Introduction -
Slovakia, often confused with Slovenia is the Czech Republic's less well-known
neighbour located on its eastern border. It has borders itself with; Austria,
Hungary, Poland and Ukraine. Once part of a unified Czechoslovakia, landlocked
Slovakia has been independent since 1993. The process of independence started in
1989 with the end of Communist rule in Czechoslovakia. This peaceful event,
dubbed the Velvet revolution was followed by the country's dissolution in to to
two separate states. Slovakia has remained a close partner to the Czech and was
made a member of the European Union in 2004. Since this time, the country has
welcomed many visitors from overseas and when Easy jet started flying budget
flights to the country, the state was opened up to many more first time
visitors, many fell in love with the country and decided to take advantage of
its cheap property prices. Bratislava is the capital city and is the focus for
most first time visitors, often compared to Prague because of its wonderful
architecture, Bratislava is fast becoming a place that many people can claim to
own a second or holiday home.
The Holiday Home Market in Slovakia - Unlike its close neighbour, the Czech
Republic, Slovakia is keen to attract foreign investment through property
purchase and the whole process of buying property is a lot easier. Foreign
nationals are permitted (and encouraged) to purchase property in the Slovak
Republic in their own names. It is not necessary to establish a limited company
to buy property and as of May 2004 virtually all restrictions to the purchase of
property by foreigners were abolished. Some restrictions do remain, but these
mainly relate to the purchase of agricultural and forestry land which rarely
interests foreign investors anyway. Demand for rental property in the
country is strong in the main cities and the type of property on offer to
renters varies greatly. The same rules apply here as to other major cities, if
you have good quality property, it will command a high rental yield. As
mentioned above, overseas investors are currently being encouraged to buy
property in Slovakia and to aid this, in 2005,the authorities abolished property
transfer tax ( this is the equivalent of stamp duty in the United Kingdom. On
the whole , purchase costs are on the low side and before you enter in to
negotiations, it is a good idea to find yourself a good quality solicitor will
local knowledge of the rental markets. If you are intending to rent your
property, you will need to make sure that you can obtain a Slovakian holiday home
insurance policy that is extended to include letting. You should also ask the
solicitor for many permits or regulations relating to renting property and you
can then make sure.
Holiday Home
Insurance in Slovakia - Holiday home Insurance for property in Slovakia is
available from the United Kingdom and cover can be provided for both buildings
and contents. The usual rules apply with regard to valuations. when calculating
your sum insured for buildings, you should use the actual amount required to
rebuild the property in the event of a total loss. Contents should be valued on
a as new basis. If you are buying a new build apartment from a developer, you
will probably find that the cost of insurance will be included on a communal
basis. In this cases, it is always bets to ask your solicitor to check with the
vendor as to the arrangements for buildings insurance and a copy of the policy
should be sought to make sure that it covers all the perils you require. Many
overseas home insurance policies differ from those available in the United
Kingdom and you may find that the range bf perils is different. Slovakia does
have a history of minor earthquakes and in recent years heavy rainfall has led
to flooding in parts of the country. However, the highest water in fifty years
recently failed to trouble the city defences in Bratislava and that is a good
sign.
Buying a Holiday Home in Slovakia -The actual process of buying property is
very straightforward and simple. Once you have located the property you require
and have found a solicitor willing to act for you, you need to agree a price
with the owner, once this has been done, it is customary to pay a deposit of
around 10% of the purchase price. A pre selling contract will be drawn up and
this has to be signed by both parties, once this is signed, if you wish to pull
out of the deal, you will be responsible for all agent charges.. Likewise, if
the seller wished to pull out of the deal, he must pay for all expenses and your
deposit is returned in full. In Slovakia, it is most common for the
property to have a survey and this is then sent to the buyers solicitor for
consideration, the solicitor will also carry out all the necessary checks with
regard to title etc and the balance of money is sent to the vendor after both
parties have signed the agreement. It takes about four weeks for the Land
Registry to transfer a title. In Slovakia, this is known as Kataster. As
mention, the fees relating to property purchase are not excessive, the following
are fairly typical.
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Legal fees (including notary) on purchase £300
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Land registration fee ( Kataster) £300
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Registration with tax authorities annual tax
returns – approx. £100
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Nominal annual property tax . £30
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If you decide to let your property out, local
management fees are quite low at start from only a few hundred pounds, however
you will have to pay income tax should on let property and this is currently
19%. Slovakia has a double tax treaty with the UK so you won’t have to pay
twice.At the present moment, if you hold the property for a period of in excess
of five years any profit made on the sale will be free of capital gains tax
So if you are seeking an holiday home insurance quote for a property in
Slovakia, why not see if we can help? In addition, Assetsure can help
provide overseas property insurance and holiday home insurance for other
countries including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Brazil, Canada,
Cape Verde, Chile, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland,
France, Germany, Greece, Egypt, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy,
Latvia, Lithuania, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro,
Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania,
Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand,
Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom (UK) and Venezuela.
Guide to Holiday Home Insurance Slovakia