How to protect your interests from your neighbors: useful tips

How to get a refusal from neighbors when selling a share

Waiver of preference when purchasing a share in the right of shared ownership does not expire . The owner is obligated to notify neighbors again only if he has changed the price of the room. Moreover, this only concerns a reduction in price relative to the amount specified in the Refusal. A price increase does not entail the obligation to notify neighbors again.

Important! It is impossible to sell a room in such an apartment without obtaining the consent of the neighbors. This will be the basis for challenging the transaction and declaring it void.

This option is only possible if the room is sold to one of the co-owners, that is, to one of the owners of another room in the same apartment.

A communal apartment is in shared ownership of all residents. Each of the premises is dedicated and has its own entrance, as well as a significant part of the communications necessary for a relatively comfortable life.

Thus, each of the neighbors in a communal apartment is essentially a co-owner of the entire apartment as a whole. This means that when selling any of the rooms (shares in the apartment), you first need to focus on the pre-emptive right to purchase this apartment.

If a waiver of the pre-emptive right is not submitted and the notice is ignored, after the expiration of a month the seller has the right to:

1. Put your share up for sale and find a buyer.
2. Agree with the buyer on the terms of the transaction and enter into a contractual agreement.
3. Submit documents for registration.

Legal advice: if the notice was sent by Russian Post, it is better to wait another 1-2 weeks or ask whether the second owner received it. This is necessary so that he does not subsequently challenge the transaction and transfer the pre-emptive right to himself.

Refusal from a notary

The most reliable and legally significant is a notarized waiver of the pre-emptive right to purchase a room or a share of real estate. Despite the fact that the service is not free, after the document is signed by all residents of the apartment, the seller can safely put it up for sale. If one of the residents cannot be present himself, then it is necessary to issue a notarized power of attorney for another person. Each potential applicant must have with him:

1. Title documents for your share or room.
2. Identification.

On the pre-emptive right to purchase a room in an apartment

To waive the right of first refusal to purchase a room in a communal apartment, you must provide the following documents:

• Passport. Shows that the neighbor is indeed the person who was notified of the sale of the room.
• Legal documents. They indicate that this neighbor is indeed a co-owner of the apartment.
• Extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate. Confirms that as of the time of drawing up the refusal, the neighbor is still a co-owner of the property.

The only type of expense in this case will be payment for notary services for certification of the refusal. The amount varies widely depending on the region of residence. The minimum level is about 1 thousand rubles. Most often: 2 thousand rubles and more.

Considering the fact that it is not they who need the neighbors’ refusal, but the seller, it would be logical to demand this money from him in order to pay for the services. Most often, they make it even simpler: the seller and his neighbor go together to the notary, where the seller pays for certification of the document and immediately takes the completed papers.

Once you have identified the person who will subsequently become the owner of the home, you need to formalize a traditional purchase and sale transaction.

To conclude this according to the rules, you must collect the following documents to accompany the transaction:

• passport;
• property agreement;
• a certificate of absence of debts to the housing and communal services company;
• consent from neighbors, given in writing, that they are not against the procedure being performed;
• an extract from the Unified State Register confirming the right to own a share;
• technical type documentation.

The refusal, as such, does not have a specific validity period. It concerns a clearly defined situation. It is impossible, for example, on the basis of one refusal to sell a completely different room, and not the one that was originally intended. Thus, the refusal is a one-time document, relevant only in certain conditions and for an extremely limited period of time.

By law, a potential neighbor buyer has exactly 30 days from the date of receipt of notification of the sale of the room. This period can be considered as the validity period of the refusal.

