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The real estate purchase process:
All properties on offer are legally available for sale; the agency is in possession of all appropriate documentation and has verified the status of each. The agency helps the purchaser in finding suitable property and in agreeing the conditions of buying and selling with the vendor. After the purchaser and vendor have reached an agreement the process will follow one of three purchasing procedures depending upon the purchaser’s status:
a. the purchaser is a Croatian citizen
b. the purchaser is a foreigner who wishes to register the property as a private buyer in his or her own name
c. the purchaser is a foreigner who is founding a company in Croatia and wants to register the property in the name of the newly established company
a. Croatian citizens obtain a real estate in the following way:
1. concluding a contract, the purchaser pays the full purchase price to the vendor (a pre-contract can be concluded beforehand, where the parties commit themselves to conclude the main contract and the purchaser makes a down-payment which is usually 10% of the total price) and finally takes possession of the property
2. the purchaser is registered on the land registry as the owner
3. 30 days from the signing of the contract the purchaser is legally committed to register the tax burden with the local tax office on whose area the real estate is situated (on a specially prescribed pattern). A tax of 5% is payable within 15 days of their formal assessment. People who purchase their first real estate are free from paying tax, subject to certain conditions.
b. Foreigners who want to purchase in Croatia in their own name obtain property in the following way:
1. concluding a contract, the purchaser pays the full purchase price to the vendor (a pre-contract can be concluded beforehand, where the parties commit themselves to conclude the main contract and the purchaser makes a down-payment which is usually 10% of the total price) and finally takes possession of the property
2. the entering of real estate mortgage is registered in the land register to the purchaser’s benefit
3. formal consent for owning the property is requested from the ministry of justice. The consent can be requested only from the citizens of those countries which have signed the reciprocity contract with the Republic of Croatia: the citizens of Austria, Great Britain, Canada, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Hungary, the USA, Australia, Belgium, Spain, Poland, Luxembourg, and Ireland. There is a factual reciprocity with Italy and it is committed with approved permanent settling and activity performing.
4. 30 days from the signing of the contract the purchaser is legally committed to register the tax burden with the local tax office on whose area the real estate is situated (on a specially prescribed pattern). A tax of 5% is payable within 15 days of their formal assessment.
5. After the consent from the ministry of justice has been obtained, the foreigner has the right to register his or her name in the land registry.
c. For a purchaser is a foreigner who is founding a company in Croatia and wants to register the property in the name of the newly established company, the usual process is:
1. The purchaser establishes a Croatian limited company. The purchaser is the owner of all the business shares of that company.
2. The company concludes the contract with the seller, pays the full purchase price to the vendor (a pre-contract can be concluded beforehand, where the parties commit themselves to conclude the main contract, and the company makes a down-payment which usually makes 10% of the total price) enters upon the possession of the real estate and
3. The trading company is registered on the land registry as the owner.
4. 30 days from the signing of the contract the purchaser is legally committed to register the tax burden with the local tax office on whose area the real estate is situated (on a specially prescribed pattern). A tax of 5% is payable within 15 days of their formal assessment.
The parties have at their disposal a network of our research assistants who are authorised to provide the following services:
- evaluation of the properties legal status, quality and value
- translation of documents into foreign languages
- land surveys, land parcelling, definition of boundaries
- making of project documentation, price-list, interior design, building surveillance
- construction industry – new building, adaptation, reconstruction
- book-keeping and financial consultation
- horticultural arrangement of the garden and house lot
- renting out and real estate keeping
The charges are agreed directly with the service providers.
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