On July 1, 2019, the law on project financing came into force in Russia, according to which
buying an apartment in a house under construction will follow the new rules . From now on, developers are prohibited from attracting money from equity holders for housing construction. When
purchasing an apartment, citizens will make all payments through special escrow accounts in authorized banks. Construction companies will not be able to use this money until the completion of work, they will be financed by banks.
The Law on Project Finance was signed by the President on December 25, 2018. Thus, the authorities expect to solve the problem of the emergence of new deceived equity holders, which was not solved by the main document regulating this area - 214 FZ. The new model
purchasing apartments can increase the cost of housing by 12 percent.
Escrow account is a mechanism that allows you to place funds equity holders on a special bank account, in which the funds will be kept until the completion of the construction of the facility. Developers using escrow accounts to pay under equity agreements will receive a bank loan sufficient to complete construction and will be exempt from paying contributions to the compensation fund. Simplified requirements are imposed on such developers, which are reflected in the №214-FZ.
At the same time, the new rules should not "freeze" the previously started construction. For this, criteria for residential projects are defined, which can be completed after July 1 without switching to a financing scheme using escrow accounts. According to the decree of the Government of the Russian Federation, the degree of readiness of an apartment building must be at least 30 percent, and the number of equity participation agreements in the construction of an object must be at least 10 percent of the total area of residential and non-residential premises.
