At the notary: from the draft to your name in the land register

The appointment is the shortest part. Here is what happens before it, at it, and in the weeks until you're in the land register.

1. Choose the notary

   Usually the buyer's pick, and mostly the buyer's bill (§ 448(2) BGB). Notaries are impartial (§ 14 BNotO) and the law fixes their fees, so they're the same at every notary. That includes the one extra for English: a notary who notarises in English, or translates the contract to you, adds 30 % of the notarisation fee, at most €5,000 (Nr. 26001 KV GNotKG). Pick one who works in English. The Bundesnotarkammer's official search lists every notary in Germany: search it by city and language.

   The notary takes the details from both sides, or from the agent: who is buying and selling, the property's land register entry, the price and terms, and the dates. Then they send the draft.

2. Check the draft contract

   Not binding yet The notary's draft (Vertragsentwurf) is your real window to translate, check and renegotiate.

   When you get it. Two weeks ahead when you buy from a business.

   When you buy from a business, such as a developer, the notary has to make sure you get the text as a rule two weeks before the appointment (§ 17(2a) BeurkG). Between private sellers and buyers there is no fixed period, but notaries normally send a draft ahead. Whoever asks the notary for the draft pays for it if the sale falls through (§ 29 GNotKG); receiving one doesn't make you liable.

   Price, payment and deadlines. Usually with immediate enforcement.

   Contracts usually include your submission to immediate enforcement (Zwangsvollstreckungsunterwerfung): the seller can enforce the price without going to court first.

   Promises and defects. Only what's in the contract counts.

   What the seller or agent told you, in the listing or while negotiating, such as the living area, the condition or a repair they'll do, generally doesn't bind them unless the contract says it (BGH, V ZR 78/14). Resale contracts also usually exclude liability for defects, except for a defect the seller hid or a point they guaranteed (§ 444 BGB).

   Handover date, and what's included. The fitted kitchen, parking, a cellar room.

   Write down what stays with the home, such as a fitted kitchen, and the handover date. Drafts often don't say what the seller owes if they move out late. You can add it: a monthly payment for each month they stay (Nutzungsentschädigung), or a contractual penalty (Vertragsstrafe).

   The land register. Which rights stay, and which charges go.

   Section II lists rights over the land, such as a right of way. Section III lists the charges securing loans, and the contract should say the seller's are deleted.

   What exactly you're buying. A flat, or a house or plot.

   A flat comes with a share of the building. The declaration of division (Teilungserklärung) sets what you own alone and what all the owners share, such as the roof and the stairwell. The contract refers to it rather than repeating it, so read it with the draft.

   A house or a plot is the whole plot, as the land register describes it. Check its boundaries on the cadastral map (Liegenschaftskarte), and ask the building authority about building encumbrances (Baulasten): most states keep them outside the land register.

   The notary drafts the contract, reads it out and explains it, but doesn't negotiate it for you or tell you whether it's a good deal. A lawyer can check it: ask for a contract check.

3. Get ready for the appointment

   Not fluent in German? Tell the notary early.

   The contract then has to be translated to you: by the notary, if they work in English, or else by an interpreter, and you can ask for a written translation to review (§ 16 BeurkG). The interpreter can't be your spouse, registered partner or a close relative.

   What to bring. Your passport or ID card.

   The notary tells you what else they need.

4. Sign at the appointment

   The notary reads the whole contract aloud (§ 13 BeurkG), or it's translated to you (§ 16 BeurkG), and you can stop and ask at any point. You and the seller sign; the contract normally includes the Auflassung, the agreement that ownership passes (§ 925 BGB).

5. From signing to the keys

   Priority notice. Your claim goes into the land register.

   The notary has an Auflassungsvormerkung entered for you. It protects your claim against a later sale or charge by the seller (§ 883 BGB).

   Clearances. The notary collects what's needed for payment.

   Approvals, the papers to delete the seller's loans, and the town's waiver of its right of first refusal (Vorkaufsrecht).

   Transfer tax. Due a month after the tax office's notice.

   The tax office sends the assessment; the tax is due a month later (§ 15 GrEStG).

   The price is due. Commonly within 10 to 14 days of the notary's notice.

   The notary's notice (Fälligkeitsmitteilung) gives the period in the contract. Your lender pays out the loan; check when commitment fees start.

   Keys. Usually on payment.

   Walk through with the seller, read the meters, and note what you find in a handover record (Übergabeprotokoll).

   Ownership. Weeks or months after payment.

   You're registered as owner once the price is paid and the tax office's clearance (Unbedenklichkeitsbescheinigung) is in.

6. After the keys

   Register your address. Within two weeks of moving in (Anmeldung).

   At the local registration office (Bürgeramt), usually by appointment.

   Buildings insurance. For a house, it passes to you, and you can switch.

   The seller's buildings insurance (Wohngebäudeversicherung) passes to you when you become owner, and you can switch within a month (§§ 95, 96 VVG). Make sure the building is covered from the handover; lenders require it. For a flat, the owners together insure the building.

   Property tax (Grundsteuer). Yours from the 1 January after the handover.

   For the year of the handover the seller gets the notice, and the contract usually splits it between you.

   For a flat: Hausgeld and the owners' association. You usually pay from the handover.

   You join the owners' association, and vote at its meetings, once you're registered as owner; from the handover if you bought from the developer. How Hausgeld works.

Primary sources checked on 26 October 2026: the statutes and official pages linked above.