How can you prove it? What documents confirm ownership

Types of housing documentation

From a legal point of view, a document confirming the fact of ownership of real estate is a certificate of state registration of rights. It is called a certificate of title. It is issued by the registration chamber at the place where the real estate was purchased, and an entry is made in the Unified State Register of Real Estate (USRN).

Certificate of registration is the main document of title for apartments purchased before July 1, 2021

It indicates all the details of the apartment and its owner, the basis on which the apartment changes owner.

The above is true for apartments purchased before 07/01/2016. After this date, the certificate was abolished; now an extract from the Unified State Register is sufficient to confirm ownership. Until 1998, a separate certificate was not issued because there was no registration chamber. An entry was made on the contract.

The extract also indicates the type and number of the document according to which the home is alienated. An extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate is sufficient in itself and confirms ownership, but to obtain it it is necessary to submit documentation documenting a specific transaction with housing.

Extract from the state register

What happens if the contract is not registered?

Registration of the lease agreement is required by virtue of Art. 651 Civil Code of the Russian Federation. Otherwise, the agreement of the parties would not be valid. But in practice there is an important nuance.

If the agreement has not been registered, but the tenant moved into the premises under the act, he is obliged to pay and cannot be kicked out. This is the position of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation from paragraph 3 of Information Letter No. 165 dated February 25, 2014. The courts believe that otherwise entrepreneurs will use the lack of registration as an excuse not to pay. And landlords use it as a reason to kick them out of the premises.

An agreement without registration is not valid for third parties - Art. 433 Civil Code of the Russian Federation.

Third parties are, for example, the new owner of the property. After a few years of rent, the company can resell the premises. An entrepreneur may die, and an heir will take his place. The new owner has no right to evict the tenant - Art. 617 Civil Code of the Russian Federation. But only if, before registering the property, he saw the rental entry in the Unified State Register of Real Estate.

A registration agreement is also needed to obtain a license, for example, for strong alcohol in a bar. Without permanent premises, the licensing authority will not believe that in six months you will not move into a stall.

To register an agreement, do the following.

List of title documents

The main types of such documents:

• contract of sale. It must be completed in 3 copies. One is kept in the institution, each participant has a copy;
• barter agreement. Issued when exchanging apartments. If the exchange is unequal, an additional payment will be required. In this case, what the BTI employees wrote down in the passport must correspond to what is recorded in the state register;
• gift agreement. Applies when real estate is transferred into ownership free of charge. In this case, special conditions of the gift may be applied, for example, care of the owner for a certain time or others;
• privatization plan. Issued by an authorized body with a mandatory list of apartments intended for transfer to private ownership;
• certificate of inheritance. Issued to heirs after 6 months from the date of death of the owner of the home. Can be executed both in court and by will;
• agreement for participation in shared housing construction. It is concluded between the developer and the participant in shared construction. The latter is obliged to pay the amount agreed upon in the contract within the established time frame, and the developer, in turn, transfers the property to the participant. The transfer is formalized in the form of an agreement for the transfer of residential premises into the ownership of citizens, which indicates the detailed characteristics of the transferred housing;
• investment agreement. Almost completely repeats the previous point. The size of the investment is agreed upon;
• a court decision indicating the period when it will take effect.

Everything is drawn up in 3 copies, certified and executed according to the established rules. These are the main title documents for an apartment in 2021.

The purchase and sale agreement is the main document of title to the ownership of the purchased apartment

There are other varieties. For example, a mortgage, when real estate is foreclosed on for an unpaid loan, a certificate of purchase at an auction, etc. They are variations of the main types listed.

Prepare the lease agreement and transfer deed

The lease agreement for registration is drawn up in the form of a single document on paper. An act of transfer of premises is attached to the contract. The parties sign both documents.

If you are renting out not the whole premises, but a part, you will need to prepare a technical plan.

Lease contract

The contract describes in detail the rented premises and indicates its cadastral number.

Transfer certificate

Sign the transfer certificate only after inspecting the premises. If you find any shortcomings, ask the landlord to fix them. With a signed document, you will not be able to make claims for broken sockets and leaking plumbing.

