When making any transaction, the question arises of how not to stumble upon a swindler and save your money. Nowadays it’s quite easy to buy or rent an apartment, but there are various types of fraud in the real estate market, which means you shouldn’t let your guard down. We will tell you about 7 current fraud schemes in housing transactions and share tips on how to avoid them.
Deposit scam
This plan is quite popular among scammers. You come across an offer where the price of the property is significantly lower than the market price. Of course, this option seems attractive, so you make a purchase decision and draw up an appropriate agreement. In order for the buyer to be confident in you, it is necessary to make a deposit (it is specified in the terms of the contract). After you have given the amount to the realtor or seller, reasons suddenly arise that push you away from the purchase. For example, noisy neighbors, legal problems with the apartment (it is under arrest or mortgage), etc. After refusing to continue the deal, which is what the scammers wanted, you are left without an apartment and lose the amount of your deposit. It is non-refundable if the client terminates the contract on his own initiative.
To avoid becoming a victim of this scheme, we advise you to independently check the property for legal purity in advance - all the necessary data will be shown by an extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate, which can be ordered on the Unified State Register of Real Estate website . In addition, it is better to contact trusted real estate companies and avoid housing that is greatly undervalued.
Accommodation
Fraud most often occurs in the economy class housing segment. One of the potentially dangerous schemes is the sale of an apartment, house, or other real estate with an unclear legal history. There are examples when the owner selling an apartment deliberately hides from the buyer information about other persons who have rights to it, says Sergei Shloma, director of the secondary market department at INCOM-Real Estate.
A very real situation: a husband and wife live in a non-privatized apartment, but the relationship between them deteriorates, the spouses separate and go their separate ways. Wanting to become the sole owner of a home, for example, a woman files a report that her husband has gone missing (even though she may know perfectly well where he is). In the future, by decision of the court, the man can be declared dead (if there is no news about him at his place of residence for more than five years).
The wife privatizes the apartment and sells it. After some time, the man “resurrects” and disputes the deal with the apartment. “You should always carefully check the information about the people who lived in the property being sold,” advises Shloma.
Sham transactions are common. This is when the contract of sale is replaced by a contract of gift. The scheme is used in so-called raider seizures of apartments or out of a desire to cause harm to the owners of other shares of living space - as a rule, this happens during a conflict between relatives. This is the case when the owner of a share gives it to a stranger, violating the right of other shareholders to buy out the share.
By law, the seller of a share is obliged to offer it first to those who own an apartment with him. And only if they refuse, they have the right to sell their share to another buyer at the same price as was previously announced. To circumvent the law, a gift transaction is concluded instead of a sale. “The law does not prohibit this. However, in this context we are talking about the pretense of giving. It is possible to challenge such an agreement if it can be proven that the share was sold,” explains Svetlana Bolotskaya, leading legal adviser at INCOM Real Estate.
By law, the seller of a share is obliged to offer it first to those who own an apartment with him
Another scheme is a deliberate reduction in the cost of the apartment in the contract. There are few such cases. But realtors still warn: you should not accept the seller’s offer to indicate in the sales contract a lesser amount than the actual cost of the apartment, so as not to become a victim of criminal intent. For example, the buyer agreed to indicate in the contract, say, 3 million rubles instead of the real 8 million. The difference is deposited in a safe deposit box, and after registering the transaction, the seller takes the money. The former owner then challenges the deal on the grounds that it was unprofitable for him. And he is ready to renounce the agreement and return 3 million. What about the remaining 5 million? “If the seller did not give a receipt for receiving this money, it will be extremely difficult to prove fraud and recover the entire amount from him,” explains Shloma.
According to statistics, about 5 percent of transactions on the secondary market take place with the participation of citizens who are observed in psychoneurological or drug treatment clinics. This does not mean that such transactions are considered fraudulent, but a number of measures must be taken to carry them out.
Check whether in relation to such a citizen there is a court decision declaring him incompetent or partially capable, since then the transaction can only take place with the permission of the guardianship authority. It is a good idea to offer the seller to undergo a medical examination at the time of concluding the transaction. Then we can confirm that he was aware of all his actions. This will help the buyer defend the rights to the apartment if the former owner challenges the deal, saying that he was not aware of his actions.
