Are there any legal restrictions on foreign investors acquiring real estate?
Foreign individuals and foreign legal entities are allowed to acquire ownership of real estate in the Slovak Republic including agricultural land and forest. However, there are some exceptions relating to the ownership of real estate where acquisition by foreigners is restricted by specific legislation. For example, Act No. 140/2014 Coll. on Acquisition of Ownership of Agricultural Land provides that the ownership of the agricultural land may not be acquired by a country, a citizen of a country, a natural person with residence or a legal entity with its registered seat in a country, whose legislation does not allow citizens of the Slovak Republic, natural persons with residence in the Slovak Republic or legal entities with their registered seats in the Slovak Republic to acquire ownership of agricultural land. This does not apply to inheritance and to the Member States of the European Union, the European Economic Area, Switzerland or the states for which it follows from the international agreement by which the Slovak Republic is bound.
In general, pursuant to Article 4 of the Slovak Constitution, mineral resources, caves, underground waters, natural healing sources and streams are the property of the Slovak Republic. With regard to the acquisition of property from municipalities or state authorities, a special regulation applies and additional conditions must be complied with. In addition, a special restriction applies in the case of culturally protected real estate. In such cases, the Slovak State has a pre-emption right on any sale of a building which has the status of a cultural monument. This pre-emption right of the State ceases to exist if the State is unable to match the offer received by the seller from a third party.
Slovak law stipulates that only the registered Public Sector Partners may be the acquirers or users of the property belonging to the:
The division of agricultural land into plots of less than 3,000 square metres, and forest into plots of less than 5,000 square metres, is restricted. However, dividing land into plots of less than 20,000 square metres but not less than 3,000 square metres, in the case of agricultural land, and 5,000 square metres, in the case of forest, means the owner must make certain additional payments, the amount depending on the total area of the land.
Act No. 497/2022 Coll. on Screening of Foreign Direct Investments entered into force as of 1 March 2023 which stipulates new mechanism for transactions from abroad to Slovak critical infrastructure entities (targets). The FDI Act applies to foreign investments, ie investments planned or implemented by a foreign investor that will enable the foreign investor to directly or indirectly acquire ownership right to use or dispose of the substantial assets of the target.