Checking the documents before the deposit: what to look at

A deposit is the first step after which the money is no longer in your hands. You can get it back, but through a receipt, negotiation or a court, and that takes weeks. So the checking is done before the deposit, not after. Below is what we go through ourselves on every property, and where the problem turns up most often.

As at October 2026 our database holds 6,266 apartments for sale, and it is worth checking the documents on every one we take to a viewing. Over that time a list has settled that does not change from property to property.

Who is selling, and are they entitled to

The first question is not about the apartment but about the person opposite you. The owner on the document and the person conducting the negotiation are not always the same. It may be a relative without a power of attorney, one of two co owners, or an heir who has not yet registered title.

We look at an extract from the State Register of Property Rights, not only the paper we were shown. The extract must be fresh, ordered this week, because it shows the position on the date of the request. Where there are several owners, each must consent, and a spouse must consent if the apartment was bought during the marriage. If a representative is selling, the power of attorney must be notarised, in force, and specifically for a sale rather than for management.

A separate case is an apartment inherited less than three years ago. It can be sold, but it carries a higher risk that another heir will appear. Here we examine the probate file, not just the certificate.

Encumbrances, seizures and debts

The second thing it is worth checking is whether the apartment is free of other peopleʼs rights. The register shows mortgages, seizures, bans on disposal and tax liens. An apartment under a mortgage can be sold, but only with the bankʼs consent, and that is a separate timetable you want to know about before the deposit rather than the day before the notary.

Utility debts do not automatically pass to the new owner, apart from building management contributions to the extent set by law. But a debt of tens of thousands of hryvnias means nobody has dealt with this apartment for a long time, and that is a signal to look harder at everything else.

We also check whether anyone is registered in the apartment who cannot simply be removed: minors, and people holding a right of use under a court decision.

Floor area, alterations and technical papers

The third thing is the apartment itself. The area in the documents and the area quoted in the advertisement diverge more often than you would expect: a difference of a few square metres is common, and in price that is thousands of dollars. We compare the technical passport with the register extract and with what we see on site.

Alterations are a subject of their own. A removed wall, a relocated kitchen, a balcony merged with a room: if that was never legalised, the new owner will have to legalise it, and not everything can be legalised at all. You cannot put a load bearing wall back, and without papers the apartment sells worse later and may fail a bankʼs requirements if your buyer needs a loan.

For older buildings we additionally check whether the building has been declared unsafe and whether it appears in any reconstruction plans.

If the apartment is in a new development

With developer units the check is different. There is no title extract, because there is no title yet: there is a contract. We look at the land documents, the building permit, the technical conditions, and above all at what is actually being sold: a share in construction, a preliminary purchase contract, or a right to property rights. The difference between them is fundamental, and it decides what happens if construction stops.

As at October 2026 we hold 2,135 such units across 425 complexes where there is something to buy. Contract terms differ considerably between developers, so what you read is the specific contract rather than reviews of the company.

How long it takes and what happens next

The register extract is ordered by arrangement. A power of attorney, an inheritance file or a bank consent on a mortgage take longer to verify, from one to three working days. In total, a routine resale apartment takes a day or two to check, an inherited or mortgaged one up to a week. That is the timeframe to plan for when agreeing the deposit date: nobody will ask the seller to wait a month.

If the check finds something, that is not always a reason to walk away. Half of the findings can be cured: a debt is cleared before the closing and that goes into the contract, a spousal consent is obtained, a power of attorney is redrawn correctly. The other half are reasons not to pay a deposit at all: a seizure, an undefined circle of heirs, unapproved alterations to load bearing structures, a discrepancy in floor area the seller does not acknowledge.

Either way the buyer decides, not us. Our job is to show what exactly is wrong, what it threatens and what it costs to fix, not to talk you into or out of anything.

The three most common mistakes

First: a cash deposit with no receipt, or with a receipt that does not say what the money is for and when it comes back. Second: trusting copies. A copy of a contract, a passport or an extract proves nothing; you look at the original or at an extract you ordered yourself. Third: hurrying under pressure. The line about another buyer who is ready to pay right now is heard at every second viewing, and it is exactly what the most expensive mistakes are made under.

What to do next

If you buy through us, the check is part of the work and: we do it before the deposit, not after. If you found the property yourself, the check can be ordered separately, and it costs less than any of the problems it uncovers.