Saved Land Register fees? When you may have to pay back up to 11,500 euros

The exemption has expired

Anyone who bought an apartment or a house for themselves could save the fee for registration in the Land Register over the last two years. The same applied to the fee for the bank’s mortgage. The exemption covered up to 500,000 euros each, together that came to up to around 11,500 euros.

The exemption was only available for applications received by the Land Register court by 30 June 2026. Anyone who received it must, however, continue to follow the rules.

Your home for five years

The most important rule: the apartment must remain your home for five years. Anyone who sells it, gives it away or moves out and lets it during this time will as a rule lose the exemption. The same can apply if you move your main residence elsewhere.

The five years are usually counted from moving in. If you were already living in the apartment when the application was made to the Land Register, the date of the application counts.

Your previous home counts too

A second point is easily overlooked. The exemption was only available if you gave up your previous home. If you kept your old owner-occupied apartment and let it, this letting must last at least five years. If it ends earlier and you move back, the exemption can be lost. Keeping the old apartment as a second residence is not enough in any case.

When a couple separates

If you bought the apartment together, a separation can become expensive. If one of you moves out within the five years, the exemption for that person’s share can be lost. For the bank’s mortgage it may even be lost entirely.

If, on the other hand, an owner dies, the heirs do not have to pay anything back for that reason.

New builds and the duty to report

Anyone who bought an apartment that was not yet finished as a rule has three months from handover to register their main residence there.

If the exemption is lost later, you must report this to the court yourself within one month. Nobody will ask you to. Before a sale, a move or a letting, it is therefore worth doing the sums.

Escrow, Land Register, handover: buying an apartment step by step