home Migration How to act correctly to safely rent out an apartment? Dangerous rental. How to rent an apartment without the risk of being deceived How to rent an apartment without being deceived

How to act correctly to safely rent out an apartment? Dangerous rental. How to rent an apartment without the risk of being deceived How to rent an apartment without being deceived

Realtors talk about the most common types of fraud in the rental housing market, and also give advice on how to avoid falling for scammers.

Transactions in the rental market often happen quickly. For example, a marketable apartment at an attractive price can be rented within half an hour. Market activity and the opportunity to quickly get money heat up the excitement of scammers who are finding more and more sophisticated ways to deceive respectable citizens. In such conditions, both property owners and tenants need to be as vigilant and informed as possible, realtors remind.

Tempting offers

When searching for an apartment on their own, both tenants and owners often encounter “hooks” advertisements. The text either indicates never-before-seen low prices absolutely ideal tenants are applying for attractive properties or apartments, real estate agents say.

Most of these advertisements are of the same type and are compiled either by private agents or small companies that are trying to somehow attract attention to themselves. The indicated rental rates are usually significantly lower than market rates - by 50-70%. “After the client calls the specified phone number, he is informed that such an attractive offer is no longer available, but there is another one “with mother-of-pearl buttons” and at a market price. It is necessary to navigate the situation with current rental rates,” says the managing director of the company.” Miel-Arenda" Natalya Sivko.

According to the company, now the cheapest one-room apartment in Moscow can be rented for 23 thousand rubles. There are actually existing inexpensive offers, but they have a catch, and you need to be extremely careful, realtors warn. In Moscow there are offers of apartments for 20 thousand rubles per month. However, one of them is for sale, so the new owners can evict the tenant at any time. The other one can be rented only for 2 months. Or, for example, an apartment located within walking distance from Kyiv metro station can be rented for 22 thousand rubles, but with an advance payment of 12 months. In any case, offers below this price should be trusted only if good, reliable friends or relatives are renting out housing to you, notes Natalia Sivko.

Such advertisements can be called harmless tricks that only take up the client’s time and nerves. More dangerous looking frauds are schemes where a person is defrauded of money for “air”.

"News Agencies"

“Information agencies” include SMS scammers, as well as companies that provide them with false information. The first case includes scammers using a standard SMS fraud scheme. Persons who have posted advertisements on the Internet receive messages in which the scammers ask them to send a response SMS, in order to then send a database of contacts of owners or tenants who match the request on the site. Gullible citizens end up receiving nothing, and a certain amount of money is debited from their account.

The second scheme is more dangerous. Companies offer clients, for a fee, a list of contacts of owners who rent out apartments at an attractive price. The cost of the rate is indicated slightly below the market rate - by 10-15%, so as not to arouse suspicion. The client pays money (about 5 thousand rubles) and receives a list with addresses and telephone numbers of apartments. To be more convincing, they call supposedly one of the apartments from the list and agree on a showing. An unsuspecting client goes to a meeting, and no one is waiting for him there. The realtor doesn't answer calls. Calling the remaining apartments, the client understands that there are no apartments for rent in the list provided, or there are apartments, but at a completely different price. The company’s office does not accept claims, since the agency provided the “information service” in full and received remuneration for it.

"Black brokers"

You can also encounter scammers using the services of private agents. Realtors recommend using the services of private realtors only if they are advised by friends or acquaintances who have repeatedly transacted with them. Otherwise, it is difficult to trust a private realtor, since his work does not imply responsibility and financial guarantees. In addition, a private realtor will only select an apartment for you and help you conclude an agreement, however, he does not care about your further residence. If any problems arise with the owner/tenant, they will have to be resolved alone. And when concluding an agreement with a real estate agency during the period of validity of the rental agreement, you can count on the company’s assistance in resolving any conflict situations, notes Miel-Arenda.

