Germany

Registering Property in

Germany

Listed below is a detailed summary of the steps, time and cost involved in registering property, assuming a standardized case of an entrepreneur who wants to purchase land and a building that is already registered and free of title dispute.

The information appearing on this page was collected as part of the Doing Business project, which measures and compares regulations relevant to the life cycle of a small- to medium-sized domestic business in 183 economies. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2011.

  • Standard Property Transfer

  • Property Value: EUR 1,552,803.32
  • City: Berlin

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No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
1 The notary obtains an extract from the Land Registry and notarizes the transfer agreement

The notary obtains the information referred to the property, e.g. from the land registry to "name" the object in the contract and to see if it is free of burdens and mortgages.
A notary has a privileged access to the land register to obtain the extracts. Some of the notaries have on-line access to such land registers which are already converted to electronic land registers. They are in the position to review the extracts very shortly before the notarization from their own offices. The land registry in Berlin is partially computerized, and so extracts can be obtained online.
It is possible to retrieve the extract in a shorter period of time (1-2 days), but this is rare.
The notary will also notarize the sale and transfer agreement. This is a necessary form requirement according to Germany statutory law.
Notary's fees are fixed at EUR 4584 plus other fixed costs ranging up to EUR 7465.75.
A notary will generally examine the land register extracts. In exceptional cases there might not be sufficient time, for example because he has been asked by the parties to notarize a sale and transfer agreement within a very short time period. If he is willing in such cases to notarize the agreement he will provide for a clause to exclude his liability that he has not reviewed the land register but that the parties have asked him, nevertheless, to notarize the document.
If the notary has not prepared the draft sale and transfer agreement he asks for the draft agreement to be provided in advance for his review. The usual procedure is that the notary examines the draft and provides the parties with comments as regards legal and technical aspects.


Agency: Land Registry 		5 days EUR 8 (extract) + EUR 4584 to 7465.75
* 2 Obtain waiver of preemption rights with the municipality

The consent or negative attest of the competent authority regarding any statutory pre-emption rights is required and applicable to all properties in Berlin. The civil council ("Bezirksamt") issues the consent or a negative attest to the transaction. The time limit given by the statute is that the civil council may exercise the right of pre-emption two months after the delivery of a copy of the notarised sale and transfer agreement.

The respective preemption right for the public authorities/civil council mentioned in the survey is regulated under Section 24, 25 and 28 German Federal Building Code (Baugesetzbuch). Under specific circumstances the public authorities could have a statutory preemption right to coordinate the urban land-use planning. These rules are applicable to all properties in Berlin. It is necessary therefore to provide the land register with either a consent of the public authorities to the transfer or an attest that the statutory right of preemption either does not exist or is not exercised.

The notary is usually requested to execute the agreement. He will inform the city council immediately after notarisation of the document. If the city council does not respond within two weeks following the receipt of the property purchase agreement, it cannot exercise its right (preclusion period). However, the city council usually responds within two months even if it does not exercise the pre-emption right.

Agency: Muncipality 		2 weeks and up to 2 months (simultaneous with procedure 3 and 4) EUR 25 (consent of negative attest of city council)
* 3 Fulfillment of the pre-conditions for the validity of the purchase price and notarize sale agreement

The following pre conditions have to be fulfilled for the maturity of the purchase price:

(i) Consent or negative attest of the competent authority regarding any statutory pre-emption rights, applicable to all properties in Berlin.
(ii) Registration of the priority notice in the Land Register (not mandatory but usual practice to secure the purchasers rank in the land register and avoid a third party purchasing the property in good faith).
(iii) Consent to the cancellation of existing encumbrances
(i)The civil council ("Bezirksamt") issues the consent or a negative attest to the transaction. The time limit given by the statute is that the civil council may exercise the right of pre-emption two months after the delivery of a copy of the notarised sale and transfer agreement.
(ii)The priority notice prevents a purchase by a third party of good faith between the conclusion of the purchase agreement and registration of the purchaser; it usually ranks after the existing encumbrances and prior to any future encumbrances at the time of notarisation. This notice provides a very high level of legal and economic security and certainty. Upon registration, the notice protects against all intervening interests (including seller’s insolvency) pending completion of the transaction and actual change in registered ownership. By use of this notice, a purchaser is legally protected against potential risks at an extremely early stage of the conveyancing transaction. Therefore, such notation is generally entered in the public register by the notary immediately following authentication of the purchase contract. From that moment onward, the purchaser can rest assured that he can acquire title to the property if all prerequisites to maturity of the purchase price are fulfilled.

