Official rating of lawyers and firms providing legal support for apartment purchase and sale transactions

Legal assistance for purchasing an apartment in Moscow and the regions

For the purchase of an apartment, a lawyer can provide partial assistance (individual services) or provide full support of the transaction at all stages. You need to understand that there are no standard transactions; each one is unique and requires an individual approach.

Only a qualified lawyer can take into account the specifics when buying an apartment:

• the primary or secondary market influences the procedure for checking the legal cleanliness of an apartment;
• the subject of the agreement - an entire apartment, room or share - determines the rules for drawing up the main purchase and sale agreement;
• payment with mortgage or own funds has its own specifics, which must be taken into account;
• it is necessary to carefully choose the form of payment when purchasing to ensure their security, and properly formalize the transfer of money;
• it is very important to calculate all the risks associated with purchasing an apartment during the re-registration process and in the future;
• the use of maternity capital funds or a regional family certificate is strictly targeted, so it is important to prepare the documents legally correctly so that the competent agency does not refuse to issue funds.

The price for a lawyer’s services when purchasing an apartment is determined taking into account the amount of assistance required. However, in any case, it is cheaper than losing an apartment due to incorrectly executed documents or unaccounted for risks.

Why do you need a lawyer in a real estate transaction?

It is difficult to overestimate the presence of a professional real estate market participant in the transaction. Having your own lawyer at hand is not just respectable or fashionable, it is, first of all, very beneficial from all points of view! In many cases, the value and benefits of an escort service are indeed much higher than its cost - and we cannot but agree with this!

In cooperation with a lawyer to support a real estate transaction, there are a number of undeniable advantages that especially far-sighted and pragmatic homeowners should definitely take advantage of:

Saving valuable time and nerve endings

- and as a result, money! The phrase may be a little hackneyed, but this has not lost its relevance. No matter how hard you try, a specialist who cooks in this mess of buying and selling every day will definitely do everything faster and better: a full range of professional skills and qualities, years of proven reliable mechanisms for the sale and alienation of housing, an arsenal of tools and business connections for successful to support a real estate transaction, a lawyer is always available at arm's length. The experienced eye of a lawyer can smell a trick a mile away and immediately hear the falsehood - sometimes a specialist does not need many hours of research and running over many kilometers to understand which real estate can be bought, and which one should be indifferently passed by without much thought; with whom you can enter into a deal, and with whom you should not do this under any circumstances - the transaction algorithm, risks and possible negative consequences are built automatically in your head.

Psychological comfort and confidence

Providing timely psychological assistance to a client by a real estate specialist is another facet of the service for legal support of a transaction. And for this, the performer himself must be an integral and self-sufficient person, have consistent moral and volitional qualities, and have, in addition to extensive practice, rich life experience. After all, what is the very meaning of accompaniment? — An opportunity for a seller or buyer to lean on the strong shoulder of a professional; a specialist must literally take the client by the hand and lead him through all the backyards, narrow paths and paths of the real estate market. The customer of the service must be sure that he is in good hands and completely safe, like behind a stone wall.

One of the primary tasks set before a specialist when supporting a transaction is to warn the client against emotional outbursts, not fully balanced rash decisions and convey a bit of his confidence. The lawyer should have answers to all the customer’s questions at the ready; he should not be thrown from one extreme to the other. For fruitful work, an experienced specialist must establish communication and create the microclimate necessary for cooperation. Only with a cool head and a warm heart - in conditions of complete peace of mind, you can count on a successful transaction for yourself. It should be clear in your head, not a cloud on the horizon, and nothing should lead you astray from the true path. Not a single wormhole should creep into the orderly rows of thoughts and intentions. As a result of preliminary consultations, the lawyer must sort everything out, explain to the client Who is Who, what this or that phenomenon actually is and whether it is possible to come into contact with it, develop a competent position - the specialist must form a clear action plan (strategy and transaction tactics), which he will strongly recommend to the customer and which must be strictly followed or, if possible, adhered to.

In order to provide legal support services of the highest quality, the intermediary as an executor needs to delve into the problem, get to the bottom of things (the true motives for selling real estate or exchanging it) and figure out what's what (aspirations and needs), and for this, sometimes it is enough just to talk with a heart-to-heart, listen carefully to the client. In real estate transactions, a lawyer very often has to try on the role of a shrink or psychoanalyst.

