What you need to sell a flat

Energy certificate

A listing for selling or renting out a building or part of one must include the energy certificate (energiamärgis) data: the energy performance figure and class (EhS § 67). The buyer or tenant must be shown the certificate and given a copy when the contract is signed; it is enough if the certificate is visible in the building register (ehitisregister).

In a building with shared heating the certificate is issued for the whole building; a separate certificate for one flat is possible only if there is no shared heating system. Ordering a certificate is an ordinary decision of the apartment association, taken by majority vote (KrtS § 35).

A certificate based on actual consumption is valid for 10 years; one based on designed demand, for 2 years after the building is finished (EhS § 66).

Association statement and a let flat

Get a statement of payments and debts from the association's board in good time: debts for payments already due pass to the buyer.

If the flat is let, the lease passes to the buyer with all its rights and obligations (VÕS § 291).

Liability for defects

The seller is liable for any non-conformity with the contract that existed at handover, even if it appears later (VÕS § 218). Where private individuals sell, the seller is not liable for what the buyer knew or should have known at the time of the deal.

The buyer must report a defect within a reasonable time of finding out about it; a consumer who bought from a company, within 2 months (VÕS § 220). Contract claims expire after 3 years, or 10 years for an intentional breach; claims for building defects under a sale contract do not expire earlier than 5 years after the building was completed (TsÜS § 146).

Known defects — damp, mould, no occupancy permit, problems with access to the building — are better disclosed and written into the contract: one general clause will not protect you from every defect.

Tax on the sale

The gain on a sale is subject to 22 % income tax. The gain is the sale price minus the purchase price and documented costs directly related to the sale (TuMS § 4, § 37).

There is no tax if you lived in the home as your place of residence right up to the sale; this relief applies to no more than one sale every 2 years (TuMS § 15 lg 5–6).