How to rent an apartment? Apartment rental agreement - sample. What to look for when renting an apartment

Fresh renovation, cleanliness, a smiling and friendly owner and, most importantly, a very attractive price - all this is by no means a reason for a tenant looking for housing to immediately move into an apartment, much less pay a deposit three months in advance. The RIA Real Estate website has collected five expert tips that will allow you to learn about the intricacies of renting and not be left with your nose, and what’s more, on the street.

Check the documents for the apartment

There are several types of fraudulent activities on the part of landlords that all those who are looking for rental housing should remember.

For example, says Maria Baskova, head of the rental department of the ABC Zhilya company, in rental relations there is such a thing as subleasing of housing - when the tenant rents out the apartment to third parties, of course, without informing the owner. According to the agency's interlocutor, in this case the fraudster rents an apartment by the day, say, for seven days. During this time, he manages to resell it to several employers at a price significantly lower than the market price, but, having received an advance payment for several months, disappears. Failed apartment tenants are left without money and without housing.

The means of “self-defense” in this case are quite banal and simple. In order not to fall for a scammer, before paying money, make sure that the apartment belongs to the owner, insists Vadim Cherdantsev, senior lawyer of the Land. Real Estate. Construction practice of the Cliff law firm. “Such information can be obtained on the basis of an extract from the Unified State Register of Rights to Real Estate. To obtain it, you need to submit a corresponding request to the territorial division of the Office Federal service state registration, cadastre and cartography or (Rosreestr), pay 200 rubles of state duty and wait only 5 days. In Moscow you can also contact Multifunctional Center, they are available in every region. Any citizen can request an extract,” explains the lawyer.

When renting an apartment, the tenant also has the right to demand a passport from the owner, and, after checking the documents for the apartment, enter into a rental agreement with the owner of the apartment, which must specify the main wishes, requirements and responsibilities of the parties, adds Baskova. And, of course, you only need to give money against a receipt, she emphasizes.

How to properly draw up a rental agreement. Advice >>>

Specify the rental period in the contract

"In the spring-summer period, with the appearance of seasonal apartments on the rental market, there are owners who give out the rental of their seasonal apartment for an apartment that is rented for long term. As a result, the tenant is forced to look for housing again in a few months and move,” Baskova gives another example of a tenant being deceived.

In order to avoid such an unpleasant situation, you must immediately insist on concluding a written contract indicating the terms of employment.

By the way, Cherdantsev notes, if the term is not reflected in the rental agreement, it is considered to be concluded for five years. After the conclusion of the contract, the owner will no longer be able to simply kick out the tenant and terminate the contract. In case of any disagreement between the parties, the contract is terminated only in court, the lawyer clarifies.

Don't go to view an apartment alone

Be friendly, but keep your distance from the owner

As for the behavior of the employer, according to Baskova, there is no need to invent anything or specially adapt to the landlord, the main thing is to be calm and friendly. "Never react violently to possible changes in the price or rental period, if you structure the conversation correctly and calmly, the result, as a rule, will be in your favor,” Baskova is convinced.

Gutsu advises the employer to treat rented apartment, as if it were your own, don’t be afraid to nail down a shelf or call a plumber again. But what exactly is not needed, in her opinion, is excessive attention, tea parties and gifts to the owner of the apartment. As in any business, in rental relations it is important to show yourself as responsible, diligent, with a good memory, but at the same time “keep your distance,” the realtor notes.

Modern society is characterized by high mobility. We don’t sit still: after school we go to study in another region, change jobs, start a family away from our parents, move from city to city in search of self-realization and personal prospects. The saying: “Where you were born, you come in handy” has long been considered an anachronism. By easily changing their place of residence, people are forced to look for housing for a long and very long period. We will talk about how to rent an apartment correctly...

1.Consult professionals

Of course, the best thing to do would be to contact an agency, where a specially trained person will help you with selecting an apartment and preparing primary documents. Only agency services can be equal to 50% or 100% of the monthly payment for the found apartment. And don’t forget that in the real estate market there are a lot of one-day agencies that work according to the “prepayment - information” scheme. That is, you pay for a piece of paper with the addresses of apartments for rent, the owners of which often do not even know that their apartment is “for rent.” Apartment scammers, especially in the metropolis, are a dime a dozen, and new rental fraud schemes are emerging all the time.

