Remote real estate transactions with notaries

In Russia, demand for real estate transactions in a remote format when contacting a notary has increased. This is reported by the press service of the Federal Notary Chamber of Russia.

According to the FNC, during the first half of 2024, the number of such transactions increased by 90% compared to the same period last year. Transactions involving the alienation of land plots, plots with capital structures and non-residential premises have become particularly relevant. The growth in the number of such transactions increased more than twofold.

«Remote transactions" of the notary system became most in demand in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Krasnodar Territory, the Republic of Crimea and Moscow Region.

The number of regular transactions, when all parties gather at the notary's office, also increased. However, growth in this area turned out to be much more moderate than with the possibility of certifying a transaction "remotely" — only 10%. The popularity of "standard" transactions among sellers and buyers of country real estate has grown. Most of such registrations occurred in Moscow, Leningrad and Rostov regions.

As the FNC press service reports: "The growth in the number of appeals to notary offices for certification of various real estate transactions, as at all times, is explained by people's desire to protect themselves from legal and financial risks that operations with expensive property may entail."

Protection against fraud

The Federal Notary Chamber also provided several examples when notaries were able to protect their clients from losing large sums of money. In particular, this concerned situations when sellers want to sell housing that was purchased using maternity capital funds without taking into account the interests of minors. Such transactions are highly likely to be cancelled. Among other potential problems when buying real estate, the FNC named fake powers of attorney and powers of attorney issued by deceased people. Moreover, particularly "advanced" fraudsters in some cases use the details of real powers of attorney, forging only their content. Such deception may not be noticed, for example, in MFC.

If it is difficult for transaction participants to visit a notary in a specific locality, but the transaction needs to be completed, the FNC recommends using not powers of attorney, but a remote notarial format.

"Representatives of the parties should each contact a notary convenient for them. The main condition is that one of them must work in the region where the transaction object itself is located. After the notaries conduct preliminary preparation of documents, they will assign the transaction parties the same visit time to the notary offices chosen by the applicants. At the appointed hour, the notaries will establish video communication between themselves through secure channels, determine the real will of the parties and its compliance with the expression of will, awareness and voluntariness of the decision, read the contract text to the participants, and explain its legal consequences.

After this, each transaction participant signs on the notary's special tablet, and then the contract is certified with enhanced qualified electronic signatures of all notaries participating in the transaction. The signed document is stored in a separate register of the Unified Information System of the Notary. Also, the notary working with the buyer sends documents to Rosreestr for registration of the transfer of ownership rights," — noted at the Federal Notary Chamber.