“The left half of the house will then belong to you” sounds like a straightforward purchase decision. The documents, however, only show a share in the entire property. For your intended living arrangement it is crucial which legal form is being offered and on what basis the exclusive use of these particular rooms is to be founded.
Do not equate the share with the shown part of the building
The authority information on condominium ownership explains the difference: Wohnungseigentum (condominium ownership) links an ideal co-ownership share with the real right to use a specific flat exclusively. Simple co-ownership does not already contain this combination as the same legal form. [WE-BEGRIFF] § 829 ABGB deals with the disposition by a co-owner of their share while preserving the rights of their co-owners. [ANTEIL]
Therefore you should not draw your own spatial boundary through house and garden from the indication “a half”. Ask for a comprehensible explanation of the legal right actually being offered and of the existing basis for use. Your question is not only how much ownership is being acquired, but also how the promised living arrangement is secured.
Run the purchase through your everyday life
Our editorial recommendation is a joint walkthrough based on the documents. Which rooms do you want to use alone? Which entrances, plant rooms and outdoor areas will be needed by more than one person? Where are the routes to the heating, meters or storage areas? First, draw in only the actual circumstances. A self-made plan does not create a legal allocation.
Have the specialist advice then explain which existing agreement affects the purchaser, which changes are planned and what happens in the event of a later change on the other side. The content and scope of a usage agreement are not determined here in general terms. The question of whether Wohnungseigentum (condominium ownership) can be established also requires a separate instruction to examine it.
Fictional case: Separate doors, joint decisions
Two flats each have their own front door. The heating system and the only access to the loft are in the right half. A buyer is interested in the share with which the left half has been used so far. She plans to replace the heating later on her own and to use the loft as a reserve.
Even this week-by-week and future plan shows several unresolved expectations. The mere indication of separate doors is not enough. The buyer has the bases for use, access issues and the legal classification of her intended changes examined together. Until then she does not consider the loft to be a freely available extension of the flat being offered to her.
Explicitly compare three purchase options
You can have it examined whether you want to acquire the existing share with the clarified rules of use, whether a different structure should be created before the acquisition, or whether the offer does not meet your needs. These are possible courses of action, not a claim that any variant can be enforced at any time.
Financing and the purchase contract must describe the actual structure. Send your bank the correct documents and not an oversimplified description as an independent single-family house. Have explained what valuation and security underlie this offer. The article does not imply a loan approval.
In the end you should be able to distinguish share, exclusive use and communal tasks from one another in your own words. If your moving-in plan presupposes that you are allowed to decide alone about a certain area, precisely this prerequisite must be checked. A favourable price for an allegedly own half of a house cannot replace an unresolved basis for use.