Buying in Hungary

EU-citizens do not need a permit to buy in Hungary.

The buying contract will be drawn up by a lawyer.

You sign and the vendor sign the contract of sale at the lawyers office You can also instruct our agent to sign the contract on your behalf if you are unable to be present for the signing.

Non EU-citizens can still buy,but we need to ask a permission from the local (Province) authorities. This will take extra time and incur some more expense.

Non-EU citizens are expected to check with their authorities to verify their status in Hungary prior to any visit / purchase.

Starting the buying process.

Once you have decided to buy a property the process is very straight forward

• We will agree with you a mode of payment - bank transfer, cash, etc.
• A date is set for the vendor to vacate the property.
• A 20% deposit of the property's price must be paid to our solicitor/lawyer's bank account.This ensures that the property is reserved for you.
• The vendor signs a pre-contract – this is a before purchase agreement to sell the property to the you.
• You then have 30 days in which to pay the remainder of the selling price.
• Failure to pay within 30 days means that you forfeit your deposit and any right to the property.

All conditions of the deposit will be explained to both the buyer and the vendor. The vendor risks having to pay back double the deposit if the property is sold to a third party after signing the pre-contract.

If you are buying a tanya (former farm in the outlands), you can buy up to 10.000 m2, but you need a permission of the authorities of the village. They have a rule that if a Hungarian FARMER wants to buy, he has the first buying rights.

This will (almost) never happen.

The procedure can take up to 60 days, but after that there is another 60 days in which a government committee (mostly land registry) is going to look whether all procedures have been followed correctly before approval that a Non-Hungarian can buy.

This process can take4/ 5 months before you know whether you can buy the property.

Finalizing the buying process

The final contract with your signature and final payment, unless it was already paid, will be done in Hungary in the lawyer's presence with the vendors.

All outstanding payments must be received on this day.

Documents

You will need to bring your passport

If it is impossible for you to be present you must properly authorize us to sign on your behalf.

After this you will get the keys

The House is now yours!

After signing the contract we can help you put utilities (water and electricity) in your name.

Open a bank-account

Arrange your House insurance

Please note that if the vendor has not satisfactorily vacated the house and removed his possessions as agreed, up to 500 Euro can be withheld until the vendor complies.

Non EU-citizens will need permits from the local mayor and county authorities. These are just bureaucratic formalities - in practice permits are always granted. The lawyer will make these arrangements. An exception on this is possible if you declare in the purchase contract your intention to make Hungary your permanent home.

Be patient. Alltough the property is 100% yours, land registration can be slow in issuing title deeds (several months or more depending on the region). When it is ready, your registered ownership deed will come to us and be in our safe-keeping until you decide to collect it.

All property sales attract taxation, which is based on the value of the property. This is not included in the purchase prices since you will pay it sometime after signing the contract of sale.

The property tax is paid directly to the Hungarian tax office.They will send this to you directly and can be paid online.

You can work out below what your stamp duty/property tax is going to be:

• 4% for a house value.
• 4% for an empty building ground/plot.
• 4% for a barn, secondary/side building, commercial property.

The bill for your property tax can take up to 12 months to arrive after you have signed the purchase contract.