A comprehensive inspection of an apartment before purchase is a mandatory procedure that allows you to insure yourself against fraud. Experienced lawyers of THECapital have compiled the main recommendations related to the purchase of real estate on the primary or secondary market.
What to check when buying an apartment: a brief guide
Specialists of our agency highlight several actions on how to check an apartment in Kyiv before buying.
Conduct a personal inspection
Having chosen the right real estate, it is important to personally inspect the object and assess its condition, the owner's behavior, and living conditions. Any suspicious factors should alert the buyer. For example, the pre-purchase inspection of the apartment should be considered failed if the decoration of the apartment differs from the declared for the worse, there are technical defects that were not mentioned in advance. It is difficult to call the future agreement "clean" if the owner is in such a hurry to sell the property or refuses to reduce the price when the apartment's shortcomings are discovered.
Legal inspection of the apartment upon purchase
The next steps when buying an apartment are to decide what documents need to be checked and to implement what is planned. First, you need to get a certificate from the State Registry, which will confirm the right to real estate. The document will help to find out who owns the property, when it was bought, whether there are encumbrances.
Next, you need to check the apartment at the time of purchase for the presence of a debt for utility services. 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 entered in the Unified register of debtors.
The number of transfers of property rights through the state registrar should also be analyzed. If the owners often changed, perhaps the object is not as high-quality as the seller says about it.
Each step of how to check the cleanliness of the transaction when buying an apartment will be considered in more detail.
Buying an apartment: on-site inspection
Important criteria of real estate quality include:
- Location. Determine how comfortable it will be to live in the stated conditions. Are there necessary educational institutions and commercial and social infrastructure facilities nearby? Is there a good transport interchange within walking distance?
- Cost. Before deciding what to check when buying an apartment, compare the declared price with the quality of the object. Conditionally modern housing can be divided into classes: elite, comfort, economy and business. It is the class that largely determines the cost, as it declares the quality of housing and its location.
- Planning and technical data. Study the living conditions, area, number of rooms and their location. Compare this with your lifestyle and the number of people who will be living in the premises. Will it be comfortable?
You can quickly find premium housing on our website. After choosing, you need to go to the personal review. It is better to meet the owner on a sunny day. What should be checked when buying an apartment on the secondary market or a new building?
- Condition of the building and public spaces: hall, elevator.
- The actual availability of the necessary infrastructure facilities: sites, parking, concierge, security, etc
- State of communications: pipes, plumbing, sockets, working efficiency of lighting.
- Integrity of windows, doors, furniture, if the apartment is sold together with it.
Don't be shy to ask questions, and if you have any doubts and want to do the inspection again, feel free to schedule additional appointments.
What documents need to be checked when buying an apartment
If you are interested in inspecting an apartment before buying it on the secondary market, then here you should highlight several risks, especially those that are bought from the owner-individual.
- Fictitious documents for ownership or disposal of real estate.
- Presence of registered children.
- The request of the owner to make a deposit or the entire amount of the real estate value without notarization or agreement.
- Seizure of an apartment due to debt or for other reasons.
- Presence of unresolved redevelopment.
Therefore, thinking about what documents need to be checked when buying an apartment in Ukraine, you should first of all take into account the above factors and request technical and legal documents confirming:
- Absence of registered minors.
- Authenticity of technical and legal documents.
- No arrests and arrears for utility services 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 directly during the transaction in the presence of a notary.
See also: 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, at the moment, it needs a separate consideration. Any buyer has the right to demand the following from the construction company:
- Founding documents. Buyers can familiarize themselves with the certificate of registration of specialized activity, license. Their veracity can be found out through the unified state register of legal entities. You can study the founding documents in the company's offices or on the official website.
- Study of project documentation. Before checking the developer when buying an apartment, you need to study the "passport" of the erected or constructed building, if the apartment is purchased at the construction stage. The project documentation conveys all the information about the architecture, the examinations conducted, which confirm the safety, quality of the structure and the environmental friendliness of the materials used.
- Land title documents. The organization must have documents confirming either the right to the plot 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. Large developers have reports on the size of the financial portfolio and accounting documentation in general availability.
See also: What is self-development and how to legitimize it?
How to check the cleanliness of an apartment when buying on your own through open Internet sources
Many buyers ask questions about where to check the apartment before buying in official sources. For this, our experts recommend considering such sources as:
- State register of property rights to real estate - through it you can find out about the absence of encumbrances on the property and make sure that there are rights.
- The unified state register of debtors is an accurate check of an apartment before buying it online regarding the presence of debts for communal services.
- The unified state register of court decisions will make sure that the apartment is not the subject of a dispute.
Remember, a legal burden removed a few days before the conclusion of the agreement can be canceled, and the agreement on the agreement will be considered invalid.
Don't forget about online safety
When deciding how to check an apartment when buying, remember that you have a considerable amount that can easily be lost due to inattention to your actions. Experienced experts recommend:
- When using online services that help determine which documents need to be checked when buying an apartment, never click on links from dubious banners.
- Never provide personal bank account details when signing an agreement or cooperating with real estate agencies.
- Never discuss the details of the deal in messengers, it is better to schedule personal meetings or minimize the discussion to general points.
Visnovok
When buying real estate, it is important to check all documents without exception, no matter how competently and trustfully the seller behaves. That is why the procedure often cannot be done without the support of a lawyer due to the buyer's lack of experience. This is explained by the fact that many fraudsters often take advantage of the lack of complete knowledge and use it to their advantage, and a notary, a lawyer and an experienced realtor are specialists who will always be able to legally protect the buyer.
Inspection of an apartment before purchase in Kyiv is the work of specialists of our agency. We know how to assess the "cleanliness" of an object in practice, and are ready to accompany our clients at all stages of concluding an agreement. Subscribe to our updates real estate portal and receive the latest publications from the real estate agency THE Capital.