Fake documents

The main difficulty, according to the real estate agency, that a citizen who decides to independently rent/rent an apartment may encounter is the inability to competently study Required documents, as well as understand the clauses of the contract.

Renting an apartment using fake documents is the most common type of fraud in the rental housing market. Let us remind you that when concluding an agreement, the owner is required to present a passport and original documents for the apartment. A common trick of scammers is that the tenant is shown copies of documents, rushed and distracted while studying the documents. It is difficult to make sure that this is the real owner and that the documents for the apartment are not fake. The agent may be in collusion with the owner; the apartment is rented through dummies using forged documents, which the agent allegedly “checks.” Then the owner declares the transaction invalid, and the tenant is left without money and an apartment. In addition, in the event of fraud, housing can be subleased several times. Who will live here after this may not be decided using the most civilized methods, realtors note.

Adviсe

The basic rule that an owner or tenant needs to remember is not to pay money in advance. 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.

Monitor the price situation on the market. An attractively cheap offer is usually just a lure.

Choose your realtor or agency carefully.

During viewing of the apartment and conclusion, carefully check the documents and the lease agreement, inspect the apartment for any defects. If they show you copies, laminated property rights, explaining this with any intricacies, do not listen and do not agree.

Be sure to sign a lease agreement. Even a simple written form has legal force, implies liability and protects the rights and responsibilities of both parties.

If you have free living space at your disposal, then the most reasonable solution for using it would be to rent it out to other people.

This and additional source income to the owner and a way to cover monthly utility bills for housing.

According to the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the legal right to rent out an apartment has, first of all,.

This right can be granted to any individual or legal entity authorized by the owner to enter into a rental agreement with people renting housing. This means that only those persons in whose name the owner of the apartment has drawn up the corresponding power of attorney certified by a notary.

No family relationship, even the closest, is a legal basis for disposing of property that is not one’s own.

In the same case, when the apartment is owned by several owners, and one of them wants to rent it out, he will have to take care of a notarized power of attorney from all co-owners of the apartment or their personal presence at the conclusion and signature of this document.

Preparing residential premises for delivery

The first question that most often worries a landlord is preparing the premises for rent.

This is necessary not only from the point of view of the cleanliness of the lessor who wants to produce good impression for tenants.

The main benefits of preparatory activities:

increase in rental cost of a rental apartment approx. by 15-50%;
reduction in the search time for a tenant by approximately up to 1-2 weeks.

There are even cleaning companies that offer services to properly prepare residential premises for rental. They are developing entire complexes of similar events.

However, after reading the list of actions below, you can be convinced that this can be done by one person without special training.

putting documents for the apartment in order and paying off all utility debts;
preparation of the hallway (redecoration);
preparation of living rooms: updating wallpaper, ceiling, floor covering (if repair work has not been carried out for a long time);
testing and repair of plumbing (if necessary);
general cleaning of the apartment;
transportation of personal, valuable or memorable items, documents from the apartment;
furniture, equipment with household appliances (TV, refrigerator and washing machine);
washing of household appliances;
preparation of elevators and front doors;
removal of odors and subsequent aroma design;
interior design (fragmentary).

It happens that the entire range of measures cannot be completed for some reason (furnishing, equipping with household appliances). But the points relating to the legality, cleanliness and attractiveness of the apartment during its first inspection must be carried out.

Drawing up an inventory of property in the apartment

In order for the landlord to protect himself in the event of intentional or accidental damage by the tenant to furniture, household appliances and other things left in the apartment, it is necessary to draw up a sample inventory of apartment property, which must be attached to the residential lease agreement.

It can be documented directly in the text of the agreement or in an annex to the agreement.

The inventory of property should be as complete as possible, that is, it should reflect not only the number of all things left to the tenant for use, but also all item characteristics: appearance, year, model, degree of performance, defects, scratches, wear, if any.

A well-drawn inventory, attached to the same agreement, will guarantee the safety of the property and make it possible to assess its condition after the tenants move out.

