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Preliminary sale agreement template for Hungary

Preliminary contract for the sale of real propertyIngatlan adásvételi előszerződés

A written contract in which seller and buyer agree to sign the sale contract later on fixed terms. The buyer usually pays a deposit (foglaló). If either side refuses to sign, a court can create the sale contract. A lawyer then drafts and countersigns the sale contract for the land registry.

Use it when the parties agree but cannot yet sign the final sale contract: the buyer waits for a loan or a state housing subsidy, a buyer from outside the EU needs a permit, a mortgage must be cleared, or the seller must first move out. If nothing blocks the sale, Hungarian practice skips this step and the parties sign the sale contract (adásvételi szerződés) at once, with the deposit. Ask a lawyer to review or countersign this contract too: the same lawyer usually drafts the sale contract.

Reviewed October 28, 2026. Not legal advice. Have a notary or lawyer check your case before you sign.

Key facts

Applies to
Whole country. Not for agricultural or forest land, which follows Act CXXII of 2013.
Form
Written, like the sale contract it prepares (Ptk. 6:73. § (2), 6:215. § (2)).
Enforcement
If a party refuses to sign, a court can create the sale contract on the agreed terms (Ptk. 6:73. § (1)).
Refusal allowed
Only for an unforeseeable change of circumstances, not caused by the party and outside normal business risk (Ptk. 6:73. § (3)).
Deposit (foglaló)
Lost by the party responsible for the failure. Returned double by the receiving party if it is responsible (Ptk. 6:185. § (2)).
Deposit, no one or both at fault
Refunded if neither party or both parties are responsible for the failure (Ptk. 6:185. § (3)).
Excessive deposit
A court can reduce it at the payer's request (Ptk. 6:185. § (5)). The law sets no rate.
Penalty (kötbér)
Valid only in writing (Ptk. 6:186. § (2)).
Transfer duty
4% of market value up to HUF 1 billion per property, 2% above, at most HUF 200 million (Itv. 19. § (1); NAV).
Energy certificate
Shown by the day the contract is signed, handed over by the day of possession. Valid 5 years (176/2008. Korm. rendelet 3. § (3), 8. § (1)).

The document

Text shown

You sign the Hungarian version. The English version helps you understand it. Your answers fill both.

Preliminary contract for the sale of real property

  1. 1.Parties

    1. 1.1

      Seller: Seller's identity (hereinafter: the Seller).

      Give name, birth name, place and date of birth, mother's name, citizenship, address and tax identification number. Repeat for each owner.

    2. 1.2

      Buyer: Buyer's identity (hereinafter: the Buyer).

      Give the same data for each buyer, with the share each acquires. The land registry needs each party's citizenship and identifiers in the sale contract.

  2. 2.Purpose of this contract

    1. 2.1

      Under section 6:73 of Act V of 2013 on the Civil Code (Ptk.), the parties agree to sign a sale contract for the property below, on the essential terms set in this preliminary contract, no later than Latest date to sign the sale contract.

  3. 3.The property

    1. 3.1

      The Seller is the sole owner of the Share sold share of the property with parcel number Parcel number (helyrajzi szám) in Town or Budapest district, located at Street address, recorded in the land register as Description from the property sheet (hereinafter: the Property).

      Usually 1/1. If there are several owners, write each owner's share.

    2. 3.2

      The parties have read the property sheet dated Date of the property sheet checked. Part III of the Property's sheet contains the following entries: Part III: mortgages, bans, usufruct. The Seller undertakes to have them deleted at the Seller's cost by the day of handover at the latest, unless the parties agree otherwise.

      When the price pays off the seller's mortgage, the sale contract names the bank, the amount to pay it directly, and the release letter to obtain.

  4. 4.Price and payment

    1. 4.1

      The price of the Property is HUF Total price in HUF, in figures, that is Total price in words, in Hungarian forints.

    2. 4.2

      The Buyer pays the deposit, which forms part of the price, when this preliminary contract is signed. The parties will settle the rest of the price as follows: How and when the balance is paid.

      Pay by bank transfer, or into the lawyer's escrow (ügyvédi letét), and keep the proof. The bank often pays a loan part after its mortgage is registered.

  5. 5.Deposit (foglaló)

    1. 5.1

      To confirm the commitment, the Buyer pays the Seller a deposit (foglaló) of HUF Deposit (foglaló) in HUF, the receipt of which the Seller acknowledges by signing this preliminary contract. The deposit counts towards the price when the sale contract is performed.

      Keep the words "foglaló" and "a kötelezettségvállalás megerősítéseként" (to confirm the commitment). Without them the sum is not a foglaló.

    2. 5.2

      The parties have been informed of the effects of the deposit under section 6:185 of the Ptk.: if the contract fails for a reason for which the Buyer is responsible, the Buyer loses the deposit; if the Seller is responsible, the Seller must repay double the deposit; if neither party or both parties are responsible, the deposit is refunded.

  6. 6.Loan

    1. 6.1

      Optional

      The Buyer intends to pay part of the price with a bank loan of HUF Loan amount in HUF, and undertakes to file the loan application within 8 days after this preliminary contract is signed and to cooperate with the bank.

      Keep both loan clauses if you need a loan. Delete both if you pay from your own funds. The 8 days are a contract term, not a legal rule. Change them as needed.