To understand the overall picture and the transaction process, we can distinguish the following stages in the sale of a room in a communal apartment:

• Determining the conditions and price of selling a room
• Execution (preferably through a notary) of a notice with the terms of sale, it is necessary to set a price and send it by registered mail to all owners of rooms in a shared communal apartment
• Collect the necessary set of documents to sell the room
• If the room has several owners, you can take a notarized general power of attorney for sale from other co-owners
• Check out of the room with everyone registered and take a certificate from the passport office about deregistration at the place of residence
• Agree on and draw up a purchase and sale agreement for a room in a communal apartment
• Conduct a transaction in a bank - through depositing money in a safe deposit box or letter of credit

If your room in a communal apartment is not privatized, then you will not be able to sell it right away. In order to sell a room, you must initially be its owner by law and have title documents in hand to confirm it.

Indeed, according to the law, any transactions with non-privatized residential real estate, which, of course, includes rooms in a communal apartment, are prohibited. Until a room in a communal apartment is municipal property, sale is impossible.

The process of privatizing a room can last from 2 to 4 months, depending on the region, initial data, conditions and availability of necessary documents...

When selling a room in a communal apartment, you will need a notary only in the case of common shared ownership, in other words, if the room has several owners, the ownership is registered with two or more persons, in accordance with the newly adopted laws of June 6, 2021, all transactions with shares go through notary.

In all other cases, when the right belongs on the basis of common joint ownership or you own the room individually, a notary is not needed in a transaction for the purchase and sale of a room in a communal apartment.

With shares, go to a notary; in all other cases, a notary is not needed.

When selling a room in a communal apartment, the first thing you need to do is to secure a refusal to buy from your neighbors or the city, if the neighboring housing is not privatized. A room in a communal apartment is nothing more than a part - a share of the common real estate.

Article 250 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation regulates civil law relations, regarding the preferential purchase of a room in a communal apartment, and also establishes the procedure for exercising this right.

In particular, the article determines that a neighbor in a communal apartment has the right to refuse the purchase in advance - immediately after receiving the notification, and also establishes a period during which the neighbor can think about buying - 30 days.

Selling a room in a communal apartment: pitfalls

To register the sale of a room with Rosreestr, the owner of the property will need to collect the following package of necessary documents:

• Civil passports of all interested parties who participate in the transaction of purchase and sale of a room in a communal apartment
• Certificate of discharge and deregistration of all residents from a room in a communal apartment
• A notice of intention to sell a room indicating the terms of sale and the price for the room, previously sent by registered mail to other owners of rooms in a shared communal apartment, is necessary only if the buyer is a third party, not a neighbor.
• Written refusal from neighbors to buy a room
• Notarized permission to complete the transaction from other owners of the communal room.
• Contract of sale
• Extract from BTI with explication plan
• Cadastral passport for alienable real estate in a communal apartment
• Title documents for the room
• Room acceptance certificate
• Permission from the guardianship and trusteeship authorities of the PLO to complete a transaction is necessary only in the case when one of the owners of a room in a communal apartment is a minor child.

This is the right of each co-owner to purchase a share of the property being sold before the property is put up for sale. But the proposed conditions should not differ - it is impossible to declare a price lower than the value that was offered to the owners in an open sale. In case of price changes, all owners must be warned, otherwise, when going to court, the transaction will easily be invalidated.

⇒ This right is also often called “primary”.

The law provides for the sale of one's share of the apartment to any buyer, but on the condition that the owners of the remaining part of the home do not apply for its acquisition. In this case, the owners must waive their rights in writing. It is necessary to draw up a notarized refusal (such a document will eliminate various disputes and disagreements). Article 250 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation regulates relations in this area.

Federal Law No. 122 of July 15, 2021 obliges all transactions related to the sale of real estate shares to be notarized.

It happens that the owners are far away or their location is not known at all. Therefore, on January 1, 2021, some changes were made to the legislation, which are also valid in 2021.

It states that the owner, if he wishes to sell a share of the home, can publish this announcement electronically on the official website.

This is a website of a government organization that registers rights to real estate.

The owner must attach to the remaining documents a written notice of this method of notifying other co-owners.

Having decided to sell his share of the apartment, the owner is obliged to notify the other co-owners about this, indicating its value.

