Everything you need to know about the act of acceptance and transfer of housing

Recommendation points

• The value of the acceptance certificate for the buyer
• The value of the acceptance certificate for the seller
• Rules for drawing up an act
• Than the refusal to sign the acceptance certificate by the developer threatens
• Features of accepting an apartment from a developer
• Notifications
• Inspection rules
• Warranty repair
• Tricks used by developers in signing the deed of acceptance and transfer of real estate
• Features of receiving an apartment when buying

The act of acceptance and transfer to many participants in real estate transactions seems to be an insignificant piece of paper, the registration of which is not worth wasting time. But if the act is not signed or incorrectly executed, this can cause serious trouble. Consider the meaning and features of the preparation of this document.

The value of the acceptance certificate for the buyer

For the buyer of an apartment, an act of acceptance and transfer, which is often called a transfer act, is extremely important for a number of reasons:

1. The deed indicates the technical condition of the apartment at the time of purchase. If it turns out that it does not comply with the terms of the contract, the buyer will have very little chance of forcing the seller to correct the existing deficiencies without a signed deed. This is especially true in cases where housing is purchased from a developer. If the buyer sees that the apartment has a crooked floor or cracks in the walls, the worst thing that he can do is write in the deed of transfer that there are no claims to the technical condition of the property.
2. If the obligation to sign the acceptance certificate is specified in the contract, Rosreestr employees simply will not issue a certificate of ownership to the buyer. If the agreement does not provide for the signing of an act, then no problems with registration of ownership are foreseen.
3. Without an act, it will not be possible to receive a tax deduction. This document will definitely be required by tax officials.

The value of the acceptance certificate for the seller

At first glance, it seems that the seller does not need an act of acceptance at all, but this is not entirely true. If an apartment already sold, during the transfer of which the deed of transfer was not signed, floods or there is a fire in it, the buyer may try to oblige the seller to pay the repair costs. Indeed, according to the law, the transfer of an apartment is carried out precisely according to this document. There is no act – there is no proof that the seller actually handed it over to the buyer, which means, from the point of view of the law, the seller still manages the apartment and must pay for its repairs.

Of course, if the case goes to court, you can find witnesses who will show that the buyer already disposed of the property at the time of the disaster, but it is much easier to sign and keep a copy of the transfer deed. This greatly makes life easier when such situations arise and avoids lengthy judicial red tape..

Rules for drawing up an act

There are no clear requirements for the design of this document in the legislation. But, based on the purpose of the acceptance certificate, I usually indicate the following information in it:

1. Document’s name.
2. Date and place of signing.
3. Signatory data.
4. Description of the property being transferred (at what address it is located, on which floor, etc.).
5. Inspection sheet: is an attachment to the act. It describes in detail the technical condition of the property at the time of the transfer. In order to accurately record the condition of the apartment, in addition to the text description, you can take photographs, which will also be attached to the act.
6. Information about the presence or absence of the parties who signed the document of claims against each other.
7. Details of the contract to which the deed of transfer is attached.
8. Signatures of the parties with obligatory decoding.

Than the refusal to sign the acceptance certificate by the developer threatens

A developer selling real estate pays 1/300 of the Central Bank rate of the contract price to the buyer of the apartment for refusing to sign the acceptance certificate. For example, if an apartment costs 5 million rubles, he will have to pay 2,500 rubles daily for refusing to sign the act. Thus, in a few years the amount of penalties can be equal to the value of real estate. But the amount of penalties cannot exceed the value of real estate..

In the case of a regular sale and purchase, the liability established by the contract applies. As a rule, the parties set a penalty that is tied to the contract price. If the agreement does not provide for any penalties, the party evading signing should not pay anything..

Features of accepting an apartment from a developer

Consider all aspects of this procedure.

Notifications

The developer is obliged to transfer the apartment to the buyer within the time specified in the contract, no deviations from this date are allowed. If the deadline for putting the building into operation is delayed, the developer is obliged to send a letter to the buyer two months before the signing date stipulated by the contract with a proposal to change the agreement.

If, after two months, the building will still not be put into operation, and the developer does not transfer the apartment to the buyer, he pays the buyer the already mentioned penalty in the amount of 1/300 of the Central Bank discount rate of the contract price for each day of delay. The buyer has the right to collect a penalty in court.

The developer is obliged to notify the buyer that the construction is completed a month before the end of the work.

