Remote purchase and rental of real estate in Slovakia

Why real estate in Slovakia is in demand by foreigners

The real estate market in Slovakia has been actively growing in recent years, including because the demand for local housing from foreigners has increased significantly. Many people like a quiet, comfortable and inexpensive life in this country of Eastern Europe, from where, if desired, you can easily get to other EU states. In addition, according to Knight Frank, Slovakia and the United States are in third place in the world in terms of housing cost growth, where this indicator increased by 18.6% over the year, it was higher only in Turkey and New Zealand. This result has become natural, since the continuous rise in price of real estate in Slovakia has been observed over the past 15 years. It is worth noting that in the era of the pandemic, many began to invest their funds in real estate, seeing how this market began to grow actively, prices not only did not decrease, they began to increase even more actively.

Actions for remote purchase

First of all, you need to contact a real estate agency that has been working in the local housing market for a long time. If a potential buyer has not been to this country before, it will be especially comfortable to communicate with a Russian-speaking specialist. First you need to formulate your ideas about the future apartment. In the case of practice, which we are talking about, it was a fully furnished two-bedroom apartment in Bratislava, ready to be lived in and immediately rented out. The buyer also wished that the house in which the apartment is located should be located in a popular area with good metropolitan infrastructure. At the same time, the year of construction of the residential complex should not be older than 20 years, and the cost of the object should not exceed 160,000 euros.

After the voiced wishes, the realtor begins to prepare a selection of suitable options, looking at all the largest real estate sites in Slovakia. According to the formulated request, there were a lot of apartments with the desired parameters, but their cost exceeded the ceiling of 160,000 euros, which was reported to the buyer. He agrees to raise the price to 200,000 euros.

As a result, the search was focused on the area of Bratislava Karlova Ves, which is located close to the center, there are forests and forest parks on its territory, a lot of greenery in the courtyards, there is all the city infrastructure and many places for sports and recreation. About twenty apartments were viewed in it before the right option was found, for which many people quickly appeared. Therefore, it is so important to be the first in the matter of paying the reservation advance, which was done by the real estate agency. This happens as follows: the buyer immediately transferred the required amount of 3,000 euros to the realtor's account. After receiving the advance, the seller's realtor has no right to sell the apartment to another buyer.

In the case in question, the object turned out to be a 3-room apartment with an area of 63 sq.m. with a loggia and a glazed balcony, located on the 2nd floor in an 8-storey building opposite the forest, which stretches to the fortress of Devin and Austria. The facility was fully ready for occupancy, fresh repairs were made, new networks (water, sewerage, electricity) were laid, a new bath with a massage shower was installed, the kitchen was equipped with all modern equipment.

What documents are issued for remote purchase

Before starting to search for an object, a real estate agency draws up an agreement on mediation in the purchase of real estate in Slovak and Russian. It clearly establishes the duties and rights of the intermediary (agency) and the customer (buyer), the method and sequence of payments for real estate and for the provision of services for search and trips to objects and negotiations with the seller. When a specific apartment is selected for purchase, simultaneously with the payment under the apartment reservation agreement, the buyer pays the agency an advance from the remuneration, the so-called "commission". This amount is paid in full after the apartment is reissued by the cadastre to the buyer.

In addition to the mediation agreement, you also need to issue three powers of attorney:

- a general power of attorney (it is not necessary to certify at the Consulate of Slovakia in Russia, the buyer's data and the data of his representative in the country are indicated, after which the buyer signs it, scans it and sends it in PDF format to the real estate company's e-mail). It is this power of attorney that the agency shows to the sellers of the apartment and their representatives at the viewing of the object.

- a power of attorney for a specific apartment to be purchased (all housing parameters are specified, the buyer signs it, is certified at the Slovak consulate and sent to the agency by courier mail). It is necessary to solve all issues on the cadastre.

- power of attorney for payment of utilities and rental of housing (signed at the Slovak consulate at the same time as the second one). The power of attorney confirms that the real estate company has the right to rent an apartment, accept payments from the tenant and pay for utilities.

At this time, the real estate agency is preparing a contract for the purchase of real estate. The purchase was carried out with an accelerated deposit within 14 days for payment to the cadastre of 266 euros. With the usual deposit, the apartment is reissued in 1 month and in this case the services are paid in the amount of 66 euros. Then, at the notary, both parties sign an agreement on the purchase of an apartment and an application to the cadastre, and with the buyer's side, this specialist also concludes a contract on the storage of money (cost 200 euros). According to him, the buyer will transfer the money for the apartment to the notary's account, and he will already transfer the money to the sellers after he receives from the cadastre a sheet of ownership of the apartment with the buyer's name.

If the buyer has money in a bank located on the territory of the European Union, he will easily transfer the money to the notary's account. If the funds are located in Russia, then the Bank of the Russian Federation needs to provide a scanned purchase agreement drawn up in Slovak and Russian. Usually, an abbreviated translation into Russian of the contract is enough, which will be filed to the contract in Slovak and notarized. The transfer of money from the bank of the European Union lasts 1 day, from the Bank of Russia it will be a day longer.

