These apartments should not be bought: 5 highest-risk deals

The most dangerous apartments on the market aren't the ones with obviously messy paperwork - it's the opposite: fresh renovation, a full set of documents, and a price just below market. These are exactly the properties most often challenged in court after the deal. Here are five risk categories that can leave a buyer without the apartment and without their money.

5. An apartment inherited by will

If the seller received the apartment by will, the first thing to check is who wrote it and in whose favor. If the will names an heir who would have inherited anyway under the law (a spouse or a child, for example), that is worth a closer look - it often signals an attempt to hide the existence of other heirs. A will can't override the mandatory share rule: regardless of what it says, minor children, a disabled spouse, parents and dependents of the deceased are entitled to at least half of the share they would have received by law. If such people exist and weren't part of the deal, the inherited apartment can later be challenged in court.

4. A sale between relatives

Deals within a family are among the hardest to verify, because the money stated in the contract is often never actually transferred - relatives arrange a sale, for example, to lower the tax on a later resale. If the seller can't prove the money actually changed hands - a bank statement, a receipt, a safe-deposit box with a real depositary - such a deal can easily be ruled a sham. And if the previous owner's heirs later prove the money was never paid, the apartment can be recovered through court as part of the estate.

3. A will made shortly before death

A will drawn up days or weeks before the person's death is one of the most common grounds for a court dispute. If it can be shown that the person was on powerful medication, had suffered a stroke, or was in another serious condition at the time, the will can be challenged on grounds of incapacity or an inability to understand their own actions. A separate risk: heirs formally named in the will who never claimed their inheritance - for example, living abroad and missing the deadline for a valid reason - have legal grounds to have the deadline reinstated and challenge a sale that already took place.

2. A gifted apartment

Gifting is a convenient way to transfer property within a family, but it's also one of the most common ways to move an apartment out of reach of a possible claim - for example, ahead of the owner's bankruptcy or a property division. If a sale was preceded by a recent gift of the same apartment between relatives, that's a signal to examine the whole chain of owners, not just the last seller.

1. An apartment bought using maternity capital

This is one of the hardest risks to verify. By law, when maternity capital is used, children must be allocated a share in the apartment. If the shares weren't allocated and the apartment was later sold, the child can challenge the deal once they turn 18 - and the statute of limitations often starts not from the date of the deal, but from the moment the heir learned their rights were violated. That means the risk can materialize 10 or even 20 years after the purchase. Verifying past use of maternity capital is nearly impossible without the full title history and the underlying documents from Rosreestr.

How to reduce the risk when buying

• Request a full USRR extract with the title history, not just information about the current owner.
• If the seller inherited the apartment, ask to see the will itself and a notary's certificate listing the heirs.
• Check whether maternity capital was used to buy the apartment and, if so, whether the children's shares were allocated.
• If there was a recent gift between relatives, check the ownership history before it.
• For a deal between relatives, ask for proof that the money actually changed hands.

Not sure about the apartment you picked

Send us the address and documents by phone - we will check the property's history and tell you which risks apply before you pay a deposit.

8 909 440-80-80

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