Selling an inherited property – process, tax, what heirs need to know

Key points

• You can only sell after the Einantwortungsbeschluss – before that the heir has no power to dispose of the property.
• Ownership passes as soon as the order is final; the land register entry afterwards is declaratory.
• For transfers within the family, the registration fee is calculated on three times the assessed value (Einheitswert), capped at 30% of the value (§ 26a GGG).
• Transfer tax on gratuitous acquisition within the family is graduated: 0.5% up to €250,000, 2% on the next €150,000, 3.5% above, based on the property value (Grundstückswert).
• On a later sale: ImmoESt of 30% of the gain (purchase by the deceased after 31 March 2002) or a flat 4.2% of the proceeds (earlier purchase) – what matters is when the deceased bought.
• The main-residence exemption is hard for heirs to reach; check the conditions with a tax adviser.
• With several heirs, a sale needs everyone's consent; compulsory shares are money claims, not claims to the property itself.

From inheritance to sale: the legal path

Probate (Verlassenschaftsverfahren) is the court procedure in which a deceased person's estate is allocated to the heirs; it ends with the distribution order. Only then is it clear who inherits what. For real property, the heir becomes the owner as soon as the order is final – the subsequent land register entry only confirms this. In practice, without the order the property can be neither registered nor safely sold, because buyers and their banks require the heir to be entered in the land register.

Charges when the property passes to the heirs

1. Real estate transfer tax on gratuitous acquisition within the privileged group (including spouses, registered partners, children, grandchildren and siblings under the GrEStG) – graduated on the property value: 0.5% on the first €250,000, 2% on the next €150,000, 3.5% above.
2. Land register fee for privileged acquisitions (§ 26a GGG) – calculated not on the full value but on three times the assessed value, capped at 30% of the value of the right. The assessed value is set by the tax office.

Real estate income tax on a later sale

If the heir later sells the property, what matters for ImmoESt is when the deceased acquired it – the inheritance itself is not a new purchase.

Rezoning surcharge since 2025: if the land was rezoned as building land after 31 December 2024 and is sold after 30 June 2025, the taxable gain on the land portion increases by 30% – on top of the tax in the table. The surcharge does not apply with the main-residence exemption or a loss.

Main-residence exemption: the two-year rule (§ 30(2)(1)(a) EStG) requires the property to have been the main residence for at least two years since acquisition; an inheritance does not count as an acquisition, so this rule practically does not apply to heirs. For the five-year rule (lit. b, five of the last ten years) there are special rules for gratuitous acquisitions – whether they apply in your case must be checked with a tax adviser before counting on an exemption.

Community of heirs and compulsory share

If several people inherit together, they form a community of heirs – each has an undivided share according to their inheritance quota, and no one alone can dispose of the whole property. A sale needs the consent of all co-heirs, or a prior division or agreement on dividing the estate.

The compulsory share (Pflichtteil) is not a claim to the property but a money claim against the heirs: those entitled (descendants, spouses and registered partners) receive half of their statutory share. It can be claimed at the earliest one year after the death; in cases of undue hardship a court can defer payment. For the sale this means: even someone who is not a co-heir can put economic pressure on the timing through an outstanding compulsory share.

When can I sign?

It makes sense to sign the purchase contract for an inherited property only after the distribution order is final – before that there is no secure power of disposal, and a buyer or their bank will hardly finance without proof of the heir's status. Valuation and preparing the marketing can often be done during the proceedings. How we accompany a house sale: Selling a house in Vienna and Lower Austria.