How Registration Proceedings Begin and What Documents Are Needed
Registration of ownership takes place within the proceedings defined by the Law on the Public Registry, and the foundation of this page consists of Articles 8, 9, 11, 12 and 15. Article 8 provides that registration proceedings start on an application or a decision of an authorised body. The application must be accompanied by the registration documentation and information defined by the instruction — not a formality: the completeness of the documentation decides the fate of the proceedings.
In a specific case the registering body may additionally request any document or information connected with the proceedings and necessary for deciding the question raised. An applicant should therefore have every document needed for review ready from the outset — this saves time otherwise lost.
General Principles of Registration
Article 9 sets the technical framework: registration proceeds on the basis of registration and other documents, as well as electronic copies of that documentation created in the appropriate manner. The registering body confirms the submission of the application by registration in the application registration book and by assigning it a registration number; where the application is submitted through automated means of administration, the precondition is payment of the registration fee.
As a result, the registering body prepares an extract, and upon registration of ownership — or a change of cadastral data — on a previously unregistered immovable, additionally a cadastral plan. The rule does not extend to public-law restrictions, tax liens or mortgages, nor to rights in movable property and non-material assets: the form of the issued document depends on the right registered.
Rights Subject to Registration and Their Hierarchy
Article 11 lists the rights registered in the registry of rights to immovables: ownership; superficies and its mortgage encumbrance; usufruct; servitude; mortgage; lease and sublease; tenancy and subtenancy; demand; leasing; public-law rights of use and possession; obligations connected with ownership, including privatisation conditions; and the pre-emptive purchase right. The registry also contains identification data of the right's subject and object, including the cadastral data.
The hierarchy matters as well: the listed limited rights may be registered only where ownership is already registered. Data on those rights and on privatisation conditions pass to the new owner unchanged, except as defined by legislation. For long-term transactions with the participation of a private-law legal person — exceeding a term of 1 year — registration in the public registry is necessary.