By real estate, each of us probably imagines a house, an apartment, a cottage, a garage. But where did this term come from and how to define it? Immovable things used to be called immobilia, but today we can also see the term real estate. If we look into the law, immovable property means both land or a building connected to the ground by a solid foundation, as well as rights in rem over a tangible immovable thing and other rights that the law declares to be immovable property.
What can all be considered real estate?
We consider immovable property to include not only an apartment, house, cottage, garden, etc., but also agricultural land (hop farms, vineyards, orchards, arable land, etc.), built-up areas and courtyards, building plots, wine cellars, hotels, buildings for agricultural production, transport, energy, forestry and water management and other buildings.
Did you know that all data about real estate such as its inventory, description, geometric and positional determination, registration of ownership and other property rights can be found in the Land Registry?
It can be considered as a source of information for the protection of real estate rights, for the calculation of real estate tax and other tax purposes, for the protection of the environment, agricultural and forest land, mineral resources, cultural monuments, for the development of the territory, for real estate appraisal, for scientific, economic and statistical purposes and for the creation of other information systems.
You might be interested in: How is real estate valuation done?
When you need to value a property (for example, for a mortgage application), you need to call in a surveyor. He or she can either value the property according to the law (in which case the appraisal price may not be the market price) or based on sales of properties that are similar to yours and in the same area.
For the property valuation, you will need the current title deed and the title deed or contract that proves how the property was acquired and who owns it. This could be a purchase agreement, a deed of gift, a deed of inheritance, a condominium unit transfer agreement.