2.Check documents

If you are lucky enough to find a landlord on your own, without intermediaries, then immediately ask if he agrees to draw up a rental agreement and provide everything Required documents? If the owner of the apartment hesitates and tries to assure you of his integrity, it is better to refuse such a deal. I'll explain why...

First of all, you need to find out whether the owner of the apartment is real. It often happens that several people are registered in an apartment, and when one decides to rent out this living space without the knowledge of the other, the second has every right to raise the issue of your eviction at any time. By the way, the owner of the rented apartment is by no means a king and a god rolled into one. All his and your rights and obligations are regulated in legislative acts.

Secondly, there is a fraudulent sublease scheme that falls for those who do not check the owner’s documents and take their word for it. Imagine that a certain citizen X rents an apartment for a week from citizen Y. And after a couple of days, he re-rents it for six months to citizen Z. He asks him for an advance payment for three to four months in advance (for example, to pay off utility debts) and disappears. And after a while Y comes and absolutely legally and with a scandal drives the unfortunate and short-sighted Z out onto the street. Therefore, first of all, ask to see documents on ownership or a deed of purchase and sale, utility bills in the name of the landlord and check his personal documents (not only a passport, but also, for example, a driver’s license). Because forging one document is not difficult, but several are too troublesome. A dishonest businessman will most likely refuse your request to check your documents.

3.Meet your neighbors

Be sure to ask the owner to introduce you to the neighbors. Here it will definitely become clear whether this is his apartment. Find out from them the history of this housing: who lived before you, how often the tenants change here - believe me, the neighbors are often very interesting information. If the house is new, then it’s absolutely not scary if you go to the local housing office and check the owner’s name with strict, but responsive to chocolate and compliments, aunties.

4.Draw up an agreement

If all issues regarding ownership and the identity of the owner are settled, be sure to offer to draw up a rental agreement for the apartment. Even a document written in one’s own hand and signed by both parties (and, ideally, in front of a witness) has legal force. Advice: if the landlord is afraid of going to the notary, then in the contract indicate the rental period for no more than 364 days, that is, less than a year.

The rental agreement must contain passport details of both parties, information about the apartment (address, square footage, condition), rental period, cost and method of payment. Often owners ask to pay a month in advance. You should write about this too. The constancy of the fee amounts is legally implied for the entire period specified in the contract.

5.Describe the property

Do not forget to make an inventory of the property and its condition in addition to the contract. Otherwise, it will be difficult to prove later that there was no TV in the kitchen, and the sofa was torn not by your children, but by time and the previous tenants. If you decide to move in seriously and for a long time, ask the owner for written permission to make minor changes to the interior (for example, driving nails into the wall for a favorite painting), this will save you from many misunderstandings.

6. Rights and obligations of the parties

According to domestic legislation, all ongoing repairs of housing, for example, leaking taps, falling off wallpaper or a cracked toilet, fall on the shoulders of the landlord. Therefore, be sure to indicate that troubleshooting will be carried out at the expense of the apartment owner, for example, as a monthly payment. Otherwise, you will be forced to fix the leak in the bathroom at your own expense, or wait for this mercy from the landlord. The owner has the right to check the condition of his home, but this does not mean that he can come without your knowledge or whenever he pleases - specify when and how you will contact.

7.End of lease

And, of course, stipulate the conditions for early termination of the contract. As a rule, we are talking about a month's notice about eviction. By the way, there is no reason to evict you before the end of even such a homemade contract during the heating season. Well, unless you trashed the apartment, don’t pay rent, and are generally a big sociopath, dangerous to others. Then, through the court(!), you can be kicked out into the cold. Keeping your home in order, not delaying payment, taking into account the rules of human society and adhering to the laws is your responsibility.

Renting an apartment is not difficult, it is difficult to do it correctly. Be vigilant, patient and respect each other!

Information on the rules for renting an apartment for a long term is relevant due to the fact that the real estate rental market is not immune from the actions of scammers, and any participant in the transaction: the owner of the living space or the tenant can become a victim of dishonest schemes of scammers.

The larger locality, the higher the likelihood of encountering fraud when renting apartments, and Moscow, which annually receives thousands of visitors settling in a new workplace, is no exception. Plunging into the search for removable

housing, you may come across dishonest owners or realtors, as well as enterprising swindlers.

