What you need to do to rent a house directly from the owner: three proven ways
Photo: imagebroker / Giuseppe Graziano / Global Look Press
Renting an apartment without a realtor is a pipe dream for many people who want to rent a house in Moscow. There are many real estate agents in the capital's economy class housing market who negotiate on behalf of the owners and take a commission from the tenant for this. Such a system is convenient for owners of inexpensive housing: they do not spend money on the services of a realtor who independently leads potential tenants to them. At the same time, the situation looks unfair for tenants: they did not hire a realtor and did not want to pay him, but often they are forced to do this, since the agent leaves them no choice.
Now, on average, 90% of ads on various specialized real estate sites are placed by realtors, Pavel Lutsenko, CEO of the World of Apartments online service, told RBC-Nedvizhimost. At the moment, the share of ads from agents on the World of Apartments website is 84%, on Cyane - 90%, on Yandex.Real Estate - 89%, representatives of these companies told RBC-Nedvizhimost. The press service of Avito could not answer the editors' question about the share of ads from owners and from intermediaries.
For those who do not want to pay a realtor just for placing an ad on a free site and being present at the conclusion of the transaction, it remains to look for rare offers from homeowners or use not very popular services where agents are not allowed, for example, The Locals or "33 elephants". This method takes a lot of time and does not guarantee results: the most suitable option may be rented through a realtor who will demand from the tenant the 100% equivalent of the monthly rate as their own remuneration. “In Germany, there is a very good law: whoever hires a realtor pays for him,” said Evgeny Luchinin, co-founder of The Locals service. “I believe that the owner should pay for the services of a realtor, since the realtor helps him.”
The editors of RBC-Real Estate found three working and absolutely legal ways to exclude a realtor from a lease transaction - even if the agent is present in the apartment and insists on his own remuneration.
How is renting in Moscow
Photo: Britta Pedersen / DPA / TASS
Many owners of Moscow apartments turn to realtors who promise the owners to find tenants for free and quickly. The owners agree, since they themselves do not bear the costs. The realtor advertises on his own behalf, after which he arranges viewings with those who call. At this stage, the interested tenant cannot contact the owner directly: all communication goes exclusively through the agent.
Three parties usually come to view an apartment: a potential tenant, a realtor and the owner of the apartment (or a relative of the owner authorized to conclude an agreement). If the tenant likes the apartment and is satisfied with the price, then the parties agree on a deal. At this point, the realtor hands the owner and tenant a lease agreement - usually this is a standard template agreement, a sample of which is easy to find on the Internet. In most cases, the agreement involves two parties - the tenant and the landlord. The realtor is not mentioned in such a document. “In many cases, the payment of a commission to a realtor is not documented at all,” said Ksenia Kazakova, partner at the law firm Orient Partners. “In such a situation, it is almost impossible to prove any violation.”
In the presence of an agent, the landlord and his tenant sign a contract, after which the tenant transfers to the owner the first month’s fee along with a deposit, and to the realtor an agency commission, usually equal to the monthly rental rate (in some cases, half the rate). After that, the realtor disappears, and the owner and tenant remain to solve everyday issues - the transfer of keys, the possibility of replacing furniture, and so on. All further communication between the owner of the apartment and the tenant takes place without any mediation - in other words, when disagreements arise, the parties find out everything with each other without involving a realtor who is not responsible for either the tenant's decency or the owner's decency.
In isolated cases, the realtor accompanies the apartment throughout the entire lease period, however, for economy class housing, this situation is an exception to the rule. The system with the payment of a commission by the tenant usually works for apartments in the mass segment (costing up to 50 thousand rubles per month); in the business and elite categories, the remuneration to the agent is often paid by the owner.
Method number 1: bring a friend and pass him off as a realtor
The first method will require the help of a friend who agrees to play the role of a realtor on the part of the tenant. The fact is that you can search for a rented apartment not only through the Internet, but also through real estate agencies. In this case, the prospective tenant comes to the agency's office, where employees tell him about the options available. This is the only case in which the tenant actually goes to the agent and pays him a commission of his own free will - except that this is about his own agent, and not about who represents the landlord.
