Completion Time Frame: 1 day
Completion Costs: HUF 4,000
Points to Note:
Obtain an original certified title sheet folio at the Land Registry Office to check the current data of the property. The title sheet folio includes information on liens and outstanding taxes.
According to the Hungarian law, the issue of title sheet folio is valid within 30 days the date of signing of the contract.

Step 2: The sale and purchase agreement is signed by a lawyer to become valid

Completion Time Frame: 1 day
Completion Costs: 1% of the purchase price (lawyer’s fees) – subject to the parties’ agreement
Points to Note:
After the negotiations between parties, a written sale and purchase agreement is required, and each page has to be initialed/signed by the parties. The contract becomes valid by the countersignature of a lawyer (signature, stamp and dry stamp on each page). The countersignature certifies the identity of the signing parties and that the content of the agreement is in accordance with the legal regulations and the will of the parties.

Step 3: Obtain the extract of the purchaser from the Court of Registry

Completion Time Frame: 1 day
Completion Costs: HUF 5,000
Points to Note:
An extract of the purchaser from the commercial registry must be obtained. With the data indicated in the extract the officer can check that the legal entity really exists and that the manager is really entitled to sign for the company. The commercial register is public, so anybody can go there and ask for a company extract. For real estate sales, if the purchaser is a legal entity, it is obliged to submit an extended company extract. The extract has to contain the deleted and actual data of the company, and may not be issued earlier than 30 days preceding the sale. It means that if a company has a fresh extract in its files from former legal relationships, it may use that for this purpose, but since the extract is submitted to the land registry office, it has to get a new one for other purposes.

Step 4: Submit application to the Land Registry Office and register the title

Completion Time Frame: 9-19 calendar days (expedited Step) or 30-60 days (regular Step)

Completion Costs: 10% of property value (Stamp duty) + HUF 16,000 (registration fee, expedited

Step), or HUF 6,000 (registration fee, regular Step)
Points to Note:
Since January 1st 2008 there are three Land Registry Offices operating in Budapest. Each of them is competent on different districts in Budapest i.e. the application for registering any change regarding a given property shall be submitted to the Land Registry Office having competence over the district the real property is located in. A new fast-track

Step has been introduced to reduce the registration time at the Land Registry for a higher registration fee of HUF 16,000. The registration fees for the regular

Step is HUF 6000 as a result of the the Act 122 of 2006, effective February,4 2007. As of January 2006, it is possible to retrieve a standardized application form online, at: www.takarnet.hu. The Registry office only accepts this standard form. Once the application has been submitted to the land registry office, one set of the documents are forwarded to the stamp duty office. The purchaser then receives a letter from the stamp duty office and will pay stamp duty by postal check or bank transfer.

Note: Usually, if the purchaser does not pay the full purchase price at the signing of the contract, the vendor retains its ownership. (Such retention may be registered until the payment of the full purchase price). The application may request the registration of the sale with retention of ownership, or the registration of title. As of a regulation issued in January 2006, the seller may declare that he/she will request registration of the purchaser’s title at a certain date but no later than 6 months from the date of the agreement. During this time period the registration is pending and no other registrations or applications may be fulfilled regarding the property. In the event that the land registry office does not receive the consent from the owner of the property, the pending application is deleted. The fact of sale with retention of ownership is indicated on a side note in 24 hours from the submission. This means that some kind of application was submitted with regard to the property but it was not judged by the land registry office yet (not registered, not refused). For sales with retention of ownership, a declaration has to be submitted stating that the title may be registered, simultaneously with the deletion of the retention of ownership. Following the submission of the declaration, a new side note will be indicated, and the title of the purchaser will be registered.
Transfers of property might be subject to a 20% VAT.

The documentation shall include:
The standardized application form;
Two original copies and one photocopy of the contract;
Original extract of the purchaser from the commercial register;
Specimen of signature of the executive officer who has signed the contract (issued by a notary public) and a copy of the latest Property Register Card (to be obtained from the City Survey Department) to indicate poroperty does not belong to the Government;
Copy of the Municipal Tax bill to indicate the year in which the building was constructed;
No Objection Certificate of permission from the Urban Land Ceiling Department (to be obtained from the Talati Office)