Finding and viewing an apartment: what to look at during a viewing

Where to search and how to build a shortlist

Start with filtered search: district, budget, number of rooms, floor, building type. The map shows at a glance what is nearby — a school, a bus stop, a market. Save the options you like to favourites and ask the seller questions through messages: the conversation is kept, so you can reread it before you meet.

• Pick 5–7 listings and compare them: price per square metre, floor, condition, year built.
• Look for the Verified badge: on those listings the seller has attached an extract from the Cadastre.
• If the same apartment appears in several listings at different prices, ask who is actually selling it.
• Plan no more than 2–3 viewings a day, or the apartments will blur together.

What to ask before the viewing

• Who the owner is and how many owners there are. Will each owner attend the deal, or a representative with a power of attorney?
• Does anyone hold a right to use the apartment? Under the Civil Code, the list of such people is an essential term of a contract for the sale of a home (Article 570).
• Is there a mortgage, an arrest or another restriction? You will check this in the Cadastre extract at the next step, but an honest answer from the seller saves time.
• How the apartment is heated: its own gas boiler, some other system, or no heating at all.
• Are there unpaid bills for gas, water, electricity or rubbish collection?
• Has the layout been changed, and was the change made official?
• Why the apartment is being sold and how soon the seller is ready to close.

The building and stairwell: what you can see from outside

An apartment lives together with its building. A good renovation won't help if the roof leaks or water stands in the basement. Arrive five minutes early and walk around the building.

• Cracks in load-bearing walls and in the joints between panels, signs of reinforcement.
• The condition of the entrance, stairs and lift: does the lift work, and does anyone look after it?
• The roof and top floor: leak marks on the stairwell ceiling.
• The basement: damp, smell, standing water.
• The yard: parking, a playground, lighting in the evening.
• Who manages the building and how much the monthly fee is.

The apartment: a viewing checklist

• Walls and ceilings: stains, mould in the corners, fresh paint in just one spot.
• Windows: how they close, whether there are gaps or condensation.
• Water: turn on the taps in the kitchen and bathroom, check pressure and drainage. Ask whether water runs around the clock — in some districts it is supplied on a schedule.
• Gas and boiler: how old the boiler is, when it was last serviced, where the meter is.
• Wiring: the state of the fuse box and sockets, old aluminium wiring or new.
• Noise and light: which way the windows face, whether you can hear the street, neighbours, the lift.
• Gas, water and electricity meters: are they installed and sealed?

Separately, compare the actual layout with the floor plan in the cadastral documents. If walls have been moved and the changes were never registered, this can complicate the sale or a mortgage. Such issues are best settled before the deposit, not after.

Documents: what to ask to see

You don't need a full legal check at the viewing — that is the next step of the guide. But it is worth looking at the main papers now, so you don't fall for an apartment that can't be bought without trouble.

• The certificate of state registration of ownership and the owner's passport: do the names match?
• The Cadastre extract. Anyone, not only the owner, can obtain information on rights and restrictions — online at e-cadastre.am or at the Cadastre Committee.
• If a representative is selling: a notarised power of attorney.
• If the apartment has several owners: whether all of them agree to sell.

Key points

• First a shortlist of 5–7 options, then viewings.
• Ask the key questions — about owners, people with a right of use, debts and layout changes — before you meet.
• Inspect the building, not just the apartment: roof, basement, stairwell, walls.
• Glance at the documents and the Cadastre extract at the viewing, and check them in detail at the next step of the guide.