What is the process of selling a property in Slovenia and how long does it take to sell your property? In the article we are describing the step by step process on selling the property, we have also added an approximate timeline in which time you can expect the process to be completed. This is a question to which there is no exact answer. If someone promises you that they can sell your house in a certain number of days, weeks or months, you can be a little skeptical. What we can do is give you a better sense of how long the sale will take with our property sale process and approximate timeline.
How long it takes to sell will depend on a number of things – what condition your property is? does it have all the necessary paperwork, where it is located, what the market is like and (perhaps most importantly) what price you/we will set. If you let us know how quickly you would like to sell your property, we will help you set the right price.
Sales process and timeline for selling a property in Slovenia
The stated timeline is valid on the assumption that the property has all the necessary permits for sale, such as a building and use permit, if any of this needs to be arranged before the sale, of course the time required for the sale of the property is extended by the time of these procedures.
Chosing an estate agent and preparing the property 1-3 WEEKS
You have decided to sell your apartment or house, first of all it is time to check whether your property has the appropriate documents (building and use permit), does it have an clean state in the Slovenian land register? You can check this via the online land register.
Then it’s time to choose a real estate agent. You may already have someone in mind and are ready to work with them, or you may be doing the sales yourself, in which case this step will only take a few days. However, you may want to talk to a few different agents who will evaluate your property and give you a chance to choose the one you trust the most.
This is followed by the signing of the brokerage contract with the agent, which in most cases is concluded for a period of 9 months, during which time most properties are also sold. The real estate agent makes a market analysis and estimates the value of the real estate and agrees with the sellers on the advertised price and their wishes on the price they would like to sell for their real estate. Depending on the property, the agent orders the production of professional photographs and drawings of floor plans, as well as possible aerial shots, followed by the creation of an advertisement, which is usually active online a few days after signing the brokerage contract.
Advertising and viewings 1-14+ WEEKS
Once you have chosen your real estate agent and signed the brokerage agreement, the sale will officially begin. Your property will be active and will begin to be advertised within a few days to a week, after which viewings and negotiations with buyers can begin.
How long the property will be active on the market will depend on the market and the price of your property. In hot markets such as Ljubljana, its surroundings and the coast, real estate can be advertised for only a few days until an offer is accepted, but in a slower market – or if we have set a price that is too high – it can take significantly longer, in some cases even several months. We believe that a properly priced property is usually advertised for up to 3 months, if things are going slower and we may have set an overly ambitious price or we are selling a property for which there is no demand.
From the acceptance of the offer to the signing of the sales contract 2-4 WEEKS
You have accepted and signed the buyer’s binding offer for which the deposit was paid to the fiduciary account of the real estate company, Congratulations! The house is under contract. It’s time to stop advertising the property, but things aren’t official until the main sales contract is signed. You might think this happens right away, but this is actually the most difficult and stressful time when selling a property – and things can still go wrong if we’re not careful.
The buyer and the seller have agreed on essential components such as the price in a binding offer or an agreement on the area, but now it is necessary to order the drawing up of a sales contract from a lawyer. During this period, the lawyers will work together and the opposite parties will coordinate the contract.
Good news? Regardless of the market, this part of the process usually takes the same amount of time, the contract can be reconciled in a few days, or it can take several weeks.
From signing the sales contract to completion 2-4 WEEKS
You have signed the sales contract and this means that everything is official!
After signing the purchase agreement, the real estate agent initiates a tax procedure with the Financial Administration of the Republic of Slovenia, which lasts about 2 weeks. The Financial Administration issues a decision on the payment of real estate sales tax in the amount of 2% of the purchase price and the payment of any capital gains tax, which you are obliged to pay if you have owned the property for less than 15 years, or less than 3 years if it was your permanent residence.
Once all taxes have been paid, the seller can notarize his signature. With a certified sales contract, the buyer of the property can also be officially registered as the owner in the land register.
When the buyer is registered in the land register and the handover has been carried out, the procedure is officially completed.
The total length of the sale? 2-6 MONTHS
So what is the total lenght of the sale? How long does it take to sell a property in Slovenia? Of course, there is no strict rule here. As you can see, a quick sale goes from choosing a realtor to closing in less than 2 months – or it can take up to 6 months or more.
In fact, in some extreme cases, it can even be faster (an apartment in the center of Ljubljana) or even take longer (luxury properties, overpriced properties, agricultural land, houses in remote areas). But if you know the factors to consider—the market, your agent, your price, how organized you are—you can start planning ahead and the sale will go without surprises.
Do you have questions? Contact us!