Most problem transactions do not fail at the notary's office. They fail months or years later, when something surfaces that was never checked in time. The notary verifies the parties' identity, the form of the deed and the encumbrances on record. The notary does not review planning status, inspect the property, or judge whether the price and terms are good for you.
Here is what should be verified before you sign a preliminary contract and pay a deposit. Most of these searches we file and obtain ourselves — it is part of how we run every transaction, not a separately billed extra.
It starts with the seller's title document — a notarial deed, a voluntary partition agreement, a court award, a certificate of inheritance. The ownership history is traced at least 10 years back. The reason is practical: a defect in an earlier transfer can affect your purchase too.
Key questions: is the property inherited, and are all heirs participating; was it acquired during marriage (in which case the spouse's consent is required even if they are not named as owner); is a power of attorney involved, and is it still valid on the date of the transfer. We run this check when we first take a property on — before it ever reaches a buyer.
The standard check is an encumbrance certificate from the Property Register at the Registry Agency. It shows registered mortgages, attachments, leases over one year, and pending claims.
One point matters more than any other: the certificate has no validity period — it is accurate only as at the moment it was issued. So a freshly dated certificate is obtained immediately before the notarial transfer, not a month in advance. Anything registered in the meantime transfers with the property. In practice that means two filings — one at the start of the process and one at the end. We handle both, so the buyer is not left tracking the timing.
An existing mortgage is not in itself a problem — it is standard practice to discharge it from the sale proceeds on completion day. But that mechanism must be written explicitly into the preliminary contract.
From 15 January 2026, amendments to the Registration Rules restrict open access to uncertified copies of third parties' notarial deeds. The measure targets property fraud. In practice, anyone without a demonstrated legal interest can no longer freely pull copies of deeds relating to someone else's property; the registration judge assesses legal interest case by case.
For a buyer, this means some searches that used to be casual now require a formal application and an officially issued certificate — more time, more formality. We work under this procedure daily and file the applications on behalf of the party with legal interest, so the delay does not eat into your preliminary-contract deadline.
We confirm the building is lawful and legally complete: building permit, occupancy permit (Act 16) or a commissioning certificate. For new construction, Act 15 as well. These are collected from the developer or the seller as part of assembling the file.
Separately, what the documents say is compared with what can be seen on site. Enclosed balconies, partitioned common areas, internal alterations without an approved design, and floor-area discrepancies against the cadastre are common and entirely fixable — but only if found before the transaction rather than after.
The cadastral sketch or scheme is also something we obtain, and we reconcile it against the title document — identifier, area, boundaries.
The tax valuation certificate is required by the notary and simultaneously shows whether property tax and waste-collection fees are settled. We file for it together with the seller. We also check current electricity, water and heating accounts, any unpaid contributions to the building association, and whether a costly repair has already been voted through.
The buyer typically pays:
Figures are indicative as at July 2026 and change with the legislation. For a quick preliminary estimate you can use the notary calculator on this site; the exact figure for the specific property we prepare ahead of the transaction, so there are no surprises on completion day.
The deposit is paid under the preliminary contract, which means your protection has to be written into it — not sought afterwards. At minimum it is worth including: precise identification of the property by cadastral identifier; seller's declarations that there are no encumbrances and no third-party claims; the deadline and mechanism for discharging any existing mortgage; a clear date for vacating and handing over the property; what happens to the deposit if either side defaults; and — if you are buying with a loan — the right to withdraw without penalty if financing is refused.
The contract is drafted and negotiated by our own lawyer, not filled in from a template.
On the transactions we handle, obtaining and reviewing the documents is part of the ordinary work — not a separate service, and not something we leave the client to chase between institutions. The standard scope covers:
The client receives an organised file and a clear opinion: what is in order, and what needs to be settled before anything is signed.
Legal due diligence is not a formality, and it rarely takes more than a few days if it starts on time. Nor is it something a buyer should have to organise alone — with us it is built into the process by default.
If a purchase is coming up and you would like the documents reviewed by a lawyer before you sign — call us or come by the office. We will go through them together, obtain whatever is missing, and tell you plainly what is in order and what needs to be settled before the notary.