The notice must be in writing. It must be sent by registered mail with a list of attachments. Receipts and acknowledgment of delivery will serve as evidence that the consent or waiver of the right of first refusal was executed in accordance with the law.

⇒ A sample notification of the sale of a share can be viewed at this link. ⇐

It’s good when part of the real estate owned by the seller is clearly stated in the documents. For example, there is a whole room in the property.

When the meters are not indicated anywhere, but only their ratio to the area of ​​the apartment, you must, through the court, allocate your square meters and assign them to yourself. The court often agrees to meet this requirement.

If a sale suddenly takes place in a communal apartment, the seller of the share will need to send a request to Rosreestr to obtain information about the owners of other rooms. This statement is paid, so the request is accepted with a receipt of payment.

The co-owners, having received notification from the seller, must formalize their consent or refusal to purchase a share in the apartment .

The refusal certified by a notary is sent to the owner of the share being sold by registered mail.

Only after receiving refusals from all co-owners or not receiving them within the prescribed period, the owner of the property can put his share up for public sale.

Refusal to purchase a share is issued according to the sample, which can be viewed at this link (sample application for refusal to purchase a share).

document:

1. Apartment address.
2. Description of the share: a clearly designated area or percentage of the total area of ​​the apartment.
3. Redemption amount in rubles.
4. The period during which the priority acquisition of real estate is decided.
5. Full name and passport details of the co-owner who has declared the renunciation of the share.
6. Co-owner's signature and date.
7. Notary's stamp.

Legal requirements

There is a certain sequence for selling a share of real estate or a room in a communal apartment. It is necessary to initially notify all neighbors in the apartment about your decision. The success of a transaction with an outside buyer depends on the correct implementation of preparatory measures, otherwise any agreement may be challenged in court. Therefore, notification must be made in writing, indicating the value of the real estate with a detailed description.

Options for providing a waiver of redemption to Rosreestr:

1. In the form of a written application when submitting the main documents for registration.
2. Via Russian Post by registered mail with notification or telegram.

Important! If disputes arise regarding the price or the applicants ignore the appeal, then you should wait a month, after which the transaction can be completed. If the potential buyer with priority right is a child, then an additional response from the guardianship and trusteeship authorities is required.

How to sell a room in a communal apartment

The seller of a real estate share, having sent notices of sale to all owners, must wait some time to receive a response from them. The letter must contain consent to purchase the property or refuse it.

⇒ The validity period for the waiver of the pre-emptive right to purchase is established by law and is 30 days. ⇐

After this time, you can obtain a certificate from the notary’s office that the letters were actually sent and the co-owners received them.

You can sell your share in an apartment without obtaining the consent of the owners, if the co-owners did not respond to the notice of sale within the established time frame.

⇒ If one of the owners decides to purchase another part of the real estate, then he is not required to draw up any written consent to purchase a share in the apartment; the most important thing is to conclude an agreement establishing the terms of the transaction as soon as possible. ⇐

If there are several co-owners, and they all claim the part of the property being sold, then the owner of the share has the right to choose with whom to conclude a transaction. Or the property will be divided in proportion to their shares of property.

But it is very important that before signing the contract, the seller notifies other owners who may also have a claim on the share you are about to purchase. At the same time, written consent from other applicants to conclude this transaction is NOT required.

The main thing is that there are no objections.

After identifying a buyer for a share of the apartment, you can formalize the purchase and sale. To conclude a transaction, you must present the following documents:

• passports;
• property agreement;
• written consent of neighbors to the transaction being made;
• certificate of right to share;
• technical documentation;
• certificate of absence of debt for public services.

They may also be useful, depending on the situation:

• Marriage certificate;
• an extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities stating that the owner has no encumbrances on the property;
• consent of the spouse that he does not object to selling the share.

