Completion Time Frame: 5-7 days
Completion Costs: EUR 10-20 (extract) + EUR 4494 to 7317.75 + 19% VAT (Notary’s fees)
Points to Note:
The notary obtains the information referred to the property, e.g. from the land registry to “name” the object in the contract and to see if it is free of burdens and mortgages.
A notary has a privileged access to the land register to obtain the extracts. Some of the notaries have on-line access to such land registers which are already converted to electronic land registers. They are in the position to review the extracts very shortly before the notarization from their own offices. The land registry in Berlin is partially computerized, and so extracts can be obtained online.
It is possible to retrieve the extract in a shorter period of time (1-2 days), but this is rare.
The notary will also notarize the sale and transfer agreement. This is a necessary form requirement according to Germany statutory law.
Notary’s fees are fixed at EUR 4494 plus other fixed costs ranging up to EUR 7317.75 plus VAT (19%).
A notary will generally examine the land register extracts. In exceptional cases there might not be sufficient time, for example because he has been asked by the parties to notarize a sale and transfer agreement within a very short time period. If he is willing in such cases to notarize the agreement he will provide for a clause to exclude his liability that he has not reviewed the land register but that the parties have asked him, nevertheless, to notarize the document.
If the notary has not prepared the draft sale and transfer agreement he asks for the draft agreement to be provided in advance for his review. The usual procedure is that the notary examines the draft and provides the parties with comments as regards legal and technical aspects.

Step 2: Fulfillment of the pre-conditions for the validity of the purchase price: Registration of the priority notice in the land register; negative attest of the public authorities; consents to the cancellations

Completion Time Frame: 7 days, possibly up to 2 months (simultaneous with Step 3)
Completion Costs: EUR 1123.5 (registration fee of priority notice) + EUR 25 (consent of negative attest of city council)
Points to Note:
The following pre conditions must be fulfilled for the maturity of the purchase price:

(i) Registration of the priority notice in the land register (to secure the purchasers rank in the land register and avoid a third party purchasing the property in good faith).
(ii) Consent or negative attest of the public authorities regarding any statutory pre-emption rights
(iii) Consent to the cancellation of existing encumbrances
The priority notice usually ranks after the existing encumbrances and prior to any future encumbrances at the time of notarisation.
The civil council issues the consent or a negative attest to the transaction. The time limit given by the statute is that the civil council may exercise the right of pre-emption two months after the delivery of a copy of the notarised sale and transfer agreement.

The items (i, ii, and iii) above which are not accepted or taken over by the purchaser have to be in place. It might take substantial time to obtain them, particularly if they have come from public authorities. Such consents will be delivered to the notary and will usually be presented to the land register later when applying for the registration of the new owner (Step 4).

Registration fee of the priority notice depends on the value of the property.

If all pre-conditions to the maturity “Fäligkeit” of the purchase price, usually collected and examined by the notary, have been fulfilled, the notary issues a statement of maturity “Fäligkeitsmitteilung” to the purchaser. The purchaser is then obliged to pay the purchase price. The payment is evidenced by the seller confirming payment or a bank statement.
If the respective declarations in rem have already been provided for in the sale and transfer agreement, the notary is usually bound by an escrow agreement not to forward them to the land register until the purchase price has been paid.
In case of real property the law says the agreement has to be notarized. The transfer of title of a real property, governed by the law of disposition “Sachenrecht”, also has to be in a certain form: the declarations in rem, which are in a format according to the land register regulation (Grundbuchordnung), and the transfer has to be registered in the land register. Such declarations in rem which are pre-conditions to the registration of the purchaser to be registered as new owner may either already be in the notarial deed or be given in a separate notarial deed.

Step 3: Payment of the transfer tax and obtaining the confirmation (statement of innocuousness )

Completion Time Frame: 15 days, possibly up to one month (simultaneous with Step 2)
Completion Costs: 4.5% of purchase price
Points to Note:
The notary is obliged to provide a copy of each notarised sale and transfer agreement to the responsible tax authority. The tax authority will then issue a tax assessment and send it to the purchaser.
The land register clerk will not register the purchaser as new owner if the transfer tax has not been paid.
After payment of the real estate transfer tax, the tax authority will issue a statement of innocuousness (Unbedenklichkeitsbescheinigung) and send it to the notary for presentation to the land register. It may be expected that such statement will be issued within one month following the notarisation.
The tax amounts to 4.5% of the purchase price.

Step 4: Application for the registration of the new owner and deletion of the priority notice to the land register

Completion Time Frame: 7 days, possibly up to one month
Completion Costs: EUR 2247 (Registration Fee) + EUR 561.75 (fee for cancellation of priority)
Points to Note:
After the purchase price has been paid and the tax authorities have provided the innocuousness statement, an application for the registration of the purchaser as new owner and deletion of the priority notice is submitted. A registration fee is paid depending on the property value. The deletion fee for the cancellation of the priority notice also depends on the value.

It is important to note that there is a possibility to register the title through an expedited procedure, whereby the notary acts as a Trustee and the client can pay through a trust account (Notartreuhandkonto). This makes it possible to obtain the legal title faster, possibly in 2-5 days. However, this occurs only with a small proportion of property title transfers.

The documentation shall include:
Statement of Innocuousness (obtained in Step 3)

Consent of public authority/civil council to the transfer or attest that the statutory right of pre-emption either does not exist or is not exercised (obtained after Step 2)

Consents to the cancellation (obtained in Step 2 and sent to the notary)

Declarations in rem ‘dingliche Erklärungen” for the registration of the purchaser as owner.