Ask a lawyer on the topic of Inheritance law

Transfer house to child during lifetime

October 14, 2009 | 50,00 EUR | answered by Andreas Scholz

Hello,
I have a question regarding inheritance law. My mother owns a house. Her father, who is 85 years old, still lives in this house and has a lifelong right of residence. However, the house has been in my mother's name for more than 10 years. Since I have often helped her, she now wants to give me or transfer the house as a gift, and my grandfather has no objections.
How can we best do this? My mother and I live in the district of Steinfurt, but my grandfather lives about 100km away in another district. If my mother and I want to transfer the house to my name soon, where do we need to go? To the building department in my grandfather's district, where the house is located, or to a lawyer or notary? Or is it sufficient to do it here in the district of Steinfurt where my mother and I live? What would be the right approach? A gift? My grandfather is still in good health and will likely live for another 5 years. I plan to sell the house afterwards, preferably with minimal tax implications, so we are considering doing this before the end of the year, as I have heard that the number of years the house is in my name is also important when selling it.
I would appreciate it if you could help me further with this.

Andreas Scholz

Dear inquirer,

The transfer of the property, regardless of the legal transaction, is done through the conveyance. The conveyance must be notarized, meaning you and your grandmother must go to a notary to transfer the property. Whether you go to a notary at your place of residence or your grandmother's place of residence does not matter.

When transferring the property, it is important to consider that the right of residence in favor of the grandfather remains intact. Therefore, if you want to sell the property during the grandfather's lifetime, you can only do so with the right of residence.

The property can be transferred through a gift. It can also be transferred to you through a sale. If the property has been owned by the grandparents for more than ten years, there would be no income tax for your grandmother, according to § 23 para. 1 No. 1 EStG. The same applies to you if you sell the property after owning it for more than ten years. Therefore, it is advisable to proceed with the transfer soon so that the deadline begins as early as possible.

I hope this information has been helpful to you. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

Best regards,

Andreas Scholz, Attorney