Part 1. Romanian law property/real estate legal services by Romanian Deals:

Real Estate Due Diligence in Romania
provides legal assistance with Due Diligence procedures required in order to safely purchase a property in Romania. Depending on the type of property you are looking to purchase there can be 2 types of Due Diligence procedures to be taken:

Basic Due Diligence
This includes verification of the property's Title Deeds and Land Survey documents as well as obtaining an extract from official Romanian Land Registry ("Cartea funciara").

In-depth Due Diligence and adjacent services

The process can include but is not limited to:
a) Verification of the property from the point of view of the possibility of being involved in ongoing litigations. Requires research at the Court archives (and other institutions) in the area.
b) Verification and comparison of the Land Survey documents, topographical and other information required for future development. As an example: the situation of the electricity poles in the area, whether they can be moved from the location if needed etc. Similar searches for utilities promiximity and costs, for other legal certificates needed for the property development, etc.
c) the occupation coefficients of the land (CUT/POT): what percentage of the land can be built upon, what volumetric density, etc
d) drafting the sell/purchase pre-contract, the contract and providing assistance with the proceedings and the Public Notary at the moment of sale.

Please note that this is not intended to be a complete list of procedures for the fulfilment of a due diligence process. Romanian Deals professionals and their legal attorneys/collaborators have a wide experience in dealing with all legal aspects related to property investments, purchase, rent, hire, management and many other aspects of property investment in Romania. They can attend any detail question on the subject, please feel free to fill in the form below for any specific query.

Part 2 Legal information for buying Romanian property

Can foreign EU citizens purchase property in Romania? What about non-EU citizens?
There are more and more foreigners interested in purchasing real estate properties in Romania. The question is whether current legislation allows non-resident investors to buy land (or at least other real estate properties such as houses/villas) directly as in other EU legislations.

Law No. 312/2005 stipulates the conditions in which European Union citizens (as well as non-EU foreign citizens), are able to purchase Romanian land.

Article 4 in the above-mentioned Law stipulates: "The citizen of a member state without legal residency in Romania, the stateless non-resident having residency in an European Union country and the non-resident foreign legal entity (company) incorporated per the stipulations of the EU legislations, are able to gain ownership on land for secondary residences, respectively secondary headquarters, within an interval of 5 years after Romania has joined the European Union".

Actually The Law differentiates upon on the type of land. For example the persons or legal entities mentioned above can only gain ownership of Romanian forests, agricultural land after 7 years from the date Romania has joined the EU. (This last stipulation is not applied to foreign farmers who are able to prove their statute as farmers in their home countries).

What if purchasing a house/villa in Romania?
Buying a house in Romania automatically implies buying the adjacent part (a percentage) of the land on which the building stands upon. As a result even if theoretically foreign European Union citizens would be able to acquire houses (dwellings) directly, practically it is not yet possible without a Romanian company. There are however, some ways around this requirement. For details write to us at office@romdeals.com

What about non-EU citizens?
The non-EU-foreign-citizen is able to own real estate properties in Romania in conditions of reciprocity based only on international treaties between the countries; however they cannot acquire ownership of Romanian land in more favourable conditions then citizens of the European Union.

Answers to common questions

I'm starting a business in Romania. How do I know if I need any special permit/authorization from the authorities? Permits can be required before or after the incorporation of the company. Some of the activities requiring post-authorization are: recruiting of personnel, travel agencies, activities involving the handling of personal data etc. Activities requiring pre-authorization are: banking, insurance, certain financial activities, activities related to firearms, security companies.

Company vs. Micro-Company Choosing to incorporate a Micro-Company could mean less taxes paid to the State. These types of Romanian companies will pay 2.5% of their income in 2008 and 3% in 2009 as taxes as opposed to 16% of the profit if incorporating a regular Romanian company. What taxes do I have to pay if I purchase property in Romania? You would have to take into account the tax to the Romanian State, Public Notary Fee (1-2% of the purchase price) and eventually VAT (if the seller is a company).

To obtain more information on this subject please feel FREE to fill in the form below:

Contact Romanian Deals for Romanian law property/real estate