Inheritance Law2026-09-24

Inherited a house: why you should have the Land Register updated within two years

When you inherit a property, you become the owner automatically — but the Land Register stays wrong until you apply to have it corrected. Miss the two-year window after the death, and that correction starts costing you a fee.

You have inherited a house or a flat. In law, the property has belonged to you since the day of death. Yet the Land Register (Grundbuch) still shows the name of the person who has died. That gap does not close by itself — and it will cost you real money if you wait too long.

In short

As an heir, you become the owner of the inherited property automatically, from the moment of death. That is true regardless of what the Land Register says. Correcting the register into your name is free of charge, provided the application reaches the Land Registry (Grundbuchamt) within two years of the death. Once that period has passed, the very same change is treated like an ordinary transfer of ownership and attracts a fee calculated by reference to the value of the property. What matters here is not when you apply for the certificate of inheritance (Erbschein). What matters is when the application for correction actually reaches the Land Registry.

How I can help

Checking whether — and how — your succession can be proved to the Land Registry’s satisfaction
Applying for the certificate of inheritance at the probate court (Nachlassgericht) where there is no notarial will
Keeping an eye on the deadline so that the two-year window does not slip by unnoticed
Drafting and filing the correction application with the competent Land Registry
Coordinating with co-heirs where the property is held by a community of heirs (Erbengemeinschaft)

Why the Land Register becomes inaccurate in the first place

Ownership of a property passes on inheritance by universal succession — with no notarial conveyance, no entry in the register, purely by the death of the previous owner. The Land Register still shows the deceased’s name. From that moment on it is factually wrong and no longer reflects the true legal position.

This inaccuracy has practical consequences that go well beyond a mere paperwork problem. Until you are registered as the owner, you generally cannot validly sell, charge or mortgage the property. First you must prove your position as heir without any gaps. Every bank, every notary and every buyer will insist on an up-to-date register entry. Putting the correction off merely pushes the problem down the road — and that is precisely when it tends to become urgent, for instance when a sale is on the cards or a community of heirs breaks up.

The two-year deadline: when it starts and when it ends

Under the schedule of fees to the Court and Notary Fees Act (Gerichts- und Notarkostengesetz, GNotKG), no fee is charged for registering the heirs of the previous owner, provided the application for registration is filed with the Land Registry within two years of the death.

Two points are decisive for calculating the deadline, and in practice both are where things often go wrong:

The clock starts at the death — that is, the day the deceased died. Not the date the will is opened, not the date the certificate of inheritance is issued, and not the point at which you learned of the inheritance.
The deadline ends when the correction application actually reaches the Land Registry. It is not enough that you applied for the certificate of inheritance in good time at the probate court. If the probate proceedings drag on and the certificate is not available until after the deadline has passed, the fee exemption no longer applies — even where the delay is no fault of yours.

There is no provision for extending this deadline. Anyone who lets the two years lapse pays the full registration fee. It is calculated by reference to the value of the property and, for larger assets, it is anything but trivial. The rule applies equally where you are only registered as owner in the course of winding up the estate — for example where a community of heirs allocates the property to one of the co-heirs.

Proving succession: what the Land Registry requires

Before the Land Registry will register you as the new owner, you must formally prove your position as heir. Under § 35 GBO this proof is provided, as a rule, by a certificate of inheritance or a European Certificate of Succession.

An important exception applies where there is a notarial will or a notarial inheritance contract (Erbvertrag): in that case the opened testamentary disposition together with the probate court’s record of opening will suffice as proof, and a separate certificate of inheritance is usually not required. The Land Registry may nevertheless call for a certificate if succession does not emerge clearly from the will and the record of opening — which happens where questions of interpretation remain open or the appointment of heirs is unclearly worded.

Where, by contrast, there is only a private (handwritten) will, or where the statutory rules of succession apply, there is in practice scarcely any way round a certificate of inheritance. Since processing at the probate court can take several months, you should apply for the certificate as early as possible. In the end, only the date it reaches the Land Registry counts towards the two-year deadline — not the date of your application to the probate court.

