Notary in Sevastopol: Maxim Yurchenko about benefits, free consultations and scammers

About benefits

— Are there any benefits when registering a land plot for a SVO participant or his family? And what benefits are generally available to them related to notarial acts?

— The issue of registration of ownership or lease of a land plot falls within the competence of local authorities. Therefore, to obtain information on how to register a land plot for SVO participants and other preferential categories of citizens, it is necessary to contact the relevant government agencies.

As for benefits and payment for notary services in general, we need to look a little more broadly. The cost of notarial acts now consists of two parts. The first is the federal tariff, which is determined by the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, and it is uniform throughout the Russian Federation. The same Tax Code provides for certain benefits for certain categories of citizens. The second part is the regional tariff, the calculation procedure of which is regulated by order of the Ministry of Justice. This order also establishes regional tariff benefits and they also apply throughout the Russian Federation.

Taking into account the social significance of providing benefits and the importance of the status of a participant in the SVO, the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, together with the Federal Notary Chamber, have provided a number of benefits in relation to those notarial actions that are relevant for defenders of the Motherland. This is a certificate of power of attorney, consent to the departure of children, other legally significant expressions of will, wills, transfer of documents. Notaries perform these actions, including on trips and in hospitals. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that travel to perform notarial acts to the participants of the SVO is also carried out free of charge. You don’t need to pay anything.

Now the Federal Notary Chamber, together with the Ministry of Justice, is working to expand the list of these benefits. And I think that we will find out about them in the near future.

About consultations

— The Notary Chamber of Sevastopol has been conducting consultations for a long time in rural areas, in remote areas of the city, where there are no notaries. Are similar consultations planned this year?

— Last year, notaries of Sevastopol repeatedly went to settlements in the Balaklava and Nakhimovsky districts where there are no notary offices — to Ternovka, Verkhnesadovoe, Andreevka. This was an initiative of the Defenders of the Fatherland Foundation. Specialists from various government departments and social services were invited to the meetings. Representatives of municipal authorities also provided great assistance in the organization, informing citizens and providing premises for meetings.

This year there is no clear schedule yet, but the notary office of Sevastopol is always open to such initiatives. We are always and at any time ready to send our specialists to work in consultation centers in order to help city residents.

— And if a citizen who lives in the city has a question, will he be able to get advice from a notary for free?

— Undoubtedly. On the website of the notary chamber there is a list of all notaries in the city of Sevastopol, indicating their addresses and contact numbers. Therefore, if a person needs a brief consultation, everything can be discussed even over the phone. The notary’s assistant or the notary himself will answer your question over the phone. If you need a more extensive consultation, then you need to make an appointment with a notary and bring documents that will help you properly consult and make a decision. Any consultation with a notary regarding notary services is provided free of charge.

But you need to understand that this is not general legal advice. The notary will not be able to help in resolving any court cases or on the issue of calculating pensions. With such problems, you need to go to specialized specialists. But if the question concerns a notary, of course, notaries are always ready to help.

About scammers

— Information regularly appears that scammers are becoming more active in various areas. Please give some advice to those who want to sell or buy an apartment, what to pay attention to in order to avoid becoming a victim of criminals.

— In addition to checking the documents, I recommend paying attention to the price. Now there are a lot of information resources where you can monitor average prices for similar apartments. If you see that the price is significantly lower than the market price, by 30-40%, this is a reason to wonder if everything is good here. Even if everything is fine according to the documents. Also talk to your neighbors, maybe there are some nuances with the apartment itself.

And, of course, contact a notary. The notary now has access to such information resources that no other specialists have access to — neither lawyers, nor banks, nor realtors. The state has provided the notary with the opportunity to take a comprehensive look at the issue of registration of rights to real estate; here notaries have full competence. Therefore, only a notary can conduct an extensive and high-quality check and guarantee the security of the transaction.

— I lent a large sum of money to my neighbor, and we issued a receipt. But the deadline passed, and my neighbor never returned the money to me. If we had issued a receipt from a notary, would it have been possible to get the money through the court faster? Or does such a simple thing also allow you to go to court?

— According to civil law, confirmation of a loan agreement can be a receipt that contains all the essential terms of this agreement: the amount, the fact of transfer of money. If the receipt was properly executed, if the borrower’s will was free, and the parties provided for all the essential terms of the loan agreement, then, of course, the court can accept such a receipt and make a decision on the recovery of funds if the obligations are not fulfilled or performed improperly. But the loan agreement, despite its apparent simplicity, contains a lot of pitfalls that may subsequently violate the rights of the person who provided the money. Therefore, when we are talking about large sums, it is, of course, better to contact a notary. He will tell you how to arrange everything correctly. Plus, under a notarial agreement, debt collection can be carried out out of court using a writ of execution. Yes, there are also nuances there, this is not an easy action, but it expands the scope of the lender’s rights.

About the deposit account

— We heard that notaries have a certain deposit account — something like a bank account, but only with notaries. Tell us about it.

— In my opinion, a public deposit account is one of the most convenient tools for ensuring secure settlements under concluded agreements. That is, this is not the notary’s personal account; the notary does not store anything on it. This is a bank account with a special access regime, which is used for settlements under concluded agreements. For example, a buyer purchases an apartment and wants the seller to receive the money only after he becomes the owner of this apartment. A person wants to insure himself because… I’m waiting for the moment of concluding the contract and the moment of registering property rights, there is a time gap of 2-3 days, and during this time anything can happen: arrest, prohibition, encumbrance, which did not exist at the time of conclusion of the transaction. The buyer deposits funds into the notary’s public deposit bank account. After registering the property right, the seller comes to the notary, chooses a convenient method for receiving money, and writes an application for its issuance. Then he comes to the bank and receives money. Moreover, you can receive the entire amount or part in cash, and the rest by transfer to a card. There are no commissions for such transactions.

The cost of notarial action with such an account compared to the cost of similar escrow and credit accounts is quite low — 2,900 rubles. This is a convenient and reliable tool for both the buyer and the seller.

source: newspaper “Komsomolskaya Pravda. Sevastopol» (Irina ZHIBOEDOVA, Alena MOTROY)