You are buying a flat through an estate agency. From the agent you receive a finished draft purchase agreement, together with the advice that you should have the signatures certified by a notary. An acquaintance tells you it is better to “have the contract authorised by a lawyer”, because the Land Register will then decide more quickly and the lawyer is responsible for the contract. Both pieces of advice have a rational core, but they do not lead to the same thing. Review of someone else’s contract and authorisation of a property transfer agreement are different services, and it is worth knowing which one you need.
Authorisation means the lawyer drafts the contract
The Act on Advocacy defines authorisation precisely:
Authorisation of a contract means the drawing up of a property transfer agreement, of a founding document of a commercial company, of an agreement on the transfer of a business share or of a shareholders’ agreement under Section 220w(3) of the Commercial Code, the ascertainment of the identity of the parties to that contract and of their representatives, the assessment of whether the contract does not conflict with the law, does not circumvent the law and does not offend good morals, and the assessment of whether the conclusion of the contract will not give rise to a fact founding the incurrence of loss.
— Section 1a(1) of Act No. 586/2003 Coll. (unofficial English translation)
The first element is the drawing up. The authorisation clause likewise contains the lawyer’s declaration that in drawing up the contract they proceeded under Section 1a (Section 1ab(1)). Authorisation is therefore not a stamp on a text prepared by someone else. If you want an authorised contract and a draft already exists, the lawyer must adopt it as their own: check it, rework it where necessary and draw it up so that they can assume responsibility for the result. On a transfer for consideration they will also alert you to the agreed payment terms for the purchase price and, on every transfer, inform you of the amount of insurance cover and the insurer (Section 1aa).
The consequence for the Land Register is significant. With an authorised contract, as with a contract in the form of a notarial deed, the district authority assesses only whether it is consistent with the cadastral documentation and whether the procedural conditions are met (Section 31(2) of the Cadastral Act), and if the contract is not inconsistent with the cadastral documentation and the procedural conditions are met, it decides within 20 days instead of the general 30 days (Section 32). On an application for expedited proceedings and payment of the fee, the authority may decide within 15 days on any contract (Section 32(3)). The transferor’s signature does not need to be certified (Section 42(3)). The lawyer ascertains the identity of the parties and their representatives personally, however (Section 1b), which is why people attend authorisation in person or send an authorised representative. Who is responsible for what in authorisation is examined in a lawyer’s liability for an authorised agreement.
Review means the lawyer reads the contract for you
Review of someone else’s contract starts from the opposite situation. The contract was written by someone else, most often the estate agency, the developer or the other side’s lawyer, and you need to know what you are signing. The lawyer reads it sentence by sentence, compares it with the title deed, identifies the risks and proposes specific wording for the changes you then send to the other party. The result is a contract with marked-up changes and an overview of the risks.
Review changes nothing about how the Land Register will assess the contract: if the contract has been neither authorised nor drawn up in the form of a notarial deed, the authority examines it in full, including the essential elements, the form, the transferor’s entitlement and consistency with the law (Section 31(1)), and the transferor’s signature must be officially certified, as must their signature on the power of attorney if they are represented (Section 42(3)). Review is, however, sharper in another respect: in it the lawyer defends your interests in the negotiation. Authorisation is concerned with the contract being lawful and not leading to loss; review is concerned with protecting you as well as possible against the other party.
When to choose which
- Review, where the other party holds the contract in its hands and will change it only to a limited extent, typically a developer with a template contract. You want to know what is negotiable and what risk you bear if the other party rejects a comment.
- Authorisation, where the parties agree that a lawyer will draw up the contract and you want an insured lawyer to be responsible for the assessment of the contract, together with a narrower scope of examination at the Land Register.
- Both in sequence, where you receive someone else’s draft, have it checked and the parties then agree that the final version will be drawn up and authorised by a lawyer. The review then becomes the basis for the authorised contract.
- Review even with an authorised contract, where the contract is drawn up and authorised by a lawyer chosen by the other party. Authorisation gives you a statutory assessment of the contract and the lawyer’s liability for loss, not advocacy of your interests in negotiating the terms; only your own lawyer will provide that.
When deciding, consider the practical side too. In authorisation, the lawyer ascertains your identity or that of your representative, which is why you attend in person; signature certification is done at a notary or at an authority wherever you happen to be. If you are far from the office, remote review and certification of signatures where you live tends to be more practical.
What to look at in every case
Whichever route you choose, the contract must make clear how payment, filing of the Land Register application and handover of the property are linked. Ownership passes only on registration (Section 133(2) of the Civil Code), and the time between signature and registration is a period in which one party has already performed and the other has not. How to set the payment terms is explained in the article payment terms in a property purchase agreement. If, with authorisation, you also want the Land Register application filed, the lawyer will prepare it on the basis of a written power of attorney and deliver it to the Land Register (Section 1b(4) of the Act on Advocacy).
We will check someone else’s draft and return it with comments as part of our purchase agreement review service. If you want a contract drawn up and authorised by a lawyer, with filing at the Land Register, see our authorisation of a property transfer agreement service.
This article provides general legal information as at 26 September 2026. It does not constitute legal services or advice on your specific matter. Laws change and the details of your situation may differ. Check the appropriate course of action or contact us before making a decision.
