You want to buy a property in Vienna as a third-country national. Price, financing and personal housing plans are largely prepared. Now it must additionally be clarified whether your specific acquisition requires a permit or falls under a proven exception. This question belongs before your subsequent payment and move-in schedule.
This article concerns exclusively the personal acquisition framework of the Wiener Ausländergrunderwerbsgesetz. It does not transfer any Vienna rule to other federal provinces nor does it determine any entitlement under immigration law.
Describe purchaser and right together
Our editorial recommendation: Present nationality, actual purchasers, intended right and specific property together to the contract adviser. For this review it makes a difference whether you are buying alone or preparing an expressly named joint acquisition structure. A vague intention to add someone later is not treated as an already existing structure.
§1 of the Vienna Act covers, among other things, ownership and co-ownership as well as building rights and personal servitudes on built or undeveloped plots among the living. The personal scope is determined in §2; §3 contains exceptions. [WIEN] Therefore you should not exclude the procedure solely because of the description “small flat” nor assume the same result for every person without an Austrian passport.
Distinguish between exception and approval route
An exception needs its factual basis. §3 names various constellations, including certain joint acquisitions as well as entitlements shaped by EU, EEA or treaty provisions. §5 paragraph 4 provides for a written negative confirmation on request for the exceptions designated there under § 3 items 2 or 3, subject to appropriate evidence. [WIEN]
This article therefore does not declare every exception to be confirmation-required. Have it explained for your specific transaction which proof is demanded by which authority. An ownership partnership is not a freely selectable heading for every private participation. The existing information on half minimum shares explains their other, condominium-law function.
Prepare the required approval ground
If an approval is required, the magistrate decides under §4 after the statutory hearing procedure. The standard there concerns in particular an economic or social interest or the described case of rounding off; conflicting public interests must also be considered. [WIEN] The guide does not turn your personal purchase wish into an already established ground for approval.
Have the necessary case-specific presentation and the evidence explained to you. Document your actual intended use. Do not adopt a story from a previous application by another person. Which circumstances are legally relevant and sufficient in your case must be assessed on the basis of the actual project.
Fictional case: The loan commitment is taken for the final release
A prospective buyer purchasing alone has prepared her financing and discussed an imminent move-in with the seller. She initially assumes that with sufficient own funds every personal acquisition prerequisite is satisfied. Only in the draft does she notice the still open land transaction legal review.
She now has her own acquisition entitlement classified and the actually required proof named. She records the desired move-in as a planning wish until then. The case does not assert either that every third-country national requires approval or that approval will be granted later. It shows the missing connection between the personal prerequisite and the completion of the purchase process.
Feed the confirmed status back into the transaction
§5 contains proof requirements for the registration and requires proof of the purchasers’ nationality. [WIEN] Therefore have the response assigned to the correct transaction and the unchanged circle of purchasers. If the structure is changed, submit the new status again.
Discuss with the contract adviser how the open prerequisite should be handled in the actual contract and payment process. The article does not draft a condition nor promise a hearing date. A usable result names the examined acquisition route, the competent authority, the missing proof and the consequent next action. Only this status supports your further concrete planning.