What you need to do to rent a home directly from the owner: three proven methods
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 home in Moscow. In the capital's economy-class housing market, there are many real estate agents who negotiate on behalf of the owners and take a commission from the tenant for this. This system is convenient for owners of inexpensive housing: they do not spend money on the services of a realtor, who independently brings potential tenants to them. At the same time, for tenants the situation seems unfair: they did not hire a realtor and did not want to pay him, but are often forced to do so, since the agent leaves them no choice.
Now, on average, 90% of ads on various specialized real estate websites are placed by realtors, he told RBC Real Estate CEO online service "World of Apartments" Pavel Lutsenko. Currently, the share of advertisements from agents on the World of Apartments website is 84%, on Cyana - 90%, on Yandex.Real Estate - 89%, representatives of these companies told RBC-Real Estate. The Avito press service was unable to answer the editor’s question about the share of advertisements from owners and from intermediaries.
Those who don’t want to pay a realtor just for posting an ad on a free website and being present at the conclusion of the deal can only 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 is time-consuming and does not guarantee results: the most suitable option can be rented through a realtor, who will require the tenant to pay 100% of the monthly rate as his own remuneration. “In Germany there is a very good law: whoever hires a realtor pays for him,” said Evgeniy Luchinin, co-founder of The Locals service. “I believe that the realtor’s services should be paid for by the owner, since the realtor helps him.”
The editors of RBC Real Estate have found three working and absolutely legal ways to exclude a realtor from a rental transaction - even if the agent is present in the apartment and insists on his own remuneration.
How does rental housing work in Moscow?
Photo: Britta Pedersen / DPA / TASS
Many owners of Moscow apartments turn to realtors, who promise the owners to find tenants free of charge and quickly. The owners agree, since they themselves do not bear the costs. The realtor advertises on his own behalf, and then arranges viewings with those who call. At this stage, the interested tenant cannot contact the owner directly: all communication takes place 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 enter into 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 agreement template, a sample of which can be easily found on the Internet. In most cases, there are two parties to the agreement - 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, a 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 an agreement, after which the tenant gives the owner the first month's rent along with a deposit, and the realtor an agent's commission, usually equal to the monthly rental rate (in some cases, half the rate). After this, the realtor disappears, and the owner and tenant are left to resolve everyday issues - handing over the keys, the possibility of replacing furniture, and so on. All further communication between the apartment owner and the tenant takes place without anyone’s mediation - in other words, if disagreements arise, the parties clarify everything with each other without the involvement of a realtor, who is not responsible for either the decency of the tenant or the decency of the owner.
In isolated cases, a realtor accompanies the apartment throughout the entire rental period, but 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 agent's remuneration 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 realtor on the tenant’s side. The point is what to look for rented apartment It is possible not only via the Internet, but also through real estate agencies. In this case, the future tenant comes to the agency’s office, where employees tell him about the available options. This is the only case in which the tenant actually contacts the agent and pays a commission to him of his own free will - only we are talking about his own agent, and not the one who represents the owner of the property.
If there is also an agent on the owner’s side, 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 of work for realtors in Moscow. A savvy 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 view 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 quite vague,” confirmed Orient Partners lawyer Ksenia Kazakova. — Representatives of well-known well-known companies, employees of small companies, individual entrepreneurs, and simply 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, this 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 purchase and sale of apartments in major cities Russia. A person interested in a transaction agrees with a realtor to view the apartment in the presence of the owner, but during the viewing, he refuses the deal under any pretext. After this, the potential tenant says goodbye and leaves - but not for long. During the visit, the future tenant will find out the exact address home and remembers the name of the owner (this information is usually not indicated in advertisements).
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,” such a tenant says to the property owner. If the tenant is still not found, this 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, leave everything as 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 pros and cons. I need to ask myself if the money I don’t want to spend is worth the possible consequences (this could be a conflict, tension in the transaction, or a possible negative attitude from the landlord).”
Method number 3: negotiate with the owner openly
Photo: Andrew Olney / moodboard / Global Look Press
The third method is the fastest and toughest of all. When viewing an apartment with an agent, you need to openly contact the apartment owner with a proposal to conclude an agreement without an intermediary. To do this, the potential tenant must quickly and correctly convince the property owner that renting without a realtor is best choice for the owner. It is better to ignore the realtor at this moment so that he cannot interfere in the conversation. The difficulty is that the 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 Evgenia 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 unclear how the homeowner will feel about the process and whether he will want to work directly.”
“In any conflict, one’s own clear position gives stability. If you formulate your position and constantly remember it, it gives you peace of mind,” Bulyubash added. “Not taking your opponent’s words personally will help—this is ensured by self-respect. It is useful to be able to notice various manipulative techniques in relation to yourself and others, as well as the ability to make choices without falling into passion - that is, wild rage or fear. Obviously, such a conflict is not for everyone. Sometimes it's not worth going the hard way and enter into a fight with the realtor, wasting strength and energy on it. You can always choose a simpler option and conclude a contract without a feat. This is also a choice."
