Preliminary sale agreement checklist for Austria
Purchase contract (Kaufvertrag): review checklist before signingKaufvertrag über eine Liegenschaft: Prüfliste vor der Unterfertigung
Austria has no separate preliminary contract stage like a compromis. The accepted Kaufanbot already binds both parties, and the Kaufvertrag drafted by a notary or lawyer puts the sale into land register form. This checklist helps you review that draft before you sign.
Use it when the contract drafter sends you the draft Kaufvertrag, usually a few days or weeks after the seller accepted your offer. Check each point against the draft and ask the drafter to fix anything missing before the signing appointment. Use the last group if the parties want a Vorvertrag instead, for example while a permit or a subdivision is still pending.
Reviewed October 28, 2026. Not legal advice. Have a notary or lawyer check your case before you sign.
Key facts
- Applies to
- Whole country. The land transfer rules differ by federal state (Bundesland).
- Notarial deed
- Not required, except for a sale between spouses. The parties may draft the contract themselves.
- Certified signatures
- The land register needs the signatures certified (GBG § 31).
- Passing of ownership
- Only on registration (Einverleibung) in the land register, not on signature.
- Lease outside the MRG
- A buyer can end a lease not entered in the land register with the legal notice period.
- Rank in the land register
- Set by the time the application reaches the court, not the time of entry. Pending applications show as a "Plombe" on the extract.
- Real estate transfer tax
- 3.5% of the price, at least of the property value (Grunderwerbsteuer).
- Land register fee
- 1.1% of the value for ownership. The temporary main-home exemption covered only applications that reached the court before 1 July 2026.
- Mortgage registration fee
- 1.2% of the secured amount if you finance with a mortgage.
- Vorvertrag deadline
- Binding only if the time and essential terms are fixed. The claim lapses unless enforced within 1 year after the agreed date (ABGB § 936).
The checklist
What the draft must contain for the land register
Full identity of each party: name, date of birth and address, and the company register number for a company.Vertragsparteien
The land register enters owners with these data. A missing birth date delays the registration.
Exact description of the property: EZ, KG, plot number, and for a flat the share (Anteile) linked to the unit (Top).Kaufgegenstand
The land register can register only what the deed identifies exactly. Compare every number with a current extract.
The legal ground (purchase) and the price, with the date it is due and the way it is paid.Rechtsgrund und Kaufpreis
The seller's express consent to register your ownership.Aufsandungserklärung
Without it the land register will not enter you. It is usually a clause in the contract itself.
Signature blocks for certification by a notary or a district court.Beglaubigung der Unterschriften
Protection of the price and the rank
A trust clause: the price goes into the drafter's trust account, paid out only after you are registered free of charges.Treuhandvereinbarung
A priority notice for the intended sale, ordered by the seller, or an equivalent rank protection.Anmerkung der Rangordnung für die beabsichtigte Veräußerung
The deadline for your registration: within one year from the court's approval of the priority notice.
The notice reserves your rank for one year from the court's approval. Your registration must be applied for within that year.
The clearing of existing mortgages from the price, with the bank's release statements.Lastenfreistellung, Löschungsquittung
Charges in the C sheet stay on the property unless they are deleted. The trustee pays the seller's bank and has the mortgage deleted.
Commercial terms to check
Handover date, passing of risk and benefits, and who pays operating costs and the owners' charges up to that date.Übergabe, Gefahrenübergang, Verrechnungsstichtag
From this date you carry the risk and pay the running costs. Match it with the payment date.
Warranty: what the seller promises about the condition, the area, permits and the absence of charges.Gewährleistung, zugesicherte Eigenschaften
Drafts often exclude warranty. Ask for promises on the points that matter to you, such as legal permits for an extension.
Leases and occupation: vacant possession, or the details of a lease you take over.Bestandfreiheit
The energy certificate: date, heating demand and efficiency class.Energieausweis
Cost split: drafting and trust fee, transfer tax, land register fees, clearing of charges, capital gains tax.Kosten und Steuern
Conditions: loan approval and, if needed, the land transfer permit.Finanzierungsvorbehalt, grundverkehrsbehördliche Genehmigung
Without these conditions you stay bound if the bank refuses or the authority refuses the permit.
If the parties choose a Vorvertrag instead
Fix the date by which the Kaufvertrag must be signed, and all essential terms: parties, property, price.Vorvertrag nach § 936 ABGB
Diary the date one year after the agreed signing date.Einjahresfrist
Formalities
A private Kaufvertrag is lawful but rarely useful. It needs the strict Grundbuchsgesetz form, the price should run through a registered trust account, and a notary or lawyer self-assesses the tax.
- No notarial deed is needed, except for a sale between spouses (Notariatsakt).
- The land register enters the buyer only on a document that names the legal ground and describes the property exactly.
- The document must contain the seller's express consent to the registration (Aufsandungserklärung).
- A notary or a district court must certify the signatures.
- In practice the drafter holds the price in trust, self-assesses the transfer tax and files the application with the land register.
Common mistakes
- Paying any part of the price to the seller before your registration. A second sale, a new mortgage or a forced sale against the seller can rank ahead of you.
- Signing with no priority notice (Rangordnung für die beabsichtigte Veräußerung) or trust arrangement. These protect the price until you are registered.
- Accepting a broad exclusion of warranty without inspecting the building. Sellers' drafts often exclude warranty for the condition of the building.
- Leaving out who pays which cost. Drafting, the transfer tax, the land register fees and the clearing of old mortgages should each have a named payer.
- Ignoring the land transfer rules. A buyer from outside the EU and EEA usually needs a permit or a confirmation from the federal state.
- Signing without a required land transfer permit. The land register will not enter the buyer without it.
- Signing before you have read the minutes of the owners' meetings and the reserve fund statement of a flat. Voted works can cost you after the purchase.
Legal basis
- Allgemeines Grundbuchsgesetz 1955 (GBG), BGBl. Nr. 39/1955, §§ 26, 31, 32 and 53 to 57a (registrable deeds, certified signatures, consent to registration, priority notice)
- Allgemeines bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (ABGB), § 936 (Vorvertrag)
- ABGB § 1120 (sale of a let property: a lease not entered in the land register can be ended by the buyer)
- Konsumentenschutzgesetz (KSchG), § 30a (withdrawal from real estate transactions)
- Energieausweis-Vorlage-Gesetz 2012 (EAVG 2012), §§ 4, 6 and 7
Sources
- Kaufvertrag und Grundbuch
- Treuhandschaft
- Nebenkosten beim Wohnungs- und Grundstückskauf
- Grunderwerbsteuer: Steuersatz
- Befreiung von der Grundbuch-Eintragungsgebühr bei Erwerb von Wohnraum
- Grundbuchgebührenbefreiung 2026: Altanträge, Nachweise und Gebühren
- Kaufvertrag für Immobilien: Inhalt, Ablauf & Kosten 2026
- Vorvertrag & Kaufanbot beim Immobilienkauf in Österreich