How to buy a room in an apartment.
There are situations when the savings of a young family do not allow them to buy an entire apartment, as they would like. At the same time, the already accumulated funds need to be saved and not wasted on trifles, so it is better to think about investing the available amount of money in real estate. In this case, purchasing a room in an apartment or in a dormitory may be a suitable and economical option. You can deal with this issue yourself, or you can entrust it to a lawyer or realtor with experience in this area.
Important! Before the transaction, you need to study the features and nuances of buying a room in an apartment in order to both check the seller’s documents and draw up the documents correctly yourself.
Independent search or professional help?
Everyone, of course, decides and determines which option is more convenient for him; a lot depends on financial capabilities. You may be able to easily and quickly choose the right option on your own with the help of friends or an ad.
But still, in the process of documenting the transaction, it is better to seek legal assistance , at least of an advisory nature. After all, such a transaction is not simple, there are a lot of nuances.
Without professional help, it will be difficult to take everything into account so that no problems arise in the future.
Results
By purchasing a room in an apartment, you acquire the preemptive right to purchase the rest of the living space in the apartment. Therefore, it is important to know what rights you have under the law in order to protect yourself and your transactions. If you study in detail the question of what documents are needed, how to formalize everything correctly, then you can do it yourself and not spend a lot of time on it.
If you have the intention of buying a room in an apartment, then you need to do this, because such investments in real estate will pay off and increase in the future.
How to buy: step-by-step instructions
What documents are needed?
- A document confirming ownership of this living space.
- Notarized waivers of neighbors' preemptive rights.
- All technical and cadastral documentation for a room in a communal apartment.
- Certificates of absence of debts for electricity, telephone, utilities, etc.
- A certificate containing information about all registered residents.
- Consent of the second spouse (certified by a notary) to complete the transaction.
- Passports.
- Consent from guardianship authorities.
What are the risks of buying a room?
Such a transaction has high risks, which are associated primarily with the special status of the premises. The pitfalls when buying a room in a communal apartment or hostel are as follows:
- Presence of minor citizens as owners or possessors. Here, without obtaining consent from the guardianship for each such tenant, the transaction will not be registered by Rosreestr.
- Having debts on utility bills. In a communal apartment, gas, water or electricity can be turned off to all neighbors, regardless of who specifically has accumulated debts. Therefore, it is important to know before purchasing that not only the seller of the room, but also the other residents of the premises have no debts.
- Do not buy non-privatized housing or a room that was privatized through the court. The court decision can be challenged by the other party, and you will lose the purchased home.
- Don't buy a share of a room, only buy an isolated property.
It is important to make sure that all residents will be discharged from the room and given a new registration . If, for example, the registration of the tenant of the room was canceled due to his being in prison, after his release he will be able to restore the registration, and you will receive a new unpleasant tenant.
Purchasing a room in a dorm or communal apartment is a lucrative deal, but it has its own pitfalls and legal nuances. If living together with strangers does not bring you any difficulties or hardships, and after checking all the documents, no dangers are identified, you can safely buy such real estate and enjoy living in your own home.
Underwater rocks
It is possible to buy a room in a communal apartment with a mortgage; the law allows it (Clause 1, Article 5 of Federal Law No. 102-FZ “On Mortgage”). But in reality, this is not so easy to implement; banks are not very willing to cooperate in such situations, because they do not want to take risks.
You can identify some specific features when applying for a mortgage loan for a room in a communal apartment.
Bank position
Not all banks are ready to provide a loan for the purchase of a room in a communal apartment , since its liquid value is low. If the borrower experiences financial difficulties (if he stops repaying the loan), the room becomes bank property. But the bank cannot easily sell it to compensate for the damage, so lending conditions are becoming more stringent, and so are the requirements for the borrower.
Neighbors' refusals of priority rights
If the neighbors do not express a desire to buy this room, then the borrower, together with the seller, must collect written refusals from all neighbors and attach them to the package of documents for obtaining a mortgage.
Property collateral
Some banks require that the bank be given as collateral not the room being purchased (for which, in fact, the loan is issued), but other housing available to the borrower.
Banks are happy to provide a mortgage if the last room in a communal apartment is purchased, where all the others already belong to this buyer. In this case, the entire apartment is pledged.
There is a specially developed series of requirements for rooms (to authorize a mortgage):
- the minimum area of the room cannot be less than 12 square meters;
- the loan can only be issued in the area where the property is located;
- housing must be residential in status and cannot be in disrepair (no more than 55% depreciation);
- the presence of a kitchen and a bathroom in a communal apartment;
- availability of heating, running water, electricity;
- wooden floors are not allowed;
- housing cannot be new, only secondary.
If you are thinking about purchasing real estate, then it would be useful for you to familiarize yourself with such options as buying a room in a dorm and a share in an apartment, including from relatives.
Is it possible to buy a room using maternity capital?
