Is it possible to rent a share in an apartment for life?

What is a life annuity agreement?

Within the framework of Article 583 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, rent is a paid agreement, on the basis of which one party, the owner of the apartment, transfers the property to the second party with the transfer of ownership.

At the same time, the payment for property is not a one-time payment, but monthly transfers in the form of additional income or the provision of household services for the maintenance of an elderly person.

Recipients of rent can be:

• owner of the apartment in full or only part of it;
• spouses - an elderly couple;
• a third person, for example, an elderly grandmother.

Thus, on the basis of a rent agreement, the owner of an apartment can transfer it to another person, subject to lifelong or permanent maintenance personally for him or his relatives.

Rent payers can be:

• private individuals: neighbors, acquaintances;
• legal companies.

Important! A legal entity has the right to enter into a lifelong annuity agreement with a citizen only if this type of activity is specified in the statutory documents.

What it is?

Differences in Concepts

There are three types of annuity - permanent, life annuity and dependent annuity. With a permanent annuity contract, payments are made without an expiration date. The parties to such an agreement can be both people and organizations.

Permanent rent, according to the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, can be paid in money, or in goods and services without cash payments. In this case, the payer can buy back the annuity by paying the entire required amount.

A life annuity agreement is concluded between individuals . The payer receives property under the contract, but must pay rent to its owner until the end of his (the owner’s) life. An annuity with maintenance or dependency is almost no different from a life annuity. The only thing is that the payer usually enters into an agreement with elderly people who will need to be helped financially and socially for the rest of their lives. According to the agreement, the lessor can support the owner or maintain and care for him.

Lifetime maintenance is the agreement itself between the disabled owner and the payer. If the agreement is dependent, this means that providing the owner of the home with everything necessary falls on the shoulders of the renter.

We consider the differences in more detail, as well as the pros and cons of a life annuity with and without maintenance, in a separate material.

Legal aspects

All features of an annuity agreement with contents are described in Articles 602–605 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. If the contract was concluded and not terminated, the property after the death of the dependent passes into the possession of the person who cared for him. The agreement is drawn up with a notary. The lawyer usually takes a commission from the value of the property - 0.5%.

Legal features of an annuity with lifelong maintenance:

• The contract must be notarized.
• The lessor receives only the property that belongs to the rentee.
• The rent payer not only helps the owner of the property financially, but also takes care of him - buys medicine and food, helps with cleaning, etc.
• The landlord cannot evict the owner at will - only mutually.
• Financial assistance is paid by the renter at least every month.
• The agreement can be terminated only at the initiative of the rentee.

Types of annuity agreement

The law provides for a permanent and lifelong annuity agreement, which has some distinctive features:

Subsection 4 of Chapter 33 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation provides for a third option, namely lifelong annuity with dependents, which implies the same transfer of the apartment to another person. However, in addition to monthly payments, the annuity payer also guarantees the provision of a number of services that an elderly person may need.

So, on the basis of Article 602 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the annuity payer can additionally provide the pensioner with clothing, food, and medicines . He can also provide him with alternative housing or provide burial after his death. In some cases, the life annuity agreement with dependency includes the services of hiring a nurse, the number of visits per week or month, as well as delivery to a medical facility.

Responsibilities of the renter

The list of the main responsibilities of the payer is determined by the provisions of Chapter 33 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, however, this list is not exhaustive and can be changed to increase the responsibilities of the annuity payer by agreement of the parties.

Civil law establishes that the payer is obliged not only to pay the recipient sums of money in the established amount without delay, but also to ensure a decent standard of living for him by purchasing clothes, food, and other material objects that are necessary.

The payer also pays for the services necessary for the recipient, for example, medical, transport, and residential repair services. Taking measures for mandatory state registration of the right to use the premises by the recipient at his request is the responsibility of the payer. The lessor cannot limit the recipient's use of the premises if such use is provided for in the agreement.

A lifelong maintenance agreement with dependents involves providing for the annuitant during his life, but it is also possible to discuss the receipt of funeral services in the agreement.

Terms of a life annuity agreement

The subject of the rent agreement is real estate on the basis of a paid transaction. In such a situation, when transferring ownership rights, certain requirements are imposed on the contract. Thus, by virtue of Article 584 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, a document must be notarized. Moreover, if under the terms of the agreement the apartment is subject to alienation, the agreement must undergo state registration with Rosreestr.

Certain requirements for the parties to the contract are also established by law. In particular, if the recipient of the rent is an incapacitated citizen, and the apartment belongs to him, in pursuance of Article 37 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the transaction must be agreed upon with the guardianship and guardianship authorities.