The items (i, ii, and iii) above which are not accepted or taken over by the purchaser have to be in place. It might take substantial time to obtain them, particularly if they have come from public authorities. Such consents will be delivered to the notary and will usually be presented to the land register later when applying for the registration of the new owner (Procedure 4).
Registration fee of the priority notice depends on the value of the property.

If all pre-conditions to the maturity "Fäligkeit" of the purchase price, usually collected and examined by the notary, have been fulfilled, the notary issues a statement of maturity "Fäligkeitsmitteilung" to the purchaser. The purchaser is then obliged to pay the purchase price. The payment is evidenced by the seller confirming payment or a bank statement.
If the respective declarations in rem have already been provided for in the sale and transfer agreement, the notary is usually bound by an escrow agreement not to forward them to the land register until the purchase price has been paid.
In case of real property the law says the agreement has to be notarized (Section 311b German Civil Code). The transfer of title of a real property, governed by the law of disposition "Sachenrecht", also has to be in a certain form: the declarations in rem, which are in a format according to the land register regulation (Grundbuchordnung), and the transfer has to be registered in the land register. Such declarations in rem which are pre-conditions to the registration of the purchaser to be registered as new owner may either already be in the notarial deed or be given in a separate notarial deed.
20 days (simultaneous with procedure 2 and 4) EUR 1153.50 (registration fee of priority notice)
* 4 Payment of the transfer tax and obtaining the confirmation

The notary is obliged to provide a copy of each notarised sale and transfer agreement to the responsible tax authority. The tax authority will then issue a tax assessment and send it to the purchaser.
The land register clerk will not register the purchaser as new owner if the transfer tax has not been paid.
After payment of the real estate transfer tax, the tax authority will issue a statement of innocuousness (Unbedenklichkeitsbescheinigung) and send it to the notary for presentation to the land register. It may be expected that such statement will be issued within one month following the notarisation.
The tax amounts to 4.5% of the purchase price in Berlin (and Hamburg); the tax in the remaining states within Germany is 3.5% of the purchase price.


Agency: Tax Authority 		15 days, possibly up to one month (simultaneous with procedure 2 and 3) 4.5% of purchase price
5 Application for the registration of the new owner and deletion of the priority notice to the land register

After the purchase price has been paid and the tax authorities have provided the innocuousness statement, an application for the registration of the purchaser as new owner and deletion of the priority notice is submitted. A registration fee is paid depending on the property value. The deletion fee for the cancellation of the priority notice also depends on the value.
It is important to note that there is a possibility to register the title through an expedited procedure, whereby the notary acts as a Trustee and the client can pay through a trust account (Notartreuhandkonto). This makes it possible to obtain the legal title faster, possibly in 2-5 days. However, this occurs only with a small proportion of property title transfers.
The documentation shall include:
• Statement of Innocuousness (obtained in Procedure 3)
• Consent of public authority/civil council to the transfer or attest that the statutory right of pre-emption either does not exist or is not exercised (obtained after Procedure 2)
• Consents to the cancellation (obtained in Procedure 2 and sent to the notary)
• Declarations in rem ‘dingliche Erklärungen” for the registration of the purchaser as owner.


Agency: Land Register 		up to one month EUR 2,307 (Registration Fee) + EUR 576,75 (fee for the cancellation of priority)
* Takes place simultaneously with another procedure.
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