The question of whether it is possible to purchase an apartment using maternal capital is resolved on an individual basis. The law allows budget money to be spent on the purchase of separate residential premises. According to the Residential Code, the room belongs to such premises. But the buyer will have to prove that the room being purchased is separate. That is, for example, it will not be possible to buy part of it with public funds. After the transaction is completed, the room must become the property of the buyer, and it must also have a separate entrance.
When it comes to repurchasing a share, there is one limitation. The Pension Fund of Russia will give permission to use the certificate if, as a result of such a transaction, the housing will be purchased in its entirety.
If you need to buy a room with maternity capital from relatives, then there are also special features. Thus, it is legally prohibited to buy a room from a spouse. Both the buyer and the seller need to take into account that such transactions are carefully checked for fraud. It does happen: sometimes people enter into imaginary transactions just to cash out maternity capital.
We check for debts and encumbrances
Making sure that there are no encumbrances, seizures or prohibitions on the property is another important point that needs to be checked before purchasing. The buyer can obtain the necessary information from the Rosreestr extract. In addition, you can check the owner himself, for example, whether he is about to go bankrupt or whether he is a participant in legal proceedings as a defendant. We talked about how to do this using several free online services in one of the previous articles.
It would not be superfluous to make sure that the owner of the room has no debts for paying utility bills. This can be done by asking him for paid receipts for the past month and a certificate from the Criminal Code.
Rules and procedures for the hostel
There are some considerations when dealing with a dorm room. A dorm room may be listed as:
- Part of common shared property . In this case, the sales procedure does not differ from the above.
- Independent living space . In this case, the sale of the room occurs as with a separate apartment and does not require collecting refusals from neighbors.
To purchase a dorm room, additional documents will be required. These include:
- the room privatization agreement is in the hands of the seller;
- extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate – obtained by online request on the Rosreestr website or in person;
- technical passport - usually on hand, if it is not there or redevelopment has been carried out, it is ordered from the BTI;
- if the property is shared, then an extract from the house register (done at the passport office) and waivers from other owners will be required.
Arbitrage practice
The dispute about what is needed to buy a room in an apartment was considered by the Ryazan Regional Court (case No. 33-2092/2017 dated September 13, 2017).
The owner of a share in the apartment sent an offer to purchase to another co-owner. It was proposed to buy 25/113 shares for RUB 1,129,306. The notice was sent through the notary's office, and a positive response was sent through the notary. But the seller did not give an answer; she did not sell the property either to the plaintiff or to other persons.
Then the second owner went to court with a request to restore justice. He argued that the notice was a written offer to sell the property.
The court confirmed that there were no grounds for signing the purchase and sale agreement. The preliminary agreement has not been signed, the terms have not been discussed, and there are no grounds to force the defendant to sell his share.
Is the participation of a notary required?
According to clause 1 of Article 42 of the Federal Law of July 13, 2015 N218, the contract for the sale and purchase of a part of shared ownership must be certified by a notary , otherwise the transaction will not be able to be registered. This provision was introduced into legislation to prevent illegal real estate transactions. At the same time, if the room in the dormitory is designed as an independent living space (not shared ownership), and minors do not live in the room, then notarization of the transaction is not required.
Conditions under which a transaction is valid
- The owner of the premises is fully aware of the essence of his actions. At the same time, he must not be registered at the dispensary or be under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
- Documentation rules were followed. The transaction is certified by a notary.
- The state registration of the transaction was carried out in Rosreestr.
- The interests of minors and other interested parties are taken into account.
- The right of first refusal was taken into account, and written refusals were received from the owners of other premises in the apartment.
- The essential terms of the contract are indicated - price and subject (in accordance with Article 454 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).
If any of these conditions are not met, the transaction may be contested.
If a person refuses a purchase, a ransom?
Today, room owners have the right to refuse the purchase and the preferential option to buy. The refusal is usually sent in writing. An application is drawn up and certified by a notary. In addition, a notification is sent to all participants in the process in which the data is recorded.
Another way to carry out a transaction is by contacting Rosreestr. You gather all the room owners and draw up a statement of refusal. There are ready-made forms that allow you to instantly resolve all issues. If the owner is a legal entity, then he must draw up a refusal in the form of a response to the letter. If we are talking about companies, then they can draw up a response on a company sheet of any format and signed by the manager.
Is it possible to sell a non-privatized premises and what is needed for this?
By law, non-privatized housing cannot be sold or purchased legally, since it is not the property of the citizens living in it. However, there are ways to get around this problem:
- Privatize a room by contacting the direct owner.
Typically this is the local municipality. If you cannot privatize for yourself, you can register a close relative and privatize for him. Important ! Privatization is possible only in the case of social hiring. - The legislation provides for the possibility of exchanging non-privatized housing for other residential real estate.
The real estate agency provides a special “buffer apartment”, which is temporarily purchased by the buyer, after which he exchanges this apartment for the seller’s non-privatized room. At the end, the seller returns the apartment back to the agency and receives his money. The exchange application is considered by a special housing commission at the municipality, which can authorize the transaction or prohibit it. The ban on the exchange can be challenged by the tenant in court.
