Lawyers have named a way to protect themselves from the "granny scheme" with the apartment

To avoid losses when buying real estate with the risks of fraud under the "granny flats" scheme, lawyers offer two ways of insurance, the principles of which are also described in the novel "12 chairs". This was announced on November 29 by Oleg Silkin, a real estate lawyer.

"As they say in the novel "12 chairs" — money in the morning, chairs in the evening, you can do the opposite, but the money is in advance," he said in an interview with RBC.

Silkin called the mechanism whereby the apartment is returned only after the money is refunded "fair." He explained that when canceling a deal, the parties must return everything that was received under the deal — this is called bilateral restitution.

In addition, Silkin noted that it is possible to insure yourself at the stage of concluding a deal. If the purchase and sale agreement states that the seller is not under the influence of fraudsters, this will be an additional guarantee for the buyer.

Lawyers also advise sellers to record in the contract that the apartment was not promised as a gift or donated, which will help in case of disputes and ensure the protection of the buyer's rights.

The second way to protect against fraud in real estate transactions concerns those who have already faced an attempted fraud and whose apartments are being taken back. As lawyer Igor Semenovsky explained, in such cases, fraudsters often use a scheme in which "the ends go into the water" and the money is not paid back.

Semenovsky noted that according to the Civil Code (paragraph 2 of Article 167 of the Civil Code), if the transaction is invalid, each of the parties is obliged to return what was received under the transaction. If the winning party in court demands the return of the apartment, it applies to the Federal Bailiff Service (FSSP), which, with the court's decision in hand, sends the Federal Register with a request to make an entry on the return of the apartment to the original owner.

Residential block: the number of bans on real estate transactions has increased in Russia

How can I secure the purchase and sale of housing

Lawyer Alexander Benkhin warned on November 25 that pensioners who engage in fraud will face lawsuits due to their schemes with the sale of real estate. According to the lawyer, in case of fraudulent schemes of pensioners, criminal cases should be initiated under Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Fraud on an especially large scale").

On November 22, the press service of the Fair Russia faction reported that a legislative initiative was being prepared in Russia to combat fraudulent schemes for the sale of apartments, known as the "grandmother's scheme." The bill is intended to solve the problem of fraud in the sale of real estate and subsequent contesting transactions, when elderly people sell apartments under pressure and then demand the return of housing through the courts without compensation to buyers.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.