The expert spoke about the hidden risks when accepting apartments in new buildings

Most buyers, when accepting an apartment in a new building, first of all evaluate the appearance of the housing — the flatness of the walls, the quality of the finishes and the condition of the windows. However, the main problems are often hidden and manifest themselves after settling in. Dmitry Novokhatsky, chief specialist of copyright supervision, told Izvestia about this on April 25.

"From a professional point of view, the acceptance of an apartment is not so much a visual inspection as a quality check of the implementation of design solutions. Engineering systems are of key importance here, which directly affect the comfort of living, but remain invisible at first glance," the expert explained.

He stressed that special attention should be paid to ventilation, the correct connection of heating, pressure in the water supply system, as well as the availability of shut-off valves. It is in these areas that defects most often occur, which eventually lead to serious operational problems, from poor air exchange to leaks.

An equally important aspect is the geometry of the apartment. Even minor deviations in walls, floors, or openings can result in additional repair costs and create difficulties in installing furniture and engineering equipment.

In addition, the expert added, windows and other enclosing structures require separate control. Leakproofness or installation errors can lead to heat loss, drafts and increased noise levels. Such shortcomings are often identified already during operation, when their elimination becomes more costly.

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Electrics are also at risk. Incorrect sockets, lack of grounding, or poor-quality installation are often detected after repairs are completed, which significantly increases the cost of corrections. At the same time, not only the serviceability of the systems is important, but also the convenience of their operation. Access to engineering nodes, meters and shut-off valves must be thought out in advance, otherwise apartment maintenance can become difficult and expensive.

Experts remind that it is necessary to evaluate not only the apartment itself, but also the house as a whole — the condition of the entrances, elevators and engineering rooms. These elements form the overall comfort level and directly affect the quality of life.

According to industry data, up to 70-80% of apartments in new buildings have comments during initial acceptance, and a significant part of them are related specifically to engineering systems. At the same time, the cost of a professional check is relatively low — on average from 5,000 to 15,000 rubles, while eliminating hidden defects can cost tens or even hundreds of thousands of rubles.

Experts note that most of the problems arise during the construction phase. In projects where the author's supervision is conducted, there are significantly fewer such situations, since control by the designer allows timely identification and elimination of deviations.

Head of the analytical center "Dom.On March 2, Mikhail Goldberg announced that this year the average price increase for Russian new buildings could be 10%. The specialist drew attention to the uneven dynamics of the real estate market by region. For example, in large cities like Moscow, housing prices are rising faster than the national average.