Your money stays safe until you are in the Land Register.
What happens between signing and registration is largely invisible to a buyer. Here it is, step by step.
Sample extract · Land RegisterAuszug aus dem Hauptbuch
KATASTRALGEMEINDE 99999 Musterdorf EINLAGEZAHL 999
BEZIRKSGERICHT Musterstadt
**************************************************************
Letzte TZ 4567/2026Plombe: TZ 4567/2026WOHNUNGSEIGENTUM
***************************** B ****************************** 7 ANTEIL: 143/2870
Musterfrau Maria
GEB: 1970-01-01 ADR: Musterstraße 1/10, Musterstadt 9999
a 2233/2015 Kaufvertrag 2015-05-19 Eigentumsrecht
b 2233/2015 Wohnungseigentum an Wohnung Top 10, Kellerabteil Top 10
c 4102/2026 Rangordnung für die Veräußerung bis 2027-03-04 8 ANTEIL: 143/2870
Mustermann Max
GEB: 1980-01-01 ADR: Beispielgasse 2/3, Musterstadt 9999
a 4567/2026 IM RANG 4102/2026 Kaufvertrag 2026-05-20
Eigentumsrecht
b 2233/2015 Wohnungseigentum an Wohnung Top 10, Kellerabteil Top 10
Why this matters. In Austria an apartment does not belong to whoever signed the contract, but to whoever is entered in the Land Register — the Grundbuch. Entry 7 is the seller, entry 8 is you. In between sits the Plombe, a seal showing that an application has reached the court but has not yet been processed. Until your name is registered, your money stays in escrow. Line c, the Rangordnung, reserves your place in the queue — which is why your entry says “IM RANG”. In a real extract the deleted entry disappears. Here it stays crossed out so the change is visible. The extract is an invented sample.
Ideally, before you sign anything.
Most mistakes are not made in the purchase contract but earlier — in the purchase offer, the Kaufanbot. Whoever commits before the documents have been checked has little room later. The earlier we are involved, the more can still be shaped.
The process, step by step
Your money is safe
Four conditions are still open. Until all are met, the purchase price stays in the escrow account.
The road to payout. Select a condition. As long as the last one is open, no remaining purchase price goes to the seller.
01
We check what you are buying
The Land Register extract, the purchase offer, the estate agent's agreement. For a condominium apartment, also the condominium agreement (Wohnungseigentumsvertrag), the utility-value appraisal, the balance of the reserve fund and the minutes of the last owners' meetings.
In practiceThe minutes of past owners' meetings sometimes hold unwelcome surprises: maintenance works already resolved but not yet paid for, or nuisances such as a permanent source of noise. The listing rarely mentions any of it.
02
The purchase contract is drawn up
Price, handover date, condition of the apartment, warranty, release of encumbrances — and the Aufsandungserklärung, the seller's express consent to your registration. Without it, the Land Register court enters nothing.
In practiceThe handover date is more than a date. From that day you bear the risk and pay the running costs and insurance — and if the apartment is let, the rent is yours from then on.
03
Signing — but notarised
For registration in the Land Register an ordinary signature is not enough. It has to be notarised. Usually a notary comes to our office for this. Both parties need not appear at the same time. For natural persons the notarial certificate must state the date of birth. If it is missing, the registration is refused.
If you are not an EU or EEA citizen
Buyers from outside the EU and the EEA need a permit from the land transfer authority (Grundverkehrsbehörde) under the Vienna Foreign Land Acquisition Act. The application cannot be made any earlier than this: it has to be filed together with the contract you have just signed. Until the permit is granted, the purchase price stays in the escrow account and the Land Register court makes no entry. We file the application and follow it up.
04
Your money is held safely
The purchase price does not go to the seller but into an escrow account held by the lawyer as trustee. There it is protected until it is certain that the apartment is yours.
Not the entire amount stays there until the end. Payments without which the purchase cannot go through are made from the escrow beforehand — they come in the next steps. The seller receives only the remainder, and only once you are in the Land Register.
In practiceFrom here on both sides are protected. You do not pay into the blue, and the seller does not hand over without knowing that the money is there.
You get the keys
You do not have to wait for the Land Register. Handover usually takes place as soon as the purchase price has arrived in the escrow account. Exactly when is a matter of agreement. As a rule you can move in while we take care of the registration.
05
Taxes and fees
A purchase triggers the real estate transfer tax (3.5 % of the price) and the registration fee (1.1 %). Both are calculated and paid in the course of drawing up the contract. Without proof that the transfer tax has been settled, the Land Register court makes no entry.
There is also a filing fee for the application itself.
In practiceYou need not deal with this yourself. We calculate the amounts and pay them for you.
06
Existing encumbrances are deleted
Often the seller's bank still holds a mortgage in the Land Register. It has to be deleted, which requires a release declaration from that bank.
In practiceWe coordinate this directly with the bank.
07
The application to the Land Register court
The application goes to the Land Register court. Every document and every wording has to be right. The court examines strictly. Corrections are possible only to a limited extent and in any case cause serious delay. Whoever has to refile loses their priority.
In practiceAfterwards we review the court's decision, settle the escrow and pay out.
08
The apartment is yours
Your name is in the Land Register, the seller's encumbrances are deleted, the taxes are paid. Everything the contract requires for payout is met. Only now does the remaining purchase price go to the seller.
In practiceBy this time you have usually been living there for a while. From now on the apartment is yours in law as well.
Have a specific property in mind?
Send us what you have — the Land Register extract, the listing, the purchase offer. Ideally before you sign anything.
A general overview of the usual process, not advice on an individual case. Order, duration and conditions depend on the property and the contract. In case of doubt the German version prevails.