The expert told us what to look for when buying an apartment.

News about the courts depriving buyers of the rights to purchased apartments, even with seemingly perfect documents, is appearing more and more often. Companies engaged in insurance against loss of ownership have accumulated significant statistics on both successful vindication of the client's rights in court and cases of compensation for lost housing. Artem Iskra, Director of the Retail insurance Underwriting Department at Renaissance Insurance, told Izvestia on November 3 how to try to avoid an unfair transaction.

According to the expert, the number of claimed losses on title insurance is not decreasing. Today, the main share of problems is not due to technical errors, but to fraud and the human factor — credulity, legal negligence or ignorance of the specifics of purchase and sale transactions. One of the classic schemes is a face-swapping transaction, when a person with the owner's documents is present, and the real owner is away. Even with the notarization of the transaction, identity verification and verification of the authenticity of powers of attorney should remain in the area of increased attention.

"Another typical case is settlement fraud, when the seller himself becomes a victim of fraud. The transaction follows all the rules, but the seller transfers money to the scammers on his own initiative, after which the court invalidates the transaction. This is one of the most painful scenarios in which the buyer remains without an apartment and without funds," the expert gave an example.

My housing: Gosuslugi wants to introduce additional verification for real estate transactions

The State Duma suggests uploading a cadastral number to the service and indicating the proportion of children.

Transactions made shortly before the seller's bankruptcy are often disputed. The financial manager can cancel the transaction if signs of insolvency are found at the time of the sale, therefore, checking only the FSSP databases does not give a complete picture.

Proxy transactions carry increased risks, as the document may be revoked right before registration, or the principal may die, after which the heirs will challenge the transaction through the courts. Special attention should be paid to apartments where the owners are minors, as well as facilities purchased using maternity capital. If the seller has not given the children shares after paying off the mortgage or their living conditions worsen, the deal may be canceled even with the permission of the guardianship authorities.

"A separate category consists of transactions with legal entities or sole proprietors who purchase pools of apartments from developers in installments. If they have not paid off their obligations, the developer can terminate the contract and return the apartments to the final buyers through the court. Such situations are less common, but when buying such facilities, checking settlements between the developer and the intermediary is a mandatory part of the risk analysis," Iskra warned.

Earlier, on October 26, Vladimir Koshelev, first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Construction and Housing and Communal Services, said that Russians who belong to the preferential category or are officially recognized as needing better housing conditions can receive a subsidy for housing purchase once in their lives. According to him, the amount of subsidies can reach more than 70% of the cost of an apartment. This is influenced by the categories of benefits.

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