Someone else's passport
At the stage of concluding an agreement with the owner, you may notice that he does not look like himself in the passport. This is a serious reason to sound the alarm, although the owner will joke that the years or the kilograms gained are to blame for such changes. If the document is signed, a few days later the real owner of the apartment will come to you and say that he has lost his passport and has already written a statement to the police. Such an appeal voids the purchase and sale agreement.
If you suspect a double, be sure to ask for additional documents when drawing up the contract (for example, a driver’s license or international passport), and also compare the signatures on all documents.
"Assigning" an ad
Many apartment sellers prefer to act independently and do not turn to intermediaries, but place advertisements themselves on one of the Internet sites. Access to this kind of information is, of course, open to everyone. Unscrupulous realtors copy all the data and place a duplicate ad, which they try to actively promote. As a result, a potential buyer may stumble upon it. Thinking that he will communicate with the owner, the buyer finds himself in the turn of the intermediary, and the latter will try his best not to lose the client in the hope that after the sale he will still receive his commission. If you present the situation in such a way that the owner of the apartment himself gave the realtor the authority to find a client, it does not work; the realtor will try to impose other offers, citing the fact that the original apartment in the ad has already been sold. This not only deprives the buyer of the opportunity to see the housing that suits him, but also entails additional expenses. It goes without saying that such behavior is an outright deception.
Another deception from the same category is stories that the realtor is supposedly a relative or acquaintance of the owner who was asked to help with the sale. And although initially they will promise that they will not take any commission, in the end the buyer (if he is satisfied with the apartment) will be in for a very unpleasant surprise. Many will be embarrassed to decisively refuse an arrogant realtor, because a certain amount of “work” has been done, time has been spent, and the intermediary has invested some effort into this transaction.
How to deal with such deception?
It is quite difficult to immediately find out that the advertisement is from the owner, and not from someone pretending to be him. How to understand that a realtor is a scammer? If he immediately introduces himself as a relative, friend or neighbor, ask for the owner’s phone number and conduct all negotiations with him personally. If you resolutely refuse to provide contact information, also refuse the deal: it is likely that they want to deceive you.
If your communication reaches the point of viewing the apartment, set a condition: the owner must be present. You can check whether this is a dummy person using documents confirming ownership of the apartment. All agreements must be made only with the owner, so that later “unexpected” commissions from “relatives”, intermediaries, “neighbors” do not arise. The owner, for his part, is interested in communicating directly with the buyer, so your main task is to contact him and make sure that this is really the person who makes the final decision and has the right to sell the apartment you like.
Underpricing in the contract
When signing the contract, the seller may ask you to write a lower price for the apartment in the document, as if to reduce the amount of taxes. You go to meet him halfway. A few days later, a lawyer appears on your doorstep and informs you that the former owner of your apartment has been declared bankrupt, which means the contract will be terminated. You can only demand back the amount specified in the contract. For example, if you purchased an apartment for 7 million rubles, but specified 3 million in the contract, you will only be able to receive 3 million. In addition, you will be left without an apartment.
Under no circumstances agree to underestimate the price of real estate in the contract. We also recommend checking the owner of the apartment for debts, bankruptcy or other encumbrances - this can be done on the website of the Federal Bailiff Service, in the Unified Register of Bankruptcy Information or using the file of arbitration cases.
The seller is a grandmother
If the owner of the apartment you have chosen turns out to be an elderly grandmother who willingly agrees to all the terms of the contract, this is a clear reason to think about it. Usually, after successfully completing the transaction, relatives of the pensioner appear and present you with a certificate of her incapacity (for example, she is registered at a psychoneurological dispensary (PND). By law, you must return the funds, but in reality this happens very rarely (fraudsters do not choose this for nothing diagram).The process can take a long time - you will be lucky if you get at least part of the amount back.
If you have doubts about the legal capacity of an elderly seller, we advise you to request a certificate from the IPA. A notary will help you prepare such an application.
Apartment in a private house
Fraudsters often convert houses intended for individual use into townhouses and sell apartments in them. It doesn’t seem to be a big deal, but such housing will be considered an illegal building, since it was built on land for individual housing construction (individual housing construction). So, you will only buy a share in the house, and it cannot be sold without the consent of all residents. The structure will eventually be demolished.
