth considering that searching by address does not always work here. It is more reliable to search by cadastral number. If the buyer of the object does not know this number, he can clarify it through the resource kadastr.ktotam.pro. Here you can find out the cadastral number for free if you enter the address of the property.

The page of the Rosreestr website “Reference information on real estate objects online” will tell you quite a lot about the property. Here you can find out the address, the cadastral value of the property, the area of ​​the plot and the house, the date of registration of ownership, as well as the presence of restrictions - whether the property is under mortgage, pledge or under arrest. True, the form of the restriction will not be indicated - only a note that there is a restriction on the disposal of the object. The buyer must understand that until the restriction is lifted, the purchase and sale of the property is impossible.

In addition, information about the plot and the house can be obtained using the Public Cadastral Map on the Rosreestr website. Here in the public domain there is data on the category of land, permitted use and size of the object.

Step 2. Examine the documents available to the seller

The seller of a private house, by default, must have documents confirming his ownership of the land, a title document for the house and a passport. The buyer will be able to study these documents during their first meeting. In addition, you should ask the seller (for example, during a preliminary telephone conversation) to have with him an extract from the Unified State Register of Rights on the transfer of rights, an archival certificate from the passport office and receipts confirming the absence of debts on utility and other payments. Most likely, the seller will not have these papers on hand at the time of the meeting (they are not needed for the transaction and sellers usually do not care about collecting them). Then it’s worth agreeing with the seller about a second meeting in a few days, when the missing documents are ready.

Land documents

The seller's ownership of the land plot is confirmed by two documents. Firstly, this is a title document - it indicates on what basis the current owner owns the land. The title document for land can be: a resolution on the allocation of land, a purchase and sale agreement, a certificate of inheritance rights, a court decision, etc. The second necessary paper is an extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate - USRN, which confirms the ownership of the land of a specific person .

The buyer should be quite careful about a plot received as an inheritance, especially if the inheritance was received by will and not by force of law. The certificate of inheritance always indicates whether the inheritance was received “by will” or “by law.” Realtors especially carefully study objects inherited less than 3 years ago. Another situation that should alert the buyer is if the current owner himself purchased the plot recently - less than 3 years ago. In this case, you should insist that the owner additionally present an “extended extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate” (this will be discussed below).

The second paper - an extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate - requires no less attention. It should be remembered that from January 1, 2017, an extract from the Unified State Register is the only document confirming the title to the property. All other papers (certificate of lifelong ownership, deed of ownership, etc.) are title-establishing and formally no longer have legal force. However, if the owner of the plot registered his property right before July 15, 2016, he has a “Certificate of Registration of Rights” in his hands, which at least says that the owner’s rights are properly registered. However, it is better for him to present an extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate with a recent date. It is needed to make sure that the object is not pledged or under an encumbrance.

When studying the extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate, you need to make sure that the address indicated there coincides with the actual location of the site, check the configuration of the site (there is a drawing in the extract). If you are purchasing a residential building (not a garden house), then you need to make sure that the status of the plot allows you to consider the housing built on it to be truly a residential building. That is, the plot must be located either on the lands of settlements (and have permitted use for individual housing construction - individual housing construction or personal subsidiary plots - private plots), or on agricultural lands (permitted use for summer cottage construction or for gardening or vegetable gardening).

Vladimir Voronov

country real estate expert at Link Academy of Sciences

You also need to make sure that the documents for the site correctly indicate its characteristics. It often happens that the area of ​​the plot indicated in the title document and in the extract from the Unified State Register does not match. In the extract there is a more correct option. In addition, by studying the extract, you can understand whether land surveying was carried out. Let me remind you that from January 1, 2018, plots cannot be sold without land surveying. In the extract from the Unified State Register there is section No. 1, column “area”. If it says that the area is “specified”, this means that land surveying has been carried out. Or the number in the adjacent column will tell you about the survey. If there is a plus/minus sign next to the number (for example, 320±4), this indicates that the site has been surveyed. However, regardless of how long ago the land survey was carried out, I recommend calling a surveyor and clarifying the actual location of the site. This will allow you to insure yourself against mistakes made during the preparation of the land survey. It happens that the acquired plot occupies a larger area than indicated in the documents; it is even worse if there is an outbuilding (bathhouse or garage) beyond the border of the plot, which is purchased along with the plot.

If it is not clear from the extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate that the site has been demarcated, but the owner claims that he carried out the survey, then you should clarify when this was done. It happens that areas demarcated before 2008 need to be interleaved, since the coordinate determination system has changed since then. If the survey was carried out recently, then perhaps the owner (or the cadastral engineer who carried out the survey) did not submit an application to Rosreestr to make changes to the Unified State Register. A call to the Rosreestr hotline at tel. 8-800-100-34-34. During the conversation, you will need to provide the cadastral number of the plot. Therefore, you need to remember it or have the opportunity to “spy.”

