You are almost ready to sell your condominium? A potential buyer has signed the purchase offer, the notary or lawyer has been informed, you only need to have the purchase contract drawn up and signed. But what documents do you need for the notary or lawyer when selling your flat?
There are two important documents that you have to submit to the contracting officer - whether notary or lawyer - in order to draw up the purchase contract. In this article I will tell you what these are and what consequences a late submission can have for you.
You must provide these two documents for the notary when selling the flat
When selling your condominium, there are two documents that the notary or lawyer absolutely needs from you in order to draw up the purchase contract:
Document #1: Land register extract and land register deeds
In the case of a private sale, you have usually already obtained the land register extract from the competent authority at the beginning of the sale. If you have entrusted an estate agent with the sale of a flat, he or she will have obtained the document for you.
The extract consists of an A, B and C sheet; be sure to hand in all pages, otherwise the document is considered incomplete and the notary or lawyer cannot draw up the purchase contract for the time being.
The collection of documents includes all documents that were necessary for the entry in the land register. Among them are the following documents:
- Purchase contract
- Deed of Pledge
- Declaration of cancellation
- Official confirmation
- etc.
This collection must also be submitted to the notary in due time.
Document #2: Purchase offer signed by both parties and legally binding
In the purchase offer you have already determined the most relevant points for the purchase contract. You are thus secured even before the purchase contract is drawn up. With his signature, the buyer has agreed to the points listed by you and has committed himself to their compliance. Therefore, if the buyer commits a breach of contract before the conclusion of the purchase contract, you can sue for this individual breach of the purchase offer.
You will receive a copy of the purchase offer signed by you and the buyer:
- ... in the case of a private sale by your notary or lawyer.
- ... from your real estate agent if you have used their services to sell your flat.
The contract cannot be drawn up without the purchase offer and the extract from the land register. Therefore, the timely submission of the complete set of documents has the highest priority. Missing documents or documents submitted too late can lead to the sale being cancelled.
Missing documents or documents submitted too late to the notary: These 3 scenarios can occur when selling a flat
If you submit the necessary documents to the notary incompletely or too late when selling a flat, on the one hand the sale will be delayed, which is frustrating for you and the buyer. On the other hand, in my experience as an estate agent in Tyrol, one of the following 3 scenarios occurs:
Scenario #1: The contract preparer obtains the documents for a fee.
This scenario has an annoying but nevertheless tolerable outcome. The documents required for the sale of the flat are obtained by the notary from the competent authorities. As a rule, the contract builder will charge you for the work involved and the issuing costs incurred for the documents.
Scenario #2: The buyer asserts contractual claims arising from the purchase offer.
Normally, the legally binding purchase offer specifies the handover date for the flat. The delay in sale caused by you could now lead to the flat not being handed over on time, which would constitute a breach of contract on your part. If the buyer invokes his contractual claims, you may have to pay him back the purchase price on a pro rata basis.
Scenario #3: The buyer withdraws his purchase offer.
Since the time of handover is contractually recorded in the purchase offer, the buyer has the right to withdraw from the sale in the event of a breach of contract. You are not entitled to any financial compensation because you did not submit the documents on time or in full.
Conclusion: Timely submission of complete documents to the notary saves the flat sale
The notary or lawyer can only draw up the purchase contract ready for entry in the land register if you submit all the necessary documents in good time. If you do not meet the stipulated deadlines, the sale will be delayed. This delay can have legal and financial consequences for you.
The financial damage ranges from a few hundred euros when the notary subsequently obtains the documents to a loss in the six-figure range if the house sale falls through. You should by no means underestimate this risk.
If you want to play it safe in this sales phase, I advise you to rely on the support of an estate agent. This person will support you throughout the entire sales process. In addition, he will take care of the timely submission of the necessary documents to the notary when selling your condominium.
As real estate agents in Innsbruck and Tyrol, my team and I can accompany you in the sale of your property. In addition, as a sworn and court-certified expert, I can help you with the examination of legal documents and the preparation of a legally binding purchase offer.
Of course, we make sure that the documents required for the sale of the flat are submitted to the notary/lawyer in due time.
If you would like to get an idea of what we are like, we will be happy to advise you in a free initial consultation. You can contact us by phone(+ 43 512 580 242), by e-mail(immobilien@arealita.at) or via our contact form(click here).
With kind regards
Yours, Bernhard Großruck
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My name is Bernhard Großruck. I work as a real estate agent and appraiser in Innsbruck and would like to give you helpful tips about real estate in this blog.