Required Disclosures for Commercial Leases in Hungary

Effective 15 March 2014, the Hungarian Civil Code (Act V of 2013) governs commercial lease disclosures, supplementing the 1993 Lease Act. While the Hungarian commercial real estate market relies heavily on professional Due Diligence, it is not a pure caveat emptor environment. Section 6:62(1) of the Civil Code mandates a mutual "Obligation to Inform," requiring parties to cooperate during negotiations and inform each other of all significant circumstances concerning the conclusion of the contract.

The Statutory Requirement: Energy Performance Certificates (Govt. Decree 184/2023)

The only universally enforced, statutory physical disclosure mandated by the Hungarian government for commercial properties is the Energy Performance Certificate (Energetikai Tanúsítvány), governed by Government Decree 184/2023 (V. 25.) (which superseded Decree 176/2008 as of November 1, 2023).

If a developer or landlord is leasing an entire Class A office building, a retail shop, or a logistics warehouse, they must:

1. Display the building’s energy efficiency class (from A+++ to I, comprising 12 categories) on all public marketing and leasing materials if a certificate is available.
2. Present a valid, certified copy of the EPC to the corporate tenant before the lease is executed.
3. Formally provide a copy of the certificate and explicitly include its unique HET identification code in the final signed lease agreement.

In the commercial sector, where tenants pay massive Triple-Net Service Charges, the EPC rating is highly scrutinized. A low rating indicates poor insulation and outdated HVAC systems, which directly translates to skyrocketing utility consumption that the tenant will bear entirely.

Corporate Due Diligence (The Tenant's Burden)

Because Hungarian law assumes commercial entities are legally sophisticated, there is no standardized "Landlord Disclosure Packet." Instead, the tenant's attorneys conduct exhaustive Legal and Technical Due Diligence.

Before a corporate tenant signs a 5-year lease for 2,000 square meters of office space, they will legally demand the landlord disclose:

1. Title and Encumbrances (Tulajdoni Lap)

Tenants pull the official Land Registry Extract (Tulajdoni Lap), governed by Act CXLI of 1997 on Real Estate Registration, to verify:

• The landlord actually owns the property.
• There are no pending execution rights, bankruptcies, or massive developer mortgages that could result in the building being foreclosed upon and the tenant being evicted mid-lease. (If a heavy mortgage exists, the tenant will demand a Non-Disturbance Agreement from the financing bank).

2. Occupancy Permits (Használatbavételi Engedély)

A commercial space must be legally zoned and permitted for the tenant's specific use. A landlord leasing a ground-floor retail space to a restaurant must disclose the specific building permits. If the space is only permitted for "general administrative office use," the tenant cannot legally operate an industrial kitchen there without a massive, expensive rezoning process, which the landlord must explicitly disclose during negotiations.

The Definitive Disclosure: The Statutory Handover Protocol

The most critical statutory disclosure requirement in Hungarian commercial leasing is the Handover Protocol (Átadás-átvételi jegyzőkönyv).

Pursuant to Section 36(1) of Act LXXVIII of 1993 (the Lease Act), the landlord is legally obligated to hand over non-residential premises to the tenant based on an inventory and a formal written protocol. This same procedure is mandatory upon the return of the premises.

Whether the landlord is delivering the space precisely as "Shell and Core" (bare concrete floors and exposed ceilings) or fully fitted-out (Category A finish with specific carpeting and partition walls), the exact physical condition must be meticulously documented. This protocol legally serves as the definitive disclosure of fact. If a tenant signs the protocol acknowledging that the HVAC system was functioning and the raised floors were flawless, they cannot later claim the landlord concealed a defect to escape paying for repairs.

Institutional Grade Document Management

Relying on scattered email threads and paper files to prove a corporate tenant received their Energy Performance Certificate or signed their Fit-Out Handover Protocol exposes landlords to millions of Forints in liability during exit negotiations. Landager provides institutional-grade digital document vaults. Automatically store, timestamp, and link Every EPC, Land Registry Extract, and 50-page photographic Handover Protocol directly to your corporate tenant’s profile, ensuring bulletproof compliance and instantaneous retrieval during high-stakes lease audits.

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