Certain status and attitude

— in the real estate market, the attitude towards independent (overly arrogant) clients is truly different. For example, for scammers and crooks of all stripes to meet lonely, stingy, and self-confident buyers or sellers of apartments on their way is a great success! Of course, scammers will only be happy to meet such an acquaintance. Self-confident realtors evoke diametrically opposed emotions among professional market participants - to face in a transaction with an incompetent owner who has decided to save a little on the services of an experienced lawyer/realtor and is trying to implement his housing issue on his own, and who, moreover, goes against the generally accepted rules of business turnover and tries with all his might to impose clumsy ones, but his own - this is a big problem. It is very difficult to conduct any constructive (substantive) dialogue when the owner or buyer is too stubborn, and besides, having picked up pseudo (false) knowledge from the Internet, he is stubborn as a donkey. There are certain foundations and rules of business in the market - as they say, a fisherman sees a fisherman from afar and understands them at a glance - as evidenced, for example, by one of the elements of the long-established professional environment - professional slang. And it is not at all surprising that in such favorable established conditions, when some foreign body with its homemade troubles wedges into a peacefully flowing work process and tries to develop speed in orbit - on its own independent flight path, many specialists are incensed against UFOs and become hostile to the object and show their grin to a competitor who is trying to take a piece of bread or drink blood. To put it mildly, professionals do not like independent clients in the market, and they certainly treat them with disdain. A hired professional intermediary to accompany the transaction will undoubtedly add respectability to the person, and simply put, no one from the environment will think of looking at the client as a black sheep or another victim, and she will undoubtedly be treated with due respect.

Law and order

- probably the main reason why clients look for a lawyer to support a transaction with secondary real estate - to ensure the safety and legality of the relationship and the contract itself. Actions both in the preparatory procedural part and in the main part (when conducting a transaction in a bank) should not contradict the regulatory framework - the relationship between the buyer and the owner/seller of housing is regulated by a huge number of legal acts: from codes to orders. In addition, each region of our vast country has its own specifics when conducting real estate transactions, which, in turn, is often based on the human (administrative) factor. When signing the main contract for the purchase and sale of real estate, it is necessary to take into account the legal rights of all interested parties to the process, otherwise the transaction in court may be recognized at best as not concluded, at worst - invalid (and as a result, a loss of time at best, and at worst - a tidy sum of money). At this stage, after the seller and buyer have found a common language and have properly recorded the previously reached agreements on paper, the specialist deeply and scrupulously analyzes the current situation for possible negative consequences, risks, and pitfalls. For example, one of the most dangerous and risky transactions on the market is a fresh inheritance - other legal heirs may subsequently emerge, so it is worth paying attention to the statute of limitations, thoroughly checking the family history since the formation of the social unit, and obtaining written guarantees that there are no other applicants for housing from the seller. As soon as possible, the contractor must provide the customer with reliable information about the object or person, provide a report on everything that could complicate life and the transaction - about the existing encumbrance (mortgage loan, pledge), about financial obligations to third parties, a ban or restriction on registration actions. In addition, before signing the main purchase and sale agreement, the real estate and the title owner are checked for infringement of the rights of minor children (guardianship and trusteeship authorities), physical health or psychological state of the subject of law (information from psychoneurological and drug treatment clinics), presence/absence refusers in privatization, the position of the spouse (in some cases it is necessary to obtain their consent to the sale), archival data (the chain of those registered and issued in the residential premises at a given address is tracked), the absence of debts to utility providers. Checking the legal purity of used real estate is a key point in supporting the transaction.

Should I use the help of a lawyer or do it myself?

Today there is a lot of information on the Internet about the procedure for buying an apartment or other housing. At first glance, everything looks simple - you need to download a standard form, fill it out with your data and take it to the MFC for registration, and then pay the seller.

However, at each stage of buying an apartment there are pitfalls, which only a lawyer with experience in supporting real estate transactions can see. On behalf of the client, the lawyer not only conducts a thorough inspection of the apartment and the conditions proposed by the seller, but also advises on how best to proceed to resolve a particular issue.

The cost of a mistake when buying an apartment is high: suspension of registration and loss of time, forced re-registration of documents and additional costs. In especially difficult cases, third parties cancel the transaction through the court, and then the buyer is left without an apartment and without money. You can avoid negative consequences by contacting a lawyer before purchasing an apartment.

What the lawyer did and checked

The specialist did a serious job:

• checked information about the apartment in closed sources (including for legal purity);
• made a risk analysis and assessment;
• carefully checked the share participation agreement;
• reviewed additional documents;
• provided a conclusion describing the risks and recommendations;
• participated in negotiations with the developer to agree on a deal when I found clauses in the contract that confused me;
• accompanied settlements at the bank (through a safe deposit box, since the letter of credit did not suit me);
• helped collect the necessary documents and organized the registration of the transfer of ownership;
• prepared the acceptance certificate;
• supervised the transfer of receipts and keys.

Plus, the lawyer gave me a guarantee certificate for the transaction and his services (for a period of 5 years). This reassured me and gave me even more confidence that the decision made to cooperate with him was the right one.

Lawyer for buying an apartment or realtor?

