Do not buy or sell: persons with dual citizenship are prohibited from real estate transactions

Irina Mishina

A new clause has appeared in contracts for the sale of real estate, which prohibits the sale or purchase of housing by those who have the citizenship of unfriendly states or those who conduct business in these states, and also have a residence permit or registration. This item, which appeared in the documents, drew the attention of realtors and is actively discussing it.

So, there is a point. How to carry it out and how to control the truth of the information contained in it is still a question.

“The presence of a second citizenship is quite difficult to verify, it is of a declarative nature, that is, the object of the transaction may not disclose it. How to check all this, while there is no exact mechanism. While we are making changes to the sale and purchase agreements, we are checking for bankruptcy, there have been a lot of announcements about which lately”, - Marina Shchitova, real estate specialist, said to Novye Izvestia.

Real estate market players have so far stated that there have been no clear instructions for the implementation of this decree. The real estate market generally froze after changes in mortgage rates in anticipation of lower housing prices.

“Price reduction will inevitably come after some time, because now the cost of secondary housing has skyrocketed to unrealistic figures, and no one seems to have that kind of money. Let's say the seller puts an apartment on the market for 40 million rubles, but it is not for sale. After that, the price goes down. I think it will soon become a trend. As a result of the new rules in connection with the citizenship of unfriendly states, 80% of real estate transactions have been suspended in our country. No one knows how to check this second citizenship, because it is of a declarative nature. I do not rule out that changes will be required in the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. So far, it is not clear what will happen, for example, to students who study abroad, how they will enter into inheritance rights, because they have registration abroad. What to do with journalists, diplomats who work abroad. This also includes women who married foreigners, but who own real estate in Russia. So far, the relevant certificates will most likely have to be obtained from the FSB, where checks will be carried out on each such transaction”, - Yulia Bituse, head of the Mayak Real Estate Agency, said to Novye Izvestia.

At the same time, experts state that many questions arise with foreigners and foreign companies. As you know, they are now unable to sell their assets in Russia, including selling real estate. Notaries were forbidden to draw up relevant transactions. At the same time, according to experts, this will not greatly affect the market: the share of foreign owners, especially from the European Union, is negligible, as is the demand from these citizens.

Most of the questions today are from Russians who have gone abroad and will now try to sell real estate in Russia.

“People who are now leaving Russia, I don’t think they are leaving it forever. What I see is a temporary relocation. The main flow of wealthy people goes to the UAE, while the rest of the clients with a smaller budget go to Armenia, Uzbekistan, someone goes to Turkey. But this is all a temporary relocation, and these countries are friendly to us, so in no way will this prevent people from living or buying property. Russian citizens who have obtained foreign citizenship, for example, in Cyprus and received a European passport, if they renounce Russian citizenship, yes, then these former citizens of ours and our clients currently do not have the opportunity to sell real estate in Russia”, - explains Ekaterina Rumyantseva, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Kalinka Group.

Our reference.

Last week, the government approved a list of countries unfriendly to Russia, which included about 50 states. These are the USA, Ukraine, EU member countries, some European countries: Albania, Andorra, Great Britain, Monaco, as well as Japan, Canada, New Zealand, South Korea. To creditors from these countries, Russian business and the state, by presidential decree, can pay their debts in rubles at the Central Bank exchange rate on the day of payment.