Andrea Pradi (ed.) TRANSFER OF IMMOVEABLE PROPERTY IN EUROPE FROM CONTRACT TO REGISTRATION UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI TRENTO 2012 i The copyright belongs to the authors of each paper Università degli Studi di Trento, 2012 ISBN: 978-88-8443-501-9 This paper can be downloaded without charge at: Unitn-eprints: http://eprints.biblio.unitn.it/archive/4210/ ii CONTENTS ECONOMIC QUESTIONS CONCERNING THE RULES FOR THE TRANSFER AND PUBLICITY OF IMMOVABLE PROPERTY Luz M. Martínez Velencoso 1. General questions. The role of property rights from the perspective of economic theory .................................................................................................................. 3 1.1 Transaction Costs ............................................................................................................. 5 1.2 The faculty of disposition and acquisitions “a non domino” ............................................ 6 1.3. Legal security and security in the commercial transfer of property ................................. 8 2. Instruments for the publicity of property rights............................................................. 11 2.1 Publicity of possession .................................................................................................... 12 2.2 The Land Register ........................................................................................................... 13 2.3 The rules for the transfer of property as an instrument for sharing risk between the transmitter and the acquirer of a property. ..................................................................... 15 3. The economic functions of the Land Register. A comparative analysis of the different Land Registration Systems ........................................................................... 19 Bibliographical References ...................................................................................................... 25 TRANSFER OF IMMOVABLE AND REGISTRATION SYSTEM IN AUSTRIA: A BRIEF OVERVIEW Alessio Greco 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 28 2. Derivative Acquisition .................................................................................................... 29 3. The Structure of the Land Register ............................................................................. 34 4. The Principles Governing the Land Register ........................................................... 36 5. Acquisition in Good Faith .............................................................................................. 39 6. Ranking Order and Priority Principle: the Case of Double Sale ........................ 41 7. Protection of the Holder of a Denied Right in rem ................................................ 46 Bibliographical References ...................................................................................................... 50 iii THE TRANSFER OF IMMOVABLE PROPERTY IN BELGIAN LAW Vincent Sagaert and Alexis Lemmerling 1. Transfer of immovable property .................................................................................. 51 1.1. Consensual system .......................................................................................................... 51 2. Mortgage Register ............................................................................................................ 55 2.1. Basic principles ............................................................................................................... 55 2.2 Organisation of the Mortgage Registers ......................................................................... 60 3 . Land Register (Cadastral register) ............................................................................ 61 3.1. Basic principles ............................................................................................................... 61 3.2 Organisation ................................................................................................................. 62 Legal Sources ......................................................................................................................... 65 Bibliographical References ...................................................................................................... 66 THE TRANSFER OF IMMOVEABLES IN ENGLAND AND WALES: A BRIEF INTODUCTION Matthew Conaglen 1. Immoveables ...................................................................................................................... 67 2. Legal and Equitable Interests ........................................................................................ 68 2.1 Distinction ...................................................................................................................... 68 2.2 Relevance of distinction .................................................................................................. 69 3. Transfer system ................................................................................................................. 72 3.1 Registered land ............................................................................................................... 72 3.2 Unregistered land ........................................................................................................... 74 Legal Sources and Bibliographical References ..................................................................... 75 INTRODUCTION OF THE FINNISH LEGAL SYSTEM FOR THE TRANSFER OF IMMOVABLE PROPERTY Matti Ilmari Niemi 1. The Finnish System as a Nordic and European Legal System ............................ 77 2. Transfer of Real Property ............................................................................................... 78 3. Special Features of the Finnish System ...................................................................... 80 4. The Finnish Registration System ................................................................................. 84 5. The Nature of Title Registration .................................................................................. 86 6. The Effects of Title Registration ................................................................................... 89 7. The Future .......................................................................................................................... 92 Legal Sources and Bibliographical References ..................................................................... 93 iv INTRODUCTION TO THE FRENCH SYSTEM OF TRANSFER OF IMMOVABLE PROPERTY Frédéric Planckeel 1. The principle of the transfer solo consensus ............................................................ 95 1.1 The foundation of the principle ....................................................................................... 95 1.2 The application of the principle ....................................................................................... 97 2 The role of land publicity ............................................................................................... 99 2.1 The legal reach of land publicity and the cadastre .......................................................... 99 2.2 The incidence of land publicity on the transfer of property ................................. 101 Bibliographical References .................................................................................................... 103 TRANSFER OF IMMOVABLE PROPERTY IN GREECE Anastasios Moraitis 1. General Information ...................................................................................................... 105 2. The Prerequisites for the Transfer of Ownership in Detail ................................ 106 2.1. Ownership of the transferor .......................................................................................... 106 2.2. Transfer agreement ....................................................................................................... 108 2.3. Notarial authentication................................................................................................. 108 2.4. Justa causa .................................................................................................................... 109 2.5 Registration (µεταγραφή) ............................................................................................. 111 3. Registration in Particular – Shifting Trends ........................................................... 115 3.1. The current (personal) registration system in Greece .................................................. 115 3.2. Transition to the Land Registry System ....................................................................... 121 4. SPECIAL ISSUES ............................................................................................................ 126 4.1. Costs of the transfer of ownership ................................................................................. 126 4.2. The role of delivery ........................................................................................................ 128 4.3. Procedural issues .......................................................................................................... 128 4.4. Insolvency ..................................................................................................................... 130 Bibliographical References ...................................................................................................