The purchase and sale agreement contains the following information:

1. Share size;
2. Payment procedure for real estate;
3. Information about the parties making the transaction.

Minors can also purchase a share of an apartment, but their parents must sign it before they turn 14 .

At the same time, it is impossible to sell his share of property without the permission of the guardianship authorities. They must make sure that the child has housing of at least the same size. And the money for the sale of his part of the apartment will be credited to his own bank account, which the child will be able to use upon reaching the age of 18.

Only after checking all the data will the guardianship authorities issue a certificate within 2 weeks.

Without consent from the neighbors, the transaction cannot take place . A completed and signed room purchase and sale agreement (SPA) will not be registered without providing information about the refusal of the co-owners.

And without registration, the transaction will not be entered into the Unified State Register of Real Estate (USRN), which means a complete absence of a legal basis and the agreement will not enter into force.

Notarial consent to the transaction is prepared approximately within an hour after contacting the office; its preparation will cost approximately 1-1.5 thousand rubles.

The seller does not need to contact the notary together with his neighbor; he can draw up the document himself.

The notification of sale is issued by registered mail by the seller of the share. If his neighbors live in the apartment with him, then he should send a registered letter to his own address, and indicate his neighbor as the recipient.

Each co-owner needs to send a separate letter. If one of the co-owners is absent, you should find out his address and send such a letter to the location address.

conclusions

Before selling a room or share in an apartment, the owner must obtain either written consent or a refusal to purchase from other cohabitants of the apartment. Without this documentation, Rosreestr will not re-register the transfer of ownership to another individual. But even if the deal goes through, it can easily be challenged if desired. By complying with all procedural norms, the property owner relieves himself of a lot of problems and the possibility of persecution by law enforcement agencies.

How long is a waiver from neighbors valid when selling a room?

The main difficulty when selling a room in a communal apartment to an outsider is the need to obtain a waiver from the neighbors of the pre-emptive right to purchase .

Any neighbor has a special, statutory right to be the first to buy the room at the price offered to a third party.

And only if he refuses such a purchase or ignores the offer within one month , can he safely sell the apartment to an outside buyer.

Failure to comply with the pre-emptive right rule entails the risk of transferring the buyer's rights to the interested neighbor. This is a significant risk for the buyer, so when preparing the transaction, make sure that the rights of the owners of adjacent rooms are not violated.

To submit documents to Rosreestr, you need to collect evidence of a notice of priority right for each:

• if you have issued a written refusal from a notary, attach such refusal;
• for those who received the notice but ignore it - a copy of the notice, notification of delivery of the letter, inventory; or a certificate from a notary;
• if you have not received a notification letter - a returned envelope with postage stamps about dispatch and return, an inventory.

To ensure the purity of the transaction, it is safest to send notifications to all known addresses of neighbors, including the address of the communal apartment itself.

You should pay attention to some terms of the contract that are of significant importance.

1. Firstly, the price of the property in the contract must exactly correspond to the price indicated in the neighbors’ notices of the pre-emptive right. If it differs more or less, the interested neighbor will be able to challenge such a transaction in court, which entails the risk of losing money for the buyer.
2. Secondly, you need to carefully look at whether the subject of the contract includes a share in the ownership of common premises, for example, a bathroom. If the phrase “share in the right of common shared ownership” appears in the agreement, then this entails a mandatory notarial form of the transaction.

The notarial form has its pros and cons:

If only a room is sold under the contract, the contract is drawn up in simple written form without the participation of a notary. The law does not prohibit specifying only a room; the share in the right of common ownership will be transferred automatically.

The entire purchase and sale agreement for a room in a communal apartment can be found here.

It is safer for the new owner to purchase the full complex of property: both the room and the share. In the future, the document on the share will help in the event of a property dispute to fully protect your rights.

When selling a room to a neighbor, some features appear in the procedure:

• there is no need to submit evidence of notification to other neighbors to Rosreestr - one of the neighbors has already exercised their right to purchase;
• If several neighbors express a desire to buy a room, an auction should be held for the most advantageous offer.

