When buying or selling an apartment, house, land, it is necessary to know which documentation you need and where you can get it:

1. Checking the land registry status

First, it is necessary to check if the seller is registered in the land registry as the owner and if not, if they have a chain of contracts demonstrating their ownership and allowing them to register in the land registry. Are there any seals, restrictions, encumbrances (mortgages, easements, disputes, bankruptcy, etc.) registered on the property? The land registry is a public book, and you can check these details yourself with a little skill, for free on the e-justice website https://evlozisce.sodisce.si/esodstvo/index.html.

2. Checking property permits

Before selling or buying an apartment, single-family house, or building, it is necessary to verify the existence of a final building permit, use permit, energy certificate, pre-emptive rights, etc.

For land, it is necessary to check spatial restrictions for building on the land, pre-emptive rights, and obtain a certificate of the intended use of the land (previously location information), information on the status of agricultural or otherwise protected land, etc. You can get this information from the municipality where the property is located or from the competent administrative unit, or you can authorize a real estate lawyer to obtain the necessary documents for you.

3. Agreement on price and other sales conditions

The sales contract should contain provisions on the price (purchase price) of the property, the method of payment, payment of taxes, fees, costs of composition, authentication, deadline and method of possession delivery, conditions and consequences of non-fulfillment of the contract (forfeiture, refund of the purchase price, compensation, etc.), and determine insurances (contractual penalty, mortgage, payment of the purchase price before delivery of possession, etc.).

4. Signing the sales contract

By signing the sales contract, the legal basis for the transfer of ownership rights with the obligations of the seller and buyer is created, but this is not sufficient for the transfer of ownership with registration in the land registry. It is recommended that the sales contract already includes a land register permit or intabulation clause, as this enables the transfer of ownership rights to the buyer in the land registry.

5. Payment of tax

The real estate transfer tax at a rate of 2% is to be paid by the seller (buyer only if explicitly agreed), and in some cases also value-added tax and capital gains tax.

The application or declaration for tax assessment must be filed with FURS within 15 days of concluding the contract and the tax must be paid within 30 days. FURS confirms the payment of tax or tax exemption with a stamp on the contract. The application form for the assessment of the real estate transfer tax can be found on the financial administration's website:

https://euprava.gov.si/.download/edemokracija/datotekaVsebina/131064?dis...

For tax-related questions regarding the sale of real estate, consult with a tax law expert before concluding a contract. You can authorize a lawyer to file a tax assessment declaration and represent you in the tax procedure.

6. Notary authentication of the seller's signature

After confirming the payment of tax, the next step is the notarial authentication of the seller's signature on the contract or land register permit. In certain cases (e.g., if the sales contract is concluded between spouses or common-law partners within the framework of regulating property law relationships), the contract must be drawn up in the form of a notarial record. The correct form in this case is a condition for the validity of the contract! In this case too, the lawyer drafts the contract for you, and the record in the form of a notarial record is confirmed by a notary.

Only an authenticated seller's signature on the land register permit enables the registration or entry of the ownership right to the buyer in the land registry.

For representation in concluding the sales contract, authenticating the signature, or preparing a draft sales contract, authorize a real estate law attorney.

7. Entry in the land registry

The seller must issue a land registry permit to the buyer, as without this, the acquisition of ownership right is not possible. The registration process begins on proposal, i.e., the parties themselves must take care of the transfer of ownership.

Therefore, the sales contract should already contain a provision according to which both, the buyer and the seller, can propose a land registry implementation of the sale. This way, the seller avoids the situation where the buyer would not want to register as the owner in the land registry for a long time or at all (e.g., so that their ownership would not be apparent for various reasons) and would remain registered as the owner of the sold property in the land registry. In this case, the land registry situation would not correspond to the actual one, which could lead to unnecessary legal complications.

The decision on the registration of ownership rights after the sales contract in the land registry is made by the land registry court by decree. You can check the state of ownership and the land registry procedure on the e-Court website: https://www.sodisce.si/javne_knjige/zemljiska_knjiga/

For representation in the process of registering rights in the land registry, authorize a professional lawyer, and after concluding the real estate sales contract, arrange for a land registry entry as soon as possible.