How to properly rent out an apartment: step-by-step instructions

Having one or more living spaces at his disposal, the owner will think about renting out the apartment. In this case, real estate can generate passive income, even if the rent does not significantly exceed the amount of utility bills. But the risks of renting to unscrupulous tenants force owners to think about how to do it correctly, according to the law, with minimal investment. Our detailed advice will help you approach the issue of using your home for rental wisely.

Rent law

Not all tenants want to formalize their relationship with the landlord. There may be several reasons for this: lack of identification documents, registration on the territory of the Russian Federation, malicious intent or fraud. Most likely, no one will agree to rent out an apartment to such people, leaving themselves with a lot of troubles and worries. A conscientious tenant will not refuse to formalize the relevant documents, including for his own safety.

According to Chapter 35 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation “On the rental of housing”, for a period of up to one year, a bilateral agreement is concluded between the owner of the property and the tenant. If the rental period for an apartment exceeds 12 months, the lease agreement must be certified by the regional state registration chamber.

The following points must be specified in detail in the contract:

state of renovation of the apartment;
number of pieces of furniture and their appearance;
confirmation of uninterrupted operation of plumbing and electrical appliances;
ban on subletting housing to third parties;
permitting the placement of pets and their species;
readings of water and electricity meters at the time of delivery of the apartment;
familiarization of residents with the rules for maintaining common household services in accordance with the standards established in housing and communal services.

Specific agreements of the parties are also written down in the contract in order to justify the pledge, which is a kind of guarantee. If the tenant damages the property by violating the rules specified in the agreement, the tenant will have the right by law not to return the deposit. Its size is most often one or two monthly rent.

When renting housing for a period of more than a year, the following documents are submitted to the registration chamber to conclude a rental agreement:

passport of a citizen of the Russian Federation or a notarized power of attorney for the right to make a transaction;
child's birth certificate, marriage or divorce certificate;
title document for the apartment - purchase and sale agreement, extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate (valid for a month), extract from the cadastral and technical plan.

When concluding a long-term transaction, the presence or written consent of all share owners of the property is required.

Where to place an ad

Of course, on the most popular sites on the Internet (all other advertising platforms - TV, newspapers, etc. - are no longer popular). Text and photographs are posted on the largest portals. To understand which site is visited by a large number of users, just type a popular search query, for example, “Rent an apartment in Moscow,” and then see links on the 1st page of the TOP results.

However, on almost all portals the services for posting advertisements are paid, otherwise the text will be lost on the last pages of the search. Therefore, another good option is posting on social networks - thematic groups with a large number of users (several tens of thousands of people). You can also make a paper announcement by sticking samples on boards in the same area. But you will need to constantly ensure that no one interrupts them, so this option is less effective.

What you can and cannot submit

According to the law, only the owner of the premises or his representative with a notarized power of attorney can rent out housing. If there are children in shared ownership, you will need to obtain permission from the guardianship and trusteeship authorities.

When renting out one of the rooms of a communal apartment, you must collect written permission from all neighbors.

As for housing purchased under a mortgage agreement, it can also be rented out and registered without breaking the law. There are two conditions: the bank where the apartment is mortgaged must give official permission, and the rent will be charged monthly. Thus, the bank will have the opportunity to warn the tenant about possible problems with the payment of the debt by the property owner.

According to the law, it is almost impossible to rent out a non-privatized apartment that is in municipal ownership, as well as a service apartment. In the first case, a sublease relationship arises; in the second, the housing will most likely be considered unnecessary by the owner and transferred for use to other people in need.

Residential premises without renovation are, as a rule, rented out for a long period of time to tenants who can create the necessary living conditions through deductions from the rent with the provision of documents confirming the relevant expenses.

Any citizen of the Russian Federation can rent out their own privatized apartment, regardless of their official position, rank, or location.

An individual entrepreneur as an individual is not prohibited by law from renting out premises if he pays the approved income tax rate. It is important that, as an individual entrepreneur, it is more profitable to rent out several apartments, since the tax amount in this case will be less than the rate for an individual.