And it is important for tenants to learn to distinguish fraudulent actions based on certain signs:

Deception scheme - selling information from the real estate database occurs very often. On the Internet or in a real estate office, you can find an offer for a certain amount to obtain information from a closed housing database according to the criteria of interest to the client. Cheap real estate services look attractive, but in reality the information being sold is irrelevant, and a person looking for a rented apartment loses money and time;
Telephone scammers, taking advantage of the gullibility of people, they send out SMS messages with offers to gain access to housing rental options of interest, indicating their consent to the specified telephone number in a reply message. You should not trust such offers, since funds are debited from the balance, and you won’t get any more relevant information;
Information office posing as a real estate company is no less dangerous in terms of wasting time and money. Mediation services are cleverly disguised as “legal frameworks.” The client in such an “agency” is offered, for a moderate payment (half the standard fee for a realtor accompanying the transaction), to enter into an agreement under which the client receives the addresses of apartments for rent. The apparent benefit is explained by independent viewing and conclusion of the transaction. In front of the client, the “agent” negotiates with the landlords about viewing, and the landlord trustingly signs a document that the obligations under the contract have been fulfilled and pays for the service. The relevance of the information provided and paid for is far from reality: either the apartments have already been rented out, or the rental price is significantly higher than indicated by the “agency”.
Illegal subletting. Enterprising swindlers can bypass the owner by reletting rented housing. The scheme is based on the carelessness of the majority of citizens who do not check the documents for the apartment from landlords;
Another option for common frauds is multiple rental housing when criminals shamelessly manage to rent out an apartment to several gullible clients, giving out the keys to the coveted apartments;
Scheme of deception from the owner - survive the tenant who paid for a certain period of stay without financial losses ahead of schedule under any pretext specified in the standard agreement:
1. damage to property;
2. complaints from neighbors about noise and unsanitary conditions;
3. payment is overdue by three days;
4. use of square meters for other purposes.
The owner diligently creates unbearable living conditions for the tenant, conspiring with neighbors, homeless people, provoking utility accidents, thereby ensuring that the tenant moves out;
There is little pleasure in renting an apartment when it is rented out bypassing relatives. The tenant, when such a fact is discovered, in addition to a natural scandal, can be evicted, since the agreement without the consent of all owners is invalid. It is possible to increase the rent taking into account the interests of the co-owner of the apartment;
Apartment renovation at the expense of tenants. The contract is concluded for a year, for example, with subsequent extension. The rental price is set low. Tenants who are convinced of long-term residence carry out renovations (hanging wallpaper, painting, whitewashing, replacing outdated communications). But when the renovations in the apartment are completed, the unscrupulous landlord terminates the contract and evicts the people. Even after compensation for the deposit and the agent's commission, the savings on repairs for the owner are significant;
The current level of technology development has “enriched” dishonest housing scammers with a new sophisticated method of deception, such as forgery of original documents. Fraudsters can work in pairs, when one acts as the owner, providing fake documents, and another supposedly “realtor” verifies their authenticity.

How to rent a house for a long time

By and large, the rental housing market has not yet emerged from the shadows. And most apartments are rented semi-officially: the parties agree without registering the transaction, so that the owner does not have a formal obligation to rent. Real estate experts recommend entering into an agreement. Even in simple written form, the document legally protects the parties. An additional guarantee is a transaction completed in the presence of an experienced realtor with the company’s letterhead and seal.

Basic rules for choosing an apartment for rental purposes:

Ask the person showing the apartment for the originals of all important documents:
1. certificate(s) of ownership;
2. passport for the apartment;
3. landlord's passport;
4. a valid power of attorney for the right to rent out housing from the co-owners.
For additional insurance, you need to ask and review the paid receipts for public services to avoid troubles associated with the owner’s debt.

Basic rules for drawing up a rental agreement

The tenant must have in his hands when signing the contract following documents when renting an apartment: a copy of the agreement with the signatures of the parties, an act of acceptance and transfer of the rented object and a receipt from the owner for receiving the money.

At the time of concluding a transaction, you should be extremely careful, somewhat boring, in order to thoroughly understand all the points regarding documents, living conditions and payment. And it is advisable to record each payment in the future by date signed by the parties.

And remember that a professional realtor will not take money in advance, and guarantees results at all stages, from searching for a rented apartment to concluding an agreement between the owner and the tenant, since he thoroughly checks the documents when renting an apartment. Payment for the services of an honest intermediary in the real estate market occurs after the performance of his services to the customer.

