Sell real estate

To sell your house or apartment, you need all sorts of documents from the land register entry to various insurance policies. Your ImmoSky estate agent will, of course, help you to select and obtain the right paperwork.

You should keep these documents to hand for a quick sale:

• Complete, up-to-date land register entry 
• Construction plans, floor plans
• Property insurance paperwork (policy)
• Household bills from the last two years 
• Official appraisal (if available)
• List of investments made

To complete a property sale, the purchase agreement must be officially notarised.

There are two different types of notary: state notaries, which now only exist in their traditional form in the cantons of Schaffhausen and Zurich, and independent notaries which can be found in all other cantons.

In cantons with state notaries, you must contact the relevant office (the district clerk, bankruptcy administrator or cantonal commercial registry).
In cantons where any notary may be chosen, the buyer usually chooses the notary.

Property owners must pay taxes on both purchases and sales in Switzerland. 

In some circumstances, taxes may only become payable at a later date. As per  Art. 12 of the Tax Harmonisation Act (StHG) (external link) taxation is delayed in the following cases:

• Change of ownership via inheritance (succession, division of an estate, bequest), advances against inheritance or gifts;
• Change of ownership between spouses in connection with property law or to discharge extraordinary contributions by one spouse towards the family’s upkeep (Art. 165 of the Swiss Civil Code [ZGB]) and claims under divorce law, provided both spouses agree;
• Allocations of land for the purpose of consolidating assets, district planning, settling borders, rationalising farmsteads, and allocating land in connection with expropriation proceedings or imminent expropriation;
• Complete or partial sale of a plot used for agriculture or forestry, provided the sales proceeds are used within a reasonable time-frame to purchase an owner-managed replacement plot or to improve proprietary, owner-managed plots used for agriculture or forestry;
• Sale of a residential property permanently and solely occupied by the owner (detached house or owner-occupied apartment), provided the proceeds are used within a reasonable time-frame to acquire or build a replacement property in Switzerland which is used for the same purpose.

In principle, a property may only be sold by the owner (registered in the land register) or an authorised person.

We are happy to support you on the way to a successful conclusion of the sale. In this case we take over for you:

• The marketing of the property
• The search for suitable buyers
• Planning and conducting viewings
• The negotiations
• The organisation of the notary appointment