Even if you intend to keep the property: the duty to correct still applies

Some heirs assume that correcting the register is only necessary when a sale is looming. That falls short. Under § 82 GBO the Land Registry is to impose a duty on the owner: to file the correction application and to obtain the documents needed for it. This happens as soon as the registry learns of the inaccuracy — for instance through a notification from the probate court. The Land Registry may hold that request in abeyance for as long as there are legitimate reasons against it, such as certificate-of-inheritance proceedings that are still under way. But indefinite inaction is not on offer: sooner or later the correction will be demanded, and by then the free two-year window may well have already lapsed.

A typical case from my practice

A client inherits the family home together with his sister. The two of them are agreed: he is to take over the house and buy his sister out. First, however, they deal with clearing the house, dealing with the authorities and sorting out other items in the estate. The certificate of inheritance is not applied for until eighteen months after the death, because the probate court had earlier raised queries about an older will. By the time the certificate arrives nine months later, more than two years have passed since the day of death. Correcting the register is still perfectly possible — but it now triggers the full value-based fee, an amount that would have been avoided entirely had the application been made in time.

Common mistakes

Tying the deadline to the certificate of inheritance rather than to the death. Anyone who only starts counting once the certificate arrives has often already overrun the deadline.
Confusing the application to the probate court with the application to the Land Registry. Only the date of receipt at the Land Registry counts for the fee exemption.
Where there are several heirs, waiting until “everything is sorted”. Correcting the register into the name of the community of heirs is possible independently of any later winding-up. It should not be put off until the final distribution.
Applying for the certificate of inheritance too late because other estate matters are given priority first. Processing times at the probate court cannot be speeded up once the deadline is already running short.
Treating a handwritten will as sufficient. Check in advance whether the Land Registry will nonetheless require a certificate of inheritance in your particular case.

Frequently asked questions

Do I even need the register corrected if I do not intend to sell the property?

In law you are already the owner from the moment of death, regardless of the register entry. However, the Land Registry can require you to have it corrected under § 82 GBO. And at the latest on a later sale, a mortgage or a winding-up of the estate, there is no way round the correction. Acting early — and within the two-year window — also saves you the fees.

What happens if I miss the two-year deadline?

Correcting the register remains possible. But it then attracts a fee, like an ordinary transfer of ownership, calculated by reference to the value of the property. The law makes no provision for extending the deadline or for reinstatement once it has passed.

Does the day I apply for the certificate of inheritance count towards the deadline?

No. The only thing that matters is the day the correction application reaches the Land Registry. Delays at the probate court are at your risk, even where you applied for the certificate of inheritance in good time.

Do I always need a certificate of inheritance?

Not necessarily. Where there is a notarial will or a notarial inheritance contract, the opened disposition and the court’s record of opening will as a rule suffice as proof. With private wills or statutory succession, the Land Registry will usually require a certificate of inheritance.

There are several of us as heirs — into whose name is the register put?

For as long as the community of heirs has not been wound up, all the co-heirs are registered together as owners in a community of heirs. The two-year deadline applies even where the property is only allocated to a single heir in the course of the later winding-up of the estate.

Your next step

If you have inherited a property, you should establish now when the death occurred and where you stand on proving your inheritance. Do not wait until a sale, or a bank, forces the correction. I will check for you which form of proof is sufficient in your case. I will press ahead with the application for the certificate of inheritance and make sure the correction application reaches the Land Registry in good time. And on every other question surrounding an estate and its winding-up, I advise you comprehensively in the field of inheritance law. In the next part of this series, I look at how, as a community of heirs, you can sensibly wind up an inherited property — particularly where the co-heirs are not readily in agreement.

This article provides general information and is no substitute for legal advice in an individual case. Last updated: 2026-09-24.

Christian Czirnich, Rechtsanwalt (attorney at law), Kirchseeon near Munich

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