Independently searching for housing for rent based on advertisements in the press or on real estate websites requires maximum attention to all the nuances, so as not to become a victim of scammers who rely on the inexperience of visitors, their gullibility and carelessness.

To avoid fraud when renting an apartment, you should concentrate as much as possible on the upcoming transaction and compliance with the rules for renting an apartment for a long time.

If you choose an apartment yourself

When searching for an apartment through a specialized ad site or group in in social networks you risk encountering scammers. To avoid falling for their tricks, you need to pay attention to several important points.

1. Average cost of renting an apartment according to your criteria

Ads that are too “sweet” are often fake. Spacious with modern renovation in the very center of the city, a minute’s walk from the metro and for pennies? A very dubious proposal.

2. Please transfer the prepayment to the card

This point often follows from the previous one. You call an ad you like, they tell you that there are so many people interested, and then they ask you to transfer at least a few thousand so that the apartment remains yours. Don't be fooled by this: you just talked to a scammer.

Never transfer money to strangers as a deposit without a personal meeting.

3. Authenticity of photographs of the apartment

To ensure the accuracy of the information from the ad, check the photographs of the apartment for authenticity. This can be done, for example, through Google image search.

If the same apartment is posted on several housing rental sites, it’s not a big deal. It’s another matter when photographs circulate on the Internet, and the description, apartment address and contact person change radically from time to time.

4. Lack of photographs of the apartment

Ads without photos look at least strange. In most cases, this means that there is something wrong with the apartment or that such living space does not exist at all.

5. Ad frequency

It happens that the same advertisement for an apartment for rent appears and disappears with enviable frequency. Two weeks ago the apartment was rented out, then it was rented, and a month later it is still up and running again. And so on in a circle.

Of course, the problem may not be with the owner, but with the tenants. Well, a person is unlucky when it comes to tenants, and that’s all. However, the frequently flashing advertisements are alarming.

6. Contact person

Who deals with the issue of apartments for rent? The owner himself or the realtor? If you don't want to pay a commission equal to half or even the entire monthly payment, then realtor ads are not for you.

If you contact a realtor

Realtors can make your life easier and help you find your dream apartment. Or they can fray your nerves, empty your wallet, or waste your time. This is when you should be wary.

1. The realtor cannot name the company where he is currently an employee or where he worked before

If a realtor claims to be on staff of an agency, you can contact the company directly and clarify this.

If the realtor is a private entrepreneur, in any case he should tell you at least a few companies in which he worked before. If you have difficulty with this, you may have a scammer in front of you.

2. The realtor is not interested in who will live in the apartment and in what composition

Almost every owner has at least an approximate idea of who he sees as a tenant, and notifies the realtor about this. If during a conversation you are not asked about the number of residents, the presence of animals and permanent job- this is a bell.

3. The realtor is not an expert in his field.

It’s hard to imagine that a realtor doesn’t know how to write a receipt for money or fill out a rental agreement. And if he still doesn’t know, then this is not a realtor.

4. You are asked to pay a commission before concluding a contract

The realtor receives a commission only after the transaction is concluded. If you are required to pay in advance, do not give in and do not transfer funds.

5. The realtor deals with only one apartment

Typically, a realtor has several properties in the works. It is suspicious when a specialist devotes all his time to only one apartment. Try typing the phone number into the search bar of your browser and see how many ads you get.

6. The realtor introduces himself as an employee of a news agency

You are offered to come to the office, sign an agreement and gain access to the database of owners after paying a commission.

The realtor will not go with you to inspect the apartment and meet with the owner, and even if you can get through to anyone from the received database, after a preliminary agreement on the meeting, the landlord will cancel everything at the last moment.

In this case, it will not be possible to return the money, because you signed an agreement on the provision of information services. To achieve justice, you can contact lawyers and try to file an application in court. However, no one guarantees you a successful outcome. Therefore, carefully study all the documents on which you sign.

Stage 2. First contact with the owner

You have chosen the ideal option, in your opinion, and to celebrate, call to arrange a meeting. First, make sure you are actually talking to the owner and not a realtor or anyone else. Even if the ad indicated that the apartment was for direct rent.

Ask your landlord a few questions. For example, where the windows of the apartment face or what floor it is on.

If a person hesitates, perhaps he is trying to deceive you. The owner will answer such questions without delay.