After the notary receives money from the buyer, the real estate company, together with the seller's side, goes to the cadastre and submits an application for a deposit, a purchase agreement and confirmation from the management company that the apartment has no debts for utilities. The process of real estate renewal can be tracked on the cadastre website. The next day after submitting the documents, a red seal is placed on the apartment's ownership sheet, which means that the cadastre works with the apartment and no action can be taken with it. After 12 days, it is removed and the name of the buyer appears on the document. After receiving the original ownership sheet with the name of the new owner, the notary makes a transfer of money to the seller's account.

Apartment transfer

Then the former owners of the apartment and the buyer's representative meet at the facility to check its condition and sign a protocol on the delivery and acceptance of housing. The document specifies the numbers of the apartment meters (electricity, gas, cold and hot water) and the indicators on them. Until the day of delivery and acceptance of the apartment, the old owners pay for utilities, from the next day they already pay new ones.

Electricity and gas costs are reissued through a phone call, during which the old and new owner call their data, numbers and meter readings, after which the corresponding utility service will be reissued. The contract with the new owner will be sent to him by e-mail, after which he signs it and sends it back in scanned form.

You need to visit the management company in person (this is done by proxy by the buyer's representative), leaving her a copy of the protocol on the delivery and acceptance of the apartment, and also signs the contract and receives information about payments for the apartment. Russian-speaking buyers usually choose a payment method once every six months.

Payment of utility bills

In the case that we describe, at first it was planned that the buyer would pay for utilities himself from an account in his own country, but in the end he decided that this was inconvenient, since communication with service providers requires knowledge of the Slovak language and the specifics of the work of suppliers. Therefore, he decided to transfer to the account of the real estate company the necessary amount of money to make the first payments for utilities (150 euros). All subsequent services will be paid for already by the tenant. All utilities cost 150 euros.

Preparing an apartment for rent

Almost all the furniture needed for renting out was in the housing, but the buyer was for retrofitting the apartment and buying inventoryI transferred an additional 2,000 euros to the agency. These funds were used to buy chairs, a freezer, a vacuum cleaner, a clothes dryer, a clothes hanger in the hallway, dishes, bed linen. Then it turned out that the Internet was not connected to the apartment – and for foreigners who do not have a residence permit in Slovakia, this cannot be done. As a result, it was possible to do this by issuing a service to an employee of a real estate company. The cost of Internet and television services amounted to 20 euros per month.

Apartment insurance

In Slovakia, in case of damage to an apartment due to a natural disaster, fire, storm, flood, through someone else's fault or during robbery or vandalism, the damage will be reimbursed by the insurance company. If damage is caused to neighbors (flooding, fire, etc.), the insurance company will reimburse the costs. The cost of such services for an apartment for 1 year is 107 euros.

Management agreement for lease

The parties to the contract are the owner and manager of the apartment – a representative of a real estate company. The contract prescribes the responsibilities of the owner and manager and creates two funds - rental and reserve. The first one is intended for payments related to the rental of an apartment, payment of utilities, payments from the tenant, owner's remuneration from the lease, manager's remuneration.

The reserve fund is needed to pay for maintenance, repairs, purchase of furniture and accessories of the apartment, its insurance, advertising of apartment rent, specific services of the manager and other issues related to the operation of real estate.

Lease agreement

A real estate company is preparing a standard lease agreement. It specifies the data of the apartment owner and his representative. The items with the tenant's data remain empty for the time being. Then the specialist introduces the property owner to the rental prices of furnished apartments similar in size and technical parameters in a particular area. In the described case, the cost of rent together with utilities ranged from 600 to 900 euros per month. The advice was given to give a price slightly above the average, i.e. 800 euros. Since if you are looking for tenants at the highest bar, this process can take several months. And all this time utilities will have to be paid by the owner of the apartment.

When renting a property, the amount for it is paid for a month in advance. A deposit (kaucia) in the amount of one month's payment is left to the owner of the property until the end of the lease term. The deposit is returned to the lessee after the expiration of the period specified in the contract. All underpayments for utilities and repair of damages caused by the fault of the tenant are deducted from the deposit. If the tenant leaves the apartment before the deadline, the landlord has the right to keep the deposit in full as a contractual penalty for non-compliance with the contract.

Renting an apartment

Due to the good location of the apartment, its condition and the price of the tenant did not have to look for a long time. An announcement was made on the largest real estate website and interested people appeared immediately and soon the most suitable tenant was chosen. A contract and a protocol on the acceptance and transfer of an apartment for rent with meter indicators and a list of inventory were signed with him. The tenant paid for the current and future month of rent, left a deposit and started living in the apartment.

Thank you for your help in preparing the material:

Oleg Kazankov, director of the company& nbsp;< a href="//www.homesoverseas.ru/agency/Rusky_sro_Bratislava ">RUSKY SK s.r.o. Bratislava