Start from the contractual position already reached
Our editorial recommendation: present to the contract adviser all offers, acceptances and material declarations that have already been made. Arrange them by date and by the transaction concerned. Do not treat a new draft version as a definite fresh start in which earlier declarations no longer play a role.
§1053 ABGB classifies the purchase contract as a title for acquisition of ownership. §1054 refers to the general rules on contracts and the definiteness of the purchase price. [KAUFGEGENSTAND] [PREIS] What binding effect already exists in the concrete course of events must be assessed on the basis of your declarations. An editorially chosen heading such as reservation (Vormerkung) or reservation (Reservierung) does not decide that.
Describe the transaction actually agreed
Reconcile the offered plots of land or shares of condominium ownership, associated rooms and items sold with them. Use unambiguous descriptions and the relevant documents. A piece of furniture mentioned during the viewing requires a different description from a right assigned in the land register.
For every material deviation, write down the specific question: Which parking space belongs to it? Is the kitchen to be taken over? Which fittings should actually be present at handover and in what agreed condition? The current draft version and its annexes should give the same answer. The article does not decide a legal allocation of accessories solely on the basis of a photograph.
Link price and conditions
Have it stated what the purchase price has been agreed for, whether additional items or services are to be treated separately and which costs you are to bear in addition. Keep confirmed amounts and still-open items distinct. The historic wording of §1054 is no recommendation here for payment in cash.
Also discuss the conditions that are material for you: for example the confirmed financing status, a required approval or an as-yet unresolved basis for use. A hope does not become a contractual condition merely by entering it in your private list. Which legal arrangement fits the contractual position already reached and what the consequences of a failure are requires specific advice.
Have the path to ownership explained to you
For the transfer of immovable property §431 ABGB provides for registration (Einverleibung). [EINVERLEIBUNG] Signature, payment, keys and registration of ownership must therefore not be referred to in the procedure merely as the same event. §31 GBG contains the basic framework for the necessary registration documents and statutory special rules. [URKUNDEN]
Ask the engaged specialist for a comprehensible allocation: who still obtains which document, which rights are to remain or be deleted and which proof triggers which next step? For escrow mandates, bank loan repayment and payment prerequisites the existing separate guide goes into payment security in more depth. Here its vetted result is connected with your complete purchase transaction.
Fictional case: a suitable date is based on various assumptions
A buyer plans her move at the turn of the month. She assumes that she will already be able to use the kitchen and cellar upon signing. The seller’s side understands the date only as the start of payment processing; the kitchen is to be partly removed.
The buyer first has established what has actually been declared so far. Afterwards the scope of acquisition, inventory and intended handover are dealt with together in the contract consultation. The timetable is aligned with the confirmed procedure. The example does not assume a right of withdrawal and recommends no unilateral withholding of payment.
Finish the preparation with a comprehensible version
Read the current contract version together with its annexes and the associated processing agreements. Question any passage that is still incomprehensible or contradictory. The professionally reviewed answer should relate exactly to the version that is actually to be used.
Agree which proofs you will receive after payment, application, judicial completion and handover. Keep the final documents and a clear accounting together. That way you can see whether the transaction actually carried out corresponds to the clarified purchase.