If you feel that everything is in order, go through the information provided in the ad: check the cost, the need for a deposit and the last month's payment. Find out how long the apartment is being rented out, and whether it really is a 10-minute walk to the metro, not 30. In general, talk through all the nuances that are important to you.

Stage 3. Inspection of housing

Evaluate the entrance. Its condition can say a lot about the residents of the house - your potential neighbors.
Try visiting your neighbors and asking who lived in the apartment before you. It is advisable to do this together with the owner: if the residents of neighboring apartments are not new residents, then they will recognize your landlord, and you will once again be convinced that he is the owner.
Carefully inspect the bathroom, especially the plumbing. If a faucet is leaking, it is worth pointing this out to the owner immediately.
Check the condition of the furniture and assess its wear.
Pay attention to the location of the outlets. You may need to rearrange your furniture.
If you have pets, check to see if the previous residents had a cat or dog.
Take the time to turn on all the appliances and appliances you plan to use.
Check all switches in the apartment.
Ask about internet availability.
Check the locks so you don't have to wait outside the door until they let you in. If there are several locks, but you are given the key to only one, find out the reason. The owner may say that the lock has been broken for a long time and has not been used. You should insist on replacement or repair and ask for a complete set of keys.
Make sure the seals on the meters are intact.
Check the condition of your balcony doors and windows if you don’t want to freeze in winter.
Evaluate throughout the apartment.

If none of the above in the apartment bothers you, you can proceed to drawing up an agreement.

Stage 4. Conclusion of an agreement

What owner documents need to be checked?

If the apartment has one owner

When concluding a rental agreement, ask the owner to show you:

passport;
certificate of ownership or extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate.

You need to make sure that the apartment belongs to the person who introduced himself as the owner of the apartment.

One of the most common types of fraud on the market is renting out someone else's apartment. Housing can be rented out by a certain “friend” of the owner of the apartment, who settled in it for just a couple of days.

Arthur Ustimov, founder and CEO housing rental management service "Arendatika"

If you haven’t checked your property documents, you risk not only losing money, but also being left on the street.

If there are several owners

In addition to your passport and certificate of ownership, you need to obtain written consent to rent out the apartment from all owners, as well as from those registered in the apartment.

If a distant relative is registered in the apartment, he can come to your rented home and stay there. In this case, the lease agreement will be valid, but no one can prohibit the person registered in the apartment from living there.

If the apartment is owned by spouses

First you need to figure out whether it is joint or shared ownership there is an apartment.

Ivashchenko Srbui Sargisovna, leading lawyer of the European Legal Service

To be on the safe side, you can find out about the existence of a marriage contract and read its terms. If the apartment belongs to one of the spouses, then the consent of the second is not required. If it is jointly owned, it will be necessary to obtain the consent of each owner.

What to pay attention to when drawing up a contract

A rental agreement is a document that will help you avoid unnecessary conflicts, so it is very important to draw it up responsibly. Lifehacker has already told how, so we will focus only on the most important points.

Mandatory data

The subject of the agreement is an apartment. You must provide the full address, area and number of rooms.
The parties to the agreement are the owner of the property (or his representative with a notarized power of attorney) and the tenant.
Passport details and information about the place of registration - both the owner of the apartment and the tenant.

Duration of the contract and payment procedure

Indicate the duration of the contract and the period during which you are obliged to carry out rent. Please note the sanctions for violating the payment procedure. For example, you may have a week's period to pay off the debt, after which the owner has full rights to take you out of the apartment.

The fact of payment must be recorded: when paying in cash, ask for a receipt from the owner, and when transferring to a card, ask for a bank statement.

The purpose of payment must contain a link to your agreement. For example: payment under rental agreement No. 1 dated January 1, 2018 for June 2018.

In addition, the contract must indicate the amount that you transferred to the owner upon check-in. This may be a fee for the first and last month residence, as well as a security deposit - a guarantee that if the tenant causes damage to the property, the owner of the apartment will receive financial compensation.

The owner can keep the entire amount security deposit or part of it, depending on the degree of damage caused. If during inspection of the apartment everything is in order, the insurance deposit is full size returned back to the tenant. A deposit amount that is comfortable for each party is agreed upon at the conclusion of the contract.

Eviction procedure

Particular attention should be paid to the rules for eviction from an apartment. They should be comfortable for each side.

