Property Buyer’s guide

After you have selected the property you are interested in on our site, we can send you more detailed information about the property and answer your questions, organise a viewing of the property you selected, as well as several similar offers. To do this, you tell us the expected dates of your visit to Montenegro, and we prepare and agree with you a property viewing program. Depending on the desired number of views, the program may take 1 or 2 days. We recommend no more than 5 viewings per day.

After selecting the object you like, you agree on the final terms of the transaction with the seller of the object, and make a reservation Deposit. A reservation Deposit is a guarantee of the buyer’s intention to enter into a contract for the purchase and sale of a real estate object. The transfer of the reservation Deposit by the buyer is accompanied by the signing of a reservation agreement for the property between the buyer and the seller in the presence of an agent. Under the terms of this agreement, the reservation Deposit is transferred by the buyer to the agent, and the property is considered reserved for the buyer until the signing of the contract of sale. The agent acts as a guarantor for the parties to the transaction and keeps the reservation Deposit until the moment of signing the purchase and sale agreement with a notary.

the Reservation Deposit is transferred by the agent to the seller at the time of signing the contract of sale of real estate at the notary, as a Deposit – that is, the remaining amount of payments under the contract of sale is reduced by the amount of the reservation Deposit made. The standard amount of the reservation Deposit is 5-10 thousand euros (depending on the value of the property). If the buyer refuses, without a valid reason, to sign the contract of sale within a certain period, the agent transfers the reservation Deposit to the seller. If the seller refuses the transaction, the agent returns the reservation Deposit to the buyer.

After making a reservation Deposit and signing a reservation agreement, we enter into a purchase and sale transaction. To complete the transaction, the buyer only needs to have a valid passport with at least 6 months remaining before its expiration date at the time of the transaction. The signing of the purchase and sale agreement, as well as all real estate transactions in Montenegro carried out by non-residents, is carried out in the presence of a notary and a state-licensed court interpreter. The real estate Agency makes an appointment with a notary, invites an interpreter, prepares the necessary documents and passes them to the Notary. The notary bears criminal responsibility and is responsible for the legality and purity of the transaction with his property. The notary certifies the contract and other documents necessary for the successful execution of the transaction.

if the reservation Deposit for the real estate object (Deposit) was not transferred by the buyer to the seller earlier, the buyer / agent, in the presence of a Notary, transfers the Deposit to the seller in the amount agreed by the parties. If after signing the contract of sale the buyer refuses the deal, the Deposit shall not be refunded from the transaction if the seller refuses, he is obliged to refund the amount of the Deposit in the double size. The transfer of money is recorded directly in the contract of sale and is part of the payment of the cost of the purchased property under the contract.

the transaction is Settled by Bank transfer. Payment can be made both from abroad and in Montenegro. To do this, the buyer must open a Bank account in this country. To open an account, you only need a foreign passport. The basis for transferring money from abroad to pay for the purchased property is the purchase and sale Agreement (original notarized + translation into the official state language of the country where the buyer’s Bank is located). Usually full settlement for the transaction is carried out within 30 days after the conclusion of the contract, but by agreement with the seller, installment payments are possible, the payment schedule is detailed in the contract of sale.

After fulfilling all the buyer’s obligations under the contract and paying the full price of the property, the seller issues a confirmation (Clausula Intabulandi) that there are no claims against the buyer regarding the fulfillment of their obligations under the contract of sale. Clausula intabulandi and the contract of sale are the main documents on the basis of which the re-registration of property rights in the cadastre to the new owner is carried out, without the further presence of the seller. The legal term for re-registration of property rights is no more than 60 calendar days.

After registering the purchase and sale agreement with a notary, one copy of the agreement is sent to the tax Inspectorate. On the basis of the contract and guided by market prices for real estate, the expert of the tax Inspectorate gives an assessment of the tax value of real estate. After the assessment, the tax Inspectorate makes a decision to pay a one-time tax on the turnover of real estate in the amount of 3%. The tax Inspectorate operates in parallel and independently of the Cadastre. The tax must be paid at the appointed time, namely within 15 days from the date of receipt of The decision to pay the tax. If the payment is not made on time, a penalty of 0.03% is charged for each day of delay. When purchasing primary real estate from a developer (legal entity) that is a VAT payer, the 3% tax is not paid. VAT on the purchase of housing on the primary market is 21% and is paid by the seller (legal entity).

after completion of the procedure for re-registration of property rights, the seller and buyer, or a proxy on the basis of a notarized power of attorney, receive a Decision on the transfer of property rights to the new owner. The seller and the buyer, or a proxy, must sign the cadastre, and thus confirm receipt of the Decision on re-registration of property rights. Within 8-10 days (the time that is given for appealing the Decision and technical processing of documentation) after receiving the Decision, the new owner of the property can receive a “non – Secrecy Sheet” – an extract from the state register of property owners, where the buyer will already be entered as the new owner.

in Fact, the buyer becomes the owner of the property immediately after signing the contract and fulfilling the obligations under it, that is, paying the full price of the purchase and sale of the property on time and receiving from the Seller Clausula Intabulandi-confirmation of the absence of claims from the parties to each other. Legally, the buyer takes ownership immediately after registering his rights in the cadastre.