Buying property in Croatia – cost and fees

Croatia – beautiful country to live or retire or just to enjoy holidays

Croatia has much to offer for the property buyer, including an enormous variety of landscapes, a wide choice of unique cities, towns and villages, a great climate, wonderful beaches and crystal clear sea.

Ease of access from the rest of Europe, the clear waters of the Adriatic and an ever-improving infrastructure are good reasons to visit Croatia. Croatia also officially became the 28th member state of the European Union in July, 2013. This is a result of the impressive progress made by the country as an independent state, and definitely helps to promote Croatia tourism-wise.

Is Croatia in EU?

Property market in Croatia became more open to European Union citizens after Croatia became member of European Union. EU citizens are now able to buy on the same terms as local Croats (except agricultural land and land in national parks). This burning of red tape in the buying process is not only speeding up the property buying procedure. It  also encourage more buyers to purchase in Croatia with confidence.

To read more about the beauties of Croatia, please visit our About Croatia Section.

Which way non-EU citizens buy property in Croatia ?

Property buying in Croatia for non-EU citizens  is governed by the principle of reciprocity. This means the right of an individual to buy property on the condition that Croatian nationals are permitted to buy property in the origin country of the purchaser. For EU citizens rule is that they buy in Croatia same way as Croatians, except agricultural land. If foreigner want to buy agricultural land, company has to be formed which will buy agricultural land.

As in all property transactions, the buyer should always use the services of an independent lawyer who acts solely for them. We are glad to recommend experienced and reliable solicitor. It is also essential that the lawyer should speak both Croatian and English fluently.

How to purchase property in Croatia ?

It is important for the lawyer to check that the property’s title is clean. Because Croatian families traditionally hand their properties down from father to son for several generations. In some cases the paperwork is either incorrect or non-existent. Our agency checks all property documents to be sure that status and title are clean and without risk for buyer to purchase it.

Survey is somewhat unusual in Croatia. The agency can recommend you civil engineer or architect who can do it. This service, with a proper translation, should cost somewhere around €500 should you require it.

There are two main routes for the purchase of property in Croatia – as a private individual or through a company structure that you set up yourself. There are advantages and disadvantages to both methods. The best solution will be different for each specific case. We are experienced and professional real estate agency and will advise you of the best solution for each individual circumstance.

More about buying process read in our Q&A.

What are Costs & Fees when Buying Property in Croatia?

• Estate agents charge  3 per cent of the property’s sale price.
• Lawyers charge from 0,5 to 1.5 per cent (according to our buyers’ experiences). This usually include the Land Registry ownership registration and the preparation of the purchase contract.
• Permission from the Ministry of Justice for a foreign national (who is not EU citizen) to acquire property costs around 70 kuna (approximately 10 EUR). We recommend to hire experienced lawyer to prepare application.
• The notary’s fee is about 200 kuna (30 EUR) and eventually the translator (if required)  approximately 500 kuna (around 70 EUR)
• The Land Registrar fee is about 250 kuna (approximately 35 EUR). Check with your lawyer whether this has been included in his or her fee.
• Property transfer tax is currently set at 3 per cent, as of the January 2019.  (when was reduced from 4%). Buyer pays this tax. The change of ownership happens usually within 30 days. The tax you pay only by bank transfer in Croatian kuna (HRK).
• Registering Croatian company (if buying through the company) – public notary fee is about 500 EUR. Founding capital at company registration is 2800 EUR which you can take out of the company after registration. Monthly fee for a bookkeeper is about 150 eur. Yearly company tax is about 150 eur. Another variant of registering Croatian company is j.d.o.o. (simple limited liability company) that has no founding capital, can be registered in two days.

What  is VAT rate in Croatia?

VAT (PDV in Croatia) is currently 25%. If you are buying new built apartment from the company, you will not pay any property transfer tax because company seller will pay VAT 25% therefore you don’t pay tax in this case. In all other cases buyer pays tax of 3% on purchase price.

VAT of 25% is also charged on the services provided by both real estate agents and legal advisers.

Are Croatian Banks approving Real Estate Mortgages for foreigners?

The finance industry in Croatia changed a lot since entrance of the EU. Unfortunately Croatian banks do not recognize foreigner buyers as perspective clients. Only few banks consider foreigner for approving bank loan to purchase property and with very difficult conditions to be fulfilled by the foreign buyer. We recommend for a foreign buyers to look for suitable bank loan in the native country. Number of our German buyers were approved loans from the German banks to purchase property in Croatia. Check this bank details about mortgages.

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Azure Waters of the Croatian Adriatic

10 Ways to Recognize Illegal Croatian Real Estate Agencies

Dear clients and guests!

We feel that it is our obligation to warn you about illegal agents still operating on Croatian real estate (both sale and rental) market, as well as some unprofessional agencies that will try to put pressure on you to buy property without checking and securing the property situation.

In our effort to help you filter through these false advertisers and agencies, we have prepared some additional information for you. Also, feel free to contact us with any future questions or reports of illegal activities.

Also, to find out more about the services Luxury Croatia Real Estate brand offers, check out our real estate services blog category.

