The first viewing decides whether you are interested. The second should be conducted with paperwork, because in Luxembourg the answers that matter are written down somewhere and the seller is under no obligation to volunteer them.
Arrive with four documents, not four questions
Request these after the first viewing and before booking the second. A seller or agent who supplies them promptly is telling you something; one who cannot is telling you something else.
- The energy passport. Compulsory for a property offered on the market, and now a financing variable: classes A to C generally attract the best lending conditions, while F to H typically triggers stricter analysis with the works integrated into the financing plan.
- Minutes of the last three general assemblies. Works voted, works postponed, disputes, the state of the accounts, and the temperature of the co-ownership.
- Reconciled charges accounts for two completed years, plus the current budget.
- The acte de base and the règlement de copropriété, which set the millièmes, define what is private and what is common, and impose the restrictions binding every owner.
The questions the documents will not answer
Ask these of the seller directly, and note who answers and how precisely.
When were the electrical installation, the boiler and the windows last replaced? Three dates. Where nobody can produce them, assume the answer is unfavourable and price the tiers of work accordingly.
What is the current balance of the fonds de travaux, and what is the annual contribution? Every Luxembourg co-ownership has had to hold this fund since 1 August 2023, funded by a compulsory annual contribution with a floor set by grand-ducal regulation per square metre of energy reference surface, graded by the building's insulation class and allocated pro rata millièmes.
Are there arrears? A building where several owners are in default is a building whose voted works are difficult to finance.
Have any works been voted but not yet called? That is an existing liability rather than a risk.
Why is the seller selling, and how long has it been on the market? Both are legitimate questions and both inform your offer.
What to test physically on the second visit
The first viewing is spent looking. The second should be spent operating things.
Run the kitchen tap and the shower together. Note how long the hot water takes. Open and close every window and every roller shutter. Turn every thermostatic valve. Test the extractors in the kitchen and bathroom, because a well-sealed apartment without ventilation develops condensation, and the corners of external walls and the window reveals will show it.
Then go back outside the apartment: the cave, measured and checked for damp at the base of the walls; the lift, with its inspection certificate; the bin store and the bicycle store; and the walk from the entrance to the nearest tram or bus stop, timed by you rather than quoted by the agent.
Visit at a different time of day from the first viewing. Light, noise and parking all change, and all three are permanent features of a purchase.
Converting the visit into an acquisition figure
Before you leave, you should be able to build the number. Registration and transcription duties in Luxembourg are 7% of the price, being 6% and 1%, with the notary's regulated emoluments at roughly 1% to 1.5% plus VAT, disbursements, and any mortgage deed on top.
Against the duties sits the Bëllegen Akt: a credit of €40,000 per buyer, €80,000 for a couple acquiring together, permanent since July 2025, applied by the notary at the deed without a separate application. It requires personal occupation as principal residence from entry into possession or within two years, leaves a minimum €100 of duty payable, and any unused balance remains available for a future principal residence because the credit is personal and lifelong. To combine two credits the deed must record a joint acquisition en indivision.
Total acquisition costs commonly land between roughly 8% and 13% of the price for owner-occupiers after the credit, and higher for investors who cannot claim it.
What the second viewing should settle about financing
Lending limits follow CSSF Regulation 20-08 of 3 December 2020, on the recommendation of the Comité du risque systémique. The general loan-to-value principle is 80%, with first-time buyers of a principal residence able to be financed up to 100%, other principal-residence purchases generally to 90%, and buy-to-let at 80%. Acquisition costs are normally excluded from the financing and must come from your own funds.
The debt-service ratio commonly cited around 40% is a banking practice rather than a legal rule, and lenders apply a stress test on top. So the second viewing should end with a specific question to your bank rather than a general one: this property, this price, this energy class, this works estimate.
Three questions we are asked
Is it acceptable to bring a professional to a second viewing? Yes, and it is normal. An hour of an architect's or contractor's time is trivial against the size of the decision.
Should I make an offer at the second viewing? Only if the documents have been read. An offer made before the assembly minutes have been seen is an offer made without knowing what has been voted.
What if the agent will not supply the documents? Ask through the notary. A seller genuinely unable to produce the minutes and the accounts of their own co-ownership is a reason to slow down.
What happens immediately after the second viewing
The forty-eight hours after a promising second visit determine whether the offer you make is informed or hopeful. Four actions, in order.
Read the assembly minutes properly, not the summary. Works voted and not yet called for are existing liabilities; works discussed and postponed are liabilities with a date attached.
Convert the works into a range per trade, not a single global figure. A number per trade can be interrogated and shows where the risk sits; a total cannot.
Put the specific property to your bank. This price, this energy class, this works estimate, this loan-to-value position. A general pre-approval is not the same as an answer on the actual apartment, particularly where an F to H classification pushes the works into the financing plan.
Establish your Bëllegen Akt position. Whether both buyers are eligible, whether each has the full €40,000 available, and whether the deed will record a joint acquisition en indivision, which is required to combine the two credits.
Only then make the offer. An accepted offer leads to a compromis de vente, which is binding, so the sequence matters more here than in markets with a statutory cooling-off period.
Three questions we are asked
How long should a second viewing take? An hour, and at a different time of day from the first. Light, noise and parking all change, and all three are permanent features of a purchase rather than variables you can address afterwards.
Should I bring the documents with me? Yes, printed. Standing in a room with the assembly minutes in hand produces questions that reading them at a desk does not, and it signals to the seller that the process is serious.
Is it reasonable to ask for a third viewing? Yes, particularly where a professional is attending. A seller who refuses a third visit on a property that has been listed for weeks is telling you something worth noticing.
Editorial note: Acquisition costs, tax credits, lending limits and co-ownership obligations in Luxembourg change, and every transaction differs. This article is a framework, not advice on a specific purchase. Confirm the current position with your notary, your bank, the Administration de l’enregistrement, des domaines et de la TVA, guichet.lu or a qualified adviser before relying on it.