Land Register Ordinance - Legal Foundations / Effects

1. The land register is maintained according to the provisions of the Federal Land Registry Law and the supplementary cantonal regulations.

2. Until the Federal Land Registry comes into force, the cantonal land register, consisting of the main register, servitude protocol, mortgage protocol, journal, and documents, shall apply. Entries and deletions have effects in relation to the creation, modification, or extinction of real rights in land. For the cantonal land register, the provisions of the Federal Land Registry Law are applicable.

1. The land register is maintained using electronic data processing (EDP land register).

1. The personal data, which must be included in the registration documents in every case at a minimum (Art. 13a para. 1 of the Ordinance of the Federal Council concerning the Land Registry [GBV]), are stored electronically.

2. Additional personal data may be recorded electronically if they are necessary for identifying the entitled person or for fulfilling the tasks of the land registry office.

1. Where there is co-ownership of a property and the co-owners are spouses or registered partners, or in cases involving parking spaces and the like, the land registry office, pursuant to Art. 111c para. 2 GBV, shall determine whether the shares are to be recorded as properties in the land register.

1. The Land Registry Office may use data from other information systems through electronic transmission.

2. The use shall occur within the scope of legal possibilities and insofar as it serves the fulfillment of the duties of the Land Registry Office.

1. The Land Registry Office grants the Office for Geoinformation direct access to data from the main register that is required for the fulfillment of this task.

2. The Government Council may, within the framework of federal legal provisions, grant other persons and authorities direct or indirect access. In doing so, it shall first consult with the Land Registry Office and the Data Protection Officer.

1. The provisions of the GBV, the Cantonal Data Protection Act, and the concepts approved by the Council of Ministers are decisive for data protection and data security.

1. All entries in the main ledger as well as in the subsidiary registers and controls must be validated by the registrar or their deputy.

1. The Register of Owners is maintained electronically and is a part of the electronic land register.

1. In the presence of a pledge register, creditors' rights are recorded in this register. Otherwise, the creditors' register consists of a continuously numbered collection of applications for the entry of creditors' rights or is filed with the supporting documents.

2. No endorsement regarding the entry of the creditor is to be affixed on the pledge title itself.

1. In addition to those prescribed by federal law, the following auxiliary registers and controls are maintained

a) Register of personal rights (§ 12)

b) Servitudes register (§ 13)

c) Pledge register (§ 14)

d) Pledge title control (§ 15)

e) Measurement documents control (§ 16)

f) Collection of duplicates of notices to pledge creditors (§ 17)

2. These registers may also be maintained electronically.

1. In the register of personal rights, the rights from easements, land charges, priorities, and mortgage rights, as well as the land register and transaction notifications submitted by each involved person, are visible.

1. Easements and encumbrances are entered in full text in the servitude register. Each entry is made on a separate sheet.

1. Mortgage Rights are recorded in the Pledge Register. The entry may be limited to the essential points. Each entry is made on a separate sheet.

2. After the introduction of the electronic land register, the maintenance of the Pledge Register may be dispensed with.

1. All mortgage deeds received by the land registry office, as well as newly established mortgage deeds, shall be registered in the mortgage deed register in numerical order. The numbering must be done for each calendar year. Deletions and deliveries of the mortgage deeds must be evident.

2. The delivery of mortgage deeds may only occur against a receipt acknowledgment.

1. All surveying documents received by the land registry office, issued by the cadastral surveyor, shall be recorded in the survey document control.

1. The duplicates of the notices of assumption or transfer of debt signed by the pledge creditors must be kept in order, according to their serial numbers. The business transaction must refer to the serial number of the notices; the numbering is to be done per calendar year.

2. The outstanding duplicate notices must be monitored.

1. The records can be retained as comprehensive documents or as main and subsidiary files, organized by canton or municipality. The designation as main and subsidiary files is based on the significance of the documents.

2. The storage of survey documents and plans may also occur separately from the main files.

1. Public documents concerning the establishment, modification, and termination of real rights in immovable property, together with other certificates of legal title and the right of disposition, constitute the main files and must be bound in order according to journal numbers from a date to be determined by the land registry office.

1. If the land register application pursuant to Article 13, Paragraph 4 of the Land Register Ordinance (GBV) is transmitted by telephone, the name of the caller, the designation of the authority or court, and the content of the land register application must be recorded without delay. This protocol, or the corresponding printout in the case of electronic transmission, must be attached to the application documents.

1. In the case of separate storage of supplementary files, an index of supplementary files must be attached to the main document.

1. Invalidated pledge certificates must be destroyed after validation, unless the property owner requests their delivery to them. For name certificates, the sheets with transfer notations are to be kept with the records.