If there is also an agent on the part of the owner, then the transaction is carried out through the mediation of two realtors at once, who divide the commission in half - these are the unspoken rules for the work of realtors in Moscow. A resourceful tenant can use these rules to their advantage, especially since real estate agents often use the same free online services as regular tenants. A person who wants to save money can ask a friend to make a call, and then, together with the future tenant, go to see the apartment under the guise of a private realtor. In this case, at the conclusion of the transaction, the tenant's friend will calmly take half of the commission - and then simply return this money to the tenant.
This method is not a deception: in the All-Russian classifier of professions there is no specialty “realtor”, which means that anyone can call themselves a realtor. “The concept of “realtor” in the market is rather vague,” confirmed Ksenia Kazakova, a lawyer at Orient Partners. - Representatives of well-known companies with a name, and employees of small companies, and individual entrepreneurs, and just individuals who are not registered as individual entrepreneurs act as realtors. In such a situation, it is quite difficult to check whether the person who came with the tenant is a “real realtor”. However, it also works in the opposite direction: the realtor representing the interests of the landlord, as a rule, also does not have any supporting documents.
Method number 2: wait until the realtor leaves
Photo: Vadim Nekrasov / Russian Look
The second method is popular both in the rental market and in the segment of buying and selling apartments in major cities Russia. A person interested in the transaction agrees with the realtor to view the apartment in the presence of the owner, but during the viewing, under any pretext, refuses the transaction. After that, the potential tenant says goodbye and leaves - but not for long. During the visit, the prospective tenant will learn the exact address dwellings and remembers the name of the owner (this information is usually not indicated in the ads).
If the tenant liked the apartment, then a couple of hours after viewing it, you can return there - and find the owner inside without a realtor. “I really liked your apartment, but I don’t want to pay a commission to a stranger. Let's conclude an agreement with you without intermediaries, ”says such a tenant to the owner of the home. If the tenant is still not found, such a strategy ends successfully for all parties: the tenant receives housing without a commission, and the owner receives a persistent tenant who is ready to immediately pay the money and move into the apartment. It is simply unprofitable for the owner to refuse such a deal: extra days of downtime will lead to lost profits.
“A person will have to make a choice: either I don’t conflict, I leave everything as it is and overpay the realtor, or I go into an open conflict and try to save money,” said psychologist and Gestalt therapist Yulia Smelyanets. Both have their pluses and minuses. I need to ask myself if the money I don’t want to spend is worth the possible consequences (this could be conflict, tension in the deal, or possible negative attitude from the landlord).”
Method number 3: negotiate with the owner openly
Photo: Andrew Olney / moodboard / Global Look Press
The third way is the fastest and toughest of all. While viewing an apartment with an agent, you need to openly contact the owner of the apartment with a proposal to conclude an agreement without an intermediary. To do this, a potential tenant must quickly and correctly convince the landlord that renting without a realtor is the best choice for the landlord. It is better to ignore the realtor at this moment so that he cannot intervene in the conversation. The difficulty is that negotiations will have to be conducted in the presence of the opposing party, so this method will require composure and the ability to maintain a friendly attitude even in a conflict situation.
“If the landlord works through a realtor, and the tenant wants to squeeze out the realtor right in front of him, then the reaction of all participants is unpredictable,” said psychologist Yevgenia Bulyubash. - I think the realtor will resist, because his profession itself requires certain personal characteristics - perseverance, aggressiveness, speed. In addition, he expects to receive a fee. This is an equation with two unknowns: it is not clear how the landlord will react to the process and whether he will want to work directly.
“In any conflict, stability is given by one's own clear position. If the position is formulated and constantly remembered about it, then it gives peace of mind,” Bulyubash added. - It will help not to take the words of the opponent at your own expense - this is ensured by self-respect. The ability to notice various manipulative techniques in relation to oneself and others is useful, as well as the ability to make choices without falling into affect - that is, wild rage or fear. Obviously, this conflict is not for everyone. Sometimes it’s not worth going the hard way and fighting with a realtor, wasting your strength and energy on it. You can always choose a simpler option and conclude a contract without a feat. It's also a choice."