Look at our articles about important lease terms and safe signing of the deed - in the reference section “Agreements”.

Technical plan

You can take out a long-term lease on a property that is listed in the Unified State Register under its cadastral number. Otherwise, the registrars “do not see” what is being leased.

Usually the entire object is included in the register, for example, a 100 sq. m retail space on the ground floor of a building. But its individual parts, for example, a 15 sq. m block section for retail space, are not. This part must be entered into the register simultaneously with the registration of the lease. This is what Part 5 of Art. 44 of the Law on Real Estate Registration.

To do this, a cadastral engineer is invited to the premises, he prepares a technical plan. You can find an engineer on the Internet. The only thing is that you need to check the validity of his certificate in the Register of Cadastral Engineers.

The finished technical plan is submitted to Rosreestr along with documents for registration.

Documents received by court decision

When controversial situations arise, which our reality abounds in, the legality of certain actions to determine the right to own an apartment is determined in court. The resulting solutions allow you to take steps for further registration of ownership of the apartment. There are documents that can only be obtained by a court decision. Including:

• agreement of repayment at the expense of property to account for the unpaid debt on the loan;
• agreement on dividing the apartment into different shares;
• an agreement on the allocation of an expressed part from the total share, for example a kitchen;
• certificate of inheritance;
• certificate of the spouse’s share, in the absence of consent;
• an act on the return of a nationalized apartment to private ownership;
• decree of settlement if consensus is reached before the court's determination.

Certificate of right of inheritance of an apartment

All of these types of documents give the right to receive an extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate, that is, they are title documents for the ownership of the purchased apartment.

Documents for an unfinished construction project

The title documents for an unfinished construction project are largely related to the status of the land on which the object is being built. This especially applies to lands intended for personal farming, if they are located outside the populated area. Construction on such land is prohibited, so you will not be able to register the structure, regardless of its degree of completion.

If the category of land is suitable (for example, for individual housing construction), but the house was built by the owner of the land independently, without obtaining permits, you can contact the registration service with an application and a cadastral passport and register ownership of the unfinished house.

If the rights to the land plot have not been formalized, then it is imperative to obtain all permits confirming the reliability of the structure being built, and then go to court to legalize the construction.

Document preparation procedure

An application written in the prescribed manner is submitted to the registration chamber at the location of the apartment. It should be written:

• who registers the transaction;
• description of the subject of the transaction;
• account number;
• how many sheets are attached to the application, copies and originals are counted separately;
• How many sheets of application, signature, date are on?

To be filled out with the help of a chamber employee. The following documents are attached to it.

Seller:

• certificate of registration of rights (if any);
• title document;
• a certificate stating that no one is registered;
• consent of the spouse, if the seller was married. Certified by a notary;
• permission from guardians if the seller does not have the right to make transactions due to age or mental condition;
• confirmation of permission from neighbors for a communal apartment.

Buyer:

• marriage certificate if the property will be jointly owned;
• a marriage contract certified by a notary when an apartment is purchased by shared participation;
• spouse's permission to purchase if borrowed funds are used;

Naturally, you need a passport of the person who registers the property, the physical presence of the person, a passport from the BTI. If entrusted to a trusted person, then a notarized power of attorney.

In addition, you must attach a receipt for payment of the state fee. It is paid twice. When completing the contract, the buyer and seller each pay 1,000 rubles. In order to enter himself into the register, the buyer must pay 2,000 rubles.

To register ownership rights to an apartment you will have to pay a state fee

What to pay attention to

Real estate agency employees advise not to neglect checking documents, even if the transaction does not require any evidence.

There may be no certificate of title if the transaction was completed before 1997 (before the advent of Companies House). However, in this case, the title document itself must have a registration stamp.

Always compare the information in the documents and the actual state of affairs: for example, if the seller demolished the house without obtaining permission to reconstruct the house and without terminating ownership of the building, the transaction will not be able to be completed because the documents for the transaction are not ready

Please note that the data specified in the title document and the identity card match. For example, the names Natalia and Natalya are often confused, Daniil can turn into Danila, and the dots above the letter “e” must be written or not written exactly as indicated in the passport - Fedor and Fedor with the same last names can be two different people.

