Expert talks about innovations in using maternity capital when buying housing

In 2025, the requirements for houses purchased using maternity capital, or more precisely, for the package of documents provided, changed. It became mandatory to provide a certificate of suitability of the house for permanent residence. Without it, the transfer of maternity capital funds will be denied. Deputy Head of the Mortgage Department of the federal company Etazhi Tatyana Reshetnikova spoke about this and other subtleties.

Maternity capital can be used to purchase an apartment on the primary or secondary market, as well as to purchase, build or reconstruct a house, pay off a previously issued mortgage early, and even pay the entry fee to a construction and housing cooperative.

The right to receive maternity capital is granted to families with a first and second child born or adopted since 2020, families with two children born or adopted in 2007-2019, with three or more children (if there was no right to maternity capital before), families with a second or each subsequent child born since 2020, if there was no right to maternity capital before.

After the next indexation, which is held annually in February, the amount of maternity capital is from 690 to 912 thousand rubles. Moreover, absolutely all certificates that their owners have not yet had time to use are indexed, as a rule, at the level of official inflation. Considering that real estate prices often outpace inflation, it is better to use maternity capital in the first months after its next indexation.

You can use maternity capital until at least 2030, while the program has been extended for this period.

The areas of application of maternity capital are constantly expanding. Now, immediately after receiving it, it can be used, including to improve housing conditions with the help of a mortgage, childcare services (for example, kindergarten), monthly payment for a child up to three years old (only for low-income families), the purchase of goods and services for disabled children.

But it will be possible to improve housing conditions with the help of maternity capital, but without a mortgage, only when the child turns three. The same applies to expenses on secondary and higher education of children or transfer of maternity capital to the mother's funded pension.

Holders of maternity capital are not obliged to use the entire amount at once. It can be divided, for example, part can be used to build a house, and the other part - to pay off a previously taken mortgage. But there is an important nuance. When using the subsidy funds to improve housing conditions, there is an obligation to allocate shares in the property to each family member that were there at the time of using the maternity capital. Adult children and the official spouse have the right to refuse their shares through a notary.

There are some peculiarities when refinancing a mortgage in which maternal capital funds were used. Some banks do not refinance such loans if shares have already been allocated to children, while other banks do the opposite. Therefore, when refinancing such loans, it is necessary to take into account the policy of each bank.

Maternity capital can also be used to pay off a mortgage issued before the birth of a child, there are no difficulties with this. However, there may be problems with preferential loans and these risks must be taken into account. According to the new rules, maternity capital funds are transferred as a down payment on a mortgage only after confirmation of its issuance by the bank. The problem is that if for some reason the transfer of the subsidy is refused, then upon termination of the transaction the person will lose the right to a preferential mortgage. The only option is to contribute your own funds in order to prevent the termination of the loan agreement.

There are also subtleties when selling real estate, when acquiring or building which maternal capital funds were used. In this property, shares must be allocated to children, and the guardianship authority must be asked for the right to sell and allocate proportionate shares with another real estate property. In the acquired real estate property, shares must be allocated to children. Moreover, this should not lead to a deterioration in housing conditions.

Some banks prohibit allocating shares to children until the mortgage is paid off, so in the event of a sale, you will first have to pay off the remaining debt, then allocate the required shares, obtain consent for the sale from the guardianship authorities, and then complete the transaction.