Viewing the land register: The land register excerpt
The land register is not accessible to everyone. Prospective buyers must provide proof of legitimacy, such as a preliminary contract. The land registry office has discretionary power and may refuse to issue an excerpt from the land register even if there is a legitimate interest, without the owner’s consent.
Certified or uncertified land register excerpt
There are two types of land register excerpts: the certified (official) and the uncertified (simple) version. In Bavaria, for example, as of 2025, the official excerpt costs 20 EUR, while the simple excerpt costs 10 EUR.
Certified land register excerpt
Banks and buyers will always require the certified excerpt for security reasons, as it costs only slightly more. This ensures that they are not dealing with a forgery.
Uncertified land register excerpt
An uncertified land register excerpt may be sufficient in less critical cases, such as when a tenant wants to verify whether their landlord is indeed the owner.
Eligibility for land register access
Access to the land register is regulated rather restrictively in Germany, but not only in Germany, as shown by this overview of land register rules in other EU countries.
Only those who can prove a legitimate interest are granted access. Typically, the following individuals and institutions are considered eligible:
- The owner and other persons registered in the land register
- Prospective buyers who can legitimize themselves with a preliminary contract. Simply stating interest in purchasing is usually not sufficient
- Creditors in case of a foreclosure sale
- Beneficiaries of an easement burdening the property
- Heirs with a certificate of inheritance
- Tenants who want to verify whether their landlord is the actual owner
- Banks, if the property is to be used as collateral
- Appraisers commissioned by a client
- Notaries. They usually have digital access and can quickly retrieve the excerpt
The priority notice in the land register
A priority notice in the land register indicates that a property sale is in progress.
This prevents the seller from fraudulently selling the property multiple times in quick succession.
Once the sale is fully completed and recorded in the land register, the priority notice is removed.
The three sections of a land register sheet
A land register sheet consists of three sections:
Section 1: The “heading” or “cover page”
Responsible district court, land register district, and land register sheet number.
Section 2: The “inventory register”
This section records the property data according to the official cadastre: district, plot, parcel, location (e.g., Main Street 123), type of use, and property size.
It also includes a so-called “active notation,” which is rare and may be used by banks to secure their status as mortgage creditors and prevent changes or deletions of their rights in Sections II and III of the third land register part without their consent.
Section 3: The 3 “departments”
Section 3 of the land register sheet is further divided into three subsections called “departments.”
Section 3 of the land register with Departments I, II, and III
Section 3 of the land register sheet consists of three sections, called “departments,” numbered with Roman numerals I, II, and III:
Department I: Ownership
This section describes ownership details. Who owns which part, and how was ownership transferred—through purchase, inheritance, or foreclosure?
Department II: Encumbrances and restrictions
Encumbrances and restrictions on the property. Mortgage rights are recorded in Department III.
- Easements
- Usufruct
- Real encumbrances
- Heritable building rights
- Preemptive rights
- Priority notices, e.g., the priority notice of conveyance. These are the only provisional land register entries that are deleted once they have fulfilled their purpose
- Objections to entries in Departments I and II
- Restrictions on disposal, such as insolvency, foreclosure, executor, reversionary heir, or redevelopment notices
Department III:
List of mortgage rights: mortgages, land charges, annuity charges, as well as objections to entries in this department.
Priority ranking in Departments II and III of the third section of the land register
If multiple rights are registered in Departments II and III, a ranking is established both within each department and between the rights in the two departments.
The ranking of entries in I and II plays a crucial role, particularly in foreclosure sales.