A comprehensive check of the apartment before buying is a mandatory procedure that allows you to insure yourself against fraud. The experienced lawyers of THECapital have collected the main recommendations related to the purchase of real estate in the primary or secondary market.
What you need to check when buying an apartment: a quick guide
The specialists of our agency identify several actions regarding how to check apartment in Kyiv before the purchase.
Carry out a personal inspection
Having chosen the right property, it is important to personally inspect the object and assess its condition, the behavior of the owner, and living conditions. Any suspicious factors should alert the buyer. For example, checking an apartment before buying should be considered not passed, if the decoration of the apartment differs from the declared one for the worse, there are technical flaws that were not mentioned in advance. It is difficult to call a future transaction “clean” if the owner is in an unreasonable hurry to sell the property or refuses to reduce the price if defects in the apartment are discovered.
Legal check of an apartment upon purchase
When buying an apartment, the next steps are to decide which documents you need to check and implement your plans. First you need to get a certificate from the State Register, which will confirm the right to real estate. The document will help you find out who owns the property, when it was purchased, whether there are encumbrances.
Next, you need to check the apartment when buying for the presence of debt for utilities. This can be done through various sources. For example, if the owner has debts and they were collected through the court, the relevant data must be indicated in the Unified Register of Debtors.
You should also analyze the number of transfers of ownership through the state registrar. If the owners change frequently, the property may not be as high-quality as the seller says.
We will consider each step of how to check the purity of the transaction when buying an apartment in more detail.
Buying an apartment: on-site check
Important criteria for the quality of real estate include:
- Location. Determine how comfortable it will be to live in the stated conditions. Are there any necessary educational institutions and objects of trade and social infrastructure nearby? Is there a good transport interchange within walking distance?
- Price. Before deciding what to check when buying an apartment, compare the declared price with the quality of the object. Conventionally modern housing can be divided into classes: elite, comfort, economy and business. It is the class structure that largely determines the cost, since it declares the quality of housing and its location.
- Layout and technical data. Study the living conditions, area, number of rooms and their location. Contrast this with your lifestyle and the number of people who will be living on the premises. Will it be comfortable?
You can quickly find the right premium housing on our website. After choosing, you should proceed to a personal examination. It is better to meet with the owner on a sunny day. What to check when buying an apartment on the secondary market or in a new building?
- Condition of the house and public areas: hall, elevator.
- The actual availability of the necessary infrastructure: sites, parking, concierge, security, etc.
- The state of communications: pipes, plumbing, sockets, lighting performance.
- Integrity of windows, doors, furniture, if the apartment is sold with it.
Do not hesitate to ask questions, and if you have any doubts and you want to conduct an examination again, feel free to schedule additional meetings.
What documents need to be checked when buying an apartment
If you are interested in checking an apartment before buying on the secondary market, then here you should highlight several risks inherent in housing bought from an individual owner.
- Fictitious documents for ownership or disposal of real estate.
- The presence of registered children.
- Requests by the owner to pay a deposit or the entire amount of the value of the property without a notarial certification or agreement.
- Arrest of an apartment due to debt or other reasons.
- The presence of unauthorized redevelopment.
Therefore, thinking about what documents you need to check when buying an apartment in Ukraine, you must first of all take into account the above factors and require technical and legal papers confirming:
- Lack of registered minors.
- Authenticity of technical and legal documents.
- No arrests and no debt for utility bills or any other encumbrances.
- Absence or official permission for the completed redevelopment.
Verification of documents can be organized at the stage of real estate selection or right during the transaction in the presence of a notary.
Read more:: Where is it better to buy an apartment: in a new building or on the secondary market?
Verification of documents when buying an apartment in a new building
The question of what documents need to be checked when buying an apartment in a new building is also of interest to many buyers, since the real estate market is actively replenished with new residential complexes. Therefore, this moment requires separate consideration. Any buyer has the right to request the following from the construction company:
- Constituent documents. Buyers can familiarize themselves with the certificate of registration of profile activities, license. Their veracity can be found through the unified state register of legal entities. You can study the constituent documents at the company's offices or on its official website.
- Study of design documentation. Before checking the developer when buying an apartment, you need to study the "passport" of the erected or erected building, if the apartment is bought during the construction phase. The design documentation conveys all the information about the architecture, the examinations carried out, confirming the safety, quality of the structure and the environmental friendliness of the materials used.
- Land title documents. The organization must have papers that confirm either the right to the site, or a long-term lease.
Thinking about how to check the documents for an apartment when buying in a new building, it is also important to find out about the financial condition of the company. For large developers, reports on the size of the financial portfolio and accounting records should be generally available.
Read more:: What is self-construction and how to legalize it?
How to check an apartment for cleanliness when buying yourself through open Internet sources
Many buyers are wondering where to check the apartment before buying from official sources. To do this, our experts recommend considering sources such as:
- State register of property rights to real estate - through it you can find out about the absence of encumbrances on property and make sure that you have rights.
- The Unified State Register of Debtors is an accurate check of an apartment before buying it online for the presence of debt for utilities.
- A unified state register of court decisions - will make sure that the apartment is not the subject of a dispute.
Remember, the legal encumbrance removed a few days before the conclusion of the transaction can be canceled, and the agreement on the transaction will be considered invalid.
Don't forget online safety
When deciding how to check an apartment upon purchase, remember that you are the owner of a considerable amount, which is easy to lose due to carelessness of your actions. Experienced experts recommend:
- When using online services that help determine which documents need to be checked when buying an apartment, never follow the links from dubious banners.
- Never include personal bank account details when making a deal or collaborating with real estate agencies.
- Never discuss the details of the transaction in messengers, it is better to schedule personal meetings or minimize discussions to general points.
Hack and predictor Aviator
When buying real estate, it is important to check all documents, without exception, no matter how competently and confidentially the seller behaves. That is why the procedure is often not complete without the accompaniment of a lawyer due to the lack of experience of the buyer. This is due to the fact that many scammers often take advantage of the lack of completeness of knowledge and use it to their advantage, and a notary, a lawyer and an experienced realtor are specialists who can always legally protect the buyer.
Checking an apartment before buying in Kyiv is the work of our agency specialists. We know how to evaluate the “cleanliness” of an object in practice, and we are ready to accompany our clients at all stages of the transaction. Subscribe to our updates real estate portal and get the latest publications from the real estate agency THE Capital.
