Buying an apartment is always a very responsible and exciting moment, and if a mortgage is also taken for these purposes, the sense of responsibility doubles. When purchasing real estate that has been inherited by the seller, you should be very careful, because it is this category of apartments that becomes the cause of litigation, and, more often than not, not in favor of the buyer.
Offers of this nature, in comparison with the rest of the market segment, are quite attractive, as they are sold at a price that is 20 or even 30% lower. In addition, the location and conditions are also good, so many people want to buy such a living space. However, not everything is as rosy as it seems at first glance!
Legality of inheritance
So, if the apartment was bought, and suddenly, after a certain period of time, an heir appeared, claiming the same square meters, then you need to begin to deal with the problem with a "cold" head and knowledge of the law.
The heirs of the apartment can be announced both in the first years and after 15-20 years, which is quite natural, since there are two types of heirs. The first is legal. According to the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, chapter 63, there is a sequence of relatives who inherit property. The second type is by will. The property is divided by the inheritor at his request, ch. 62 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.
There is also a separate category representing a kindred circle of inheritors who could not be deprived of their inheritance (Articles 1148, 1149 of the Civil Code of Russia).
Even the information in Article 1154 of the Civil Code of Russia, which says that the declarative document on the inheritance of property, the filing of which takes six months from the date of the death of the inheritor, does not guarantee that the apartment will remain with the buyer. Indeed, in Art. 1155 in paragraph 1 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation it is prescribed that the right of inheritance is restored if the heir was not aware of the opening of the inheritance. In this case, the court cancels the purchase and sale transaction, after which the seller must return the monetary value of the apartment to the buyer, but here there are many difficulties in the form of indexing the amount, accounting for inflation, the funds spent by the seller, lack of finance, etc.
In this situation, there are several resolution options:
- an agreement with the announced heir that a certain amount of money will be paid to him, after which he will renounce claims for square meters;
- issue an application for a living space under a social contract. hiring;
- if the buyer has minor children, you can contact the guardianship authorities.
Features of the will
The testamentary document prescribes a set of rules according to which the property of the deceased must be divided. However, the law does not always follow these guidelines.
- There are heirs in the form of dependents, minor children, spouses and parents who are entitled to ½ share by legal inheritance (clause 1 of article 1149 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).
- Among the inheritors, there are often those who wish to prove the falsity of the testamentary document, since the testator was ill when it was signed.
- It may also happen that the previous owner drew up another later will, which cancels the previous one.
- It happens that when drawing up the testamentary document, the testator indicated that the wife and mother should also live in the hereditary apartment, for example, to the son, until the end of their lives. In this case, it will be impossible to evict them.
If in the first three options the plaintiff proves the fact that the testamentary document is falsified or irrelevant, then it is declared invalid, therefore, the buyer gets his money back, and the seller gets the apartment.
It is also important to understand that all claims are addressed to the property owner, not the seller. In order to somehow protect the buyer from troubles during the purchase, real estate agencies take from the seller an obligation, certified by a notary, that he does not know about any heirs. That is, if another heir appears, all financial issues will be settled between him and the new relatives without the participation of the buyer.
Protection methods
A new buyer can protect himself from falling into such an unpleasant situation by narrowing the circle of potential heirs in the following ways:
- to receive extracts of the Unified State Register of Legal Entities containing information on all transactions carried out with this property, encumbrances
- to get acquainted with the extract from the house book for the presence of civilian partners and other relatives registered earlier in the apartment;
- find out about the presence of the deceased's heirs, claiming a compulsory share (in the form of disabled people, minor children, parents, etc.);
- to carefully approach the signing of the deed of sale by proxy from the heir;
- check the death certificate of the property owner.
Of course, in order to comply with all the recommendations, you will have to spend a lot of effort, time and nerves, but in this way you can somehow protect yourself from meeting unexpected heirs.
