Checking an apartment when buying it

Everybody knows that real estate transactions are subject to state registration in the registration chamber, but going to the registration chamber is, it can be said, the last stage. Before this, it is necessary to carry out a number of actions aimed at checking at least three components of the transaction:

1. Check the person making the deal.
2. Check the apartment that is the object of the contract of sale.
3. Check the text of the contract.

Let us examine briefly each stage

Any transaction, including the contract of sale of an apartment, has a legal meaning only if it is committed by a person who has the right to perform it. There are two important aspects to this question. Firstly, does the person who concludes the contract of sale with the necessary legal capacity, and secondly, whether this person, for which he issues himself, is in fact (it is usually checked in the registration chamber upon delivery of documents).

The ability of a citizen to acquire and exercise civil rights, create civil duties and perform them (civil capacity), is recognized as legal capacity, comes into full force with the coming of age, that is, at the age of eighteen (Article 21 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

However, according to Art. 29,30 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, a citizen may be recognized as legally incompetent or severely legally incompetent. In this case, transactions involving their participation have a specific nature. On behalf of a citizen found incompetent, the transaction is performed by his guardian. A citizen who is limited in capacity, commits transactions on his own behalf (with the exception of small domestic transactions), but with the consent of the trustee. In this connection, it is necessary to make sure that the citizen is really capable.

As you know, the deal can be concluded both by the citizen himself and through a representative. In this regard, if the transaction is not carried out by the apartment owner himself, but by his representative, it is necessary to ascertain whether the representative has the necessary authority to enter into a contract. The general procedure for concluding a contract is simple and has several ways. The contract of purchase and sale of immovable property is concluded through the preparation of one document signed by the parties.

The apartment is checked in at least four directions:

• Verify the right to an apartment;
• Check who is registered in the apartment;
• Check the existence (absence) of debts;
• Check encumbrances.

Rights to the apartment and encumbrances are verified on the basis of an extract from the Unified State Rights Register (the Unified Register of State Rights), which can be obtained directly from the registration chamber or ordered electronically, for example, through a rosere site.

Checking the apartment for the presence of persons registered in it is an important and necessary step in concluding a transaction. The best option in this matter is to obtain an extended extract from the home book. As a rule, it is issued to the owner of the apartment, it indicates the people who are registered in this residential building at the moment, as well as those people that were prescribed earlier, and, importantly, to what address they are issued. Pay attention to the presence in the apartment of young children, because if they were written out in violation, then such a sale transaction can later be challenged, because The rights of minor children should not be infringed in any way.

Checking the apartment for debts is an equally important aspect of the transaction. For example, the owner could not pay for communal services for months , having accumulated a tangible debt. To avoid this, it is necessary to ask the owner of the receipt (at least 3 months) to pay for all utilities.

The text of the contract, if you did not make it yourself, it is advisable to read at least two times. The meaning of each sentence must be understood. Under the current legislation, in interpreting the terms of the contract, the literal meaning of the words and expressions contained in it is taken into account. The literal meaning of a contractual condition in case of its ambiguity is established by comparison with other conditions and the meaning of the treaty as a whole.

Take for yourself the rule not to sign a contract, if any part of it is not clear to you or has ambiguous meaning. Everybody has heard about bikes about contracts, in which small special conditions are prescribed. Sometimes one small condition in the contract, expressed in a small sentence, can cross out all the benefits from the transaction or create such problems to the buyer that if he understood all the consequences of the transaction, he would never have signed the treaty.

Transactions with real estate are always deals with increased risk. It is better to be safe and not lose control throughout the whole purchase. Be careful.