How an apartment purchase transaction is made in 2021

The Internet and the media have repeatedly covered articles and videos about the procedure for purchasing an apartment, the pitfalls, subtleties and nuances of notarial certification of a transaction.

Changes in legislation entail changes in the procedure for registering a transaction, which in turn raises the question "How is a transaction for purchasing an apartment carried out?" in the top most relevant topics in Ukraine.

In this article, we will offer a step-by-step guide to buying an apartment in 2021, which will help both buyers and sellers who are faced with such a real estate transaction for the first time, and those who have previously been the seller or buyer and have experience participating in the execution of an apartment purchase and sale agreement.

The first step is to find a property for the buyer, and find a potential buyer for the seller. The seller takes photos of his apartment and places ads for the sale of the apartment on various specialized resources independently or with the help of real estate specialists.

The buyer finds, independently or with the help of real estate specialists, an apartment that is suitable for purchase, an inspection of the apartment takes place, where the buyer makes sure that the declared photographs correspond to reality, the buyer must check the passport and tax code of the owner (if shown by an authorized person, a power of attorney from the owner or an agreement for the provision of services for the sale), the original documents for the property. It is advisable to entrust the verification to real estate lawyers/attorneys who can guarantee the absence of arrests, mortgages, court decisions, enforcement proceedings, etc. for this apartment. We also recommend that buyers pay special attention to entrance and interior holes, to the presence of signs of a typo in the apartment, to make sure that the apartment does not look abandoned, and to take the time to talk to neighbors and concierges regarding the apartment you are interested in. Conflict situations do not always reach court and arrests, sometimes quarrels are periodic, and information about the conflict between relatives who are laying claim to the apartment is not included in the registers, since the case has not reached the court. That is why a thorough inspection of the apartment and a dialogue with the residents can lift the curtain on the real situation regarding the history of the apartment, its owners and relatives.

So, after the seller has found a buyer, and the seller has decided to buy the apartment, it is necessary to negotiate the essential terms of the transaction, the package of documents required for the transaction, the need to conclude a preliminary agreement, discuss the date, place and time of concluding the main agreement - the contract of sale of the apartment.

Negotiations can be held in the office of a lawyer or attorney, agency real estate or at a notary office.

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If the parties want to secure obligations by transferring a security deposit (deposit), this must be reflected in writing and notarized certify.

According to the current legislation, the Preliminary Agreement must be concluded in the same form in which the purchase and sale agreement is concluded. Since the purchase and sale agreement must be notarized, therefore, the Preliminary Agreement must be concluded in writing and certified by a notary. It must be remembered that agency agreements and receipts without a notarized Preliminary Agreement have no legal force in court, and it will be impossible to return the money in the event of failure to conclude the agreement. Many people save on a notarial agreement, since it costs money (1% of the amount that is transferred as a deposit and notary services from 5000 UAH.).

The essential terms of the transaction include: the date, time, place of conclusion of the main purchase and sale agreement, the term of vacating the apartment and handing over the keys by signing the Apartment Acceptance Certificate, the term of deregistration of persons registered in the apartment that is being sold, the presence and term of repayment of debts for utilities and other payments, what furniture and equipment remains in the apartment after the sale and whether it is included in the total cost of the apartment or the buyer will have to pay separately if desired, etc.

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Documents that the buyer needs to transactions:

• Passport, tax code, marriage certificate, passport, tax code, notarized consent (spouse) for the purchase if the buyer is married or if the buyer lives as a single family without registering the marriage.
• A marriage contract, application, court decision, a contract for the donation of money or another document, if the money that will be spent on the apartment is his personal funds, and, accordingly, the apartment will be under the regime of personal property of the buyer.

Documents that the seller needs for the transaction:

• Passport, tax code, marriage certificate (court decision), passport, tax code, notarized consent (spouse/spouses including former) for sale, if the apartment is in common joint ownership.
• Marriage contract, Court decision, other document confirming that the property is the personal property of the seller.
• Property documents (title documents): Deed of gift, Certificate of inheritance, Certificate of ownership, Sale and purchase agreement, Barter agreement, others.
• Technical passport for the apartment
• Certificate of presence/absence of registered persons in the apartment, including minors or underage children.
• An appraisal of an apartment, carried out by a subject of appraisal activities, which is registered with the State Property Fund of Ukraine and has the appropriate identifier
• A certificate from the Bureau of Technical Inventory confirming the registration of ownership of property, the ownership of which arose before 2013 or Vytyag/Information certificate from the State Register of Property Rights for property, the ownership of which arose after 2013.
• Consent of the guardianship and trusteeship authority, if the party to the agreement or registered in the apartment are minors or underage children
• A certificate from a neuropsychiatric dispensary stating that the owner is not registered and is legally competent. According to the law, a notary must check the legal capacity of the parties, since this requires special medical knowledge. This document will protect the parties in the future from the recognition of the transaction as invalid due to the incapacity of the property owner by third parties.
• Reconciliation reports, receipts, certificates of absence of debts for utility and other payments for the apartment

After the package of documents has been collected, all the essential terms of the transaction have been agreed upon, the documents are transferred to the notary to prepare the text of the agreement and statements.

To conclude the contract, you must come to the notary with the originals of all documents!

On the day of the transaction, the notary checks the apartment for encumbrances, gives draft documents for review by the parties. It is worth noting that all agreements and essential terms of the transaction that were agreed upon between the parties must be spelled out in the contract in as much detail as possible, otherwise they will not have legal force.

After the parties have read the documents, made edits and corrected all errors, the documents on the form should be signed and the buyer and the seller should settle accounts. I would like to draw attention to the fact that sometimes the seller is confused by the fact that, having signed, they will not be paid and they will be left with nothing. This is not true! A notarial act is considered legally complete when the notary has recorded the information in the Register of Notarial Acts and the parties have signed this register. Also, the right of ownership arises after state registration. If before 2013, state registration took place in the Bureau of Technical Inventory, when the parties submitted documents for registration and picked them up two weeks later. Today, the function of the state registrar is performed by private and state notaries. The notary carries out registration only when it is certain that the seller has been paid. To confirm the source of funds, the notary gives the seller a notarized copy of the apartment purchase and sale agreement. The buyer waits for a package of documents that are registered in the State Register of Property Rights, i.e. the notary enters the buyer's data into the electronic register on the day of the transaction. From the moment this data is entered into the register, the buyer has the right to fully dispose of the purchased property.

After the transaction is concluded, the buyer is given the Technical Passport, the Purchase and Sale Agreement and a notarized copy of this agreement, an extract from the state register of property rights, reconciliation acts, receipts, certificates of no debts, and keys. With these documents, he contacts the relevant services to renew service contracts and opens a personal account in his own name.

This completes the transaction. And we can congratulate the parties on the successful sale and purchase of real estate.