If the co-borrowers are family members who meet the conditions of the preferential program, the family mortgage can also be approved for childless clients
After the completion of the broad state mortgage program for new buildings, family mortgages remained the main driver of sales in the capital’s market. But the possibilities for its registration in Moscow, St. Petersburg, the Moscow region and the Leningrad region have narrowed since July – only families with children under the age of six and with disabled children can participate in the program, whereas previously all families with minor children. However, there is a loophole that allows you to get a family mortgage without having children at all. Such schemes are not widely announced on the market, but the experts interviewed confirmed their existence.
Family mortgage is the engine of sales in new buildings
The main drop in mortgage loans after the completion of preferential mortgages and changes in family life occurred in mid-July. In just a month, the share of preferential mortgages decreased by 42 percentage points, to 34%, analysts at Domclick calculated (data include the issuance of a Savings account). The leadership in the structure of loans remained with the family mortgage, which accounted for 21% of all mortgage transactions of Sberbank (-16 percentage points).
VTB Bank notes that the August mortgage issuance in Russia, according to preliminary estimates, is comparable to the July one (355 billion rubles). VTB estimates the share of family mortgages in the total issuance of banks in August at 44%, which is not much higher than the results of the first half of the year (36%).
Despite the support of the family program, the demand for new buildings has fallen, and developers are massively offering various schemes to stimulate buyers.
One of these options is the opportunity to arrange a family mortgage for borrowers who do not have children. “If you have close friends or relatives who have the right to a family mortgage and are ready to act as “donors”, then you can take them on as co—borrowers,” explains Alexander Gutorov, Vice President, Head of Sales and Marketing at Strana Development Group. At the same time, such a “donor” should receive a share in the acquired real estate, the expert clarifies. In fact, this is a standard family mortgage with the involvement of a co-borrower, but shares in the acquired real estate have been redistributed in favor of childless borrowers.
“Most likely, other developers also offer such design schemes, but they do not officially display offers in the campaign, they can write a maximum in the TG channels or use the scheme as an information guide,” concludes Alexander Gutorov.
Dmitry Efimov, Deputy Commercial Director of PIONEER, draws attention to the fact that a family mortgage with the involvement of “donors” — at its core, it is not an independent product, but one of the options for obtaining a mortgage with co-borrowers. “If the developer’s project is accredited with a certain bank, all relevant programs are available to him with the possibility of attracting co—borrowers,” the expert explains. At the same time, it is the family mortgage in this form that has a number of its own characteristics and risks for both sides of the transaction, the surveyed market participants agree.
Advantages and risks of the scheme
The main advantage for borrowers who do not have children yet or children do not fit the conditions of the program is the opportunity to get a mortgage at a rate several times lower than the average market level. But there are a number of nuances — starting with the fact that part of the property will belong to the “donor”. “It is possible to attract a co—borrower, some banks are even ready to consider non-relatives,” says Nadezhda Stadnyuk, head of the mortgage department at Best-Novostroy. — However, this person must necessarily participate in both the loan and security documentation in the loan agreement and in the equity participation agreement, in the future, at least 10% ownership in this apartment must be registered for him.”
For more information about the terms of the family mortgage program, which are valid at the time of publication, read the article “Family Mortgage — 2024: conditions, documents, nuances”
Novosibirsk (Photo: Mashkova Polina / Shutterstock / FOTODOM)
“At the moment, there are almost no clients interested in such a program, because, as a rule, the buyer of an apartment wants it to be fully registered for him,” Alexey Novikov, director of the Est—a-Tet mortgage lending department, says about the scheme involving co-borrowers -“donors”. This is confirmed by Alexander Gutorov, noting that the share of such transactions in demand in the company does not exceed 1%.
After registration of ownership, such a “donor” can give up his share, said Ilya Bakhilin, lawyer for Yukov and Partners. “In order to exclude the “donor” from the list of co-owners and co-borrowers, it is necessary to sign an agreement with him on this. If one of the parties, contrary to the initial agreement, refuses to sign such an agreement, then it will be almost impossible for the second party to do anything about it,” the expert explains.
From the point of view of those families who agree to act as a co-borrower under the program, there are also important limitations. The main one is that by using the opportunity to take out a family mortgage, such co—borrowers lose the opportunity to take out a loan under this program again until the loan is paid off or another child is born in the family, Nadezhda Stadnyuk emphasizes.
In addition, “donors” risk additional financial responsibility, Ilya Bakhilin warns. “The question of whether there are risks from using such a scheme for the final acquirer and for the “donor” depends primarily on the existence of full mutual trust between them, as well as on their financial solvency,” the expert explains. But both components can change over time. “For the “donor” in this case, there are significant risks in case of non-payment on the part of the final acquirer before the re-registration of the property. After all, in this case, the bank has the right to make a claim against both owners,” says Bakhilin. “It is also possible that even if the loan is paid on time, the bank will consider the financial situation of the final buyer insufficiently stable and will refuse the “donor” to withdraw from the transaction.”
Alexey Ageev, a lawyer and partner of the law firm Ru.Courts, sees a similar risk. “If the main borrowers are unable to fulfill their obligations to repay the loan, then claims for repayment of someone else’s loan can also be made to the “donors,” the expert emphasizes. — At best, these claims will be of a shared nature (if the issue is settled accordingly in the loan and mortgage agreement). However, this is not profitable for the bank, which is more reliable to be able to file a claim against all debtors and in full.”
In addition, Ilya Bakhilin continues, there are risks in the case of a hypothetical judicial bankruptcy of “donor” borrowers — in such a development, the court may well challenge the deal to give up the share in the apartment of the main borrowers. “There is a risk that such a deal will be invalidated and the share will be sold at auction. This risk is higher if bankruptcy begins less than three years after the transaction,” the lawyer concludes.
The risks of the developer
As for the risks of the scheme for developers, experts agree that they are minimal. “For the developer in this case, the risks are most likely absent in any scenario, since the use or non—use of this scheme is a voluntary decision of the buyers,” says Ilya Bakhilin from Yukov and Partners.
Compared with borrowers, the legal risks of the developer are small, says Alexey Ageev: “In any case, being a strong party to the contract and having a staff of lawyers, he will be able to calculate and level them.”
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