Read the contract carefully so as not to accidentally acquire a share in the apartment. Also, do not execute a transaction under a gift agreement - under it, the transfer of funds is impossible, which means the transaction will be declared illegal.
Sale of non-existent apartments
Realtors can use this trick: place an advertisement for the sale of an apartment that no one is going to sell. The price is set below the market price. Buyers see such an offer, call the specified number (thinking that they are contacting the owner), and then they are bombarded with a stream of offers for completely different properties, because “this apartment has already been sold, but there are still attractive options.” As a result, the realtor sells what he needs to sell, having caught the buyer, often so cunningly that he does not even understand where he was deceived.
How to deal with such deception?
If you call the “owner” from an ad and they start telling you that this apartment has already been sold, but there are others, do not enter into further conversations and hang up. It is better to make such calls not from your personal number and certainly not from a landline phone. Get a separate SIM card, which you won’t mind blocking if they start attacking you with “lucrative offers”.
Secret master
A deception scheme can overtake you when you have already successfully completed the transaction and are even living in a new apartment. You will be contacted by a person who introduces himself as the owner of the property and will demand cancellation of the transaction. Do not rush to kick him out, because he may turn out to be a soldier or a former prisoner temporarily discharged from the apartment. He could also be deprived of his registration for a certain period due to being registered with the PND . Unfortunately, the court may be on his side and the contract will be declared invalid.
Before purchasing, be sure to check the history of the apartment for registered residents. Such data is contained in the Unified State Register extract from Rosreestr , you can also contact the MFC, but this will take more time.
Rental scam
Property fraud is also rampant at the rental level. When renting out an apartment, scammers use the following plan: you successfully rent an apartment and live in it under a contract. However, the owner abruptly decides to terminate it - and this desire is legal. The deposit will be returned to you, but the money for accommodation will remain with the owner, and the commission for services will remain with the realtor. Usually these individuals are in cahoots. So they can “rent out” housing at least every month.
To protect yourself from scammers, you need to carefully read the contract , and especially the clause on its termination. If the conditions do not suit you, be sure to tell the owner about it. As a rule, scammers will not make concessions to you.
Text: Alina Volkova
What to look for when buying a “secondary” apartment
1. The price is too low. Yes, there are circumstances in which it is easier for owners to make a discount and sell faster than to wait. For example, the need to purchase another home, moving abroad, expected large expenses, and so on. But you shouldn’t trust only words. If you see that an apartment is too cheap for no apparent reason, this should alert you and prompt you to more carefully study the circumstances of the proposed transaction.
2. Strange behavior of the seller. A very broad concept, but generally speaking: if something worries you about the way the seller communicates and behaves, do not dismiss these feelings. The fact is that a real estate transaction can be declared invalid after the fact if the owner or his relatives file a statement that he was incompetent at the time of signing the contract. “Incapacity” is an illness, a drug addiction, and even difficult life circumstances that prevent a person from thinking clearly. It is often not age that is cited (and therefore the resulting inability to make informed decisions), but here, fortunately, you can notice possible future problems yourself.
As for all other aspects, unfortunately, many nuances are completely unpredictable. You can only secure yourself by submitting a request to Rosreestr, but it only contains data on the citizen’s incapacity recognized in court. If the situation has not reached this point, only an examination will help, the conclusion of which before the transaction will be your guarantee that the seller was competent at the time of the sale of the apartment. Unfortunately, not everyone can ask the seller for this directly.
In any case, pay attention to visible oddities. If something is alarming, it is better to refuse such a deal.
3. The seller’s categorical unwillingness to wait or answer additional questions. If the seller, for example, rushes you too much with a choice and does not agree to wait, this should alert you. This does not necessarily indicate his dishonesty; perhaps the owner is in a hurry to conclude another deal if he is buying a new home. But if it is important for you to take your time and carefully check and think about everything, if it makes sense to pay attention to other proposals.
If you see that the seller is hiding something or trying to avoid some topics (concerning the history of the apartment, the reasons why he is selling, and so on), this is also a reason to think.
Be careful when buying an apartment, and then you can avoid many annoying troubles and conclude a profitable and legal deal!
