Buying property in Croatia

Hi Christine,
Buying property? Hmmm let me see they took my money and then informed me 'as you are not a national it can not be in your name, same with my car' see a solicitor and be careful.
Regards, Alan.

Hi Alan!

Thanks for your input!

Armand

No problem, What I wrote is exactly what happened to me,in2010

Dear Christina!

Yes, you could buy the property in Croatia becouse we change some law about foreigners that have intention to buy it.
If you need any help (for control of documentation or for search the property or anything else) you could contact me on my mail: [email protected]
I work as a consultant for all foreigners wishing to invest in Croatia, buy property, open enterprise, seeking assistance with visa requirements, etc. I'm sorry if someone already had a problem but it happens in all countries where you have no legal support person.
And Alan: you could buy the car but if you dont have croatian documents it can not be in your name (like in other country. My husband buy the car in Italy but he have italian documents so he dont have problem to put car in his name, but without this it will be same like with you. 
For property is different becouse you need to open OIB (personal number) with you personal document (it could be passport of your country).

Valeria,
I have and always have had OIB since I came here but this has not affected the fact that our flat is now in my wifes name and so is the family car, You say laws have changed here it seems to me not many people know about the changes including goverment officials, As an ex govt worker in UK the fact govt. officers do not know their own countrys laws is a Pathetic state of affairs and sould be looked into and rectified Immediatly and any staff found lacking be suspended from their posts forthwith.

Alan, I would agree with you but I have a lot of Italian customers who have purchased property in Croatia and the checks that we performed did not have any problems.
As for the majority working in state institutions, I know that the government is a disaster because they do not know anything about laws.

Foreigners can own a property only if they register a company in Croatia and the property is a company's assets.
And I am not sure about the car but I would disagree with Valeria about "like in every other country". We live in UK, husband Austrian, I am Croatian and we bought and own cars and properties without a mess that we had when living in Croatia.
It seemed to me that wherever we went about Croatian property and cars, there were different information. It is a young country and people that work in public secure are often old, it seems and have a hard time to grasp changes. Same goes with government.
I read in one reputable economics magazine, it will take 3-4 generations for Croatia to catch up. My belief is that this is exactly the thing that is happening now. You have a clash of new people like Valeria who understands what needs to be done but she is possibly working with old bureaucrats who are not making anyone's life easy. So, yes.. forums are a good way to start looking for solicitors whole will have enough persistency to go head to head with some old fart who has not done much in life, except wasting tax payers moneys.

What a post, putting things in a notshell perfectly, many people are still in a socialist state and are about to be so shocked once in th EU it may kill them. again what an accurate post. Thank you.
Alan.

According to Department of Justice there shouldn't be any problem for EU citizens.

http://www.mprh.hr/Default.aspx?sec=548

Original information in Croatian language is on the link above. Even in Croatian it is bit confusing.
First they say you have to submit your buying contract and then some additional paperwork.

As a layman I understand that you can buy whatever you like but then have to submit request for registration of your ownership. Since you payed for it, it should be yours and untouchable however paperwork should be sorted in case you want to resell it in the future.

Whole thing with estate ownership registers is pretty much messed up so state is working on syncing it up.

For non-EU citizens for your ownership to be approved there is reciprocity, or lack of, with other countries.

http://www.mprh.hr/fgs.axd?id=1463

Here is PDF document with tables and you can copy/paste relevant countries for google translator.

For US citizens things are different between states.

Problem is that you can ask two bureaucrats, sitting next to each other, same question and get two contrasting answers.
Another problem is that all Department of urban planning offices are based in County centers and everything goes through them.

Small towns are great for business paperwork but urban development can be slow. Especially if you are building something. By law you should get your paperwork done in 30 days, in practice it can be up to two years.
During my time in architecture office most of the investors took the step of greasing their paperwork. Small level corruption is still present unfortunately.

It took me less than 2 weeks, if I recall, 2 years ago to get my estate registered by court. However I'm local and don't know how long it takes them to review foreign buyers.

