A process is described for continuously preparing alkyl esters of (meth)acrylic acid by reacting (meth)acrylic acid and alkanols having from 1 to 5 carbon atoms in homogeneous, liquid, solvent-free phase at elevated temperature and in the presence of an acidic esterification catalyst, in which the (meth)acrylic acid, the alkanol and the acidic esterification catalyst are fed to a reaction zone (5, 6), a reaction mixture (21) is discharged from the reaction zone (5, 6), and is introduced into a rectification unit I and separated by addition of water into a top stream (23), comprising the alkyl ester of (meth)acrylic acid, and a bottom stream (22), and a substream of the bottom stream (22) from the rectification unit I is fed to a residue dissociation unit IV, which comprises a dissociating boiler (61), and is separated therein into a top stream (29), which is recycled into the rectification unit I and a bottom stream (40), which is removed from the system, wherein the residue dissociation unit IV, as well as the dissociating boiler (61), further comprises a rectification column (62), the water content of the liquid obtained at the bottommost stage thereof being less than 0.1% by weight.