“Much of the focus in a perceived conflict may be that the landlord or realtor might think something bad about us if we take the risk of acting more boldly. This is what often stops people from clarifying relationships,” Yulia Smelyanets pointed out. — It is important to understand that people who engage in real estate transactions have, by definition, strong nerves - otherwise they would not be able to remain in a market full of uncertainty, risk and unpredictability. Realtors are people with certain personal characteristics. [For them] you are just another client in the track record; they are unlikely to remember you 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 the property.”
What do lawyers think?
Photo: Andrew Olney / moodboard / Global Look Press
“None of these methods contradict Russian law,” says Ksenia Kazakova from Orient Partners. — In fact, the payment of a commission to the owner’s realtor by the tenant is an imposed service. Strictly speaking, a realtor’s commission is payment for his services in finding tenants provided to landlords. The ban on imposing services is established in Art. 16 of the Law “On Protection of Consumer Rights”. Part 2 of this article provides the following: “It is prohibited to condition the acquisition of some goods (works, services) on the mandatory acquisition of other goods (works, services). Losses caused to the consumer as a result of violation of his right to free choice of goods (work, services) are compensated by the seller (performer) in full.”
However, if the lessor acts individual, then his relationship with the tenant is not regulated by the law “On the Protection of Consumer Rights,” the lawyer added. “The question of the possibility of applying this law to the actions of a landlord renting out an apartment remains open,” Kazakova clarified. — There is no clear answer to the question of whether a realtor is the subject of imposing services in accordance with Art. 16 of the Law “On Protection of Consumer Rights”.
“The actions of a realtor who offers his services to a tenant of an apartment and assures that renting out an apartment is impossible without the consent of the realtor and without paying a commission to the realtor cannot be called legal,” noted Maria Ponamoreva, senior lawyer at the A2 law office. — It happens that in the agreement that is proposed to be concluded, neither the name of the realtor nor the name of his company are mentioned, but only the owner of the apartment and the tenant appear. The above indicates that this is a private broker or a real estate agency where services are not officially provided financial statements" In this case, the realtor can be intimidated by a complaint to the tax service - it is unlikely that “gray” employees will want to frame their employer. If successful, the agent can leave the apartment himself.
It happens that while discussing a deal, the realtor tells the owner that he does not have the right to rent out the apartment without the participation of an agent. “The answer to this is that there are no mandatory provisions of the law prohibiting renting out an apartment with or without a commission,” Ponamoreva pointed out. If the realtor begins to appeal to oral agreements with the landlord, then the potential tenant may ask the agent to show the agreement with the landlord.
“If a realtor has provided the owner of the premises with a service in the form of searching for a tenant, then these relations must be recorded in a service agreement, which will clearly indicate the conditions under which the realtor or agency provides the service of finding a tenant for the property. The amount of remuneration is also indicated there,” said the head of the project department for commercial real estate legal company Heads Consulting Olesya Shilova. Without such an agreement, the apartment owner can legally kick the realtor out of the apartment and conclude 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 rent by 1-2 thousand rubles. in case of refusal from 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 one-time payment to the realtor - it is enough to calculate in advance how much you can raise the rate.
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Are you planning to open a new branch, are you interested in one of the Moscow districts? You can delegate this task to competent real estate agency specialists. A professional realtor performs the full range of turnkey work:
- Search for suitable real estate using our own database
- Negotiations with landlords about viewing properties
- Assessment of compliance of the stated rental rate with average market prices
- Checking title documentation
- Assessment of the technical condition of commercial real estate
- Assistance in drawing up an agreement
- Advisory support for the client at any stage of the transaction
By using the services of professionals, you save not only personal time, but also the assets of your organization. Realtors ensure the legal purity of the transaction and help conclude an agreement on the most favorable terms.
Room type
To be able to organize the work of the store in the shortest possible time, it is necessary to find premises prepared for the tenant to move in. In this regard, specialized shopping centers have a certain advantage. In addition, in a prestigious shopping center it strengthens the authority of the tenant organization in the eyes of clients and suppliers.
Administration shopping center refuses to provide you with commercial space or you do not have enough funds to pay for the proposed premises? In this case, we can consider separate buildings or premises in apartment buildings, converted into non-residential fund. Such real estate costs the tenant much less, but it may be necessary to carry out preliminary finishing work.
Combined warehouse-store
Organizations with a modest turnover can recommend renting a premises that combines a sales area and a warehouse area. This solution can significantly reduce transport logistics costs. A combined warehouse-store must meet the following criteria:
- Availability of convenient access roads
- Possibility of access for commercial vehicles
- Availability of a ramp for loading and unloading goods
- Ability to maintain the desired temperature and humidity conditions
An additional advantage will be the presence of racks and other equipment designed for storing goods and keeping records of products. In addition, the warehouse must comply with fire safety standards and SES requirements. If it is intended to store perishable products, then it is necessary to provide for the possibility of maintaining optimal temperature and humidity conditions.
