How to check information during the search for housing

• Check ads. Look at the account of the person who posted the ad – when it was created, what other ads the author has posted. Find out if it’s the owner or the agent.
• Try to contact the owner.
• Do not send money to the card. Bring the deposit in hand, and if you rent housing in another city, ask friends, acquaintances, colleagues to pay a deposit and see the apartment
• Do not send passport details. You can provide passport data at the time of signing the contract or when you move into the apartment.
• Check the ownership of the housing with the owner of the apartment.

What is important to consider when drawing up a lease agreement during the war?

Important points to consider when concluding lease agreements during the war from the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union .

• Only the owner can enter into a contract , so the tenant has the right and must check the relevant documents to make sure that the landlord is really the owner. It is advisable to record the relevant information about the owner in the lease agreement with passport data and data from other documents that the owner of the home and the tenant present to each other.
• During martial law, most open state registries are not available and it is difficult to verify the validity of the submitted data , you can use other paid or free services. For example, to obtain information from the register of rights to real estate by the Action Portal and Opendatabot .
• A housing lease agreement is concluded in an arbitrary written form and is not subject to mandatory notarization. When writing a contract, it is recommended to write down in detail all its conditions that are important for protecting the rights of the parties to the contract, for example, how you will contact, resolve conflicts, amend the contract. When concluding a contract, it is important to fix the condition of the rental housing, note the existing shortcomings, as well as who will eliminate them if necessary.
• The lease agreement must specify the persons living with the tenant.
• Prescribe in the contract the amount of rent for housing, the terms of payment of rent. If the term for making the payment is not established by the contract, the tenant pays it monthly.
• What about the lease for the period of the war? If the lease agreement stipulates how to act during a period of force majeure circumstances (force majeure), that is, during a war, the relevant provisions should be observed, which may also allow exemption from rent or payment of utilities. Free accommodation is possible for temporary residents if the tenant and the tenant have agreed on it. If the current lease agreement did not provide for the occurrence of such circumstances, one should be guided by the provisions of the agreement governing the introduction of amendments to it, the conclusion of additional agreements or the resolution of conflicts.
• If the contract was concluded after February 24, 2022, it should be important to refer to the definition of force majeure circumstances . For example, when concluding an agreement on the territory of regions that are not in the zone of warfare, it can be noted that force majeure circumstances will be the beginning of hostilities in the region, etc. However, in the event of a loss or decrease in income and evidence of the impossibility of paying rent, the landlord may be released from the relevant obligations under the contract.
• For homeowners, renting out a home can be an important and only source of income that is taxed accordingly, which is now important for government support. The amount of tax liability on rental income is calculated on the basis of the rent specified in the contract.

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