Sometimes contracts indicate that the departure and search new apartment the tenant is given only a couple of days. And some leases even provide for penalties if the tenant stays for less than a certain period of time.
Arthur Ustimov, founder and general director of the housing rental management service “Arendatika”

Frequency of owner visits

Frequent unexpected visits from the owner bring little joy. However, you cannot prohibit him from visiting your own apartment. Discuss the frequency of visits that is comfortable for both of you, specify how much time the owner should notify you, and record the agreements in a document.

Communication channels

The contract must indicate the email addresses or telephone numbers of both parties, depending on the chosen communication channel. It’s better to do both, just to be sure.

Do not delete correspondence with the landlord so that you can refer to her in case of disagreement.

Inventory of valuables and meter readings

The act of acceptance and transfer of the apartment, which is attached to the contract, must include an inventory of valuables. If you paid a security deposit upon check-in, there is a risk of not getting it back. You must check the entire apartment. And the more carefully, the better. You already know what points to focus on when inspecting an apartment.

The safest thing to do would be to take photographs of all detected defects so that when you leave they will not be attributed to you. Photos can be printed and attached to the document.

It is mandatory that the act must record the readings of individual water and electricity meters at the time of check-in.

Repairs and planned changes in the apartment

Make a list of the changes you plan to make to the property, as well as the equipment or furniture you plan to purchase. Agree on the maximum amount and decide how payment will be made: only by the owner, by you, or 50/50.

It is recommended to stipulate conditions for inseparable and separable improvements in the contract in advance or draw up an additional agreement later. In this case, it is advisable to make a clause in the contract that things are returned to the owner, taking into account natural wear and tear.
Arthur Ustimov, founder and general director of the housing rental management service “Arendatika”

Indicate in the contract who pays for breakdowns household appliances. Unfortunately, during the initial inspection you will not be able to be 100% sure of the absolute serviceability of the devices, and it can be difficult to prove that the breakdown occurred due to natural wear and tear and not due to improper operation.

If you notice that the device is on its last legs, point this out to the owner and inspect it together, and then record the agreements in a document. Otherwise, if a breakdown does occur, you may need the expertise of a professional to prove that you were not responsible for the malfunction.

Living in the apartment

Don’t forget to indicate in the contract those who will live in the apartment with you. And also let me know if you have . You should not lie about such things: with a high probability you will be caught in a lie, and the consequences will be very sad.

In what cases should you refuse to rent?

The most alarming signal is the refusal to provide ownership documents. There is a high probability that not everything is in order with the apartment.

An apartment whose owner is too worried about his property can also become problematic. Such owners may come to you too often to check the safety of their property, which, naturally, will cause you discomfort.
Arthur Ustimov, founder and general director of the housing rental management service “Arendatika”

It is worth paying attention to the behavior of the owner. Excessive nervousness is alarming, as is unreasonable haste when concluding a contract. If you are asked to sign documents as quickly as possible, and are not allowed to check the serviceability of household appliances and record defects, then this is another bell.

Take your time, carefully study the contract, ask questions and discuss problematic issues. Check everything that is necessary. It is important for you that it is comfortable to live in the apartment, and that all difficulties are kept to a minimum. The owner wants his living space to remain in proper condition, and also does not want to be a participant in regular construction. You evaluate each other - that's normal. And in this case, it is correct to allow enough time for the process of paperwork and inspection of the apartment.

How often do we hear stories when someone, trying to rent an apartment, finds an excellent description with colorful photographs, but upon arriving at the place, they discover shabby walls and a “killed” bathroom in a house located half an hour from the metro.

Many have friends or friends of friends who were simply scammed into renting: they showed the apartment, took a deposit and rent for the first and last month, even gave them the keys. However, upon returning to the apartment, it was discovered that the key no longer fit and the door was tightly closed. The owner with the money evaporates, and the tenant is left almost literally with nothing.

We often hear stories from TV screens about unscrupulous realtors who, promising to find an apartment, take an advance payment from the client, show him several options that absolutely do not correspond to the description and then declare that the terms of the contract have been fulfilled and continue to search for a suitable apartment, and even more so, return no one is collecting money.

No matter how much is said about standard schemes of deception and fraud, Russians continue to get into trouble with enviable consistency. AiF.ru is once again trying to help its readers with advice on how to avoid getting into trouble when renting an apartment. For help, we turned to experts from companies who have been conscientiously helping tenants and landlords find each other for years.

