Buying real estate in Hungary as a third-country national: the permit procedure and its pitfalls

A buyer from a country outside the EU acquires a flat, house or commercial property in Slovakia without any permit. In Hungary, they must go through a permit procedure before a government office, with its own conditions, deadlines and fees. The key difference lies already in the very definition of a foreigner: for natural persons Hungary goes by citizenship, Slovakia by permanent residence. In this article we explain the course of the procedure, the special regimes for entrepreneurs, auctions and the Buda Castle District, and the practical consequences for transactions.

1. Who is a foreigner

Hungarian Act No LXXVIII/1993 (Lakástv.) goes, for a natural person, by citizenship. A foreign natural person (külföldi) is someone who is not a citizen of an EU Member State, an EEA State or a State treated as equivalent (§ 91/A point 25 Lakástv.). For a legal person, the seat decides: a foreign person is a legal person or an organisation without legal personality that has no seat in the EU, the EEA or an equivalent State (§ 91/A point 24 Lakástv.).

The Slovak Foreign Exchange Act (Act No 202/1995 Coll.) goes by permanent residence. A resident is a natural person with permanent residence and a legal person with its seat in Slovakia; a non-resident is anyone who is not a resident (§ 2). Decisive, however, is § 19a, under which a non-resident may acquire any real estate in Slovakia except those restricted by a special regulation. For flats, houses and built-up plots no such restriction exists.

2. Subject of the permit

A permit is required for acquiring ownership of any real estate that is not agricultural or forest land – i.e. a flat, house, plot, warehouse or office (§ 1/A(1) Lakástv.). Inheritance is an exception. A foreign natural person from a third country cannot acquire agricultural and forest land in Hungary at all; this is governed by a separate Act (Fftv.).

3. Competent authority, deadline and fee

The application is submitted on a prescribed form to the government office of the capital or the county (fővárosi és vármegyei kormányhivatal) according to the location of the property (§ 2 of Government Decree 251/2014. (X. 2.) Korm. rendelet). The processing deadline is 45 days (§ 3 of the Decree).

The fee for the administrative service is HUF 65,000 per property. A reduced fee of HUF 13,000 applies to the purchase of a flat by a person with the right of free movement and residence or with a long-term residence permit who has applied for Hungarian citizenship (§ 1/B(1) Lakástv.).

4. Conditions for granting the permit

Apart from a lack of reciprocity (§ 4(2)), the authority must permit the acquisition if the following conditions are met (§ 4(1) of the Decree):

• the acquisition does not harm the public interest or the interest of the municipality [point (a)], or the applicant meets the special conditions for an entrepreneur [point (b)];
• the identity of the foreign natural person can be reliably established, and for a foreign legal person the identity of its branch (fióktelep) or commercial representation under the Fiókteleptv. [point (c)];
• the intention to transfer ownership of the property can be established [point (d)].

A declaration by a party to the proceedings does not replace missing evidence (§ 4(1a)). If the conditions under points (c) and (d) are not met, the authority rejects the application (§ 4(3a)).

Public interest

For a natural person, the public interest is harmed in particular where the person is subject to expulsion, an entry and residence ban, an arrest warrant, or has been convicted by a court (§ 5(1) of the Decree; similarly § 1/A(2a) Lakástv.). For a legal person, this mainly concerns a suspended or deleted tax number of the branch, a criminal-law restriction of activity, or liquidation (§ 5(4) of the Decree).

Interest of the municipality

The mayor has 30 days from the authority's request to comment. An objection may be based on the purchase interfering with a mandatory or voluntarily assumed local public matter (§ 6(2) of the Decree). Following the amendment by Decree 485/2025. (XII. 31.) Korm. rendelet, the municipality's interest is also harmed where the purchase circumvented a right of first refusal introduced by the municipality under the Act on the protection of local identity (Hövtv.) (§ 6(3)).

Reciprocity

The authority may refuse the permit even where all conditions are met, if the buyer's State does not guarantee Hungarian citizens at least the same treatment as its own citizens (§ 4(2) of the Decree). Reciprocity is presumed until the Minister of Foreign Affairs issues an opinion to the contrary (§ 4(5)). The reservation does not apply to the dissolution of co-ownership, nor to a person who has had a registered residence in Hungary for at least five years and worked for at least three of them.

5. Special regimes

An entrepreneur relocating to Hungary

A self-employed person (egyéni vállalkozó) or a member of a sole-trader firm (egyéni cég) who wants to do business and reside permanently in Hungary is entitled to a permit if the property is needed for their activity and the purchase does not harm the public interest [§ 4(1)(b) of the Decree]. It follows from its combination with § 4(3) that on this route the authority cannot refuse the permit on the basis of the municipality's objection. A property bought for real-estate brokerage is not regarded as needed for business (§ 4(4)).

The permit is subject to a condition: no later than from the 90th day after acquisition, the buyer must reside and do business in Hungary permanently (§ 7(1)). If they do not move in, move out, or cease the business, they must sell the property within one year (§ 7(2)).

Purchase at auction

At an auction, the authority issues a preliminary permit (előzetes engedély), which does not specify a particular property and entitles the holder to successfully bid for any one property within its district (§ 9(1) of the Decree). It is valid for one year from becoming final (§ 9(2)) and is granted if the purchase does not harm the public interest (§ 9(4)); the municipality's interest and reciprocity are not examined (§ 9(3)). After the auction, within 8 days the authority endorses the permit with a clause stating the address and parcel number of the property acquired, only after which it can be registered (§ 9(5)). If the preliminary permit was not valid on the day of the auction, the clause cannot be issued (§ 9(6)).

The Buda Castle District

For flats within the historic Buda Castle District there is a prohibition that cannot be overcome by a permit. Apart from the State and the municipality, only a natural person with EU or EEA citizenship may acquire a flat here, and at most two flats, except by inheritance (§ 61/B(1) and (2) Lakástv.). All legal persons are excluded, including Hungarian and Slovak companies. A contract contrary to the prohibition is absolutely void, and the land-registry authority examines compliance with the limit ex officio (§ 61/B(3)). Privately owned flats here may moreover not be converted to another use, except ground-floor flats, which may serve commerce, services or culture (§ 61/C).

6. Slovak rules

Slovak law handles this entire area with a single provision, § 19a of the Foreign Exchange Act. A non-resident acquires real estate without a permit, without a fee and without any obligation to relocate to Slovakia, equally at auction, in a historic centre and when buying several flats.

Slovak law also knows reciprocity, but only for agricultural land. Agricultural land cannot be acquired by a person from a State that does not allow Slovak persons to buy such land; EU, EEA and Switzerland States are exempt (§ 7 of Act No 140/2014 Coll.). Hungary therefore applies reciprocity to all real estate and at the authority's discretion, Slovakia only to land and directly by statute.

7. Comparison at a glance

8. Recommendations for transactional practice

• For a buyer from a third country, allow in the schedule at least 45 days for the permit and the 30-day period for the mayor's comment. Make the contract subject to a condition precedent of the permit being granted and do not release the deposit (foglaló) earlier.
• Prepare evidence of identity and of the intention to transfer ownership; the authority will not accept a mere affirmation (§ 4(1a) of the Decree).
• When buying through a Slovak s. r. o., verify whether the property does not lie in the Buda Castle District and whether the municipality has introduced a right of first refusal under the Hövtv.
• At an auction, secure the preliminary permit before the auction and monitor its one-year validity.
• On the entrepreneur route, alert the client to the obligation to start residing and doing business in Hungary within 90 days, otherwise they must sell the property within a year.