Otherwise, the procedure for selling a room is no different from a regular real estate sale.

If you do not want to receive a refusal from all your neighbors to exercise your pre-emptive right to purchase online, you can find various workarounds. For example, it is recommended to donate a room and receive the payment amount without an agreement - then the rule of priority rights does not apply.

It should be remembered that such “gray schemes” entail a very high risk for both the seller and the buyer. The risk is not only the loss of property. Even if the transaction went well, there is always the possibility of it being challenged in court on the grounds that it was imaginary or pretentious. Neighbors interested in the property have the right to file such claims.

1. Carefully study the documents for the room. It should be clear from them that it is the room that is being sold, and not a share in the apartment.
2. Take the time to notify your neighbors about your purchase. Problematic neighbors can cause a lot of trouble in the future.
3. Use the services of a notary - this way you can guarantee the purity of the transaction.
4. Do not use circuits to bypass neighbor failures. The deal can easily be challenged in court.

• How to get your neighbors' refusal of the preferential right to purchase.
• Due to the many calls and questions asked on the topic - refusal of neighbors when selling a room or share , I decided to write a short article that will definitely be useful to those who have decided to sell their share in an apartment or communal apartment.
• How to get a refusal and sell a share if the co-owners do not agree to dialogue, the neighbors do not want to give up the right to buy , but they are not going to buy!

If you decide to sell your share , then you need to take care of the refusals of your “co-owners” - in other words, your neighbors.

Because without them it’s simply impossible to sell - the transaction will not be registered. We advise you to do this simultaneously with searching for clients to buy your home so as not to waste time. It’s good if you have good relations with your neighbors, and they agree to go to a notary and sign a statement refusing to buy your part, then everything is generally simple.

• Cost: making an advance or providing a deposit;
• Payment: in installments, full amount of money or deferment;
• Terms and conditions for vacating a room. This may be after full payment, or another condition;

IMPORTANT! If there is no refusal document, but the living space is already put up for sale, the co-owners have every right to challenge the decision in court and, moreover, successfully, because refusal is a mandatory condition.

Notify your neighbors in the communal apartment.

For this:

• Create a handwritten notice;
• Hand over the document to all residents who have the right to buy out;
• Negotiate the conditions for canceling the purchase. Ideally, when you have a friendly relationship, then there will be no conflicts and unnecessary disputes;
• After agreeing on all the points with your neighbors, draw up a corresponding document in writing;
• Confirm the deed of refusal with a notary.

IMPORTANT! If relations with your neighbors are strained or you are simply strangers to each other, send the document by registered mail with notification of receipt and a list of the contents. Be sure to save all receipts.

In the text of the notification, indicate:

• Personal data of the addressee and the applicant himself, as well as the property.
• Title documents;
• An extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate with a description of the characteristics of the room: address, square meters, cost, etc.
• Timing;
• Date of registration and signature of the originator.

IMPORTANT! If the room is not privatized, then the owner is the local administration, which means you must contact the management department.

If there are minor children among the neighbors, it is necessary to obtain written consent from the guardianship and trusteeship authorities, and the presence of one of the parents is mandatory. After all, adults will formalize the refusal in any case.

Is it possible to sell without consent?

According to the law, you can sell without consent only if the notification procedure has been correctly completed. That is, the co-owners were notified, but did not respond to the notification. It is prohibited to look for a new buyer without using the pre-emptive right of the co-owners. Any of the neighbors living in a communal apartment can easily challenge the deal. The court will always be on the side of the victim. If the co-owner is ready to use his pre-emptive right to purchase a room in a communal apartment for the specified price, then there is no need to write a refusal letter. The purchase and sale is immediately formalized, and then the package of documentation is transferred to Rosreestr for re-registration of the owner.

How to formalize a refusal to purchase a room in a communal apartment?

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I knew that I would have to collect a lot of documents for sale, so I turned to a notary. Together we developed an action plan.

