Certificates of Harmlessness

The Certificate of Harmlessness

A certificate of harmlessness is required when a part of a property is to be sold or deleted from the land register, even though there are encumbrances on the original property – such as land charges, mortgages, or easements.

Normally, all these encumbrances must automatically be transferred to the detached parcel. However, the buyer often wants the new parcel to be free of such encumbrances. To clarify the legal successor parcels of the encumbered parcel, an identity certificate may be required.

For this to be possible, all individuals or banks holding rights to the property would actually have to agree that their encumbrances will not transfer to the parcel. In many cases – especially when the parcel has little or no economic significance for the entitled parties – this consent can be replaced by a certificate of harmlessness.

This certificate confirms that the transfer of the parcel without the existing encumbrances does not disadvantage the entitled parties. This allows the parcel to be registered in the land register free of encumbrances and sold.

Costs: Time fee, but no more than 5,000 euros.

The costs are based on the "Fee Ordinance for Official Surveying and Official Property Valuation in North Rhine-Westphalia" (Surveying and Valuation Fee Ordinance - VermWertKostO NRW)

Please contact us before applying for a certificate of harmlessness: