Can someone "steal" your real property? What to do if the property is transferred against the will of the owner? But what if the owner is forced to sign the donation agreement? Or someone made him "sign some papers" and the real estate was transferred to another person? How to defend in these situations?
As you know, "stealing" someone's land, apartment or building is not as simple as stealing a wallet. In the Czech Republic, ownership right to real estate (i.e. land, unit, building that is not part of the land, etc.) is transferred by registering the ownership right in the cadastre (land registry). To achieve a transfer of ownership, it is necessary
1. conclude a contract (purchase, gift, exchange) and have their signatures officially verified;
2. submit an application to the relevant cadastral office to initiate proceedings for the registration of ownership rights in the land register. The application must be accompanied by the registration document – namely, the original contract with notarized signatures.
The proposal is submitted on the prescribed form. Deposit documents, on the other hand, can have any format, if they meet the basic (formal) requirements and their content justifies the proposed change. You also have to pay an administrative fee ( 2,000 CZK). The petitioner can be any of the participants in the proceedings - i.e. the one whose right expires (the transferor) and the one whose right arises (the transferee), or both.
Can a property be transferred without the owner's knowledge or against his will?
As we suggest in the introduction, unfortunately it can happen. How can a thief - let's call him an "evil acquirer" - achieve this? For example like this:
- The evil acquirer falsifies the signature and official verification of the owner's signature on the Power of Attorney, which he authorizes himself to transfer the real estate, which he subsequently carries out;
- A evil acquirer falsifies the signature and official verification of the owner's signature on a donation or other contract, on the basis of which the real estate is subsequently transferred;
- A evil acquirer assures the owner that he is signing a document other than a real estate transfer agreement;
- A evil acquirer forces the owner to enter into a contract with the threat of violence or other threat.
How can the owner defend himself?
As soon as the (original) owner discovers that his real estate has been transferred to someone else, in violation of substantive law - i.e. on the basis of an invalid contract, or a contract that he himself never made - he needs to take action immediately . At the latest within 1 month from the day on which he discovers this fact, he must submit a request to the cadastral office for recording a Dispute Notice.
Subsequently, he must file a lawsuit to determine his ownership right to the property, within 2 months of the Dispute Notice Request. If the court approves the claim, the cadastral office will delete the contested entry and all subsequent entries. The property right of the original owner will therefore be registered again in the land registry.
In the meantime, the evil acquirer could transfer the property to other transferees who considered him to be the true owner, i.e. they had good faith in his authority to transfer the thing to them (so-called bona fide transferees). Even in the event that a evil acquirer has alienated the property in this way, a Dispute Notice registered in time is also effective against bona fide acquirers. The protection of original owner takes precedence over the protection of their ownership right.
In the event that the original owner was not properly informed about the registration of the ownership right of the evil acquirer, he can submit a Dispute Notice Request up to 3 years after the registration of the right of the evil acquirer. However, it is always necessary for him to comply with the subjective deadline of 1 month from the day he learned about the registration. After three years, there is no remedy for the original owner.
What if the original owner misses the deadline of 1 month for Dispute Notice Request?
What happens if the original owner delays in resolving the situation after discovering that the property has been wrongfully transferred to someone else? If he fails to request the entry of Dispute Notice within the subjective period of 1 month, the cadastral office may still enter the Dispute Notice, however, the Dispute Notice will only be effective against the person who achieved the entry in bad faith. E.g. if the evil acquirer agreed with his accomplices to gradually transfer the "stolen" property between them, the Dispute Notice will also have an effect against the accomplices, even if it was entered after 1 month from the day the original owner became aware of the disputed entry.
Finally, a few tips:
Owners of immovable property are advised to have a Real Estate Cadastre Watchdog set up. The Change monitoring service notifies the owner (by mailbox, SMS, email) if there is a change in the real estate cadastre for the monitored property, namely:
- "sealing": marking the notice that legal relations are affected by the change;
- deposition of property right, records or Notice.
If you are going to acquire (e.g. buy) a property, check how long the seller has owned it. If they have owned it for less than 3 years, and there is a possibility that the property was transferred without a legal reason or on the basis of an invalid contract, we advise you to watch out. In that case, the original owner can come forward, have a Dispute Notice entered into Land Registry, file a declaratory judgment action, and if the Court agrees, your newly registered title to the property would be ineffective.
If you have discovered that another owner is registered for your property in the cadastre or that the status in the cadastre does not correspond to reality, do not hesitate to contact us..
