Buying an apartment by shares

Fewer and fewer Russians with average incomes can afford to buy an apartment. Poor citizens have even less chances of buying their own homes. Nevertheless, there is a way to solve the housing issue – buying a home by shares.

Henri Matisse. The artist’s family. 1912

When children are not a hindrance

As you know, after the privatization procedure of housing, all citizens who lived in it under a social rent agreement or an order receive ownership rights. After state registration of property rights, all family members of the tenant of housing are endowed with equal shares in the apartment. The owners have the right to dispose of their shares at their own discretion – to sell, donate, bequeath or exchange. Most often, the owners carry out the sale of housing together. With each of them, the buyer draws up a sale and purchase agreement, registers it with the registration chamber and after 21 days takes the certificate of state registration of the right to the apartment.

The situation is more complicated if minors are among the homeowners. In order to sell their shares, parents must obtain permission from the mayor through the guardianship authorities. Parents will be allowed to sell their children’s shares only if they undertake to provide minors with living space. It is this condition that often scares off potential home buyers. To make it clear how to act in such situations, you can give the following example.

So, citizen Kadomtseva, a mother of four children, decided to move with her family from the city to the village, in which she had already looked after a house for herself. Unfortunately, the woman did not comply with the formalities necessary for the sale and purchase and simply gave the money to the owner of the house. The landlady registered citizen Kadomtseva in the house, and she checked out and left the village. Soon, the mother of many children decided to sell the Zhaktov apartment that remained in the city, but the guardianship authorities refused to sell her shares of the apartment that belonged to her children. In theory, the woman should have simply made a donation to the children on the house in the village, but after all, he did not belong to her by right of ownership. Moreover, in the Office of Municipal Property, she learned that her house was listed as an unauthorized building. Registration of such problem housing required a considerable amount of money, which the unemployed rural resident did not have at that time. Then she decided to sell Zhaktov’s apartment in the city for shares. For the money received from the sale of shares, the woman planned to issue documents for a house in the village.

Boris Kustodiev. Blue house. 1920

Not without difficulty, citizen Kadomtseva managed to find those willing to purchase the share she owned, since potential buyers for the most part wanted to buy all the shares of the owners at once. The woman entered into a sale and purchase agreement with the buyer and, using the money received from the sale, was able to register the village house in the property within a year. She submitted to the guardianship authorities a preliminary agreement on the donation of this house to her minor children and received permission to sell their shares in the Zhaktov apartment.

Buying an apartment in shares cost the buyer 150 thousand, although according to rough estimates of realtors it cost at least 300 thousand rubles.

Soon, another purchase agreement was concluded with the buyer. The deal itself turned out to be a lengthy one, but both parties were able to get considerable benefits from it.

Citizen Kadomtseva, having sold her share in the Zhaktovskaya apartment, was able to sell the shares that belonged to the children in the future, and the purchase of housing cost the buyer almost 50% less. First, he acquired a share from a citizen Kadomtseva for 30 thousand rubles, and then bought out the shares belonging to minor children from her for 120 thousand rubles. In total, the purchase of the Zhaktovskaya apartment by shares cost the buyer 150 thousand, although according to rough estimates of realtors it cost at least 300 thousand rubles. But citizen Kadomtseva sold the apartment not because she had to make concessions due to some problematic circumstances, but because the shares sold separately are 30-50% cheaper than the cost that she could have counted on by selling the entire apartment.

Even if a mother with many children did not manage to obtain permission from the head of the city to sell property owned by underage children, the buyer would still benefit from this transaction. First, he will retain the right to live in an apartment. Secondly, in the future he will be able to participate jointly with other owners in the sale of housing and receive for the share he bought twice the amount that he gave to the seller.

To complete the transaction for the sale and purchase of a share, the following documents will be required:

• copies and originals of receipts for payment of state duty,
• certificate of state registration of rights,
• documents on the basis of which the seller acquired the right to property,
• passport, sales contract.

The sales contract can be drawn up independently, a sample is here.

Pre-emptive right to purchase

Those wishing to sell a share may face such an obstacle as the preemptive right to purchase, which is possessed by another owner of a residential premises. If the owners sell the apartment together, then no problems arise. But it often happens that one of the owners actively prevents the sale of a share to another owner.

However, this issue can be easily resolved. Usually, when drawing up a purchase and sale agreement, a specialist of the Department of State Registration of Law requires a notarized consent of the co-owners of the residential premises. But you can’t force a person to agree to a sale against his will. In this case, you can send him a certified letter with notification. Anyone who wants to sell his share must offer another owner to purchase his share for a certain price.

Evgeny Ivanov. Waiting for the postman. 2007

If within a month after receiving the notification that the co-owner has received a certified letter, he does not receive any information that he is ready to redeem the share, then you can safely go to submit the documents to the regional chamber. True, all of the above documents must also be accompanied by the original and a copy of the notification coupon. If the owner did not pick up the letter in the mail, it will be returned to the sender with a note “expired storage period”. In this case, it is better to provide a letter to the registration chamber without opening.

Citizens who do not have the opportunity to live in a dwelling on the basis of common ownership, it is advisable to sell their share. Otherwise, they will be responsible for the maintenance of the premises and utilities on an equal basis with the rest of the owners..