If you find discrepancies, refer to the spelling in your passport. All changes must be made to the title documents.

The second thing that needs to be checked is the absence of encumbrances on the right of use and restrictions on payments (when the property is pledged to a bank or an individual or final payments have not been made to the seller as in the case of installment payment).

Encumbrances can (and should) be removed, for which you need to contact the regional justice authorities with documents confirming the absence of encumbrances. This could be, for example, an act of mutual settlements.

The third thing that needs to be compared is the numbers - the area of ​​the housing or plot, the number of rooms, house and apartment numbers. If the numbers do not match, look at the most recent document by date of issue. If the apartment has undergone redevelopment or the new owner of the land plot, after the surveying procedure, has discovered that its area differs from that indicated in the documents, it is required to make changes to the certificate of ownership of real estate by contacting the registration authority with a document that reflects the latest technical characteristics of housing.

The fourth document that needs to be studied is an extract from the house register (Form 9), which indicates how many people are registered in a given living space and their age. If you are buying or selling a plot of land on which there is only the skeleton of a house, you must obtain an archival extract of the same form.

Where can I get title documents?

This depends on the terms of the transaction. Documentation is prepared in different authorities.

At the notary

Transactions made voluntarily are certified by a notary. And most often, the contracts themselves are drawn up directly with a notary. This makes it easier to avoid mistakes, and it is better to trust the professionals. Moreover, a trip to a notary cannot be avoided in any case.

Documents are drawn up when a transaction is made in a notary's office with the required number of copies and certified there.

Registration of title documents for an apartment from a notary is the most convenient option if the parties have no disagreements

In a court

If the transfer of ownership of an apartment is accompanied by disagreements, they are resolved in court. To obtain documents, including those that are formalized only by a court ruling, it is necessary to go through all stages of the proceedings.

Once the decision is made, the original documents are issued to both the plaintiff and the defendant. If you fail to appear in court, the court decision is made in absentia and sent to the place of registration or actual residence, if there is no such place.

In the Housing Policy Department

In some cases, the Housing Policy Department is involved in registering real estate. This organization was created under the Ministry of Construction and Housing and Communal Services. Its functions are the implementation of state policy in this area, including the legal aspects of this work.

There are often cases when municipal housing is provided free of charge to needy citizens. For example, the resettlement of a dilapidated building. In this case, at the initiative of the department, an interdepartmental commission is created that declares the building unfit for habitation.

An act is drawn up recognizing the building as unsafe, and another housing is provided. Agreements are concluded with residents regarding this. And if the law does not contradict the privatization of such an apartment, the agreement is a document of title.

In Rosreestr, registration chamber

Registration of rights is carried out by the registering authority, Rosreestr. You need to contact the registration chamber, as already indicated. This is not the only way. The law allows you to contact the nearest multifunctional center. The applicant will receive a completed extract from the Unified State Register there.

The application can be submitted digitally on the government services portal. In this case, it is necessary to carefully fill out all forms, otherwise the application will not be considered; it is considered to be incorrectly completed. You will have to make adjustments and apply again.

The importance of proper registration of real estate cannot be overestimated.
One can imagine the state of a person who, due to oversight or negligence, was left without an apartment or without money. The right to dispose of property legally and freely is worth a lot; the preparation of documents must be approached with the utmost care. Order a free legal consultation

Safety precautions

Real estate is expensive, so it is worth taking precautions that will significantly reduce the risks of the apartment owner.

1. Keep title documents in a safe place.
2. If you need real estate documents to fill out any documents (for example, a tax return) or when showing an apartment or house to a potential buyer, it is better to work with copies rather than originals.
3. Copies of documents must be made only in your presence (or in the presence of an authorized representative).
4. If for some reason you have lost your documents (especially if you have become a victim of theft), you must immediately report this to the registration authority and contact the police with a corresponding statement.

In addition, it is worth going to court with a request to prohibit any transactions with real estate for which the title document has been lost or stolen. This is necessary in order to prevent attackers from using lost documents for illegal purposes.