A notarial deed as enforcement title is a deed recorded by a Slovak notary in which the obliged party consents in advance to enforceability, which allows the other party to instruct an executor without first winning a court case. It is not security and it creates no fund. What it removes is time, and in an industrial lease that time is usually measured in years.
What a notarial deed as enforcement title is under Slovak law
Section 45(1) of the Enforcement Code, Act 233/1995 Z. z., sets the ordinary route: an enforcement title is an enforceable decision of a court which grants a right, imposes an obligation or affects assets. In other words, somebody first has to sue and win. Section 45(2) then lists the titles that do not come from a courtroom, and letter (c) is the one that matters in a lease.
Under section 45(2)(c) an enforcement title is also a notarial deed that contains a legal obligation. The deed has to identify five things: the entitled person, the obliged person, the legal ground, the subject and the time of performance. On top of that, the obliged person must have consented in the deed to its enforceability. Five elements and one consent, and none of them is optional. A deed that records an obligation but omits the time of performance, or that omits the consent to enforceability, is a public record of a promise and nothing more.
The form requirements sit in the Notarial Code, Act 323/1992 Zb. Section 47(1) lists what a deed must contain. It names the parties and records how their identity was established. For a company it also records how its existence and the authority to act for it were shown. Then comes the content of the legal act, a note that the deed was approved after being read, the signatures, and the notary’s seal. The notary draws the document up rather than stamping one that arrives ready made. That is why a deed takes an appointment rather than a courier.
What it removes, and what it does not
It removes the declaratory stage. Without a deed, a landlord facing unpaid rent has to obtain a judgment, wait for it to become final and enforceable, and only then instruct an executor. With a deed, the first step is the application for enforcement itself.
What it does not remove is the enforcement proceeding. Under section 49 of the Enforcement Code the District Court Banska Bystrica has exclusive jurisdiction for enforcement in Slovakia, so every application lands in the same place. Section 48(7) requires the application to be filed electronically into the court’s mailbox on the prescribed form. Section 48(8) offers a way round that for an applicant without an activated mailbox: the filing can go through any executor. That executor then acts as the applicant’s representative for service until enforcement starts.
Nor does it remove the defences. The debtor can apply to stop the enforcement, and where such an application has suspensive effect the executor waits. A deed shortens the road; it does not clear it.
The two uses in an industrial lease
The first is money. Rent, service charge and the balance of a final account are monetary obligations, and a deed that names the amount, the ground and the date of performance can be enforced directly. On a 10,000 square metre unit at the Q2 2026 prime rent of EUR 5.30 per square metre a month, a single quarter of unpaid rent is roughly EUR 159,000, which is the order of magnitude that decides whether a landlord bothers with a notary at the start of a lease.
The second is vacant possession, and it is the one that is harder to replace with anything else. Section 181 of the Enforcement Code governs enforcement by exclusion and eviction where the title imposes an obligation to vacate immovable property or a part of it, including non-residential premises. The executor notifies both parties, waits out the period for an application to stop the enforcement that carries suspensive effect, and then issues an enforcement order setting a date. The order is served on the entitled party, on the debtor into their own hands, and on the municipality in whose cadastral territory the property lies. The executor brings a disinterested person to the eviction, or makes an audiovisual record instead. The removal then covers two things. First, the goods in the debtor’s possession. Second, the people on site who either derive their right of use from the debtor or cannot prove a title of their own.
That last point is what makes the instrument worth its cost in a multi-tenant park: a sub-occupier without a documented title is dealt with in the same act as the tenant. The obligation to vacate usually arrives together with an obligation to strip out the tenant’s own installations, and what those installations do to both parties’ tax positions is set out in our post on fit-out depreciation in Slovakia.
The limits: contractual penalties, and the day insolvency starts
Section 45(3) contains a restriction that is regularly missed at drafting stage. Where the obligation in the deed arose from a legal act whose subject was the provision of monetary funds, the enforcement may concern only the amount representing the funds provided and default interest. Otherwise the obligation in the notarial deed may not concern contractual penalties. A Slovak lease that leans on a penalty clause therefore cannot route that clause through a deed, and the claim goes back to the ordinary court process.
The second limit is insolvency, and it applies to every enforcement title equally. Under section 19(5)(b) of Act 7/2005 Z. z., the start of insolvency proceedings means no enforcement may be commenced against assets belonging to the debtor and proceedings already commenced are suspended. Section 48 of the same act goes further once bankruptcy is declared: no enforcement may be started against assets subject to the bankruptcy and proceedings already started are stopped. Where the assets have already been sold but the proceeds have not been paid out, those proceeds fall into the estate.
The practical reading is that a deed is a speed instrument, and its value depends entirely on being used early. A landlord that waits three quarters before acting is in the same position as one that never went to the notary.
How it sits next to the securities
A notarial deed is often discussed alongside a bank guarantee, a rent deposit and the statutory landlord’s lien, which invites the wrong comparison. Those three are funds: they answer the question of what there is to take. A deed answers a different question, namely how long it takes to be allowed to take it. It creates no priority in an insolvency, it does not rank ahead of any creditor, and it does not survive as an asset in any sense.
That is also why the two are complementary rather than alternatives. A bank guarantee pays on demand and needs no enforcement title at all. A rent deposit is already in the landlord’s hands. Neither of them delivers vacant possession, and that is exactly where the deed does the work no instrument can do.
The cost sits with the party asking for it. The notary charges under the notarial tariff and both parties have to attend. A tenant is entitled to treat the request as a commercial point. It trades against the level of security or the length of a rent free period like any other term. The place to raise it is the heads of terms, because a request for a notarial deed after the lease is signed is a request to reopen it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the tenant have to agree to a notarial deed?
Yes. Section 45(2)(c) requires the obliged person to have consented in the deed to its enforceability, and the deed is recorded with both parties present. There is no way to acquire an enforcement title over a counterparty that declines. This is why the point belongs in the heads of terms and not in the final drafting round.
Can a deed cover the obligation to vacate at the end of the term?
It can be drawn to cover an obligation to vacate, and section 181 of the Enforcement Code sets out how such a title is enforced. Whether a particular formulation of the obligation, its ground and its time of performance meets the requirements of section 45(2)(c) in a given lease is a question for Slovak counsel on the wording, not a matter of general practice.
Does a notarial deed give the landlord priority in an insolvency?
No. It is not a security right and creates no pledge. Once bankruptcy is declared, section 48 of Act 7/2005 Z. z. stops individual enforcement against assets subject to the bankruptcy in the same way for a deed as for a judgment.
Can contractual penalties be enforced through a deed?
No. Section 45(3) states that the obligation in a notarial deed may not concern contractual penalties, and where the obligation arose from a legal act whose subject was the provision of monetary funds the enforcement may concern only the funds provided and default interest. A penalty clause has to be pursued in the ordinary way.
Where is an enforcement application filed?
With the District Court Banska Bystrica, which has exclusive jurisdiction under section 49 of the Enforcement Code, by electronic filing on the prescribed form under section 48(7). An applicant without an activated electronic mailbox can file through any executor under section 48(8).