Purchase of real estate

PROCEDURE

CADASTER

FEES

There are several housing options. If you want to choose a more permanent solution and invest in the future, you will consider buying an apartment or house. Many important questions and decisions will await you if you take this step. We will try to help you with them!

Process

You can find an older property to buy in two main ways:

In advertising in the media, on the Internet or in social media – for example, on the portals nehnutelnosti.sk, reality.sk, topreality.sk, bazos.sk and bezrealitky.sk or in various Facebook groups.
Through real estate agencies – by contacting the selected agency directly or on portals such as nehnutelnosti.sk, reality.sk, topreality.sk and bazos.sk.

When buying real estate through a real estate agency, it is a significant advantage that these agencies usually provide the complete legal service related to selling and purchasing real estate. They know how to recommend suitable financing, provide you with a financial advisor, consult with you, give you advice, or even directly draw up a purchase and sale contract, as well as a proposal and deposit in the cadastre. This legal service is not free – it is usually included in the property’s purchase price. However, considering that it is a big investment and a meaningful life decision, it is often beneficial to use these services.

Suppose you are planning to buy a newly built property. In that case, it is probably best for you to contact directly a developer who builds apartment buildings, residential zones or family houses and owns these properties. Developers post real estate listings on their websites, and when new properties are being made, they usually have giant advertisements around the construction. You can find many development companies on the Internet.

Before you buy the property, don’t forget to ask all the essential questions. Think about every little thing you want to know as a future property owner. Ask about energy supply, signal and internet coverage, neighbours, and infrastructure. Find out if there are any disputes about something located on your future land. Take your time, and don’t be afraid to communicate your doubts. The same applies when signing a contract. Ask, change, specify and add points that you consider essential. The agreement must contain the purchase object, the contracting parties’ designation, and the price. Still, it can also include other points – until when the property must be cleared, the exact delineation of the land, and so on.

Several laws – the Civil Code regulates the details of the purchase and sale contract, the Law on the Ownership of Apartments and Non-Residential Premises, the Cadastral Law and others. The following link will provide a Detailed procedure for buying real estate. If you have any doubts, do not hesitate to contact the experts and consult them!

Cadastre

The real estate cadastre is a database containing the geometric determination, inventory and description of real estate and its rights. It is, therefore, a list in which all plots of land and real estate are graphically marked along with their rights. After purchasing the property and the land under it and near it, it is necessary to log into this database as the new owner.

Read the articles What awaits you and don’t spend at the real estate cadastre and How to proceed at the cadastre if you are buying real estate with a mortgage.

The object of the lease and the extent of its use – what house or apartment are you renting, and to what time can you use it

Identification of the parties to the contract – who are you as a tenant, and who is the landlord

The amount of rent – how much you will regularly pay for rent

The amount of payment for services related to use – the amount for other fees in addition to rent, for example, for electricity or a contribution to the repair fund

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Make sure that these two amounts are listed in the contract separately, not together! If the contract specifies only one charge, it may be considered invalid.

The contract may also include other provisions that you and the owner agree on, for example:

when and how will you pay the rent and additional fees,
the conditions when the amount of rent and costs can be increased,
when can the landlord grant you a price for late rent,
what is the amount of the deposit, which is an advance payment that you pay at the beginning of the lease and at the end of which it is returned to you under certain conditions,
what are the penalties for damage to the apartment or its equipment,
terms of termination of the contract, i.e. when you or the lessor can terminate the agreement,
other obligations of the lessee and the lessor.

Always read the contract before signing it! Don’t be afraid to discuss individual points with the landlord, and don’t sign what you disagree with, what you don’t understand or what you know you can’t fulfil. If the length of the notice period does not suit you, do not be afraid to ask for its shortening. Discuss the conditions under which the landlord can terminate your contract if you are not comfortable with them. If necessary, do not hesitate to contact an expert. You can read more about rental agreements, for example, on the bezrealitky.sk portal.

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In the case of a sublease, the contracts are a bit different. For example, you can get more information in the article Lease, rent or sublease – what are the differences between them?

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the search for a lease or sublease and the contract arrangement will go well. You will face other challenges and probably various major and minor problems. Our article’s 10 practical tips for independent living will help you avoid at least some of these problems. In addition, it is important to take care of the household.

Fees

When buying real estate and the subsequent fees you have to pay, it depends on several factors, for example, whether you finance the purchase of real estate thanks to a mortgage loan or whether a real estate agency mediates the purchase of the real estate.

Below you will find a list of fees, some of which may also apply to you.

Commission for the real estate agency – usually ranges from 3% to 5% of the amount for which you buy the property.

Costs associated with a mortgage – in this case, you have to think about interest and an expert opinion, which is the most critical condition when obtaining a mortgage from a bank.

Insurance – is a necessary condition for obtaining a mortgage on real estate. Still, even without a mortgage, it is good to protect your property with insurance (you can learn more on the page dedicated to insurance).

Notary fees – you must notarise the signatures of purchase and sale contracts, the number of which depends on the number of participants in the proceedings, to which you must add two more copies for the administration of the cadastre and also the Proposal for deposit in the real estate cadastre (Návrh na vklad do katastra nehnuteľností) in the same number of copies; you can also use the notary’s money safekeeping service, which serves to transfer the amount for which you buy the property securely.

Fees for legal services – the purchase and sale agreement is essential and should not be underestimated. Therefore it is recommended to have it drawn up or checked by a professional.

Fees for services at the real estate cadastre – the amount of these fees is determined by the tariff of the Act on Administrative Fees. For example, it is a fee for The proposal to start the procedure for permission to deposit the right to real estate in the real estate cadastre (Návrh na začatie konania o povolení vkladu práva k nehnuteľnosti do katastra nehnuteľností) or the issue of a copy of the cadastral map usable for legal acts.

Additional costs when buying real estate – these expenses primarily concern older real estate, repairs and renovations.

For example, you can read about these fees in the article Costs when buying real estate. In addition to these initial investments, when purchasing a home, it is essential to consider other fees associated with its ownership and use.

You are likely to encounter most of these charges:

electricity, gas, water,
property tax and dog tax,
fee for municipal waste,
concessionaire fees,
entertainment (TV, Netflix),
the Internet.

You can read more about fees in energies and services.

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Did we forget something? At the bottom of the page, you will find a form in which you can let us know what you are missing from this list and what other information about any of the topics we should add to our site.

Mortgage

You will learn about what a mortgage is, what it is for, when it is appropriate to apply for it and how to do it on the page dedicated to loans.

TIP

If both the search and the purchase of real estate go well, you will face other essential challenges and probably various major and minor problems. Our article’s 10 practical tips for independent living will help you avoid at least some of these problems.

The National Association of Real Estate Agents of Slovakia provides more detailed information on this topic in its regular NARKS podcast.

In our podcast, you will learn directly from a person from practice – real estate expert František Fortuna from FORA reality. You can find us on Spotify, Apple, Google podcast, and many other platforms.

Listen on your favourite podcast platform: