Austria: The Austrian Land Transaction Laws

 

The Land Transactions Act is a state law that regulates the preservation of the rural structure and restricts parts of legal transactions with land and real estate. Accordingly, it regulates the question of who is allowed to acquire and use specific land.

One of the objectives of the regulation of land traffic is to ensure that sufficient and affordable settlement space is available for the population, as well as the preservation of an efficient farming community.

Since the competence for the legislation of land transactions falls within the competence of the Länder, there are nine different laws that regulate the "green" (mainly concerns agricultural and forestry land), the "grey" (mainly concerns building plots) or the foreigners' land transactions.

Here we will deal with individual regulations of the grey land traffic, which essentially includes the movement of building plots or buildable land, for which there are different models throughout Austria. These range from declarations and notification obligations to approvals of rights acquisitions by authorities.

Upper Austria:

In the case of the acquisition of building plots outside of reserved municipalities, which are defined in an ordinance, the buyer must make a declaration in the contract deed stating that the acquisition of real estate is permissible without a permit and that he is fully aware of the penal provisions of the Upper Austrian Land Transaction Act.

In reserved municipalities, acquisitions of rights for recreational residence purposes are not permitted, unless special conditions apply.

Lower Austria:

There are no specific restrictions regarding the establishment of recreational residences. In this case, acquisitions of rights relating to at least agricultural and forestry land or the acquisition of rights by foreign persons must be approved by the competent authority.

Tyrol:

In Tyrol, in the case of undeveloped building plots that appear as building land in the zoning plan, there is generally an obligation to declare that the purchaser of the property will build on the property within a period of 10 years. If the property is located in a commercial or industrial area, this period is 20 years.

If this deadline is not met, the legislator provides for a compulsory sale.

It should also be noted in Tyrol that the use of a property as a leisure residence is only permitted after appropriate official approval.

Carinthia:

Here, every land acquisition has to go to the land transfer authority. For example, Austrians and EU citizens need a "negative confirmation" from the responsible district administrative authority when purchasing building plots.

Salzburg:

In Salzburg, the buyer must submit a positive declaration to the real estate transfer officer for the commencement of the use of a property, which also takes action against the vacancy of apartments. This means that a buyer must explain how they will use an apartment (e.g. as their main residence). This obligation to use must also be proven to the land transfer officer within a period of time (generally 1 year, 5 years in the case of renovations or 7 years in the case of undeveloped land).

 

For further information, please contact:

Petra Walkner, Lawyer

Zumtobel & Kronberger, Salburg

e: walkner@eulaw.at

t: +43 662 624500

 

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