Amendment of Cadastral Act effective from 1 October 2018
What has been changed?
New essentials of proposal for entry
The amendment of the Cadastral Act specifies essentials of a proposal to commence proceedings. The proposal is now more structured and must contain, for example, detailed specification of the immovable property and specification of all legal acts and co-ownership interests (a fraction in relation to the whole). On the other hand, the act facilitates the procedure for registration of data into the cadastre from geometrical plans when dividing or joining plots of land, in which case it suffices to attach to the proposal an official verification number (applies to geometrical plans verified after 30 September 2018) instead of submitting the geometrical plan itself.
It is thus now necessary to specify in the proposal for entry of a record all legal acts included in the contract, on the basis of which the right to the immovable property is to be registered into the cadastre and which are subject to entry. The act also requires that all legal acts included in the proposal form part of a single contract.
Registration of prices of all immovable properties
According to the previous rules, only prices of agricultural and forest land were registered in the cadastre. Based on practical experience, the registration of all immovable properties into the cadastre, including apartments, non-residential premises or, as the case may be, apartments or non-residential premises in the process of construction, has been introduced, while the prices have only been registered from the day on which the amendment entered into force (from 1 October 2018), while prices will not be checked or registered retrospectively. Information about prices of immovable properties is not public.
Shorter time periods
Another change, which is not less important, is specification of time periods for registering rights into the cadastre and shortening of a time period in case of deletion of a pledge. Registration of a right into the cadastre will be made on a day on which a decision permitting the entry has become final and valid (however on the next working day at the latest), otherwise within 60 days from the commencement of proceedings to enter a record (unless Section 43 of the act stipulates otherwise). The cadastral office will delete a pledge within five (5) days from the commencement of proceedings; in case of a note, it will register this note on the day of receipt of a public or other deed for registration of the note (however, on the next working day at the latest).
Regulation of some conditions for registration of rights to buildings, apartments and non-residential premises
These immovable properties will be subject to registration into the cadastre also in the process of their construction. The amendment stipulates that not every building needs to be registered into the cadastre. The construction will be registered into the cadastre only in case it fulfils criteria specified in Section 6(1) of the Cadastral Act, namely that is bounded by enclosure walls and the roof. This applies also to a building in the process of construction, provided it fulfils the above criteria. A building (or, as the case may be, a building in the process of construction) must be registered into the cadastre within 30 days from the occurrence of decisive circumstances, which, in the present case, is fulfilment of the criteria for registration of the construction.
If no registry number is assigned to such buildings, a person specified in the final building permission will be registered as the owner. If the final building permission is not issued and the building was subject to notification addressed to the building office, a person who notified the building will be registered as the owner. In case of a building that is in the process of construction, a person specified in the building permission will be registered as the owner, unless something else has been proved (for example a contract for works, a contract on transfer of rights and obligations). Documents required for registration have been also specified, namely a geometrical plan, as the building has not yet been registered into the cadastre, an expert opinion on a stage of the process of construction and a final and valid building permission.
Accessibility of the cadastre to the public
The issue of accessibility of the cadastral documentation [in Slovak: katastrálny operát] to the public has also been regulated. A provision, according to which the cadastral documentation is public, has been deleted. Everybody has still a right to inspect the cadastral documentation and make excerpts, transcripts, drawings or copies from it, however the amendment specifies conditions of such access.
In connection with the novelty concerning registration of prices of immovable properties into the cadastre, the amendment specifies to whom information about prices of immovable properties may be provided. Restricted accessibility of the collection of deeds to the public has been maintained. It means that access to documents included in the collection of deeds will have only persons defined in the act, namely the owner or other entitled person. Pursuant to the amendment, the other entitled person means the following categories of persons:
(a) pledgee;
(b) entitled person from the pre-emptive right;
(c) entitled person from the easement;
(d) tenant;
(e) administrator of state’s assets, administrator of higher territorial unit’s assets, administrator of municipality’s assets;
(f) Slovak Land Fund and forest land administrator, provided they dispose of plots of land of unidentified owners pursuant to a special law.
It has also been specified which information is to be published via the internet portal and to which extent. Via the internet portal, the following information is published with the exception of a birth certificate number and a price of the immovable property: given name, surname, maiden name, date of birth and place of permanent residence and, in case of a legal entity, name, registered office and – provided it has been assigned – identification number or other identification data about facts relating to the rights to the immovable property. The information thus published continues to have only informative nature.
New services
The amendment introduces a new service in the form of issuance of a complete list of immovable properties concerning a single person. Such a list of immovable properties may be made available – in case of a natural person – only to this natural person or other entitled person (or persons who are entitled by virtue of a special law, such as the police, notary public, tax authority etc.). The list of immovable properties may be prepared for the territory of the Slovak Republic as a whole or for one district, one region or one cadastral area.
From now on, the cadastral office updates the data automatically, if it finds out that a change of data registered in other relevant registers has occurred. In this connection, it is worth mentioning that there is a new service of tracking changes on a title deed, which is provided by the cadastral office in the form of a SMS for a fee of EUR 2 per month.
These services are available at this portal: https://kataster.skgeodesy.sk/Portal/
