The relationship has ended, but the jointly purchased flat or house remains. One person may want to move out, the other perhaps stay. Before an advertisement is published or a payout promised, you need a shared factual starting point. This article concerns unmarried co-owners in Austria. It does not deal with special rules for marriage, registered partnership, judicial partition or acute protection situations.
First write down three different questions
Our editorial recommendation: separate current use, ownership and obligations towards third parties. Who is temporarily living there? Which shares and other rights are apparent from the current documents? Who is actually obligated to what according to the current loan and security documents? An extract does not answer these three questions at once.
Also collect earlier internal agreements and provable monetary contributions. Mark differing views, instead of treating the private spreadsheet already as a binding payout claim. The economic and legal significance of deposits, renovation costs or ongoing payments must be examined separately. This article does not invent an automatic half‑and‑half division formula for that.
A takeover needs more than the promise to pay the instalment
If one person is to take over the property, transfer of ownership, any compensation and financing must be planned together. Section 431 ABGB refers the transfer of immovable property to registration in the public books. [EIGENTUM] The organisational handover is therefore not to be equated with the fully completed transfer of ownership.
For an assumption of debt in place of the previous debtor, Section 1405 ABGB requires the creditor's consent. [SCHULD] The internal promise to in future pay the bank instalments alone therefore does not by itself resolve the question of releasing the other person from the bank contract. Have the bank’s required conditions and the ultimately actually achieved contractual status explained to you. A provisionally discussed possibility is not already to be included as an agreed takeover in your accounting.
Base the settlement on a clarified foundation
For discussions about a payout you need a comprehensible valuation basis and the financing status that can be specifically attributed. Set the valuation date for that. An earlier purchase price, a current wishful estimate and a professionally determined present value are different quantities. Decide which basis you want to have examined, instead of putting changing figures from individual listings against each other.
Keep open questions about costs, taxes, securities and internal claims on a separate list. The arithmetic difference between value and outstanding debt does not answer every legal question of settlement. Above all, no party should promise a payout whose financing has not yet been clarified.
If a sale is intended, determine the process together
A joint open sale requires appropriate coordination among those involved. Initially agree only on the organisational points on which you are actually in agreement: who collects documents, who coordinates enquiries, how offers will be made accessible to both parties and who must be involved in contractual decisions?
Do not set an extremely early handover date merely to quickly close the private situation. A replacement dwelling still needed, the financing and the professional handling must fit. If no agreement can be reached, the further legal course of action should be clarified. This article does not provide instructions for unilaterally disposing of the other person's share or for changing locks.
Example: The bank question remains open despite a good agreement
In the fictional case both former partners agree on a takeover and an initially discussed compensation. The taking‑over person can probably bear the ongoing instalment. However, the bank has not yet confirmed the release of the other person. The planned completion is therefore tied to the professionally coordinated financing and handling; the parties do not treat their private agreement as an already completed bank and ownership change.
Prepare a separate working arrangement for the transition period
Decisions will continue to arise until the takeover or sale. Record provisional payments, availability, necessary measures and actual use in a comprehensible way. Have their legal form reviewed appropriately, especially if there is a dispute over a use compensation or an offset. A factual interim status should prepare the final settlement and not anticipate it unnoticed. It is particularly helpful when personal communication is currently difficult.