The process of buying property in Germany

The process of buying real estate in Germany is quite simple and well established. A large share of properties on the German housing market are sold through agencies or private brokers. In Germany, Russians can make real estate sales and purchases on an equal basis with the country's citizens. To do this, you need to have a foreign passport with a valid visa and the required amount of money. It is even possible to buy real estate in Germany without a passport. In this case, the purchase takes place only by power of attorney without leaving for Germany. The power of attorney is drawn up according to the internal passport, apostilled and translated into German. Only when translating the surname, name and patronymic into German is it advisable to take into account their possible spelling in the future passport, so that subsequently there are no differences in spelling. Although even disagreements in the writing of these data are not an obstacle to the subsequent use of real estate. Purchase process In Germany, all real estate transactions are carried out only through a notary. The notary protects the rights of both the seller and the buyer. He checks the cleanliness of the object, all the necessary documentation and carries out all actions related to the owner's record in the Land Register (Cadastral registration of land plots in Germany). All notaries in Germany are state and independent, so a transaction can be made through any notary. After the buyer and seller have agreed on a price, the notary begins to prepare a draft sales contract. In this project, which is drawn up in German, the data of the object, its value, conditions of transfer of ownership, information about the owners, etc. are entered. During the preparation of the draft agreement, the notary will check the object for legal purity, whether there are any restrictions on use or sale, encumbrances, etc. .d. Information about an object, in addition to the area specified in the Charter for the division of ownership, is received by the notary from the Land Register. It is impossible to obtain an extract from the Land Register on your own; this can be done personally by the owner of the object, a notary or an authorized realtor. If the object is purchased with the help of a real estate agency, then a realtor with a notary is involved in the preparation of a draft contract. The realtor, as an intermediary, knowing all the data of the buyer, seller and the acquired object, submits them to a notary to draw up a draft agreement, which is then sent to the buyer and seller for review. A foreign buyer must prove his solvency, therefore, before concluding a transaction, an account must be opened with a German bank, to which the buyer transfers an amount equal to the value of the property. A bank statement is provided as confirmation of the availability of the required amount. If the buyer is a foreigner, then the sales contract must be translated into Russian by a sworn translator. The sales contract, according to the new law, must be in the hands of the buyer for at least two weeks. Then the date of signing the contract is set. If a house or apartment in Germany is registered for an individual who is married, a signature in the sales contract of the spouse is required or a power of attorney from him / her with apostille certification is required. Signing the contract The seller and the buyer, or an authorized representative must be present at the signing of the sales contract at the notary. In this case, the power of attorney must be drawn up by a notary and contain an apostille. If the apostilled power of attorney is not made in Germany, then it must be translated into German and certified by a sworn translator. When signing a contract at a notary, an interpreter must be present, since the terms of the contract are read aloud in German. Any person who is fluent in both languages can be a translator. In confirmation that the translator has correctly translated the contract, his signature is also placed at the bottom of the contract. An agreement is only legally binding when it is signed by both parties before a notary. The original contract remains with the notary, and the buyer and seller receive certified copies. When the contract is signed, the notary makes an application for making a preliminary entry in the Land Register, which is the assignment of the object to the buyer. After a preliminary entry is made in the Land Register, the notary receives a notice and then he gives permission to pay for the purchase. An advance entry is made after the transfer of ownership tax has been paid. The buyer transfers the money to an account opened by a notary or to the seller's account only after a notice from the notary that a preliminary entry in the Land Register has been made. After paying the purchase amount, all taxes and fees, the notary notifies the registration department of the actions taken, and only then the name of the new owner is entered in the Land Register. Immediately or from the first day of the month following the payment of the purchase price, an economic transfer of ownership takes place, that is, the new owner receives the keys, and from that moment the property can be used or rented out, but the legal transfer of ownership occurs only after the name of the new owner is entered to the Land Book. The new owner receives a certificate (Grundbuchauszug) from the registry office, which keeps records in the Land Register, which confirms the ownership. At this stage, the purchase process can be considered completely complete. The entire purchase procedure takes on average one to two months, but an extract from the Land Register is often made from three to six months, sometimes longer. Payment for the purchase The notary opens a trust account with the bank (Notaranderkonto) from which the purchase will be paid. The terms of payment for the purchase are stipulated in the contract, as a rule, they are from two to four weeks after making a preliminary record in the Land Register. To make payment to this account, you need to provide a sales contract, as well as confirmation of the opening of this account by a notary. The money for the purchase can be transferred directly to the seller's account, but also only after the notary has indicated the preliminary entry in the Land Register. Taxes and expenses In addition to the main amount of money for the purchase of the selected object, additional expenses will be required, which will amount to an average of 10% of the total amount. These include: - tax on the transfer of ownership (Grunderwerbsteuer) - depending on the region 3.5% -6% of the purchase price - notary services - 1.2% -2% of the purchase price - in case of buying real estate through an agency, commission agent will be 3-7% (plus 19% VAT). When buying inexpensive objects, the agent's commission, as a rule, is a fixed amount, and not a percentage - the cost of real estate registration - an average of 1.5% - translation services upon signing a contract (about two hours): 50-100 euros per hour. If the purchase is made through a real estate agency, then the transfer is included in their services - if a mortgage is taken, then approximately 1% of the cost of the requested amount falls on the loan. The HomesOverseas.ru portal thanks Nadezhda Prince from the company Prinz Dom , Alena Stolze from West Realtor , Yulia Ustayan from Alpha Internationale GmbH , Vladimir Sachkov from the company Immobilien Nedvishimost and Lubov Baumgertner from the company L&B Immobiliya for participation in the preparation of the article. HomesOverseas.ru