    2. 6.2

      Optional

      If, by Date the bank must approve the loan, the bank refuses or does not approve the loan for a reason other than the Buyer's failure, neither party is responsible for the failure of the contract, and the Seller repays the deposit in full within 8 days of the Buyer's written notice.

      Send the bank's written refusal to the seller at once. Without this clause the seller may argue that the buyer is responsible and keep the deposit.

  7. 7.The sale contract

    1. 7.1

      The sale contract will be drafted and countersigned by Lawyer who drafts and countersigns, lawyer, who will also act in the land registry procedure for the registration of ownership.

      Since 2025 a lawyer needs a separate bar registration to act in land registry matters. Ask the lawyer to confirm it.

    2. 7.2

      The Seller reserves ownership until the price is paid in full. When the sale contract is signed, the Seller places an unconditional and irrevocable consent to the registration of ownership in the lawyer's escrow, which the lawyer files with the land registry office once full payment of the price is proven.

      The reservation of ownership is registered with the buyer's right to acquire, so the seller cannot sell the property to someone else in the meantime.

  8. 8.Handover of possession

    1. 8.1

      On Date of handover of possession the Seller hands the Property over to the Buyer, vacated and ready to move in, with a handover record. The parties record the meter readings in it and report the change of user to the providers of Utilities to transfer.

      From handover the buyer collects the income, bears the costs and carries the risk of accidental damage, even before registration.

    2. 8.2

      The Seller declares that the Property has a valid energy certificate, which the Seller will show to the Buyer by the time the sale contract is signed and hand over no later than the day of handover.

  9. 9.Seller's declarations

    1. 9.1

      The Seller declares that, apart from the entries in part III, the Property is free of lawsuits, encumbrances and claims; no third party leases or uses it; no common charges, utility or tax debts burden it; and no building authority proceedings are pending concerning it.

      For a flat, ask for the manager's statement that no common charges are unpaid. An unpaid debt can be secured by a mortgage on the flat.

    2. 9.2

      Optional

      If a pre-emption right exists over the Property, the Seller will communicate the Buyer's offer in full to the holder before the sale contract is signed. If the holder accepts the offer, this preliminary contract ends and the Seller repays the deposit without delay.

      Keep it when the seller owns a share and other co-owners exist, or when the property sheet shows a pre-emption right.

  10. 10.Costs

    1. 10.1

      The parties bear the lawyer's fee as they agree. The Buyer bears the transfer duty and the costs of registering ownership. The Seller bears the cost of deleting encumbrances.

      The buyer pays 4% duty on the market value. A buyer who sells another home in the 5 years before or 1 year after the purchase pays only on the value difference.

  11. 11.Language

    1. 11.1

      Optional

      Before signature, Witness or lawyer who explained the text, as one of the witnesses signing this document or as the countersigning lawyer, explained the content of this preliminary contract to the party who does not understand Hungarian, which that party and the witnesses or the countersigning lawyer confirm by their signatures.

      Keep it whenever a party does not understand Hungarian. Ptk. 6:7. § (4) requires two witnesses or a lawyer's countersignature. One of them explains the text.

  12. 12.Final provisions and signatures

    1. 12.1

      Matters not covered by this preliminary contract are governed by the Ptk. The parties signed this preliminary contract in approval after reading and interpreting it, as fully matching their intentions.

    2. 12.2

      Dated: Place of signature, Date of signature, in Number of originals originals. Signature of the Seller. Signature of the Buyer. In our presence as witnesses: Two witnesses' names and addresses.

      Each party signs every page. Replace the witnesses with the lawyer's countersignature (ellenjegyzés) if a lawyer reviews the contract.

Formalities

  1. It must be in writing, in the form required for the sale contract. Each party signs every page.
  2. Hungarian practice adds two witnesses or a lawyer's countersignature to strengthen the evidence of who signed.
  3. A lawyer's countersignature or a notarial deed is required only for the sale contract that goes to the land registry.
  4. A party who does not understand Hungarian signs validly only if two witnesses sign or a lawyer countersigns.
  5. The document must then record that one of them explained its content to that party. An outside interpreter alone is not enough.
  6. Without that statement, the party's written declaration is not valid. The land registry applies the same test (Inytv. 36. § (3)).
  7. A buyer from outside the EU, EEA or Switzerland files the signed preliminary contract with the permit application at the government office.
  8. Nobody files the preliminary contract itself with the land registry.

Common mistakes

  • Calling the payment an advance (előleg) or leaving its purpose vague. The forfeit and double-refund rules then do not apply (Ptk. 6:185. § (1)).
  • Paying the deposit without a property sheet from the last few days. Check owners, mortgages, enforcement notes, sale bans and pending applications (széljegy).
  • A loan condition silent on the deposit. If the loan fails and neither side is responsible, the foglaló is refunded, but state it and set the deadline.
  • Forgetting co-owners. Each has a statutory pre-emption right on another co-owner's share, and the seller must show them the buyer's offer before accepting it.
  • Using a privately drafted sale contract later. The land registry rejects a private contract without a Hungarian lawyer's countersignature.
  • Letting an agent sign on a paper power of attorney. Since 15 January 2025 it must be drawn up and authenticated on the official electronic form.
  • Using a power of attorney made abroad as it is. A Hungarian notary must record it on the official electronic form (Inytv. 36. § (1), 40. § (5)).
  • A non-EU, EEA or Swiss buyer setting a short deadline. The government office decides within 45 days, after asking the municipality and the police.

Legal basis

Sources

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