Similar services in the real estate market are provided by realtors and real estate agencies, promising complete transparency in the purchase of an apartment and the provision of qualified services. However, not all realtors and real estate agents have a higher legal education, so they evaluate the purchase only from the standpoint of the speedy re-registration of the property to the new owner. The buyer's risks and the legal prospects of the case are rarely taken into account with this approach.

Then the slightest, seemingly insignificant legal detail can radically change the vector of the transaction. Therefore, when buying an apartment, it is recommended to contact a lawyer.

Support for the purchase of an apartment by an experienced lawyer in Moscow and the regions

A lawyer provides a wide range of services when purchasing real estate. However, the amount of assistance will vary depending on the complexity of the situation and the specific circumstances of the transaction.

Legal advice when buying an apartment

The first thing that transaction support begins with is consultation and analysis of available documents, clarification of the client’s intentions. The lawyer will tell you how to purchase an apartment under current legislation, what steps will need to be taken and the approximate cost structure. Further, as the transaction progresses, you may need clarifying legal advice and explanations from a specialist.

Checking the legal cleanliness of the apartment

One of the most important stages, especially when buying an apartment on the secondary market. Based on the documents presented, the lawyer will determine how risky it is to buy this particular home, what possible problems and pitfalls there are. If necessary, a lawyer will help you obtain the necessary certificates and extracts.

You cannot neglect checking the legal cleanliness of the apartment. Here are just a few of the most common risks that can lead to the cancellation of a deal in court:

• the apartment was previously privatized incorrectly, without taking into account the interests of children or other residents;
• the apartment was bought using maternity capital funds, but shares were not allocated to the children;
• illegal redevelopment or reconstruction has been carried out in the apartment;
• the apartment was received by inheritance, the distribution of which did not take into account the interests of the conflicting heir;
• the seller's spouse or guardianship authority does not consent to the transaction.

In all these situations, a qualified lawyer will help to identify and eliminate risks in advance. And in some cases it is better to refuse the purchase altogether so as not to lose money.

Preparation of documents

The purchase and sale agreement is not the only document you will need when purchasing an apartment. Depending on the specific circumstances you will need:

• preliminary purchase and sale agreement;
• deposit agreement;
• advance agreement;
• receipt for receipt of funds;
• collateral agreement.

What kind of document needs to be prepared in this situation will be determined by a qualified lawyer. He will also tell you whether notarization of documents is necessary in this case.

Additionally, the lawyer will analyze the mortgage agreement with the bank, explain in simple words the rights and obligations of the borrower and the restrictions that are imposed on the apartment in connection with the mortgage

Transaction support in the MFC

Registration of property rights is carried out by Rosreestr, and documents are transferred to it through the MFC. You must be present at registration in person or through a representative with a notarized power of attorney. A lawyer can provide advisory support, check the accuracy of the application drawn up by the receptionist at the MFC, and transfer papers by proxy for the client, if there is such a need.

Solving legal problems when buying an apartment

Any difficulties and problems that are potentially possible when purchasing an apartment can be resolved by a lawyer by correctly assessing the situation, preparing the necessary documents, requests, and taking certain actions.

Legal support is a guarantee of a safe purchase of an apartment.

Who can you trust to provide legal support for the purchase and sale of an apartment?

If the service provided is necessary, many citizens prefer a real estate agency or try to do the work themselves. Although this is not a major or significant mistake, it can become very serious if you encounter a scam. Why is a reliable lawyer a better choice than a realtor?

• The lawyer will take care of determining the real value of the property. Although a realtor may be able to sell your home in a short time, in most cases he will act in his own interests - that is, in some cases he may lower the price to increase demand. An experienced human rights defender always acts exclusively in the interests of his clients, in addition, he can take care of identifying the real cadastral value;
• The lawyer will take care of determining the legal purity of the object. This is especially important if you are a buyer. As mentioned above, a real estate agency representative tries to close the deal faster, so he may ignore a number of significant points, especially if he is an inexperienced specialist. With the assistance of a lawyer, this will not happen;
• The lawyer will do all the necessary work to ensure the legality of the transaction. An important nuance: he is endowed with similar powers, unlike a realtor. The human rights defender will do all the necessary work with documents, with government agencies and the other party.

Drawing a conclusion from all of the above, we can note the following: legal support for the purchase and sale of an apartment is a guarantee for both the buyer and the seller that the transaction will take place without possible procedural risks and legal problems.

Housing lawyer in Moscow and regions

The logical continuation of buying an apartment is solving housing issues. A new owner has a lot of concerns that a housing lawyer can help solve:

• settlement of disputes with management companies, homeowners associations, service organizations;
• concluding or changing contracts with utility suppliers;
• repayment of the debt of the previous owner for utility bills and major repairs;
• legalization or approval of redevelopment.

It is worth contacting a lawyer to be completely confident in your housing rights and obligations.