New act No. C of year 2021 on the Hungarian Land Registry will take effect as of February 1, 2023 and will serve as the platform for the long-awaited innovation of the real estate procedures in Hungary.
As such, Hungary will finally join other European Union member states, such as Austria, Germany, Belgium and Greece, only to name a few, which already operate with an electronic land registry system.
Considerable factors of this modernization are cost and time efficiency, which have been long overdue regarding the registration of facts pertinent to real estate transactions.
Although some countries, such as Spain have left the real estate transactions to be curated by notary publics in the form of notarial deeds, the Hungarian legislation has chosen to leave the real estate transactions in the hands of properly trained and well-educated attorneys.
Therefore, foreseeably as of May 2022, the Hungarian BAR Association will start its training sessions related to the new electronic land registry procedures and use thereof.
The training sessions will consist of approximately 4 hours of theory and more or less the same amount of time for practical courses. By the end of the all-round training, an examination will take place by means of which a certain type of real estate procedure must be handed in successfully on the electronic land registry platform for registration.
Once the above exam is completed, then foreseeably as of September 2022, the Hungarian BAR Association through its territorial BAR Associations will commence the pre-registration for attorneys to be registered as „entitled to proceed with the new land registry procedures„.
Another prerequisite to be registered under the aforementioned status – besides the successful completion of the exam – is for the attorneys to dispose of a certain increased amount of liability insurance.
Given that such increased liability insurance does burden the attorneys with additional costs, also with consideration of the current market practice related to real estate agent fees, it would not be surprising if the discussions regarding long-awaited minimum attorney fees in real estate procedures would now resurface.
Nonetheless, it goes without saying that the upcoming months will certainly bring renewal to real estate procedures in Hungary.
***
*ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This blogpost may not be used in any way, shape or form, furthermore it does not serve as legal advice and does not constitute any kind of legal assignment agreement. In case of questions or remarks, please feel free to contact us at nora.szabo@noraszabolaw.com.
[Source: Pesti Ügyvéd, April 2022, page 10-11., Article by Dr.Dezső Havasi – „Küszöbön az ingatlan-nyilvántartás „forradalma”.]