“Most of the attention in the alleged conflict may be focused on the fact that the landlord or realtor might think something bad about us if we risk being more bold. This is what often stops people from clarifying relations,” Yulia Smelyanets pointed out. — It is important to understand that people who are involved in real estate transactions, by definition, have strong nerves — otherwise they would not be able to stay in a market full of uncertainty, risk and unpredictability. Realtors are people with certain personal characteristics. [For them] you're just another client on their track record, you're unlikely to be remembered in two days. Maybe if you keep this in mind, it will be easier to defend the requirements on which you yourself want to rent a property.
What do lawyers think
Photo: Andrew Olney / moodboard / Global Look Press
“None of these methods violate Russian law,” says Ksenia Kazakova of Orient Partners. - In fact, the payment of a commission to the owner's realtor by the tenant is an imposed service. Strictly speaking, a commission to a realtor is a payment for his services in finding tenants provided to landlords. The prohibition on the imposition of services is established in Art. 16 of the Law "On Protection of Consumer Rights". Part 2 of this article provides for the following: “It is prohibited to condition the purchase of certain goods (works, services) on the mandatory purchase of other goods (works, services). Losses caused to the consumer as a result of violation of his right to free choice of goods (works, services) shall be reimbursed by the seller (executor) in full.
However, if the lessor is individual, then his relationship with the tenant is not regulated by the Consumer Rights Protection Law, the lawyer added. “The question of the possibility of applying this law to the actions of a landlord renting an apartment remains open,” Kazakova specified. - There is no unequivocal answer to the question of whether the realtor is the subject of the imposition of services in accordance with Art. 16 of the Law "On Protection of Consumer Rights".
“It is impossible to call legal the actions of a realtor who offers his services to a tenant of an apartment and assures that renting an apartment is impossible without the consent of the realtor and without paying a commission to the realtor,” said Maria Ponamoreva, senior lawyer at A2 Law Office. - It happens that in the contract that is proposed to be concluded, neither the name of the realtor nor the name of his company is mentioned, but only the owner of the apartment and the tenant appear. The above indicates that you have before you a private broker or a real estate agency, where services are not officially carried out according to accounting statements". In this case, the realtor can be intimidated by a complaint to the tax service - it is unlikely that “gray” workers will want to substitute their employer. If successful, the agent can leave the apartment himself.
It happens that during the discussion of the transaction, the realtor tells the owner that he does not have the right to rent an apartment without the participation of an agent. “It can be answered that there are no mandatory norms of the law prohibiting renting an apartment with or without a commission,” Ponamoreva said. If the realtor starts to appeal to verbal agreements with the landlord, then the potential tenant may ask the agent to show the contract with the landlord.
“If the realtor provided the owner of the premises with a service in the form of finding a tenant, then these relations should be recorded in the service agreement, which will clearly indicate the conditions under which the realtor or agency provides the service of finding a tenant for the object. The amount of remuneration is also indicated there, ”said the head of the project department for commercial real estate law firm Heads Consulting Olesya Shilova. Without such an agreement, the landlord can legally kick the realtor out of the apartment and make a deal without an intermediary.
If legal arguments do not help, then the tenant can turn to the common sense of the apartment owner. For example, a tenant may offer to raise the monthly fee by 1-2 thousand rubles. in case of rejection by the realtor. In this case, the owner's income will increase (by 12-24 thousand rubles when concluding an annual contract), and the deal will immediately become more attractive. It is important that the proposed increase still turns out to be more profitable than a lump sum payment to the realtor - it is enough to calculate in advance how much you can raise the rate.
I provide private real estate services in Moscow and Moscow suburbs. Within these limits, I can ensure personal presence at meetings and viewings, professional knowledge of the market and its participants. For remote properties, I recommend contacting local realtors.
Non-real estate services!
- The transaction may require third-party services that the realtor orders and pays for with additional customer funds:
- notarial powers of attorney, consents and statements, translations and apostille;
- long-distance forwarding of documents;
- duties of Rosreestr, services of BTI and design organizations;
- legal advice, registrar services and others.
Check the price for your specific situation!
Below are prices for "regular" trades so you can get an idea of the price level. To clarify the price under specific circumstances, please contact me by any in a convenient way- Contacts .