Treaty as a panacea

All experts noted the importance of the apartment rental agreement, which is often drawn up incorrectly, and in some cases it is even neglected, relying on the good faith of the owner of the living space.

“Drawing up a lease agreement is an important stage of the transaction. Without this document, all agreements will remain in words, and there is no protection against the tricks of unscrupulous partners. It is extremely important to draw up the rental agreement correctly, in which case the client will have a document that will allow him to defend his interests. In the rental market, this is a very important condition - in the network of unscrupulous partners there are people who decided to save money on this service and did not enter into an agreement (or entered into one with violations). A striking example: a person rents an apartment without checking whether the person who introduced himself as the owner of the apartment has the right to rent it out. For example, if children, wanting to take revenge on their parents, offer housing for rent, or these are people who have nothing to do with the apartment being rented,” I’m sure Svetlana Birina, head of the city real estate and rental department of the NDV-Real Estate company.

On the Internet you can find a large number of standard apartment rental agreements, which are often used by the tenant and the owner of the apartment when concluding a transaction. Experts advise checking such an agreement in any case. AiF.ru told readers about what must be reflected in the document Kirill Kokorin, legal consultant of the apartment rental department "INCOM-Real Estate":

“In order for the rental agreement signed by the parties to be recognized as valid, it must indicate the essential conditions:

1. The name of the residential premises being leased, its characteristics and exact address.

2. Accurate passport details of the tenant and the lessor.

3. Data from documents confirming the ownership rights of the lessor.

4. The amount of rent for an apartment, the procedure and terms of payment.

5. Duration of the rental agreement. If the rental period is not specified, the contract will be considered concluded for 5 years.

6. Data of citizens who will live with the employer.

7. Signatures of the parties to the rental agreement.

However, it is necessary to provide for other equally important conditions of this document, such as the procedure and grounds early termination agreement on the initiative or fault of any of the parties; rights and obligations of the parties; liability of the parties both for defects and for damage caused; penalties for the tenant and the lessor; procedure and grounds for settling damage caused to the owner’s property; payments and payment procedure for housing and communal services; guarantees of the parties; the procedure for notifying the parties, indicating the addresses for notification; possibility of keeping pets; responsibility and procedure for resolving damage caused to neighbors; prohibition or right for a tenant to rent out an apartment under a sublease agreement to third parties; procedure for resolving disputes and some others.”

Cheap means cheerful

Also when independent search Apartments for rent, experts advise paying attention to the rental price. In most cases, unjustified low price is fraught with some kind of catch.

“If you choose an apartment on your own, carefully study the price situation on the market. An attractively cheap offer is usually just a lure. When viewing the apartment and concluding the deal, relax, do not be nervous, focus as much as possible on the documents and the lease agreement, and carefully inspect the apartment for any defects. Do not react to the state of nervousness artificially created by many owners and unscrupulous agents, thanks to which the client will quickly inspect everything and give the money,” advises Managing Director of the MIEL-Arenda company Natalya Sivko.

“Obviously, housing that is rented out at low rates has certain disadvantages. For example, the poor quality of the property (old house, lack of renovation, furniture or household appliances) or poor location (far from a metro station, near a train station or market). Also, the cost reduction is facilitated by the condition of prepayment for a long period (six months, a year) or short term rental (housing is often rented out for the summer). You need to focus on average rates, the description of the property in the ad, try to find out the details in a telephone conversation and only then go for viewing,” confirms Galina Kiseleva, director of the apartment rental department at INCOM-Real Estate.

Keys in the morning, money in the evening

Experts advise not to pay realtors in advance, but to pay the apartment owner only after the apartment has been thoroughly inspected and all the disadvantages have been recorded on paper and signed by the owner.

“There are cases when a tenant looks at an apartment, pays a deposit to book the apartment, and sets a date for the transaction, but the landlord disappears or refuses to return the deposit, but does not go through with the deal. But by working with an agent, you can save yourself from such situations: the company takes on all the hassle. It is best to contact large agencies that have successfully proven themselves in the market and can offer a full range of services,” explains Svetlana Birina.

The safest thing, all experts say, is to work with a realtor. But even among them there are unscrupulous people.

“The main rule that a tenant working with a realtor needs to remember is not to pay money up front. Payment for a realtor’s services for a completed transaction always occurs after, and not before, the start of work, that is, when he has fulfilled his obligations to the client,” advises Natalya Sivko.

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