Ready-made ad samples

When writing ad texts, it is important to consider that they should be as short as possible, but succinct. All information can be presented literally in 5-7 sentences, i.e. the finished text should visually look like 1 (maximum 2) paragraph.

When creating an ad, you can use the following samples:

Pros and cons of renting out housing

Risk and benefit are the main scales on which the lessor has to put his property in connection with the decision to dispose of it in this way. Let's consider the main parameters of renting out property.

Pros are your obvious benefit:

stable long-term income;
you do not pay for utilities, since in most cases these are the expenses of the employer;
The apartment is constantly maintained - ventilation, uninterrupted operation of electrical networks and plumbing.

Disadvantages are risks associated with negative factors:

damage or theft of things, furniture;
delay or lack of payment for utilities, which may result in a large debt;
refusal of the tenant to pay the amount of rent owed;
subletting housing to third parties, if permission is not specified in the lease agreement.

If you predict the percentage of risk greater than the benefit when renting out your apartment, you should think about selling such housing. Expensive renovations, high-quality furniture, exclusive interior items - all this significantly reduces the chances of a justified amount of payment for accommodation. Having calculated the cost of possible repairs and the purchase of new furniture, divide this amount by 12 months and the number of tenants. These could be the costs in the worst case scenario. It is worth considering this feature that every second apartment owner is disappointed in the attitude of tenants to the property and repairs after renting out their home. When it is decided that renting out a property is profitable, the next important step is to find clients.

Step-by-step instructions for renting out an apartment

BBQCash experts recommend that in order to minimize risks and legally receive profit from renting out your own property, you must strictly follow the established algorithm of actions.

Preparing the apartment for rent

This includes actions in coordination with all shareholders and neighbors, if required by law. The apartment itself must be equipped with a minimum set of amenities, which include:

availability of working plumbing in the kitchen and bathroom;
wallpaper or paint on the walls and floor covering;
ceiling lights and working sockets;
minimal furniture - bed, kitchen cabinets, hanger;
household appliances - stove, refrigerator, microwave, TV, washing machine.

It is worth noting that solvent candidates for conscientious tenants choose apartments with the most comfortable conditions and fresh furniture. Many are willing to overpay to move into a new home, taking only their “suitcases.” To do this, you need to take care of modern furniture, working inexpensive household appliances, decent curtains and the presence of minimal interior decorations in the form of paintings and posters on the walls, for example.

Individuals who require vacant living space and no furniture may pose a risk to the landlord for several reasons. Firstly, when they negotiate for a long term, they don’t stay long, because they may have sold their apartment and don’t know how quickly they can buy a new one. In this case, part of the premises will be used as a warehouse for their own belongings. Naturally, there is no talk about a careful attitude towards repairs. Secondly, natives of neighboring republics who are nomadic with their belongings and illegally living in Russia can become tenants. They don’t need furniture, they can sleep on the floor, but even a small family or team of workers will consist of at least a dozen people. If such tenants move in with you, it is worth notifying the local police officer so that he can record possible violations of public order and inform you about it by phone. The violation record will be a strong argument for the eviction of unwanted tenants.

Setting the monthly rent amount

Before renting out living space, it is worth monitoring the market - determining the upper and lower limits of the amount of rent for an apartment the same as yours. If the lowest price is enough, you can make a simple fresh renovation and install cheap versions of a standard set of amenities - kitchens, plumbing. In order to get maximum profit, it is worth investing thoroughly. You will need to buy new, albeit inexpensive, household items and equipment, or refresh the renovations and arrange all the things in the apartment.

There are also several significant conditions that affect the increase in the cost of housing:

the central part of any settlement is always valued higher than the outskirts;
surrounding infrastructure, namely a supermarket, school, kindergarten;
proximity to public transport stops, be it metro or tram;
Availability of parking near the house and good transport interchange, in order to avoid downtime in traffic jams.

Search for a tenant

There are several most common ways to find clients to live in a rented apartment. The safest of them is considered to be renting out housing independently to relatives or friends. The risk of deception in this case is small, since there are at least several people who are ready to vouch for the integrity of future residents. Their history is transparent and known; finding or transmitting information through personal contacts is not difficult. With close relatives living in your apartment for free, you can conclude a free use agreement, a sample of which can also be found in official documents.

