Real Estate Lease Agreement
The Civil Code stipulates that real estate includes land and other items that are connected to the land and cannot be moved from one place to another without changing their purpose or significantly reducing their value (such as buildings, facilities, plantings, and other items which, by their nature and intended use, are considered immovable). Certain vessels and aircraft that are subject to mandatory legal registration are also equated with real estate. The law may also recognize other property as real estate. In summary, real estate includes naturally immovable property as well as property designated as such by law.
Under a lease agreement, one party (the lessor) undertakes to transfer an item for temporary possession and use to the other party (the lessee) in exchange for payment, while the lessee agrees to pay rent.
A lease agreement for real estate concluded for a term longer than one year may be enforceable against third parties only if it is registered in the public register as required by law.
Lease agreements for buildings or structures, as well as for land, must be concluded in writing. A land lease agreement must include a plan of the leased land plot. A residential lease agreement, when the lessor is the state, municipality, or a legal entity, must be concluded in writing and signed by an authorized official and the lessee. Lease agreements between natural persons may be concluded verbally. However, a fixed-term residential lease agreement must always be in writing, regardless of the parties involved. These agreements can only be enforced against third parties if they are registered in the public register.
A land lease agreement must specify the following:
- The land lessor;
- The land lessee;
- Details of the leased land as recorded in the land cadastre and public register;
- The lease term;
- The primary intended use of the land;
- Conditions for the use of existing buildings and facilities located on the leased land that belong to the landowner or other persons, including conditions for constructing new buildings or facilities, building roads, creating bodies of water, and other provisions, as well as how such structures will be used after the lease term ends;
- Conditions for the use of underground and surface water, and natural resources (excluding amber, oil, gas, and quartz sand) on the leased land, provided these do not contradict the law;
- Special conditions for land use;
- Land use restrictions;
- Servitudes and other property rights;
- Rent for the land lease. This includes payment for drainage systems, roads, bridges, engineering facilities, etc., as well as rent indexation if the leased land is state-owned;
- Other obligations of the lessor and lessee related to the use of the land plot and its return upon expiration of the lease;
- Liability for breaches of the land lease agreement.
The following may not be included in a land lease agreement:
- Authorization for the lessee to represent the landowner and dispose of the landowner’s private land and other real estate located on it;
- The right of the lessee of private land to change the primary intended use of the land.
The right of superficies is the right to use land owned by another person for the construction of buildings or to acquire and own such buildings or use the subsurface. If the ownership of the land, buildings, or plantings changes, the right of superficies remains valid. The object of the superficies may only be a land plot or part of it. The holder of the superficies has the right to acquire or own buildings and perennial plantings on land owned by another person. When establishing the right of superficies, the holder’s right to build, use, or demolish buildings, or to plant or remove plantings, may be restricted.
The right of superficies remains in force even if the landowner changes. It also remains in effect when ownership of the buildings or plantings changes, as the new owner automatically acquires the right of superficies along with the ownership of these structures.