Prior to a Realty Deal
When acquiring a realty, there are many dangers in which you may become not the owner of the property. You should be aware that when signing the contract for sale in front of the notary, you do not automatically become the owner unless 100% is proven that the property belonged to the person selling it. There are many hypotheses that the seller does not have the right to ownership in whole or in part, or even does not own it, or be taken back by a retroactive effect at a later time when you are sure you think you are the new owner. In the event that after you have paid the price and you have confessed the deal in front of a notary, it may be that you were a buyer of a property that did not belong to the seller, and that means that you are not the owner of this property. To minimise the risk of confusion in such a situation, it is advisable to comply and do the following:
1. Check in the Property Register if the person who sells your property is registered as owner and when it is in possession of him. Unfortunately, entry in the registry itself can not properly protect you from any malfunctioning property, which means that even if you formally have certain information entered, this does not give you the assurance that you will get the property clean and untapped by the seller. However, of course, if such an entry is missing at all, you are certainly attempting to mislead you.
2. Verify that the property has not been acquired by the seller in co-ownership – for example, inheritance or marriage (if the property relationship between the spouses is governed by the rules of the spouses’ property community.) The verification is carried out by:
– asking the seller to submit a testamentary or inheritance certificate issued by the municipal administration at the location of the heritage site;
– checking in the Registry of Matrimonial Matters, filed with the Registry Agency.
3. Verify that the seller, in case of a company, has not commenced insolvency proceedings or has not been declared insolvent. Unfortunately, this check can not guarantee you much either, because insolvency proceedings can be found at a later point in time, and the sale deal falls into the so-called “Suspicious period” and be attacked by the creditors.
It is important to know that:
The notary you intend to commit to the transaction is obliged to check whether the seller has the right to ownership of the property he is selling, whether he is validly authorised and whether the necessary documents are available to draw up the title deed but you should know that the notary is not obligated to examine the history of the ownership of the property you acquire or intend to acquire.
The person who appears as the owner of the notary deed may only transfer the right to property if he actually holds that right. Therefore, if the seller who is the owner of the title deed presented to the notary does not own the property right, he can not transfer it to you, no matter how many documents he presents.
If all this sounds serious, and you still want to buy property and be protected from the potential risks behind any real estate deal, you can contact us for both, professional advice and assistance finding the right property and for a successful deal.