Why Slovakia?

Slovakia suffered somewhat on the international scene from its parting from the Czech Republic on 1st January 1993 as the famous city of Prague took the headlines with its tourist, business and property investment attractions. Since then, the country has established itself in the international community and as a stable economic force in the region.

The capital, Bratislava, has been the focus of much of the development and has managed to attract the attention of the international business community, but the advantages of buying property in Slovakia extend far beyond the city. There are established resorts for summer and winter activities in the High Tatra Mountains, and although Slovakia is landlocked, there are plenty of lakes and rivers to provide aquatic adventure.

The development of Slovakia as an independent force has seen it become a member of NATO and the OECD, and in May 2004 it joined the European Union as a full member. On 1st January 2008, Slovakia formally joined the Eurozone, replacing all currency with the Euro.

Popular buying locations

Buying property in Slovakia will generally fall into one of two categories – buying an investment property in the city to rent out to foreign workers for the majority of the time, or buying a leisure property that will still be able to be let out in order to supplement your income, but that will offer a real holiday and weekend break destination for you and your family.

Bratislava is becoming one of the most important locations for business in Central Europe, and is in the ideal position geographically to take advantage of this. In the south west of the country, close to the borders with Austria and Hungary, Bratislava lies on the river Danube which connects it directly to Vienna. As the former city of residence of the Hapsburg monarchy, the city is also a focus for the history and culture of Slovakia, which with the arrival of low-cost airlines has started to bring waves of tourists into the country. The architecture of Bratislava closely resembles that of Vienna and Budapest, reflecting the close cultural and historical ties in the region.

As businesses have begun to expand into the former communist territories of Central and Eastern Europe, many have looked to developing cities such as Bratislava as offering a good base from which to expand. Office space is comparatively cheap, local support workers are enthusiastic to get to work in a multinational company, and the staff development gains of sending workers from other offices to set up operations in a new territory are considerable.

All of these operations need to have housing of a high standard in order to make them work and keep their employees comfortable. This works both with foreign workers looking for a similar standard of accommodation to what they are used to at home, and local workers who have the benefits of higher salaries and are seeking to move into better properties.

For this reason, there are new developments being built on the outskirts of Bratislava, as well as renovations taking place in the existing districts of the city. These new and restored properties will house the workers coming to the city, as well as provide tourists with short-term accommodation.

Outside of Bratislava, much of Slovakia is dominated by the mountainous terrain of the Carpathian Mountains, which stretch right across the northern half of the country. Among these peaks are the national parks of the High and Low Tatra Mountains, which give the country some of the leisure destinations used by Slovakians for holidays, and are now coming to the attention of the international tourist community. This, in turn, is leading the overseas property market to the region, and many people are now investing in some of the off-plan and mid-construction properties that are on the market.

The High Tatras offer skiing for a good winter season, as well as a well-developed range of summer activities for outdoor enthusiasts. Walking and climbing are ideal in the mountains, but there are more mountain bike, paragliding and paramotor facilities available all the time. In mountains like the Tatras, this is an ideal activity given the ruggedness of the terrain and the relative lack of urban development.

The areas around Poprad and Kosice are the focal points of much of the property development that is going on in the area. Poprad already has direct flights from the UK, while Kosice is expected to have a flight to Dublin confirmed in the near future, allowing easy access to the resorts or tourists and property owners alike. The price of property in these developments is below that of the more crowded and property-dense resorts in Bulgaria, with off-plan apartments available from under £40,000.

Other areas of interest in Slovakia include Nitra, one of the oldest settlements in the region and the site of lowland vineyards, forests and thermal springs. Trnava, also in the west of the country is often referred to as the Slovak Rome due to its active history of Catholicism.

Legal issues

As a new member of the EU, Slovakia made sure that its property market was open to all other EU citizens at the time of its accession, and the only restrictions that are in place for buyers from EU states are those regarding buying and building on forestry or agricultural land.

The process for buying property is simple and established, and has well-regarded legal basis for searches and transactions. The Slovakian system seems to have made the transfer from centrally-controlled economy to a free market system relatively painlessly, and has managed to avoid much of the corruption that has blighted the transition of most of the other countries in this part of Europe.

One of the cornerstones of the property process in Slovakia is the fact that all properties and their legal status are registered with the land registry, or Kataster. This gives all buyers and sellers clear access to the legal information of the property in question, and holds the transfer documents when any purchase is made. This avoids any problems with title deeds and multiple ownership.

Even with this extensive recording at the land registry, you should make sure that you have qualified, independent legal representation in place at all time through the purchase process in order to make sure that you know exactly what you are signing, and to make sure the transfer of the property to your ownership is handled in the correct manner.

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