The second way, avoiding intermediaries, would be to search for tenants through social networks and popular public resources, such as Avito, Yula, Booking, Real Estate.rf. The advertisement should be concise and contain information about the area, availability of furniture and cost, preferably with high-quality photos of all rooms. Too long, detailed description is difficult to digest, and all the details are discussed over the phone.

In this case, the risk of surrendering to fraudsters is very high, because sending fake documents and payment orders over the Internet is now quite easy. To make an appointment to view an apartment, it is better to call candidates by phone or video. Then there is a chance to unravel the intentions of future tenants.

The proposal for non-cash transfer of collateral and exchange of scanned copies of documents should be ignored. If there are several people interested, it is better to assign them one viewing time with a difference of half an hour. Always warn that if the decision is positive, you must pay a deposit in order to remove the ad and refuse others. If the preliminary transaction takes place, it is necessary to write a receipt stating to whom, when and for what the amount was transferred in figures and words, indicating passport data and the terms of return of the deposit. Samples can be found on legal and real estate websites, such as dogovor-urist.ru, expertrieltor.ru.

To save time and avoid problems, you can safely and quickly rent out your property through a real estate agency. Most often, the services of a realtor in this case are paid for by the employer. The number of sites for submitting advertisements will increase several times, and the range of coverage of potential clients will also increase. The specialist will be able to carefully check the documents of the candidate, be it a foreigner, an employee, a corporate representative or an organization. Risks in this case are minimized, since it is in the agency’s interests to become an intermediary and receive payment for a legitimate transaction. He will be able to impartially resolve the mutual demands of the parties and correctly fill out the agreement. The agreement is concluded on neutral territory, in the presence of third parties who, if necessary, will witness the transaction. A realtor will assist in quickly drawing up an agreement, reliably protecting your interests.

Conclusion of an agreement with the tenant

Contract forms and mandatory clauses are described on the Internet in general phrases and main clauses. The text of the contract must contain at least several main sections:

information about the tenant and the landlord - passport data, registration or registration, address of the property, footage, rooms, listing of furniture and description of repairs;
terms of payment, amount and terms of payments, description of the method of paying utility bills;
amount, procedure for making and returning the deposit;
consequences of unilateral, early, bilateral termination of the contract - types and timing of violations of obligations, circumstances of vacating the premises.

You, as the initiator of the action, have the right to add any details to the text of the agreement. If it suits both parties, this will be your main guarantee before the law.

At the request of the lessor, the following clarifications may be specified:

the procedure for visiting the owner of the apartment to check the condition of the property and repairs;
caring for furniture, flowers and keeping the premises clean;
rules of conduct regarding compliance with the rules of public order, keeping animals and guest accommodation.

The act of acceptance and transfer of the apartment is desirable, but not required. In this document, which is an appendix to the contract, you can describe conditions such as the day the property is transferred for rent, meter readings for electricity and water meters, describe all items of property, and also attach photographs of the apartment before renting. The deed is sealed with the signatures of both parties on the day the keys are handed over. As an appendix to the contract, you can print out instructions for using some complex electrical appliances, for example, a boiler.

Tax payments

Profit received from renting out your own home is subject to the following taxes:

state duty when drawing up a long-term lease agreement is 2000 rubles;
income tax for individuals is 13% of the monthly rent.
for individual entrepreneurs, a tax deduction of 6% of the amount of income under the rental agreement.

The fines provided for persons who hide income from the tax service are quite significant. Any citizen can prove the fact by presenting to the court audio or video recordings of the transfer of money, written receipts of receipt of amounts for rental housing.

If the apartment is rented to foreigners, the risk of disclosure of the transaction increases, since migration services collect information about their whereabouts and transfer them to other government bodies.

Penalty amounts:

penalties in the amount of 1/300 of the refinancing rate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation for each day of late payment;
5% of the tax amount every month;
20% of unpaid tax fees for late payments;
criminal liability for evasion of payment of 100 thousand or more thousand rubles.