Buying in
Tirol and Vorarlberg is possible, but the authorities do restrict the
numbers of properties which can be bought as second or holiday homes.
It is important that
you understand the position
Please read the
information below the picture.
Ellmau
Everyone
loves Tirol.
European citizens
have the absolute right under the Treaty of Rome to buy and live
permanently in any house they wish. That does not apply to
holiday property. European law overrides local laws in the member
states but does not override local planning laws.
Farms and farmland
are excluded from this and are reserved for Austrian farmers.
Therefore,
you need to understand that each of the nine independent provinces
of Austria is self governing. Buying property in Upper Austria,
Steiermark or Salzburg province is much
easier than buying in Tirol. The reason is, that the "Grundverkehrsbehörde"
in Tirol is the most difficult of the provinces when it comes to
getting approval for 'holiday use' or as they call it here 'Zweitwohnsitz'
so that you can use the property as a holiday home. The
Grundverkehrsbehörde has to approve each
and every purchase even if they are Austrian.
We
have made numerous visits to Tirol armed with a list of estate
agents there, and we have pounded the pavements in many Tirolean
towns and villages and had discussions with lots of estate agents.
Our findings are, that the further west you go - towards the Arlberg
- the more difficult it gets. The agents there tell us that
although there are a few holiday properties in St Anton and a few in
Seefeld, that on the rare occasions that these properties come onto
the market they are sold privately by their owners and the agents
are rarely involved. This explains why the estate agents in western
Tirol trade from very small offices (usually in their private
homes), as they simply do not have enough property on their books to
merit the expense of an office neither do any of them have a website
worth looking at.
The situation lower down the Inntal is
a bit better, so let us just enlighten you.
First
of all
Kitzbühel.
There about twenty estate agents in Kitzbühel
and we have visited most of them. The majority seem to handle
nothing but expensive properties with inflated seven figure price
tags. (The sort of places that would have
appealed to the taste of Saddam Hussein).
We spent a whole day around Kitzbühel, St Johann in Tirol and
general area and found only one holiday apartment for sale all
day which would have been in the right price bracket and location
for any of our customers. This means that Kitzbühel is simply not a
workable option for us. In any case, the cost of food, general
shopping, clothes and everything else is 30% more expensive there,
and Austria has far better ski resorts than Kitzbühel !
So,
we sometimes have a few
offerings in Kitzbühl but is is difficult.
Things
are a bit better in the
Zillertal, Soll, Scheffau,
Kufstein, Hopfgarten, Worgl etc,
Therefore, we are
currently able to offer you some properties around this region and
we work with very professional and capable agents who will guide you
through the various requirements to enable you to buy property
there.
In general, there
isn't much available so if you like the look of what we have on
offer - get in quickly rather than be disappointed.