2. If the property owner requests the delivery of an invalidated name certificate containing transfer notations, a copy of the sheet with the transfer notations must be placed with the records.

1. For the purposes of Art. 970a para. 3 of the Swiss Civil Code (ZGB), the following acquisition cases are not to be published

a) Land plots up to 50 m² without buildings, located within the building zone

b) Land plots up to 500 m² without buildings, located outside the building zone

c) Land plots up to 200 m² without buildings, intended for the construction or expansion of a public work (such as roads, railways, waterways, etc.)

d) In land consolidation, neighborhood planning, or boundary adjustment procedures

e) Co-ownership or joint ownership shares of no more than 15% in transfers to involved parties

f) Small units in condominium ownership, such as garage boxes, storage and hobby rooms, as well as changes in value quotas of no more than 15% of the previous quota of the transferring unit

1. Communications regarding legal transactions to other official bodies shall be made in consultation, taking into account the proven interests.

2. Executed changes from surveying documents must be confirmed to the land registry surveyor.

1. The following documents must be retained for the specified duration

a) Main files: indefinitely

b) Subsidiary files: 30 years

c) Mortgage certificate receipts: 30 years

d) Copies of notifications to lienholders: 10 years

1. All auxiliary registers not contained in the electronic data processing (EDP) cadastral register must be periodically secured.

1. Land Registry Restrictions Issued by Criminal Prosecution and Judicial Authorities

Restrictions imposed by criminal prosecution and judicial authorities must be noted in the land register.

1. When registering statutory liens under cantonal law, the provisions of the Swiss Land Register Ordinance (GBV) concerning the registration of liens for land improvements shall apply mutatis mutandis.

1. The municipal council or the authority authorized by it at the location of the property is the competent authority for issuing the official confirmation that the spaces designated for special rights in a building under condominium ownership are entirely self-contained units with their own access (Art. 33b para. 2 and 33c para. 3 GBV).

1. The document evidencing the legal basis for the transfer of ownership due to voluntary public auction of real estate is constituted by the protocol in accordance with Article 139 paragraph 3 of the Introductory Act to the Civil Code.

1. Prior to the establishment of the federal land registry, entries in the cantonal land registry (ownership, easements, charges, mortgage rights, pre-notations and annotations, etc.) and applications for unregistered rights must be regularized according to the applicable legal provisions and the following regulations.

2. All real rights not registered within 60 days after the entry into force of the federal land registry shall be deemed null and void (Art. 44 para. 2 of the Final Title to the Swiss Civil Code).

3. The regularization shall be carried out by the land registry office. The municipal authorities and the Office for Geoinformation are required to participate in the regularization process.

4. Minutes of the regularization negotiations prepared by the land registry office or the municipal authorities shall be considered public documents.

1. In the rectification procedure, negotiations are conducted with the property owners and other parties involved, with the aim of acknowledging the rectified entries.

1. In the rectification procedure, property owners and other involved parties are obliged to cooperate.

2. Co-owners or joint owners must designate a person who can legally represent them before the land registry office.

1. Public Publications are made in the Cantonal Official Gazette.

1. In the rectification procedure, the ownership status and the designations of the owners are to be verified and, if necessary, supplemented.

1. Pre-existing condominium ownership, which has been converted into co-ownership with easement rights and registered in this form, is subjected to the provisions of the Swiss Civil Code regarding condominium ownership according to Art. 20ter of the Transitional Provisions to the Swiss Civil Code.

2. The subjection becomes legally effective in individual cases when the entry in the main register has been amended accordingly (Art. 20ter para. 2 of the Transitional Provisions to the Swiss Civil Code).

3. Such condominium ownership is to be designated in the main register as "Condominium Ownership according to Art. 20ter of the Transitional Provisions to the Swiss Civil Code".

1. The rectification aims to bring the existing entries into a form that corresponds to the actual circumstances and the applicable legal provisions.

2. The Land Registry Office determines

a) Entries that are not to be rectified

b) Entries, annotations, and claims that need to be rectified and require an agreement

c) Unauthorized and obviously meaningless entries that are to be deleted

1. Entries that do not require modification and those that are rephrased without substantive change retain their original creation or registration date.

1. Regarding the entries that cannot be rectified by the land registry office ex officio, the property owners and other involved parties must be consulted for rectification. The result of the consultation must be recorded in a protocol.

1. Entries that have undoubtedly ceased to exist, as well as inadmissible and obviously meaningless entries, shall be deleted ex officio.

1. Registered Real Rights under Cantonal Law, which are not insignificant but can no longer be registered according to the applicable legal provisions and cannot be converted into a registrable form through agreement or by a judge's order, must be noted in the land register.

