Cancellation of lifetime right to property or house: steps to execution

Management of external services will result in additional costs of about 100 euros plus VAT (Freepik).

Lifetime possession, according to Article 467 of the Civil Code, gives the right to use other people's property, provided that it is preserved in its original form and essence, unless the contract or the law provides otherwise. A person may enjoy this property until the time of his or her death.

But can someone revoke this life estate?

Yes, but to revoke it, the death of the owner of the life estate must be confirmed and a death certificate must be presented. In addition, an application from an interested party to cancel will need to be filed. However, if the recipient wishes to do so, he or she must first confirm the calculation and payment of taxes resulting from the waiver.

This right may also be waived for the following reasons:

• Exhaustion of the term of use provided for life tenure
• Withdrawal by the owner of a life estate from his right
• Unification of life estate and naked ownership in one person by purchase of this right
• The loss of a life estate, for example, if the life estate is a demolished dwelling and the existing life estate is terminated.

Whilst there are cases where relinquishing lifetime tenure of a dwelling does not incur additional costs, there are situations where the legislation relating to a particular type of lifetime tenure is complex. It is advisable to seek the assistance of a specialized agency to cancel this possession. Such external administration will also incur an additional cost of around €100, consisting of the cost of the printed liquidation plus VAT.

How to cancel lifetime ownership?

1. Confirm the death of a life estate owner with a death certificate at the property registry.
2. Register the revocation of the lifetime ownership right.
3. After completing these two steps, both brothers will be affected as joint ownership over the property will be confirmed for both of them.

Another way to get rid of a life estate is to sell it to a third party.

The main difference in this case is the period of use of the lifetime possession. For example, if your neighbor on the fifth floor remains a widow and you decide to buy a life estate from her, you will use the property in the same way as the owner of the life estate: you can rent out the house, live in it, or even sell the life estate again, but this right will last until the death of the original owner of the life estate.

In another case, it is also possible to sell full ownership of the home by agreement of the parties, but what is this agreement? It is a joint sale of the life estate and the exposed property to a third party. This transaction requires the consent of all parties involved; the full owner cannot sell the house without the consent of the life estate owner, and vice versa.

To accomplish this transaction, a buyer must be found, and a meeting in front of a notary public will take place at the signing of the sales contract to transfer the life estate and the bare property.

Inheritance by "distant" relatives is subject to a large inheritance tax to the State Tax Office.

This option is the most common because the full owner will receive full title to the home after the life estate owner relinquishes his or her right to use it. Thus, the full owners will have the freedom to make decisions regarding the acquired property.

This usually occurs after an inheritance. In such cases, if the widow or widower does not want to use the inherited property, they have the option of selling the lifetime possession to their children and heirs.

To transfer both the lifetime possession and the naked property, there will be a meeting before a notary public (Freepik).

It is also possible that the parties will reach an agreement and the owner of the life estate will give up his right of use in favor of the full owners. However, this option will require legal advice.

Finally, it is important to keep in mind that if the right to life tenure arose as a result of a divorce and there are minor children, a general sale of the home cannot be made without prior court approval.