By law, you first need to notify the owners of other rooms about the sale. If they don’t want to buy my room first, I need to sign a so-called waiver of the preemptive right to purchase.

My communal apartment had 6 rooms, so I needed to get consent to sell from 5 families.

I wrote notes to all the owners of other rooms in the apartment, inviting them to the notary to sign waivers. This is the fastest way to collect documents before selling, if relations with neighbors are normal.

To make it convenient for everyone, I made an appointment in the evening at a notary office, a five-minute walk from home. In the notes I indicated the date, meeting, time and personally distributed it to everyone for signature. During the conversation, no one objected to the sale.

A young man lived in one of the rooms, and the owner was his mother from another city. I managed to solve everything with the hostess over the phone.

She was not against the sale, and I sent another registered letter with notification to her address. It took a month for the notification to be delivered. As is the case with other owners, I waited another month for her decision if she wanted to buy my room.

2 months

I was waiting for a response from the owner from another city

1 refusal

received from the owner from another city

I miraculously managed to sell a room in a communal apartment

That month, when I was collecting refusals, my neighbor died. One of the undelivered letters was addressed to her.

This was a young woman who left a little child orphaned. The grandmother became the guardian, and she took the child into her apartment.

Now I couldn’t sell the room without permission from the district guardianship department. They answered that they would waive the right to purchase only in the presence of the grandmother and with her consent.

I didn’t know the owner of the last room and had never seen him in the apartment. I began to find out from the neighbors who it was and how to find him.

It turned out that one of the owners had a brother who owned a share in the room. A few years ago he was declared incompetent. All this time he lived in a psychoneurological boarding school: to sell the room, I needed to obtain permission from the guardian authorities. His sister gave me the address of the boarding school.

I collected documents for almost 3 months, and sold the room almost by accident in 3 days.

The buyer's counter-sale deal fell through - she was selling the house and immediately bought several rooms. The owners of one of the rooms did not collect documents, this became clear on the eve of the transaction.

She had to hastily look for a replacement. She saw my room on the EMLS website and came to view it that same evening. The next day we completed the transaction with the notary, and three weeks later I received a registered agreement from the Russian Federation.

This right must be respected only when several owners own the apartment as common shared property. In this case, the co-owners will have a certain privilege, namely the opportunity to buy out the share being sold before it is offered to outsiders (Art.

250 Civil Code of the Russian Federation). Typically, co-sharers use the right of first refusal in order not to share the common living space with new people unfamiliar to them.

Features of the implementation of the right:

1. In order to notify the shareholders of their plans and at the same time offer them the alienated object, the Seller must draw up written notices of the sale of the share . All essential conditions of the property transaction must be described here (size of the alienated object, its value, method of payment, etc.). The paper does not require notarization, although optionally it can be executed and sent to co-shareholders and through a notary.
2. To find out exactly who needs to send notifications, the Seller is recommended to contact Rosreestr in advance and obtain an extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate. This document contains information about all co-shareholders of a particular residential premises. If an individual lives or is registered in the apartment, this does not mean anything - only co-owners have the pre-emptive right to purchase . To obtain an extract, you will need to pay a state fee of 200 rubles, and also, when applying to the institution, have a passport with you.

1. The seller is obliged to offer the co-owners to buy out the share on the same terms that he intends to sell in favor of third parties. If the Seller inflates the price of the property for a co-owner, while for an outside Buyer it turns out to be less and more profitable, this will be considered an offense. The same thing will happen if the Seller, for example, refuses to provide an installment plan to a co-owner, and then provides this installment plan to an unrelated Buyer.
2. The essential terms of the transaction for the co-owner must be no less favorable than for third-party acquirers. If it subsequently turns out that during the notification of the co-owners the Seller deceived them or kept silent about any important points (the possibility of paying for the share by deferred payment, in installments, etc.), this will become the basis for initiating legal proceedings