Viewing a Luxembourg apartment as a buyer rather than as a tenant

A tenant is assessing three years and can leave on three months' notice. A buyer is assessing twenty years, the building around the apartment, and a set of collective obligations that arrive as invoices. The two viewings look similar and are not the same exercise.

The building is part of what you are buying

A Luxembourg apartment is a lot inside a copropriété, governed by the amended law of 16 May 1975. You acquire a private part, the apartment, cellar and parking, together with a share of the common parts expressed in millièmes, and membership of the syndicat des copropriétaires.

That share is not decorative. It determines your voting weight at the general assembly, your allocation of ordinary charges, and your contribution to major works. A beautifully renovated apartment inside a building facing a facade renovation is a purchase with a bill attached, and the bill is proportional to your millièmes rather than to how much you use the facade.

So the viewing has two halves. Arrive fifteen minutes early and spend them on the entrance hall, the stairwell, the lift, the cellar corridor and the bin store. Peeling paint, an out-of-date lift inspection certificate posted in the cabin, or a broken entryphone panel all point to deferred maintenance, and deferred maintenance in a co-ownership eventually becomes a special call for funds.

The four documents to request, at the first viewing

• The energy passport. Beyond the running cost, the thermal class now has a financing consequence: properties classed A to C tend to attract the best lending conditions, while an F to H classification generally triggers a stricter analysis with the necessary works folded into the financing plan.
• Minutes of the last three general assemblies. This is the single most informative document in any Luxembourg apartment purchase, and it is routinely not offered. Works voted, works discussed and postponed, disputes, and the state of the accounts are all there.
• The charges accounts for the last two completed years, reconciled rather than the monthly provision.
• The règlement de copropriété and the acte de base, which set out the millièmes, what is private and what is common, and the restrictions that bind every owner.

The fonds de travaux, which is now compulsory

Since 1 August 2023, following the law of 30 June 2022, every Luxembourg co-ownership must constitute a fonds de travaux to meet the cost of works voted by the general assembly. It is funded by a compulsory annual contribution paid by the owners in proportion to their millièmes.

The amount is voted at the general assembly but cannot fall below a floor set by grand-ducal regulation, expressed per square metre of energy reference surface as shown on the energy performance certificate, and graded by the building's thermal insulation class. Where no valid certificate exists, the surface attached to the lots under the acte de base applies instead. The Ministry of Housing has estimated a monthly contribution in the region of €30 to €40 for an 80 m² apartment in a poorly performing building.

For a buyer this is a diagnostic. Ask what the fund holds today and what the annual contribution is. A building with a thin fund and a roof approaching replacement is a purchase whose real price is higher than the asking price.

What to inspect inside, and in what order

Water first. Run the kitchen tap and the shower simultaneously, and note how long the hot water takes to arrive. Pressure and heating delay are the two complaints that surface after completion and cannot be resolved cheaply.

Then the heating system: individual or collective, the age of the boiler or plant, and when it was last serviced. Where the heating is collective, the plant is a common part, which means its replacement is a matter for the assembly and for your millièmes rather than for you alone.

Then the envelope. Put a hand near each window frame. In the converted older stock that dominates Limpertsberg, Belair and the Gare district you will frequently find upgraded glazing on the street elevation and original glazing at the rear. Check the reveals and the corners of external walls for any dark bloom, which indicates a room that is heated and not ventilated.

Finally the measurements that decide whether the apartment works: the longest uninterrupted wall in each bedroom, the ceiling height, and the size of the cave, which no listing describes accurately.

Reading the price against the cost of acquiring

The asking price is not the sum you need. Registration and transcription duties in Luxembourg run to 7% of the price, being 6% registration and 1% transcription, and the notary's emoluments, regulated by regulation, sit on top at roughly 1% to 1.5% plus VAT, with disbursements and any mortgage deed in addition.

Against that sits the Bëllegen Akt, a tax credit on those duties of €40,000 per buyer, so €80,000 for a couple acquiring together, permanent since July 2025. The condition is that you occupy the property personally as your principal residence, from entry into possession or within two years. The notary applies it at the deed without any separate application, a minimum of €100 in duty remains payable in all cases, and any unused balance stays available for a future principal residence, since the credit is personal and lifelong.

One structural point that costs couples money: to combine both credits, the deed must record a joint acquisition en indivision. Where only one partner is named as buyer, only that person's credit applies.

Three questions we are asked

Can I attend a general assembly before buying? No, it is a meeting of owners. What you can do is ask the seller for the minutes, and treat a refusal as information rather than as an inconvenience.

Should I bring a surveyor? For a house, or an apartment with visible structural or damp concerns, yes. For a standard apartment in a well-documented building, the assembly minutes and the charges accounts usually tell you more than an inspection of your own four walls.

How many viewings before an offer? Two at minimum, at different times of day, with the documents read between them. The first viewing tells you whether you like it; the second, with the paperwork in hand, tells you what it will cost.

The compromis, and why the viewing has to be finished before it

An accepted offer in Luxembourg leads to a compromis de vente, and buyers arriving from markets with a statutory cooling-off period consistently underestimate what that means. The compromis is a binding contract. The deed that follows is the execution of an agreement already made, not the moment the decision is taken.

Two consequences for how you view. Everything you intend to verify has to be verified before signature, because afterwards you are negotiating an exit rather than exercising a right. And the financing condition is the mechanism that protects you if the bank declines, so it belongs in the compromis with a realistic deadline, a stated amount and a stated rate, drafted by the notary rather than improvised.

The practical discipline is to treat the second viewing as the last opportunity to be curious. Read the assembly minutes, the charges accounts and the acte de base before it, test the systems during it, and settle the works estimate and the bank conversation immediately after. An offer made with any of those outstanding is an offer made on incomplete information.