1. The revised entries are to be made publicly available for a period of 30 days.

2. If no written objection is made within the publication period, the entries are deemed to be accepted.

3. If objections cannot be resolved amicably through the mediation of the land registry office or with the involvement of the municipal council, the parties shall be referred to the judge according to § 49.

1. The mortgage creditors or mortgagees, or the persons entitled from the lien known to the land registry office, must be informed of the rectification results (ownership, easements that take precedence over the liens, land charges, pre-notations and annotations, changes in property description, etc.).

2. Easements and land charges of the old law are to be entered as preceding the liens unless a differing entry exists. Similarly, the rights and charges arising from the new allotment in public land consolidation procedures are to be entered.

3. The holders of lien titles are to be requested to submit the titles to the land registry office to bring them into conformity with the rectified land register. If this request is not complied with, the land registry office is relieved from the responsibility that may arise from the non-entry of the change.

1. In place of mortgage deeds that have become defective, illegible, or unclear, their reissuance with a new date and previous lien position shall be arranged with the consent of the parties involved.

2. If consent is lacking, the land registry office may reissue the deed according to the provisions of the GBV (German Land Register Code).

1. If lien titles are missing or not provided, those entitled are to be requested to initiate the procedure for a declaration of nullity pursuant to Article 870 or 871 of the Civil Code.

1. Through public publication, the land registry office requires the parties involved to report any existing but not yet registered rights on properties for registration, as well as any already registered rights that have actually been extinguished for deletion, within 30 days.

2. The publication must refer to Art. 44 of the Transitional Provisions to the Swiss Civil Code (SchlT ZGB).

1. The application, which must be submitted in writing, shall contain the following information

a) Encumbered or entitled properties or entitled persons

b) Precise designation and description of the claimed right

c) Legal title on which the individual claim is based, or indication of since when the right has been demonstrably exercised

d) Total value for real burdens

2. The applications and their settlements are to be recorded in a register.

1. Applications for the registration of rights must be recorded as provisional entries in the cantonal land register.

2. Notification to the parties involved is made by registered letter. If no objection is raised within 30 days of delivery, the indicated rights and encumbrances and their description are deemed recognized, and the entries become final.

3. If disputed rights cannot be resolved amicably through the mediation of the land registry office or with the involvement of the municipal council, the parties are to be referred to the judge in accordance with § 49.

1. If the parties involved fail to reach an amicable agreement regarding the existence, content, scope, or priority of a right, or concerning the total value of a real burden, the land registry office shall refer them to judicial resolution and set a litigation period of 90 days, with the warning that if this deadline is not utilized, the claim shall no longer be considered in the settlement procedure.

2. The role of the plaintiff is to be assigned

a) to any claimant who asserts an unregistered right or requests the amendment of an entry

b) to the property owner if he or she entirely or partially disputes a registered right

c) to the entitled party if both parties or the land registry office demand the amendment of a registered right in the settlement procedure or if no agreement can be reached on the total value of a real burden required for its registration.

1. After the completion of the rectification procedure, the establishment of the federal land register is carried out based on the entries in the cantonal land register and the supporting documents.

1. The disputed real rights that remain shall be secured or entered ex officio through a provisional registration (Art. 961 of the Civil Code).

2. Upon final resolution of the dispute, the provisional registration shall be deleted and, if necessary, replaced by a definitive entry (Art. 76 of the Land Register Ordinance).

1. The conclusion of the rectification procedure must be publicly announced by the land registry office. The announcement must indicate that

a) the rectified land register will be available for public inspection for 30 days

b) during the inspection period, objections regarding defects or inaccuracies can be raised at the land registry office

c) registrable, but unregistered, rights in rem will be revoked 60 days after the federal land register comes into force

d) no further action will be taken on entries that have already been rectified and applications that have been dealt with

2. New claims must be rectified in accordance with the aforementioned provisions.

1. Upon full establishment, the Government Council shall decide from which date the land register shall come into effect with the implications of the Swiss Civil Code (Art. 973 CC).

2. Pending legal disputes concerning property rights in real estate do not preclude the enactment, provided that a provisional registration has taken place.

3. The decision is to be published by the land registry office.

1. Upon the entry into force of this Regulation, the following decrees are repealed

a) Regulation on Land Register Transactions of January 15, 1913

b) Regulation on the Publication of Property Transfers of Real Estate of December 14, 1993

c) Regulation on the Maintenance of the Land Register using Electronic Data Processing of December 5, 1995

1. This ordinance shall enter into force on April 1, 1999, subject to the approval of the federal government.

2. It shall be published in the official gazette and included in the cantonal legal collection.