town hall
Procedure descriptions

Land Register - Inspect

The land register provides information about the legal circumstances of a property, for example

  • who is the owner of a plot of land,
  • whether and what rights other persons have in a property (for example, mortgages or easements) or
  • whether there are priority notices and certain restrictions on disposal.
    A priority notice secures a claim to transfer of ownership under a contract of sale.

You should inspect the land register before you buy a property. Otherwise you may be buying a property with encumbrances that you are not aware of.

Responsible department

  • the land registry or the land registry inspection office (if established) or
  • every notary public

Note: 13 local courts keep the land register in Baden-Württemberg. You can find the responsible land registry office on the internet at the local and court directory of the federal and state justice portal.
If, in the case of the location of a plot of land in Baden-Württemberg, you only know the local subdistrict and not the political municipality required for the query in the local and court directory, you can find out the latter via the directory of local subdistricts. This can be retrieved from the Baden-Württemberg State Office for Geoinformation and Land Development.

You can find out whether a land registry inspection office has been set up in a municipality by asking the municipal administration or on the internet.

Details

Prerequisite

You must have a legitimate interest in inspecting the land register.

Procedure

You must apply for inspection of the land register at the competent office. Ask there beforehand whether you have to make the application orally, in writing or in person. This depends on the individual case.

Notice: For the protection of the owner To protect the owner, you may only inspect the land register if you can prove that you have a legitimate interest. Creditors, for example, may inspect the land register if they wish to foreclose.

Would you like to buy a property and inspect it for this reason? The owner must agree to this. Get written confirmation that you are allowed to inspect the land register.

Deadlines

none

Required documents

  • Passport or identity card
  • if the property is not yours: documents showing your legitimate interest (e.g. declaration of consent by the owner)

Costs

  • at the land registry or the land registry inspection office: none
  • at a notary: EUR 15.00 plus expenses for retrieving the land register sheet (as a rule EUR 8.00) and VAT

Miscellaneous

Information on extracts from the land register can be found in the service"Requesting a copy of the land register".

Release note

22.02.2023; Justizministerium Baden-Württemberg

Contact

Bürger- und Standesamt (Bürgeramt)
Grabenstraße 15
89522 Heidenheim an der Brenz
Fax (0 73 21) 3 23-33 32