Documents for the house

If the owner approached the sale of the house with full responsibility, then he registered the property in the cadastral register ahead of time and registered ownership of it. In this case, the seller has in his hands “an extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate on the main characteristics and registered rights to the property.” This document confirms ownership of the house. The extract, in particular, indicates: full name of the owner, cadastral number, address, number of floors and area of ​​the house. Particular attention should be paid to the cadastral value of the property, as it will affect. In the Sverdlovsk region, the tax on private houses will be calculated based on the cadastral value, starting in 2019 or 2020.

If the house was built before 1999, then it was most likely registered with the BTI. That is, Rosreestr may lack information about both the house itself and its owner. It is clear that in this case the owner (seller) will not have an extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate. But then he must have a document confirming his right to the house (title document). This could be a registration certificate from the BTI, a sales contract, a deed of gift, a certificate of inheritance, etc.

As explained in the Office of Rosreestr for the Sverdlovsk Region, even if the owner of the house has not registered his rights to the house, he can nevertheless sell this house. In this case, two applications are submitted to Rosreestr (through the MFC) - for registration of the right and for registration of the transfer of the right. The applications are accompanied by title papers for the land and the house.

When studying an extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate, as well as the title document, you need to make sure that the data from the documents coincides with the characteristics of the real house.

Egor Mityurev

agent, country real estate expert at Novosel Academy of Sciences

It happens that three-story buildings are registered as one-story. Theoretically, there is a danger that municipal authorities will find out about the violation (often this happens thanks to a “signal” from neighbors) and demand that the house be brought into compliance with the documents. That is, the buyer of such an object must be prepared for conflicts with the head of architecture. Or he will have to obtain permission for reconstruction and register the house honestly.

Owner's passport

The seller’s passport must be examined not only to make sure that this person is the owner of the house and land. You should also pay attention to your marital status and understand whether the house was purchased during marriage or not.

Anastasia Chernova

Sales Specialist at Nakhodka Academy of Sciences

It is very important to know who can claim the house and land. If they were purchased during marriage, then a notarized consent of the spouse for the sale is required. It is also worth checking for the presence of minor children, who may subsequently challenge this transaction if their rights have been violated.

If the seller has two or more children, and he bought the house ready-made, then there is a possibility that maternity capital was used when buying the house, which means that by law all family members must be given shares in this property. If this was not done, then subsequent transactions with the property may be contested, therefore, the future owner of the house is at risk. Therefore, the buyer should try to find out whether the capital was used when purchasing the house by the current owner. This is quite difficult, since the participation of maternal capital in the purchase of a house is not recorded in the title document. But if the house was purchased with the help of a mortgage, then reference to maternal capital may be in the loan agreement.

Step 3. View the papers prepared at the buyer’s request

If, based on the results of an inspection of the house and plot, a decision (final or preliminary) is made to purchase them, then you can begin the stage of a more in-depth inspection of the property you like. As mentioned above, for this you will need an extract from the Unified State Register of Rights on the transfer of rights, an archival certificate from the passport office and receipts confirming the absence of debts on utility and other payments.

Extract from the Unified State Register of Rights on the transfer of rights

If the seller presents a purchase and sale agreement as a title document (that is, he himself once purchased a plot of land with a house for money), then the buyer should investigate the legal history of the property. For this purpose, “an extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate on the transfer of rights to a real estate property” is best suited. Sometimes this paper is unofficially called an “extended extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate”. It can only be ordered by the owner of the house or a person who has a notarized power of attorney from him. The certificate can be ordered from the MFC or (if the owner has an electronic signature) on the Rosreestr website. Registration of an extended statement in paper form will cost 400 rubles, in electronic form - 250 rubles. The processing time is three working days.

The extended extract contains the full names of the owners of the plot in chronological order, the type of right of each owner (ownership, shared ownership), and most importantly, the registration dates of each transaction.

Lyudmila Plotnikova

You should pay close attention to the terms of ownership of the plot and house. The buyer should be especially wary if the current and previous owners of the property owned it for a very short time. There is a danger that a series of lightning-fast transactions is covering up tracks after a risky operation. In turn, if the seller has owned the land for many years, this reduces the risk of “greetings” from the past appearing.

Experts note that the extended extract is also useful when checking a plot (a plot with a house) that previously passed from one owner to another through inheritance or by court decision.

Archival certificate from the passport office

Information about the spouse and children is not always available in the owner’s passport. This can happen if the passport has recently been replaced (due to loss or when the owner reaches 45 years of age) or simply due to a mistake by the passport officer. Some idea of ​​the family composition of the owner of the house can be obtained from an archival certificate from the passport office. Sometimes it is called an extended or historical certificate in form 40. Such a certificate is issued at the passport office (the modern name of this body is the Center for the reception and processing of documents for registration of citizens at the place of residence and place of stay of the Federal Migration Service). The archival certificate contains information about who and when was registered in the house for the entire time that the current owner owned the house. This certificate will help you understand what kind of relatives the owner (seller) has and what risks this may pose for the future owner in the future. As already mentioned, the presence of two or more children may indicate the use of maternal capital in the purchase of real estate. Also in the certificate you should pay attention to the records of the discharge of citizens in connection with departure to places of imprisonment or military service. Such people retain the right to live in the house, even if the house changes hands.

