Piso en Bratislava, Eslovaquia, 62 m²

As a Russian client during the pandemic bought an apartment in an elite complex and received a residence permit without visiting Slovakia

Using the example of a real client from Russia, we will tell you how you can buy real estate in Bratislava and get a residence permit without visiting Slovakia.

Due to the pandemic and closed borders, it is impossible to come to Slovakia to buy real estate. But, if you act correctly, you can buy real estate, establish an individual entrepreneur and get a residence permit without visiting Slovakia. Let's tell you how our client from Russia did it. Difficulties arose during the purchase process. Let's describe which ones, and how they were overcome.

A Russian client decided to buy a 2-room apartment in the elite residence Three Towers (Three Veže, Tri Veže).

The residence consists of three residential 24-storey buildings with a height of 74 meters. There are 633 apartments (211 in each tower), 24 apartments under the roof, 837 Parking spaces.

The facility has all kinds of services, shops, cafes, beauty salons, fitness centers, gyms, sauna, even a swimming pool under the roof.

The residence has a Party and Family Room for festive and family events with a capacity for 30 people with a large terrace and a view of the city from above.

Private park and playground on the 4th floor.

Entrance via non-stop 24/7 reception. The object is guarded by the PSC.

Parameters of the purchased apartment
Price: 235,000 € (together with a garage space)
2 rooms
Living area: 62 m2
Floor: 19
Place in the garage Storage Room

A large living room is combined with a kitchen equipped with modern electrical appliances. (Miele induction hob, electric stove, extractor hood, refrigerator, freezer, dishwasher).
Custom-made furniture.
Built–in wall spaces for storing clothes and things - wardrobes in the hallway and bedroom.
Large aluminum windows with a special film that does not let heat through.
A loggia with a waterproof wooden covering and a channel for outflow of water allows you to grow flowers and wash bicycles.
Private bathroom. Separate toilet with washbasin.
Complete air conditioning of the apartment, air filtration by a low-energy ecological system Daikin.
Optical Internet and television.

THE PROCESS OF BUYING AN APARTMENT AND RECEIVING IT IN STEPS

1. Property inspection
The client found the apartment on the Internet by himself. I liked the apartment. He knew that the real estate market is associated with risks, so he asked us to visit the apartment and arrange a purchase.
We visited the apartment, got acquainted with the owner and the apartment itself. The apartment was immaculate, see the description above.
Through the camera in showed the apartment to the client.

2. Reservation Agreement
The owner said that he would prepare the contract for the sale himself, he would not require our help. He said that the Russian buyer should pay him an advance reservation in the amount of 10% of the price of the apartment, i.e. € 23,500. After receiving the advance payment, he will not offer the apartment to anyone else.
The advance was very high. It is usually about 5,000 €. The advance remains to the seller if the transaction does not take place due to the buyer's fault. We asked the seller where he got this 10%? It turns out that he paid such an advance to the developer of a larger apartment, which he is now moving into. They explained to him that such an advance could be for an apartment that has not yet been built. For a finished apartment, the advance payment should be below 5%. Convinced the seller in the amount of 5,000 €.
We have drawn up the reservation agreement ourselves. According to it, if the purchase does not take place due to the seller's fault, the seller will have to return the amount paid to the buyer plus a penalty for delay with a refund. The buyer has similar rights and obligations if the purchase fails due to the seller's fault.
The seller signed the reservation agreement, scanned it and sent it to us. We sent it to the buyer. He scanned it and returned it. Such contracts with a small amount may not be certified by a notary or a consulate.
The payment from a Russian bank through a correspondent account of a European bank to the seller's account was completed in 1 day without any problems.

3. Agreement on the purchase and sale of an apartment
After that, work began on buying and selling an apartment. The seller did not want us to draw up the contract, he has his own. We have translated the contract into Russian. A Russian bank will issue money abroad only if the client offers a Slovak contract with a notarized translation into Russian. Usually a scanned contract with a translation sent by e-mail is enough.
When buying Slovak real estate, the seller must notarize the signature in the contract. The Russian buyer must sign the contract without certification. There are two possibilities of signing the contract.
1st opportunity. The contract signed by the buyer, certified by a notary, is sent by courier to the buyer for signature. The buyer signs the contract and returns it by courier to Slovakia to the seller or realtor.
2nd opportunity. The buyer certifies in the Slovak Consulate a power of attorney for his representative in Slovakia. The assurance costs 10 €. On the basis of this power of attorney, the buyer's representative signs a contract for the purchase of real estate and an application to the cadastre, a contract for storing money with a notary, a protocol on the delivery and acceptance of an apartment after purchase, an agreement with a management company and utility providers. This feature is more convenient and faster. The buyer chose her. The power of attorney was made to the director of our company, signed at the consulate and sent to us by courier.

4. Keeping money with a notary
After receiving the power of attorney, the buyer and I visited a notary, signed a contract with him and opened a buyer's money storage account for the purchase of an apartment (vinkulovaný účet in Slovak). Since the buyer had already received € 5,000 to his account as an advance reservation, the remaining € 230,000 had to come to the notary's storage account.
The client paid €245 to the notary for keeping the money through his proxy. Our real estate company paid 266 € for the accelerated deposit. This is what we always do when dealing with a serious client.
We sent the scanned apartment purchase agreement to the buyer's email that day. The buyer visited his Russian bank. The bank had enough scanned contract to transfer money abroad. After 1 day, the money was in the notary's custody account.
The next day we took the purchase agreement and the application for contribution to the cadastre. The cadastre put the date and number of the deposit on the application.

5. Cadastre
2 days after submitting the deposit application, the cadastre sent a notice to the seller and us via the electronic state postal channel that it does not allow the deposit due to errors in the contract. I wrote down exactly what mistakes there were. He proposed to correct them in the addendum to the contract.

Mistakes were made by the seller. He didn't want us to draw up a contract, now he's paying. He compiled the supplement himself. Signed it at the notary. A few minutes before the closure of the cadastre, they managed to submit an addendum to a special window for filing documents on the paperwork that had already begun.

The apartment was reissued to the buyer within one week. The buyer took in the cadastre and brought to the notary a sheet of ownership of the apartment with the buyer's name. The notary transferred the money from his storage account to the buyer's account.

6. After buying an apartment
Within a month, the buyer vacated the apartment. According to the protocol on delivery and acceptance, we accepted the apartment, recorded the indicators of electricity and water meters (there was no gas in the apartment), signed a contract with the management company. From the date of signing the protocol on delivery and acceptance, utility costs are paid by the buyer.

7. Establishment of the sole proprietor
We have established an IP at the address of the apartment. All the client needed was a certificate of non-conviction. The establishment of the sole proprietor took 7 days.

8. Residence permit
The necessary documents were prepared for the apartment owner, which he certified at the Slovak Consulate in Russia. The originals of some documents (an extract from the business register, a property sheet, etc.) were sent to the client by courier.

After 2 weeks, the client submitted documents for a residence permit to the consulate. The Consulate sent them by diplomatic mail to the Police for Foreigners in Bratislava.

The police gave permission for a residence permit for up to 90 days. The consulate issued the client a national D visa. According to it, the client flew to Slovakia. Passed the mandatory 5-day quarantine, passed the required test. With a negative test, he visited the police and will receive a residence permit certificate. With the certificate, he will conclude a mandatory med. insurance of a foreigner and will be med. exam.

Now he can live and do business in Slovakia and the EU.

In the complex of Three Towers (Three Veže, Tri Veže) there are other 2, 3, 4-room apartments with Parking spaces at a price from 200,000 to 300,000 euros. If you are interested, we will help you make a purchase according to a similar scenario.