Inspection rules

When signing the deed, the developer’s representative shows the apartment to the buyer. If minor, removable flaws are found, they are recorded on the inspection sheet. It is also necessary that the representatives of the selling company indicate in this document the time frame in which the deficiencies will be eliminated.

The buyer should not sign the inspection report until the developer has brought the property into proper condition. If the deficiencies found are irreparable (uneven floors, problems with ventilation, etc.), it is better for the buyer to refuse to purchase an apartment altogether.

Warranty repair

There is also such a thing as hidden work – their result cannot be checked during the first inspection of the apartment (for example, the state of the wiring). The disadvantages of such works appear after a certain time, after the buyer has accepted the apartment..

It must be remembered that according to the law, the developer is obliged to eliminate such defects during the warranty period, which is established by the contract (according to the law, it cannot be less than three years, usually 5 years).

If a defect is found, the owner of the apartment must send a letter to the developer describing the problem. The developer’s representative is obliged to visit the apartment within 5 days, inspect the defects described in the letter and draw up an act that will describe the nature of the problems and the timing of their elimination.

It is necessary to prove that the defect arose precisely through the fault of the developer, for this a special examination is ordered, as a result of which, on the basis of the current SNIPs and GOSTs, an opinion is given on the reasons that led to the defects.

For example, there are cases when an examination showed that the mold that appeared in an apartment in a recently commissioned house was caused by a leaking roof, which is the developer’s fault. In this case, the buyer had a chance to pass on the costs of correcting this deficiency to the developer company..

Another illustrative case: in 2014, a resident of Krasnoyarsk was able to sue the developer 15% of the value of the property due to defects found in it. She commissioned a construction expertise, which revealed uneven walls, crooked floors and ceilings, and other flaws that arose during the finishing work. The court decided to oblige the developer to pay the owner of the apartment 300,000 rubles to eliminate the existing shortcomings and 80,000 rubles a fine to the state.

It is noteworthy that in this case, the owner of the apartment first signed the acceptance certificate and turned to the developer, who refused to correct the shortcomings, since no comments on the condition of the property were indicated in the act. But the court did not take this circumstance into account, since no one canceled the warranty period.

But still, it is better not to sign the act if there are serious flaws in the apartment, and if they are insignificant, at least mark the identified defects in the inspection sheet and force the developer’s representative to indicate the time frame for their correction.

It is highly discouraged to carry out repairs in an apartment just received from the developer, since after its completion it will be very difficult to prove that any defects in the apartment appeared through no fault of the hired builders.

Also, according to the law, there are a number of other cases when the developer is not obliged to carry out warranty repairs and correct defects that have arisen:

• natural wear and tear of the building;
• improper operation of common areas;
• failures of engineering systems that occurred through the fault of residents;
• violation of the rules for the operation of household appliances and plumbing;
• repair, violation or replacement by tenants of the structures and equipment of the apartment, transferred to them under the acceptance certificate by the developer.

Tricks used by developers in signing the deed of acceptance and transfer of real estate

Representatives of developers are very reluctant to put their signature under the act of identified deficiencies. Their favorite tactic is to refuse to sign the act during the examination and then play for time under any pretext. Indeed, according to the law, if the buyer does not sign the acceptance certificate within two months, the developer can do it alone.

If the seller uses such tactics, it is necessary to sign the deed of transfer yourself, and then send a claim to the developer, in which there will be a requirement to correct all deficiencies and sign the deed of transfer, otherwise the buyer will go to court.

If such a document is available, the buyer has every chance to force the developer to correct the flaws in the apartment and sign the acceptance certificate.

Features of receiving an apartment when buying

When buying an apartment, the law does not provide for any deadlines for signing the transfer deed. The parties do not need to send each other notifications, unless, of course, this is provided by the contract.

There is usually no warranty period either. Of course, the parties can indicate such a condition in the contract, but since in practice it is very difficult to force the seller to subsequently correct any flaws in the apartment (it is sometimes difficult even to find it), it makes no sense to add such a clause to the agreement.

The buyer just needs to carefully inspect the technical condition of the apartment: walls, windows, ceilings, meters, etc., and in the absence of significant comments, sign an act.

Not everyone has the knowledge and experience to carry out such an inspection in a qualified manner. Therefore, the buyer often takes an expert with him who can notice all the shortcomings..

• Acceptance certificate of the apartment from the developer – download in .doc format
• Acceptance certificate when buying an apartment – download in .doc format
• Inspection sheet – download in .doc format