Sale agreement for a house and land: how to identify the building, the parcels and the appurtenances so that it passes the Land Register

A buyer of a flat buys one unit together with a co-ownership share in the building and the land. With a family house the title deed is as a rule richer: part A contains the building with its building number, the parcel on which it stands and, alongside it, further parcels of the yard and garden, sometimes also a garage, a share in an access road or land recorded in a different register. Each of these items is a separate piece of real property. Property that the agreement does not identify will not be transferred, and imprecise identification as a rule leads to the registration proceedings being stayed.

A building and land are two different pieces of real property

Slovak law does not recognise the principle that a building forms part of the land. The Civil Code says so expressly: buildings, watercourses and groundwater do not form part of the land (Section 120(2) of the Civil Code). The house and the parcel beneath it are therefore stated separately in the agreement and may even have different owners. The first step is to verify that the seller is recorded as the owner both of the building and of all the land being sold with the house. If the land beneath the house belongs to someone else, buying the house will not obtain it for you and the matter must be dealt with before signing.

What the agreement must contain

The Cadastral Act prescribes how real property is to be identified in an agreement:

real property by cadastral area, land by the parcel number recorded in the set of descriptive information, land recorded as a register “C” parcel or a register “E” parcel, the type of land and the area of the land, the building number of the building and the parcel number of the land on which the building stands […]

— Section 42(2) of the Cadastral Act (unofficial English translation)

In the case of a house this means stating the cadastral area, and for each parcel its number, register, type of land and area, and for the building its building number and the number of the parcel on which it stands. Where a co-ownership share is transferred, it is stated as a fraction of the whole. Register “C” parcels are recorded on the cadastral map, register “E” parcels on the map of the designated record (Section 7(b)). With older houses it may happen that the garden or part of the yard is recorded as a register “E” parcel on a different title deed from the house. Anyone drafting the agreement from a single title deed easily leaves such a parcel out.

The agreement must also be free of errors in writing and calculation and of other obvious inaccuracies (Section 42(1)). A transposed digit in a parcel number, or an area copied from an old extract, are typical errors for which the Land Register stays the proceedings and calls for correction; and if the property could not be determined, registration may even be refused. An obvious inaccuracy in the agreement may, once the application has been filed, be corrected only by an amendment to the agreement (Section 42(4)), as we examine in the question correcting an error in the agreement after filing the application.

All the property in a single application

The agreement is followed by the registration application, which cannot “split” the agreement up:

The subject matter of the registration application must be all the legal acts contained in the agreement which are subject to registration, and all the real property relating to the legal acts contained in the agreement which are subject to registration.

— Section 30(5) of the Cadastral Act (unofficial English translation)

If, alongside the transfer of the house, the agreement also creates an easement, for example a right of way across a parcel the seller is retaining, that belongs in the same application. If title to any of the property is not entered on the title deed, an instrument confirming it is enclosed, together with an identification of the parcels (Section 30(4)). In the case of an agreement on the transfer of real property authorised by a lawyer, the Land Register reviews only conformity with the cadastral record and the procedural conditions (Section 31(2)). That is another reason why, on authorisation, the identification of the property is checked against the current state of the Land Register before signing.

Where only part of the land is being sold

If the seller is retaining part of the garden, the new parcels must first be created by a survey plan, and the agreement identifies them accordingly. When dividing land, account must be taken of rules that may restrict division, which we explain in the question the prohibition on fragmenting land, and in the case of co-ownership with the consent of the others, see co-owners’ consent to a survey plan. At the same time it is worth checking whether the only access to the house runs across the separated part. If it does, a right of way belongs in the agreement as well, as we describe in the question access to a house across someone else’s land.

Buildings and items not visible on the title deed

A garage, shed or summer kitchen recorded in the Land Register are separate buildings and the agreement must identify them in the same way as the house. Buildings missing from the Land Register are addressed in the question buildings outside the title deed on a sale. Technical installations, fencing or the furnishings of the house are not in the Land Register at all, and they must therefore be listed in the agreement, as we explain in the question what goes with the house on a purchase.

Checks before signing

• title deeds for all the parcels concerned, not just for the house, and the cadastral map with the boundaries marked,
• that the owner of the building and of the land is the same, and the size of any co-ownership shares,
• the register of each parcel, its type and its area according to the current extract,
• the survey plan, if the land is being divided, and its incorporation into the agreement,
• access from a public road and easements in part C,
• that the registration application is complete as against the agreement.

We will prepare or revise a sale agreement for a family house with the identification verified against the Land Register, and file the registration application with the Land Register so that it covers everything the agreement transfers.