EDIT: I've found this translation of first link
http://www.dimod.hr/en/index.php?k=info … nekrentine

I thank you very much for your post and as an EU citizen I am just stating what I have suffered from over two years, with all the rest of the idiocy here we are trying to sell up and return to UK,even my wife,who is Croat,wants out because of the incompetence here.

I believe you. I'm also frustrated with lots of stuff going on here and I'm young. I need a 10 year vacation
Everyone cried how Yugoslavia was bureaucratic state yet we have even more bureaucrats.
Incompetence is expected since people are getting jobs due to party membership or some kind of affiliation. So you get one person knowing it's job and doing it for five others.

However if one comes here armed with patience and decent income it can be nice place to live.
My American friend is loving his every second here.
Grass can be greener, but it depends on your expectations and ambitions

ernest83
How nice it is to hear an agreement, you are correct about an income But I have had replies from people who can find current laws and procedures in this country, if they can WHY can the Civil service of this state not,this just showes how pathetic and incompetant Civil ervants here are, they would NOT be retained in any other wetern county, and as for being a member state of the EU can you guess at the state of affairs when the Civil Servicehas to comply with directives from Brusels? What a cock-up is to come in 2013.

(moderated: no free ads please)

Thats nice but we have just sold(at a big loss) and going back. My wife who is Croat can not stand it any more or as she states Croatia is not Croatia it is all (moderated). Good comment from a national dont you think?

If you're looking to buy a property in Croatia, the most important thing, after seeing something interesting, is to find an independent person who will check all the details for the property, from title, building rules or permit, neighbours etc. You would be surprised with all the problems you can find. I was doing a research for 2 years before I found the right property in Trogir and was lucky enough to meet an independent property consultant Josip Dobronic from Abis who made due diligence and checked everything before I made a final purchase.

if you are a EU citizen, you can definitely buy a property in Croatia, in your own personal name, without a company.
We bought a property in 2007, in our names (1 italian citizen, 1 UK citizen), no problems.  Get a good lawyer who speaks your language and can translate everything for you.

Don't trust just the advice of an estate agent, or their lawyer, get someone independent (who you pay) who will need to check:
- ownership title
- the Land Registry,
- Kataster Register
- Building permit,
- Usage permit,
- prepare the contract
and anything else.

you can find a lot of information in this forum (I hope I write the link correctly, I am new to Expat-Blog.com)..
visitcroatia.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=property

[Moderated: Please post an ad in Housing section]

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I have seen some good information and advice here. Looks like I am in for a challenge, but we really want to settle down there so guess we will need to do what is necessary.

Dear Pilechar,
It is easy to settle if you will follow the right steps  which will help you to define what you want, where and for how much money. If you decide to buy a property you need to inform yourself about all Croatian regions and find the most suitable for you and your family, place you will like to live , work , etc. Then you can start to look for the property , it is easy to look through  the real estate agencies or you can follow ads in Njuskalo web site, or other places but it is wise to have some local person to help you with this, then when you find what is interesting for you , find a good trustful lawyer (english speaking ) who will  guide you and help you with all the paperwork to buy your property on the right way.
I am Croatian and i am expat myself in one very strict country, I know how hard it is to start new life somewhere else, I did it few times so far, but on temp. basis as I will return to my country once for good , this is the best country for me. But it is very sad when I read that some Croatians abroad become so aggressive in critics about their own country or some which return so unhappy with what they face , but it is from some reason very common that Croatians will prefer to talk nice about some other place , funny, we all should be realistic in this times, every country has their on + and -  It is simple, if you dont like some country, dont go there, stay where you like it. So far I liked the most at home, we have great country, beautiful nature, great food, sea , Islands,nice people, but we have minuses as well, bad politics, no strength to fight against this, very weak economy , old population, etc. but this is not something extreme r unusual I do admit its not all perfect but it is not to complicate to find your own way and to live happy life.
If you need any specific info fell free to ask.
Wish you all the best !

Thanks so much for the guidance.

Residential and commercial building for sale in Croatia.

Hi my name is Deni and I am from Western Australia and now living in Croatia. Yes you have to be careful when buying property in Croatia as there are plenty of sharks and the local laws are pretty unclear even to the locals.
Best of luck.