Search for a tenant

After preparing the property for rent and drawing up an inventory, the stage of finding a tenant begins. If you do this yourself, you need to advertise on special sites on the Internet, as well as press announcements.

You can also ask for help at any real estate agency(free of charge or for some payment).

At the moment when you have already found a suitable tenant who is ready to cooperate with you, you should verbally discuss all the most important aspects with him in order to come to an agreement. Only in this case can you move on to the next stage - paperwork.

Drawing up an agreement with the tenant

If your tenant is an individual, then you need to enter into an agreement with him apartment rental agreement (residential premises). If the apartment is transferred to a legal entity, then the document will be classified as lease contract.

When composing the text of the document, you can use the template of a standard agreement, which spells out all the responsibilities of both parties, and also add those clauses that the lessor deems appropriate.

TO main responsibilities The tenant may include the following:

current repair of all defects, breakdowns that appeared during the period of use of the apartment or compensation for losses at your own expense;
ensuring the safety of the apartment;
independent replacement of furniture and household appliances as they wear out;
payment on the agreed date of the month.

Additionally The tenant's responsibilities can include, for example:

maintaining living quarters in appropriate condition;
self-payment of utilities;
carrying out routine repairs of all defects and breakdowns that appeared during the period of use of the housing.

Other conditions must also be reflected:

When drawing up an agreement, you should always remember that if the document is incorrectly drawn up, not only the lessor’s money and property, but also the apartment itself will be at risk.

Inspections of the apartment after handing it over to the tenant

Competent owners know that even behind the mask of decent people, skilled scammers can hide, so there is a practice tenant control checks.

It is thanks to such unexpected visits of an inspection person that it is possible to identify in a timely manner the dishonesty or fraudulent intentions of employers. Of course, to do this unexpectedly, This clause should be written down in the contract.

If he is not registered, then the owner must arrange his arrival in advance so as not to cause inconvenience to the tenant. The check is carried out usually once a month or less.

There is another way to keep an eye on the apartment behind the scenes - asking your neighbors to keep an eye on the tenants.

Temporary registration of tenants

Citizens who came from other cities for a period more than 90 days, according to the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, must go through the registration procedure. If they do not have a living space where they can, it is possible at their location.

If the tenant of the apartment has not registered with specified period residence, then government authorities impose fine for both the owner of the living space and the tenant.

The period of temporary registration is not limited by law, and it is canceled automatically upon the deadline specified during registration.

At the same time, in order to protect yourself as much as possible from unscrupulous tenants, it is recommended to set a registration period not more than for 6 months. After the expiration of the period, if an extension is necessary, this procedure will need to be repeated.

Landlord income tax

Renting out an apartment falls under Art. 23 Tax Code of the Russian Federation, where it is stated that any individual who receives any income must pay the appropriate tax.

Periodic rental of any housing with constant receipt rent is equivalent to entrepreneurial activity.

The tax rate that the owner is required to pay is 13-30% and depends on the taxpayer status:

Anyone who wants to reduce their tax rate needs to register an individual entrepreneur. Then the contributions to the tax office will be only 6% of income.

In case of non-payment of taxes for renting out an apartment, the owner will have problems with the law:

Those who risk renting out an apartment illegally, without paying income tax, should remember that in addition to collecting the entire hidden amount, an additional penalty may be imposed on the illegal tenant. a fine of 20-40% of the non-payment amount.
If the amount of non-payment of taxes exceeds 600 thousand rubles, the owner of the property may also be brought to criminal liability under Art. 198 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The maximum penalty limit is in this case May be imprisonment for up to 1 year.

Early termination of the lease agreement

Mandatory condition of the lease - the contract must be drawn up for a certain period.

However, depending on the situation, the rental agreement can be terminated early. The conditions for this are usually prescribed in advance in the contract itself. Otherwise, you should act based on the letter of the law - the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.

