Property Sale Overseas: Serbia Property Buyers Guide
Procedure 1.
Obtain an extract from the register of companies
Time to complete: 1 day
Cost to complete: CSD 3,120
Comment: CSD 1,560 per extract. Due to the fact that there are two
companies, they must obtain the extract from the register of
companies confirming that the persons signing the contract are
authorized to sign on behalf of the companies.
Procedure 2.
Verification of the sale purchase agreement before the court
Time to complete: 1 day
Cost to complete: Court fees, depending on the property value and
according to the following schedule (with a maximum of CSD 26,000 ):
Property Value (in CSD) Court Fees (in CSD) Up to 10,000 650 From
10,000 to 100,000 650 + 1% of property value From 100,000 to
1,000,000 1,950 + 0.5% of property value Over 1,000,000 8,450 +
0.25% of property value
Comment: The sale and purchase agreement is verified before the
court.
The court verifies the documentation, as the notaries do in other
countries. In Serbia, the procedure of establishing the notary
instead of the court verifications is under way.
According to the Law on the Transfer of the Immovable, it is
obligatory for the agreement on the purchase and sale of the real
estate to be verified before the court.
Usually, a lawyer prepares the sale purchase agreement (charging an
additional CSD 15,000).
Procedure 3.
The request for registration is submitted to the Municipal Court
Land Register or to the Cadastre
Time to complete: 1 day
Cost to complete: CSD 2,600 (Land Registry) or 4,212.60 (Cadastre)
Comment: Submission of the request to the Municipal Court Land
Register or the Cadastre.
There is a transition from a system where the registration is
performed by the Land Register (a Court) to a system where it is all
handled by the Cadastre (administrative procedure). The new concept
is to join legal record keeping (land register) with factual record
keeping (old cadastre) providing a unified system for registration
of the real property. The new real property cadastre is maintained
by an administrative body: Republic Geodesy Institute ("RGZ",
through its operational units organized on the territorial
principle).
So far, approximately 78% of the municipalities have been covered by
the new Cadastre. The urban regions are still prevailingly covered
by the court led registry. The Real Estate Cadastre and Registration
Project, which is currently under way, aims to complete entire
process until 2010, when all the process should be administered by
the Cadastre
Procedure 4.
Submit an application to Tax Authorities to approve transaction
value and authorize payment of transfer tax
Time to complete: 1 - 3 days
Cost to complete: No cost
Comment: The parties shall submit an application to the local Tax
Authorities in order to get approval of the sale price that will be
used to calculate the transfer tax. The parties have 10 days after
the sale contract has been verified by the court to submit this
application. The request will be approved in a few days and then the
parties have 15 days to pay the transfer tax.
Procedure 5. Payment of the transfer tax
Time to complete: 1 day
Cost to complete: 5% of the property value estimated by the Tax
Authority
Comment: Payment of tax on transfer of absolute rights (5% of the
value of the property as estimated by the Tax Authority).
The tax is paid on a commercial bank into the account of the local
Tax authority.
Procedure 6.
The Cadastre/Land Registry makes a decision on the title
Time to complete: 10 - 25 days (Land Registry) or 30-180 days
(Cadastre)
Cost to complete: CSD 650 (Land Registry) or none for the Cadastre
(already paid in Procedure 3)
Comment: The Cadastre/Land Registry will make a decision on the
title.
The time will depend on which agency takes charge of the
registration. Registration in the Cadastre takes so long due to the
back log in updating records for previous years. Once this
transition is complete, the system should work more efficiently than
the old system. Information was checked with the Belgrade's Cadastre
Unit and they said that this procedure may last between 30 and 180
days depending on the respective cadastre municipality within the
territory of the City of Belgrade.
When the new Cadastre is established in a certain area, the Land
Registry ceases to exist in the same area.
Assuming the registration takes place in the Cadastre, the new
system being implemented