The cost of realtor services when selling an apartment
Comprehensive turnkey service. An advance payment for the service is paid when a buyer is found from the buyer's funds. Duration of the service - by agreement with the customer.
2.0% of the cost, but
at least 100 thousand rubles.
Reduced service for sellers when the buyer is already present and the price is determined by the parties. Included: consultations on all aspects of the transaction, participation in negotiations with advance payment, preparation of documents for the transaction (in the absence of the customer when providing a notarized power of attorney), the transaction, submission of documents and further until the transfer of the apartment under the act.
50 thousand rubles
The price of realtor services when buying an apartment
Comprehensive turnkey service. Carrying out the transaction from the indication of intention to the receipt of the keys to the purchased apartment. Unlike support, the service includes a financial guarantee for the advance payment.
2.0% of the cost, but
at least 120 thousand rubles.
A reduced service available to buyers when they find the property on their own: participation in negotiations and advance payments, preparation of documents for the transaction, checking the apartment and the seller (including financial and credit history), conducting the transaction and further until the acceptance of the apartment according to the act.
Object check is additional service. If a well-known apartment is purchased "from relatives", then the check of the object will be within the framework of "for registration", which will not require additional payment.
50 thousand rubles
+30 thousand check
Alternative - two or more transactions per order
Turnkey alternative. An alternative transaction is a one-time sale and purchase of another property. Includes two services: "object -> money" and "money -> object" With additional discount. In some cases, it is a mandatory form of the transaction.
1.5% of the amount
sales and purchases, but
at least 200 thousand rubles.
Other real estate services
Cost of rental services for the owner
Search for a tenant by order of the owner of the housing.
From "free" to 50%
monthly fee
Selection of real estate for renting an apartment for a tenant
Search for a suitable object for rent in Moscow and the Moscow region.
Free consultation
or up to 50% (advance payment required)
Registration of redevelopment, making changes to the registers
Making redevelopment with the project, changing the area, preparing the BTI technical plan, making changes to the cadastral registration
The issue of renting apartments in Moscow has always been very relevant. Many would like to rent an apartment for both short and long term. long term. There are many fraudulent schemes in this area, so renting an apartment on your own is associated with many risks, and real estate services for renting apartments are so in demand.
I know for sure that the accumulation process can take years, and you still need to live somewhere. Therefore, people, in order to receive high-quality services for renting an apartment, are looking for a real estate agent.
What tasks does a rental realtor solve?
Renting apartments through a realtor is a rather complicated segment of the real estate market. There are many questions associated with it. The main problem is the criteria by which an apartment is selected. It is necessary to take into account the area, condition and location of the apartment, its remoteness from the place of work of the tenant, the availability of infrastructure and public transport. It is necessary to find the optimal balance between these components. A professional will help you rent or rent an apartment in Moscow in a short time, while your costs will be minimal.
If the apartment is rented through a realtor, most often the landlord does not pay him anything: all expenses are borne by the tenant. The amount of commission is in the range of 40-100% of the monthly rental housing.
Homeowners have their own tasks: most want to rent an apartment for a long time and get the maximum payment for it. Tenants are often interested in short term rentals at the best price. Rent an apartment for a long time high price maybe a lot depends on:
- district;
- condition of the apartment and house;
- availability of quality infrastructure;
- distance from the subway;
- duration of renting an apartment.
Benefits of working with a private realtor
Many agencies offer to rent or rent an apartment in Moscow, but people are looking for a private realtor, because the benefits of working with him are undeniable.
It is beneficial for me to provide quality services to a client who wants to rent an apartment in the capital, at a reasonable price. This becomes the key to good long-term business relationships, which then turn into friendships. Very often my clients after successful transactions recommend me to their friends!
This practice came to us from other countries where there is a family lawyer, dentist, doctor and real estate specialist. So why not get a private agent in Moscow, specializing in buying, selling, renting housing? He treats his work carefully and responsibly, as this is his enterprise, in which his name and reputation are at stake.
If you are looking for a realtor to rent out your apartment, contact me for this service will be good choice. You don't have to pay anything - my commission is paid by the tenant!
You can find out about the results of clients who rented apartments with my help on the page