The tenant (individual) may unilaterally terminate the contractual relationship without specifying the circumstances. The main condition is that you must communicate your decision give the landlord at least three months' notice.

The lessor himself has the right to terminate the agreement only if the tenant fails to comply with the terms of the agreement:

failure to pay rent;
improper use of the apartment;
worsening of her condition.

Video: How to successfully rent out your apartment?

In the story, a professional realtor gives advice on what you need to pay attention to when preparing an apartment for renting, how to select decent tenants, how to legally draw up a rental agreement for residential premises, and an inventory of the property transferred with the apartment.

Experts have calculated: 57% of citizens who independently search the housing rental market sooner or later encounter scammers or scammers. Moreover, both apartment renters and landlords are deceived. Over time, some methods of deception stop working, but scammers tirelessly invent new ones. Thus, stories about re-letting already rented apartments and selling old advertisements from the Internet are outdated. Today, electronic theft with the use of well-known brands of real estate agencies by scammers, illegal subletting with forgery of documents and the sale of a rented apartment are in the forefront.

Ways to withdraw money

But the first place is still held by the banal “kid” - the ability to “disappear in time.” “Among the types of fraud on the part of tenants, the most popular is non-payment, when a tenant moves out without warning before the deadline, without paying the landlord, without paying bills, for telephone calls, for the Internet,” says Deputy Director of the Apartment Rental Department of a large real estate agency Oksana Polyakova. “It happens that tenants take with them something from the owner’s property.”

Both professional scammers and amateurs know how to “get away in time.” But only professionals dare to commit more serious scams related to forgery of documents. In such cases, a fake stamp is placed in the passport with registration at the desired address, and copies (and sometimes originals) of property documents are forged. Fortunately, the technical level of such counterfeits is usually not very high, so tenants should ignore any copies and demand only the original passport and title documents for the apartment. And carefully consider these documents.

Among the “tricks” of landlords, deliberate early eviction of a tenant is popular. This can be done by presenting fictitious claims - in order to terminate the contract without returning the deposit amount. Or by changing the rental period. First, the tenant is told that the property is being rented out for a long term (long-term rates are 20 percent higher). But “suddenly”, after three months, the owner has insurmountable circumstances in which it is necessary to vacate the apartment... It even happens that the apartment is sold without terminating the lease: the tenants went on vacation, and returned to the doors with new locks and owners. The owner of the apartment does not intend to return the money.

Data fraud is on the rise bank cards and names of reputable real estate agencies. Depending on the scope of their activities, fake realtors may even open fake offices and present fake documents. Next, the scammers, posing as agency employees, offer a lucrative deal, but ask the tenant to transfer the prepayment to the account or card specified by him in order to “rewrite the number” for “immediate transfer of the deposit” to the landlord’s account. Further, depending on the computer literacy of the “realtors”: either personal data, the number, and the cvv code are copied using technical devices, or simply rewritten.

Features of national rental

The rental market has changed - a share of 9-11% is firmly occupied by offers worth up to 20 thousand rubles. per month. At this price, rooms are most often rented out in the Moscow region. In addition, people have become less likely to turn to professionals. The reason for both was the fall in household incomes.

“If in pre-crisis times, owners, as a rule, rented out rooms in empty apartments, today some are forced to allocate living space where they themselves live,” explains Oksana Polyakova. — Adapting to new conditions is difficult not only financially, but also psychologically: many are resorting to such measures for the first time and for them it is more comfortable to look for tenants “through acquaintances” - most landlords of rooms first try to find tenants-neighbors in this way. However, then they still turn to specialists. For various reasons - for example, practice shows that most often problems with discipline and timely payment of rental rates arise when relatives, friends or acquaintances become tenants.”