Hi to all,
can someone tell me where is the best place to buy a property in Croatia? Any experience from anyone of you ?
Thnx

I was thinking something like this  : emporia-realestate.com. Thnx anyway

Hi ! I was giving this question to million peple and now i understand you ))
After my traveling in all Croatia (Split- nothing realy good for property, too big city, too many cars, riva smells not very good; Zadar lovely city! i love it but as well it full of tourists, and croudy beaches, Dubrovnik - now way, just because of nice fortress maybe - as a conclusion i can say that its a nice ities to go for an excursion, but not for living!). I can write for an hour about it... it will be boring )))
Well, i already bought a flat in Vodice (near Sibenik 10 km) - and realy very satisfied, not so expencive properties - small peaceful city with a pictureque Marina harbour, nice restaurants (realy a few is exelent - with homemade food, realy good fish (not from the farm)! , clean beaches... and most of all - its 25 km from NAtional park Krka (wonderful nature), Zadar about 65 km; Kornati Sea National Park - you can go with a boat, and Vranske lake (national park), to many olive trees and as well good bicykle roads!
Vodice is close to beautiful small island Tribunj ( connected with a stony bridge), and so many islands in the sea!!! (thats why there are no wawes!) so.. more peaceful in winter period.
Its my small paradise )))
something to add: Risk is to buy a property without real estate agency, as a heard that some owners are selling the same property twice and after the new two owners are crying of the afera))) I bought property in agency Moreta, which recomend me my friend from Norway.  An oldest one agency, so proffesionals. I remember , when Tihomir - the owner of the agency - said too me when we were looking for a property:  Look, you want to by this apartment. Yes, its nice modern interiour, but there can be water in basement, affter the rain, its not good isolation which can be unconfortable; and its expencive. so I dont want to sell it.! and i was shoked, bec. in all another agencies often are selling a "shit". Im sorry and its true! after i a month he called me with a nice news - that there is one nice app with sea view, and not razy price. And it is now ma Flat).
Im planning to buy one more apartament (when i save  money ) and will start a rent it.
I hope I help you!
Sorry for my english )))

Karolino10 wrote:

Hi to all,
can someone tell me where is the best place to buy a property in Croatia? Any experience from anyone of you ?
Thnx

You can find amazing property on the Croatian coast.

josip
In which part of Croatia?

Krapina, Krapina Zagorje county, 60 km from Zagreb, the highway Zagreb - Graz (Austria)

I totally agree with everything you have said. Change will take a long time here, generations. It is very frustrating when trying to deal with any official office, being passed from place to place and then being told conflicting information. If you can get some one who is Croatian to help with all this keep hold of them, don't let them get away! The process of buying property is very long winded. Having to set up a company, that doesn't do any thing but generate paper work and taxes, which we have no problem with paying our dues. Having said all that Croatia is a beautiful country to live in and the people out weigh the difficulties of the system.

There is a new blog about properties in Craotia.
see it on uk.com.hr/realestate/

If somebody is ineresting in buying building plot in croatia ?[link moderated]

Hi Everyone
Hope someone can help, I have owned some land on the island of Brac in a village called Milna.
I have been waiting for the UPU Infrastructure plan to be done for 10 years and to be honest I am fed up of waiting, so am asking people near and wide if they can help?
My land is in the building zone.
I am looking for an English speaking Architect to work on my behalf to gain this permission,
I have asked my Split based Solicitor and he advised using an architect.

Can anybody help please?

Chris

Hello Chris,   

           I have been through the ringer for the past 15 years from my Property purchases in Croatia.  Recently my architect  has been able to sort through all of the tape and trouble that seems to exist for expat owners.    I can strongly recommend her.  They can do projects all over Croatia.  You can contact her here   axsisprojects.com/
Martina Marincic

I am about to buy apartment in Split. I am a temporary resident from Australia, therefore the apartment cannot be transferred into my name. Option is to register a company and pay all the accompanied fees and charges including a monthly accountant's fee of 150 euro. Annually this fee alone is 1800 euro. I then have to find the seller to sign a contract with my buyer, if I re-sell  the apartment. Any suggestions how to legally simplify this procedure? Andre