Which documents you need

The full extract is the basis of everything. Besides ownership and the grounds of acquisition, it also shows easements (Dienstbarkeiten), real burdens (Grundlasten), priority notices (Vormerkungen), annotations (Anmerkungen) and the mortgage liens (Grundpfandrechte). Anyone can obtain the public extract; the full one requires a legitimate interest – as owner, authorised representative, heir, usufructuary or as a managing agent with a contract.

In Basel-Stadt it is ordered from the Land Register and Surveying Office (Grundbuch- und Vermessungsamt). A certified extract costs CHF 30 per plot, and according to the office it is generally delivered within two to three working days. In Basel-Landschaft the land registry of the Civil Law Administration (Zivilrechtsverwaltung) in Arlesheim is responsible – a single office for the whole canton, not several districts.

For the application, the Land Register Ordinance (Grundbuchverordnung) requires for each person involved the surname, first names, date of birth, sex, place of residence and place of origin (Heimatort) or nationality – plus a copy of the passport or identity card and proof of the social insurance number (AHV-Nummer). For legal entities, the company name, registered office, legal form and business identification number (UID) are added, with a commercial register extract and copies of the identity documents of the authorised signatories. It sounds like a formality, but it holds up transactions when it is missing.

In both Basel cantons there is an insurance monopoly: all buildings must be insured with the cantonal institution and may not be insured elsewhere for this purpose. For every building there is therefore necessarily an officially determined insured value – the documents on this belong in the sales file. In Basel-Landschaft a second look is worthwhile: buyer and seller are jointly and severally liable to the building insurance for outstanding premiums, and a statutory mortgage lien without a land register entry exists for these.

The deed of constitution (Begründungsakt) and the regulations (Reglement), the annual accounts including budget and allocation of costs, the minutes of the owners' meetings and the balance of the renovation fund (Erneuerungsfonds). The deed of constitution, annual accounts, allocation of costs and minutes are provided for by law; regulations and a renovation fund are customary but not mandatory. The law contains no obligation to present them to the buyer. Anyone who has them ready nevertheless considerably shortens the review by the buyer and the buyer's bank.

The tenancy agreements in the original, not in summary: they define the legal position the buyer enters into. Plus evidence of the rent deposits – for residential premises no more than three months' rent, held in an account in the tenant's name. Incorrectly held deposits are a liability item. No law requires a rent roll (Mieterspiegel) and service charge statements, but every serious buyer does.

For Basel-Stadt, the land registry states that a land register transaction normally takes around four to eight weeks. The order is determined by the day and time of filing. In the case of defects the application is deferred, in the case of serious defects it is rejected – a further reason to have the documents complete before things become serious.

There is no official list of documents from the notaries' offices for a property purchase – neither in Basel-Stadt nor in Basel-Landschaft. What is set out here is built up from the general provisions, not prescribed by a notary's office. And which property documents a financing bank requires is not regulated anywhere and differs from institution to institution. What we specifically need for your property we will tell you at the first meeting.