New law reflections on buying house: advice needed

[nicoc]

Hello all,

some time ago, I posted on this forum about finding a house.

I now found a house in Dalmatia, which I want to buy from a croatian firm (no estate firm) as a private person.
Before the law changed , I know that after paying a deposit, you first got to get the permission from the Ministery to buy and afterwards, you could complete the deal and get the house registred.

With the new law, is there a difference in this procedure?
I have read that it is easier now to obtain a house, but I don't have a clue how the procedure is working now.

Can someone explain me please how it now works?
Because I have the chance to complete the deal at the end of April-beginning of Mai.

For now, I received a contract, in which it states that I buy a certain parcel and that I pay full price in once.


Thanks in advance for the advice.

Best,
Nico

[crojoe]

If you are an EU citizen, then you can now bypass the ministry. What you do need though is a lawyer (even if you go through a Croatian real estate firm) to check the land registry on the house or apartment, to make sure 5 Croatian's, 1 Bosnian and 2 Serbians don't all own it. Also, make sure the contract you need to sign is translated into your native language. These are big problems with Croatian property - more then 1 owner and unclear documentation. If it's an apartment, then also check who actually owns the land the apartment is on, and that there are no outstanding mortgages or loans attached. Besides that, it's all the same in paying tax on the purchase, transfer fees of the property to your name etc. Also make sure the pre-contract and final contract say that if seller pulls out they must return all payments you have made, pay all legal costs, plus 10% more. I know of a number of people who paid up only to have the landlord cancel the contract at the last moment. They got their money back, but not legal fees and costs. Have fun!

[Madgolfer]

Hi Nico,

Just get yourself a decent lawyer and they should walk you through the whole process.

[irac]

Apr 10, 2009 20:09:34 GMT 1 nicoc said:

Hello all,

some time ago, I posted on this forum about finding a house.

I now found a house in Dalmatia, which I want to buy from a croatian firm (no estate firm) as a private person.
Before the law changed , I know that after paying a deposit, you first got to get the permission from the Ministery to buy and afterwards, you could complete the deal and get the house registred.

With the new law, is there a difference in this procedure?
I have read that it is easier now to obtain a house, but I don't have a clue how the procedure is working now.

Can someone explain me please how it now works?
Because I have the chance to complete the deal at the end of April-beginning of Mai.

For now, I received a contract, in which it states that I buy a certain parcel and that I pay full price in once.


Thanks in advance for the advice.

Best,
Nico

Hi Nico, great to hear you found the right spot. Depending on where you are you're best off getting a lawyer/notary to handle it for you. If you're getting it in Knin let me know and I'll give you the number of our guy. There's a translater on hand to help too (newly installed). If it's closer to Sibenik you'd be best asking the local opcine for help (they are pretty decent when it comes to it and there are alot of lawyers to help).
Have a good one and good luck!