The associate partner of Skliarenko, Sydorenko and Partners explained how to check housing during the purchase and protect yourself from unnecessary risks

For ordinary Ukrainians, the purchase of residential real estate remains one of the easiest (and therefore attractive) ways to save money. However, such an investment is associated with well-known risks.

How to protect yourself as much as possible from an unreliable developer, dishonest seller or problematic housing, - Investory News found out together with an associate partner, lawyer of Skliarenko, Sydorenko & Partners, Andriy Trigub.

The lawyer draws attention to the fact that the volume and content of verification activities depends on what exactly - “foundation pit” or “secondary housing” - you decided to invest.

“In the primary market (before making the final decision and signing the contract), you need to study the developer “far and wide”. After all, the lion's share of risks is connected with it,” A. Trigub noted. He identifies several positions that can and should be checked through existing registries:

1) the history of the company (Unified State Register of Legal Entities, Individual Entrepreneurs and Public Associations);

2) construction permits (register of permits);

3) state registration of a land plot (State Land Cadastre);

4) the rights of the developer to such a site, whether he has property rights to the object, their strength (State Register of Rights to Real Estate);

5) the existence, scope and causes of litigation, including with regulatory authorities, investors, as well as corporate conflicts between founders and managers of the developer (Unified State Register of Judicial Decisions).

“We should not forget about the method of registration of investments. That is, what types of contracts the developer proposes to formalize the relationship, their conditions. And also about the condition or plans for connecting the facility to communications,” the lawyer adds.

In investments in the secondary market - its own characteristics. A. Trigub advises checking the seller’s ownership of the object, how he received it from previous owners and the history of the object in the State Register of Rights to Real Estate (divisions, associations, mortgages, etc.). “It will not be superfluous if the investor pays attention to the history of rights to the land on which the property is located, the history of litigations of the current and previous owners, to the service organization (Association of co-owners of an apartment building or others) and the nature of its relationship with the residents of the house, to the state payments for the use of communications on the facility and on the circle of persons entitled to use the facility, ”said the lawyer.

Of course, most of the verification activities can be implemented independently. However, much faster and more qualitatively all this will be done by expert lawyers practicing in the field of real estate. Ultimately, the benefits received compensate for the money spent.