10 Hints on How to Recognize  Illegal & Unprofessional Agents/Agencies:

1. ask them to give you agent/agency licence registration number which you can check at Croatian Chamber of Commerce (or we can check it for you), if that agency is not listed, it means that agency works illegally, without licence, without permission on Croatian market. For you this means 100% risk of fraud and abuse. Few Russian agencies are reported to work illegally on Croatian market. Actually only agencies that are registered in Croatia and listed on the list of Croatian Chamber of Commerce have licence do do real estate broker services inside Croatia. here is link to the list of registered and licensed Croatian agencies in the Croatian Chamber of Commerce.
2. ask them their company registration number: OIB,
3. ask them their registered office address and check if it exist or not,
4. ask them to show you their business risk insurance policy,
5. google or ask around for the average commission percentage in this market and compare it with what you were told by that agency/agent;
6. check what internet says about them; find testimonials of their clients if such exist;
7. if they provide misleading or hide correct information, you’re probably dealing with an illegal or non-registered agent/agency;
8. some of agencies advertise lower prices than provided by owners, those prices are false and are formed as trap to attract buyers;
9. some agencies advertise properties for sale without having direct (or any) contact with the owner, or providing false pictures of advertised properties, or advertising properties which are not for sale aiming to attract buyers this way;
10. if agent/agency put pressure on you to decide quickly about buying property, beware of possible fraud or criminal acts.

We strongly recommend that you hire an experienced lawyer/solicitor who will check the agent/agency. In Luxury Croatia, we  (with the help of our lawyer)  personally check every property, title deeds and make sure that all the information and documentation received from our real estate owners and prepared for our potential buyers is clean and registered in land registry court.

PROPERTY FOR SALE IN CROATIA

LUXURY CROATIA and it’s travel/rental serviecs brand: ADRIATIC TRAVELLER offer the finest selection of luxury villas for sale and rent: sea front houses, apartments, islands, secluded beach front stone houses, plots of land with gorgeous panoramic sea views, old ruins at low prices on the best locations, large plots in residential zones for building, hotels and resorts for sale, apartment houses for sale and etc.

We are focused on sales of residential properties in the coastal regions of Croatia, Dalmatian islands of Hvar, Brac, Korcula, Vis, Solta, Mljet, Drvenik, Peljesac peninsula, Silba, Dugi otok, Ugljan, Kornati archipelago and others on Zadar area, Sibenik area, Split, Makarska, Dubrovnik, Istria, Umag, Pula… We also manage properties, take care of everything from construction, furnishing, gardening, to renting, cleaning, meeting guests, bookings… we have complete pre-sales and post-sales service for our clients.

We have a team of experts in construction and building: architects, engineers, project managers, interior designer, landscape architects, construction companies, who are able to make your dream property come true.

Our goal is to deliver quality and long lasting relation with our clients.

Welcome and bring your smile with you!

Your LuxuryCroatia.net Team

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Good news for buyers! Property transfer tax is reduced to 3% as of January 1st 2019. This relates to all buyers, natural persons or buyers who buy through company.

Exempt from paying property transfer tax are buyers who buy from company a new built apartment which was not yet used. In this case seller who is company is obliged to pay VAT, therefore to avoid double taxation, buyer is not paying property transfer tax.

Foreign buyers who buy property  in Croatia and who are natural physical persons with citizenship of the country that is member of the European Union,  can buy real estate in Croatia which is only inside building zone. This could be land inside building zone or ruin, house, villa or project in development. If foreign buyer, with EU country citizenship, want to buy house which is inside agricultural zone, this buyer is not allowed to buy as natural person, but can register Croatian company, and company buys house on the agricultural land. More about registering Croatian company you can read in other articles which I posted under Questions and Answers, or contact me by email for your specific questions.

Foreign buyers who are non EU citizens, there are two ways to buy property in Croatia, but there is same condition as for EU citizenship buyers, obligation to buy only inside building zones. Foreign buyer who is non EU citizen and wish to buy as natural person, firstly depend on the reciprocity rule between Croatia and buyer’s country of residence. If reciprocity rule exist (I can check in Croatian Foreign Affairs Ministry website) then buyer can buy as natural person but after finished purchase, must apply to the Ministry of Justice to get their approval for the purchase. After approval granted, buyer will be registered as new owner in the title deed of the purchased property. Ministry of Justice takes one or two months usually to issue the approval. Application to the Ministry of Justice can prepare your solicitor.

Foregin buyers non EU citizen who do not want to get into this process of waiting for approval of Ministry of Justice, can skip this and register Croatian company in few days (or one week time) and buyer’s company becomes owner of the property instantly, no need for applying to Ministry or any other body. There are some specific requirements regarding foreigner non EU citizen registering Croatian company, which your lawyer/solicitor will present to you. Those specific rules depend on the contracts signed between your country and Croatia. These info you get from your solicitor. I can recommend reliable and experienced solicitor who is dealing with these situations frequently.

Real estate Croatia buyers 

For real estate Croatia buyers we prepared many beautiful seafront or beach front houses for sale, such as this one on the picture, which price is reduced to 290 thousand EUR.  More seafront houses for sale in Croatia check in our offer on this website.

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