Concrete deal: notaries proposed to make the sale of housing irreversible
The account of problematic real estate transactions, in which pensioners allegedly deceived by Ukrainian fraudsters subsequently return apartments to court, but do not return the money, has increased by hundreds. A case of an attempt to re-sell a returned apartment by a pensioner from the capital has been recorded. Meanwhile, there was a proposal to make notarized real estate transactions irrevocable. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.
Mayhem for everyone
A violent reaction on the Web and in the professional community was caused by the story of the repayment deal, after which the pensioner, who allegedly suffered from fraud, re-offered the apartment taken from the buyer for sale. As reported on social media, the ad was posted on a popular real estate transaction resource (on November 12, the post was removed from publication). The woman tried to sell a two-room apartment for 18.7 million rubles, which is not too expensive for a property with an area of 45 square meters. m in the Presnensky district of the capital.
There is another story going around on social media. A year and a half ago, a member of the SVO Dmitry (name changed) bought an apartment from a pensioner born in 1946. All the documents were executed properly. For six months, he and his family lived peacefully until the seller claimed that fraudsters had forced her to sell. The pensioner filed a lawsuit demanding to terminate the deal and return her living space. The civil process has been frozen, as Dmitry has returned to the BBC. But the defender of the Motherland has minimal prospects of retaining his home, lawyers say.
System error or intent
Courts are increasingly siding with sellers who claim to be influenced by fraudsters, terminating even notarized transactions. There are already such examples. Izvestia's source in law enforcement agencies believes that we are not talking about isolated mistakes, but about well-thought-out fraudulent schemes. Its participants are a pensioner, unscrupulous realtors and lawyers. An indirect proof is the miraculous transformation of the elderly: before the deal, they were naive and infantile, after that they were experts in challenging contracts and bankruptcy, with an offensive manner of participating in the process.
"Concreting" the purchase of housing
By the end of 2025, the real estate market in Russia is facing a real epidemic of apartment purchase and sale disputes. A wave of lawsuits designed to protect defrauded sellers has put bona fide buyers in a desperate situation, who, having paid the money, remain without housing and without funds.
As a radical solution to the problem, the Federal Chamber of Notaries proposes to consolidate at the legislative level the principle of irrevocability of entries in the Unified State Register of Real Estate (EGRN). This initiative was announced at a round table of professional participants in the real estate market on November 11. This means that if an entry about the transfer of ownership is entered in the registry, it will be impossible to cancel it.
"As a result, the EGRN itself will become reliable, the risks of contesting real estate transactions will be minimized, and bona fide participants in civil turnover who rely on reliable registry entries will receive real protection of their rights," the chamber told Izvestia.
The key condition for such a "reinforced concrete" record should be mandatory notarization of the transaction. The notary not only conducts a comprehensive legal purity check, but also finds out the real will of the parties during a personal conversation, explaining all the legal consequences.
"If there are doubts about the awareness and voluntary actions of the seller or buyer, the notary will refuse to certify the contract," the initiative emphasizes.
The notary's property liability is also an important component. "The crucial point is that the notary will, as before, be responsible for his mistakes with real money," the FNP guarantees. This means that in case of an error, the damage will be compensated by the insurance system, the notary's personal property and the FNP Compensation Fund.
Another measure could be the introduction of a "cooling—off period" for real estate transactions - a pause of several weeks between making a decision and certifying the transaction. This will allow the parties to think about their actions again, and the lack of haste will make life more difficult for scammers, who find it difficult to control the victim for a long time.
Thus, the notary community offers a comprehensive response to the systemic crisis, shifting the priority from the speed of the transaction to security and guarantees of the rights of bona fide market participants.
Awaiting clarification
The problem requires an immediate solution, says lawyer Ekaterina Krasnova, who represents the interests of customer Nina Ts. in a similar process (Izvestia wrote about this situation earlier). Until the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation expresses its principled position on protecting the rights of bona fide buyers, the vicious practice will continue.
— These are not just special cases. This is a test of the soundness of Russia's legal framework in the face of modern challenges. We need legal protection not only for pensioners, but also for able—bodied citizens: they follow the letter of the law, additionally pay for the services of specialists, pay duties, mortgage interest, and collect additional documents at their own expense," emphasizes Ekaterina Krasnova.
And in the end, bona fide buyers end up with debts. It turns out that the state has not created conditions for them to exercise their legal rights to purchase real estate, the expert concludes.
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