Also, the lifelong rent agreement for an apartment must include the following mandatory conditions:

• duration of the agreement;
• the amount of rental payments;
• list of services and frequency of their provision;
• payment terms;
• the right to reside in the alienated property or the provision of other residential premises;
• procedure for termination of the contract.

Important! When transferring a share of an apartment under a life annuity agreement with a dependent, the rules of Article 250 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation on the right of first refusal do not apply due to the fact that the will to conclude an agreement is of an individual and personal nature in accordance with clause 1.2 of Resolution of the Plenum of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation No. 4.

Correct design

It is worth noting right away that only a competent drafting of the agreement is a guarantor for both one party to the transaction and the other. It also makes it possible to further challenge it in court.

To avoid conflict situations, all participants must retain payment documents until the end of the agreement period.

The following points must be included in the content of the agreement:

• personal data of the parties (full name, identification document details, account number, etc.);
• paid or gratuitous transaction (whether payments are made or care for an elderly relative is provided);
• complete information about the subject of the agreement (all exact characteristics relating to the property specified in the registration certificate or extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate);
• full calculation and conditions for calculating rent;
• rights and obligations of the parties;
• indication of title documentation (certificate or extract);
• the entire list of persons entitled to reside in residential premises;
• presence/absence of encumbrances, restrictions on the use of real estate;
• liability for damage;
• indicate that the transfer of ownership of the apartment between relatives will be carried out immediately after the last payment (or death of the recipient).

This agreement must be accompanied by a transfer deed signed by all parties to the transaction.

You can view a sample agreement or download the Lifetime Annuity Agreement. Sample (47.0 KiB, 1,162 hits)

Transfer deed to the annuity agreement. Sample (12.9 KiB, 377 hits)

If there are several owners, it is necessary to obtain their consent to the transaction, certified by a notary.

Transaction cost

A mandatory payment is the state fee when registering an agreement with the registration authority (Rossreestr). You will also need to pay for notary services. Prices for such services directly depend on the region where the contract is concluded.

Pros and cons of a life annuity agreement

At first glance, the parties to a life annuity agreement enter into a mutually beneficial deal, but the document has not only advantages, but also disadvantages.

So the undoubted advantages are:

• the opportunity to live in your own apartment until the last days of life;
• receive not only additional income, but also a number of services in the form of supervision and assistance;
• The contract can be terminated in court in case of any significant violations with the return of the apartment to the owner.

The rent payer receives:

• the prospect of purchasing your own home at a lower cost than when concluding a purchase and sale agreement;
• at the request of the annuity recipient, ownership can be registered immediately;
• under the terms of the rental agreement, the pensioner can be provided with other housing.

However, against the backdrop of rosy prospects for both sides, there are also certain risks. Thus, a pensioner, due to inexperience and due to his advanced age, may encounter scammers who, after drawing up an agreement, will fulfill the conditions nominally. And for the rent payer, the negative aspects are:

• the inability to re-register the apartment and use it until the transfer of the rent recipient to another world;
• challenging the validity of the contract by potential heirs for the apartment;
• appeal to the court by the annuity recipient due to failure to fulfill even his minor instructions to cancel the contract;
• an indefinite period for the transfer of payments and the provision of services, which in total may cost more than housing;
• impossibility of purchasing the apartment before the death of the rent recipient;
• mandatory consent of the pensioner for the disposal of the apartment, in particular occupancy.

Important! Under Article 597 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the monthly rent cannot be less than the subsistence level established in the region. At the same time, in view of annual inflation and revision of the minimum, the contract must be adjusted.

We conclude a life annuity agreement

Drawing up a life annuity agreement involves a fairly multi-step combination. After all, at the initial stage you have to not only find an elderly citizen, but also make sure of his readiness not only to transfer his property, but also to communicate with him for at least several years and treat him as a relative.

The next step will be collecting a package of documents, which should include:

• identification of the parties;
• title documents for the apartment;
• consent of the spouse if the housing was purchased during marriage;
• permission from the guardianship authorities if the annuitant is declared incompetent;
• an extract from the house register about persons registered in the residential premises.

The next step will be to draw up an annuity agreement including essential and additional conditions. Then the document must be notarized and registered with Rosreestr. A sample life annuity agreement can be found on the website https://pravo812.ru/dokumenty-blanki-zayavleniya/1384-obraztsy-dokumentov-i-gotovye-blanki-dlya-skachivaniya.html.