The lawyer talked about a way to avoid negative consequences when buying real estate.

Among the common risks in the sphere of real estate turnover are "double sales", bankruptcy of sellers, sale of movable property as real estate; sale by a non—owner, alienation with "registered" tenants; transactions separating the rights to a land plot and buildings on it. Vladimir Safonov, Managing Partner of Safonov, Kuznetsov and Partners law firm, told Izvestia on May 17 how to avoid such problems.

The "problem of so-called double sales" can be illustrated with this example. The parties have signed an apartment purchase and sale agreement. The buyer transferred the funds, and the item was transferred to him, but the seller evaded submitting an application to the Federal Register for state registration. Subsequently, the buyer found out that at that time the seller had concluded another purchase and sale agreement with another buyer and the property was registered to him," the expert explained.

An equally pressing problem for the real estate market is the bankruptcy of the seller after the transfer of the property to the buyer. In addition, due to the fact that the EGRN contains many records of movable things as immovable, the problem of acquiring movable property is widespread, which the seller issues for real estate based on the technical passport of the BTI and an extract from the EGRN. In this regard, there is a risk that the owner of the land (for example, the city administration) will file a lawsuit with the court to recognize the registered right as missing and the person will lose property.

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The lawyer advised to check the extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and the validity of the legal basis of ownership: ask for a contract of sale or donation with the previous owner; look at the certificate of inheritance and so on.

"If you are buying an apartment, you need to look at it, make sure that the seller has access to it, his belongings are in it," Safonov added.

In addition, you need to request from the seller a certificate of the composition of the persons registered in the residential premises and ensure their prior voluntary de-registration before the transaction.

"It would not be superfluous to talk to the neighbors and learn about the fate of the property and information about the owners. This recommendation is relevant in the light of the unjustified overestimation by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of the standard of proof in cases of protection of a bona fide acquirer," the expert said.

At the same time, you need to pay attention to the price of real estate. It is better to avoid buying properties that are sold at a significant discount, as in the event of bankruptcy of the seller, such a transaction may be challenged as unequal. Moreover, it should be borne in mind that in this situation, the buyer's good faith will not affect the recognition of the transaction as invalid, the expert explained.

"When settling accounts with the seller, it is recommended to use escrow accounts or an irrevocable covered letter of credit. The above calculation procedures assume that the buyer deposits funds to a special bank account in the amount of the purchased property, and the seller will be able to receive them only after the state registration of the transfer of ownership to the buyer. This recommendation will avoid the above—described problem of the seller's evasion from state registration of the transfer of the right," Safonov emphasized.

In addition, to conduct a deep verification of the transaction, you can seek legal assistance and adhere to the rule on notarization of the contract of sale of real estate.

Earlier, on May 16, it was reported that one in five Russians would like to put up a cottage for sale in order to buy an apartment in Moscow. At the same time, one in three (33%) estimates the market value of their suburban real estate in the amount of 6 million to 10 million rubles, according to a study by Level Group.