Luxembourg

Registering Property in

Luxembourg

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 2,924,334.83
  • City: Luxembourg

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No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
1 Parties visit notary to draft and authenticate the sale agreement (Compromis de Vente)

After signing a sale agreement ("compromis de vente") between each other, as per common practice, the parties will visit a notary so he can draft and authenticate the notarial deed. The sale is complete between the parties, and ownership is acquired as of right by the buyer with respect to the seller, as soon as the property and the price have been agreed upon, although the property has not yet been delivered or the price paid (Article 1583 of the Civil Code). As a sale of real estate must be registered (which triggers the payment of registration taxes) and recorded in the mortgage registry in order to be enforceable vis-à-vis third parties and as only duly certified deeds may be entered in the register, the sale must be recorded in a notarial deed ("acte de vente"). It is sometimes preferable for each party to appoint its own notary (in which case, the notaries' fee is split between the two notaries). Here we assume the case of only one notary.

The notary is deemed a public official with powers delegated by the state to authenticate the deeds he drafts and provides complete security to the contracts he supervises. The authenticity of the deeds grants the parties an undisputable date and content in Court. The law imposes a personal liability on the notary for his professional acts which is more extensive than that of other branches of the legal profession.

There are 36 notaries, 13 of those in Luxembourg canton, in the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg and the sale may be drawn up in front of anyone of them. The time period which is necessary to obtain an appointment with the notary public depends on the availability of such notary (holiday season, etc.). This study assumes that parties would call on day one and receive an appointment for the same or following day.

 1 - 2 days 4 EUR stamp per page of the deed (2-3 pages)
* 2 Notary conducts full search at property registry

The notary may go in person to the Bureau des Hypotheques to request and receive either a 'releve des inscriptions hypothecaires' (containing a list of mortgages), or a 'recherche par case hypothecaire' (containing a list of all land transactions effected by the landowner together with that of every mortgage or charge burdening the property). For each excerpt of the registry EUR 1.24 is payable per property owner and EUR 0.50 per each registered property. If the excerpt includes photocopies, EUR 0.50 is payable per each photocopy. For a closing certificate which confirms that the excerpts are the only existing ones EUR 1.24 per property-owner is payable. For a negative excerpt ( no properties registered) EUR 2.48 is payable per person.

Agency: Property registry (Bureau des Hypotheques) 		1 day in person (simultaneous with procedure 3) EUR 2.48 for full search
* 3 Notary conducts search at the Administration du Cadastre (online)

The notary should also check the status of the property at the cadastre. The notary can equally obtain this information through the cadaste's webpage where all this information is online but access to it is limited to notaries and administrations.

Agency: Administration du Cadastre 		1 day in person (simultaneous with procedure 2) 3 EUR per page
* 4 Notary notifies tax administration of transfer and obtains tax clearance

The notary visits the tax administration office to notify them that the property will be sold. The tax administration office confirms that the property has no claims or unpaid taxes on it. If there are outstanding claims or taxes, the tax administration may register a judicial mortgage on the property.

Agency: Tax Administration office 		1 day in person no cost
5 Buyer sends funds, fees, taxes and anti-money laundering documents to notary

The buyer will pay the taxes, fees and funds for the property by wire transfer to the notary, in addition to notarial fees. Notarial fees are determined by the Regulation of 24 July, 1971 on the revision of notary fees. The buyer must also send anti-money laundering documentation to the notary at this time, regarding the origin of the funds he is using.
2 days 6% market value of property (registration fee) + 3% market value of property (municipal surcharge within city of Luxembourg) + 1% market value of property (transcription duty)+ Notary fee schedule according to the official schedule
6 Parties return to notary to sign transfer deed in original


1 - 2 days already paid in procedure 5
7 Notary registers transfer deed at the Administration de l'Enregistrement et des Domaines

The notary registers the transfer deed at the Administration de l'Enregistrement et des Domaines, which charges the transfer duty to the notary. The Administration will record the transfer, making it opposable to third parties, after two to five days. The Administration will also send the deed to the Administration du Cadastre for registration of the new owner there. It will take the Cadastre about two weeks to record the new owner. At the same time, the Administration will take about two weeks to send a copy of the registered deed, with the stamp of the Administration and a reference number on it, back to the notary. This document would be needed in practice to use the property to obtain a loan from a bank. The registration, municipal and inscription fees are paid by the parties to the notary, who pays the Administration.


Agency: Administration de l Enregistrement et des Domaines 		3 - 5 days to record + 14 days to send a copy of the registered deed already paid in procedure 5
8 Notary sends recorded transfer deed to the parties

Once he receives it, the notary will send the registered deed to the parties.
1 - 2 days already paid in procedure 5
* Takes place simultaneously with another procedure.
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