Also, before the transaction, you should ask the seller for a regular certificate in Form 40. It indicates the persons registered (registered) in the house at the time the certificate was issued. It is advisable that at the time of sale no one is registered in the premises, and definitely no minors.

Payment receipts

Before buying a house, you need to make sure that the previous owner has no debt for “utilities” (if the plot/house is connected to the networks) for membership and other payments. Therefore, the buyer is recommended to familiarize himself with the utility payment receipts that the owner will provide. Additionally, you can visit the chairman of the gardening partnership (if the house is located in SNT) or the office of the management company (if the house is in a cottage community). Here you can also get information about possible debts of the seller of the plot.

Step 4. In-depth check online

Unlike on-line preliminary verification, this stage requires significant time and small financial costs.

A simple extract for a plot or house from the Unified State Register of Real Estate

If there is a need to obtain additional information about the house and plot, you can order an “extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate on the main characteristics and registered rights to the object” on the Rosreestr website. It can be obtained in paper form for 750 rubles, in electronic form for 300 rubles. The paper is issued to any citizen.

Denis Vokhmenin

To check the information provided by the owner about the ownership of the house and land, you need to order extracts from the Unified State Register of Real Estate for the house and land. They contain all the information about the owner (full name), the basis for acquiring ownership rights, restrictions and encumbrances (if any) of real estate.

When studying the extract, a potential buyer should carefully study the sections containing data on restrictions - encumbrances (seizures) of the right, as well as claims made in court. It may also contain information about challenging inheritance rights. Of course, the presence of such legal “add-on weights” greatly increases the risks of the owner of the house and land.

Previously, the portal site talked about the variety and the cost of using them.

Is the property subject to litigation?

Another source of knowledge about the home you are purchasing is the websites of district and city courts. They have search engines that allow you to find court cases (completed or in progress) by the name of the participant in the process. The website of the Federal Bailiff Service may also be of interest. To search on it, in addition to the full name, you need to know the citizen’s date of birth.

Lyudmila Plotnikova

lawyer of the Ural Chamber of Real Estate

Before buying a house and land, you should check on the websites of district courts to see if there are any lawsuits surrounding this property, or if relatives are dividing it in court. It is necessary to search in the courts at the location of the property. It is worth looking at the bailiffs' website for this reason - it happens that the bailiff initiated enforcement proceedings, but did not seize the debtor's property. That is, the Unified State Register does not display information that restrictions have been imposed on the object. And Rosreestr will register a transaction with such property. However, if you buy a plot of land with a house from a person against whom enforcement proceedings are being carried out, then such a transaction may be subsequently challenged. And the buyer will lose the acquired property.

Is the seller in bankruptcy?

If the home owner is in a state of personal bankruptcy, creditors will be able to challenge the sale of their property. Then the property will be returned to the previous owner, and the buyer will stand in line for creditors to receive the money paid for the house and land.

Lyudmila Plotnikova

lawyer of the Ural Chamber of Real Estate

Bankruptcy cases of citizens should be searched on the website of the arbitration court. But I note that the absence of a bankruptcy case does not provide a guarantee. If a person was not bankrupt at the time of the sale, but went bankrupt within three years after the transaction was concluded, there is a risk that creditors will try to protest the transaction on the grounds that it was made for the purpose of removing the debtor's property from creditors. If the transaction was carried out at a price lower than the market price by 25%, then it will most likely be declared invalid.

As additional protection against possible bankruptcy of the real estate seller, an appropriate guarantee from the seller can be included in the purchase and sale agreement. The UPN proposes the following wording: “The seller guarantees that he has not been declared bankrupt, that bankruptcy proceedings have not been initiated and are not ongoing against him, that he has no debts and/or any other unfulfilled obligations that may lead to the initiation of bankruptcy proceedings against him.” bankruptcy and/or collection of funds, that he knows nothing about creditors who may apply to the court to declare him bankrupt, and that he himself does not plan to go to court to declare himself bankrupt.” However, the concept of personal bankruptcy in Russia appeared quite recently, and so far there are no judicial precedents showing whether such a formulation protects the future owner from challenging the transaction he has completed.

Buying an unregistered house

Often, owners of individual plots do not register residential buildings in order to avoid property taxes. In principle, you can buy a plot with an unregistered house. Often in this case, the contract indicates that there are building materials on the site.

Denis Vokhmenin

Chief Legal Advisor, Nakhodka Academy of Sciences

In this case, only a plot of land can be legally acquired. And the new owner will have to deal with registering ownership of the house (if he decides that this needs to be done). At the same time, the new owner may encounter difficulties when registering ownership of the house, since the entire procedure will depend, among other things, on the category of land and the type of permitted use of the land plot.

The new owner, according to Art. 222 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation can register a finished building, however, for this he will need a construction permit. If the house has already been built, municipal authorities may refuse to issue a permit. In particular, the refusal may be due to the fact that the house does not comply with building codes (for example, the setbacks from the boundaries of the site are not observed). Therefore, if an unregistered house is purchased (i.e., not registered with the Unified State Register of Cadastrals), then it makes sense for the buyer to make sure that the seller has a building permit and that the real house corresponds to what is stated in the permit.