According to real estate experts, in 2016, less than half (37%) of the surveyed tenants came to agencies. 63% looked for options and concluded deals without the help of lawyers and realtors. 50% of these independent tenants searched for apartments on sites on the Internet, 25% placed requests on specialized resources, 15% counted on the help of friends, 10% simply bought information from agencies. A third of landlords also used their own methods of finding tenants. Of these, 25% of owners posted advertisements on the Internet, 3% posted them on poles and entrance doors, 35% relied on random intermediaries, and 37% relied on acquaintances and word of mouth.

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 hire.

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 terms; 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 the rented apartment as if it were his own, and not 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.

Since I was already living in a rented apartment and just wanted to find a better option, I had a lot of time to understand the common tricks and tricks of apartment letting agents. And there were not so few of them. Fake photographs, non-existent apartments and more serious money scams.

I was convinced of some of them myself, and I know about others from the words of people who were less fortunate and who gave their money to scammers.

Fake photos

This is the first scam I've encountered. Not believing the too cool photos of inexpensive apartments, I decided to check them out in Google image search. And I was not mistaken.

Excellent apartment in the center of Kharkov

Turns out to be an apartment in the center of Barcelona

Most often, such apartments do not even require verification using Google. The price-quality ratio in them initially looks implausible.

The meaning of divorce. You call based on this ad, and either the apartment is already rented and they offer you another option, or they ask for a small amount of money to view the apartment in advance. Needless to say, you should immediately send these people to Barcelona, to their own apartment?

Non-existent apartments

I had the most trouble with this trick. Notice boards are full of fairly high-quality apartments, but after calling the indicated number, it turns out that the apartment has already been rented out. For a long time I could not understand what the essence of such deception was, until I accidentally went to the profile of one of the “owners” of the apartment.

Too many apartments for one owner

The meaning of divorce. After you are told that the apartment has already been rented, two outcomes may follow: you are immediately offered another apartment, or your number is included in the database, and they call you the next day from another number to offer agency services.

Prepayment for viewing apartments

Never, remember, never give money for viewing apartments or for services before you have met the owner of the apartment and made a deal.

On the appointed day you can for free come and see the apartment. The same applies to agency services. What is the point of paying an agent for his services if you have not yet concluded a contract with the owner of the apartment?

The meaning of divorce. Scammers work on the principle of “little but often.” They ask for a small amount of money up front and then disappear with it.

Renting an apartment

A friend of mine who rents out an apartment for daily rent encountered this problem. Having rented the apartment to a young guy for one day and coming to get the key the next day, she found in the apartment an elderly couple who had moved from another city.

According to the elderly people, it turned out that they found an apartment for long-term residence on the website a few days before and contacted the specified number. They were offered to view the apartment in one day and move in immediately. When they arrived, the young man showed them the apartment, took the money for the first and last month, gave them the keys and disappeared. Perhaps the most unpleasant divorce of all.

The meaning of divorce obvious.

Agency contract

The last mistake that can be made when renting an apartment is concluding a contract not with the owners of the apartment. The agency you come to may not be real, which is what a lot of people have encountered. Having concluded a contract with an agency and received (or not received) a key, you end up with an amount of money that is equal to two months of rent, and the office where the agency was located is no longer open the next day.

The meaning of divorce. Rent an office for a couple of days, get money from several people and disappear.

Conclusion

Here are some tips to help you avoid getting into an unpleasant situation:

Check the property thoroughly before calling the owner or agent. Don't forget about Google Images and your intuition. If you see that the apartment is too good for the money, most likely it's a scam. But you can call and see for yourself.
Don't give any money before meeting the apartment owners. Paid viewing, advance payment to the agent and prepayment - all these are just banal ways to scam you out of money.
Enter into a contract only with the owner of the apartment. He must have a residence permit in his passport and proof of ownership.
Search Google for “landlord blacklist.” You will be shown a whole selection of sites with a list of unscrupulous landlords.

That's all. I hope you don't fall into the clutches of deceivers. And if you’ve already been there, tell us about your experience.