Macedonia, FYR

Registering Property in

Macedonia, FYR

Listed below is a detailed summary of the steps, time and cost involved in registering property, assuming a standardized case of an entrepreneur who wants to purchase land and a building that is already registered and free of title dispute.

The information appearing on this page was collected as part of the Doing Business project, which measures and compares regulations relevant to the life cycle of a small- to medium-sized domestic business in 183 economies. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2011.

  • Standard Property Transfer

  • Property Value: MKD 10,061,958.72
  • City: Skopje

About This Topic

To see indicator data for all economies, see the Registering Property page. To see how economies rank, see the Rankings page.

No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
1 Obtain a non-encumbrance certificate on the property

With the introduction of Law on Real Estate Cadastre on March 23, 2008, the information on encumbrances over land and property has moved from the First Instance Courts to the Cadastre Registry's public book. Thus, parties check for encumbrances over the land and property and obtain a non–encumbrance certificate from the Real Estate Cadastre at the same time when they obtain a copy of the title deed.

The seller should obtain a Title Deed from the Department of Cadastre and registration of real estate before the starting of the transaction formally. In the above case the seller as a company should provide a copy of its registration papers with the evidence that the General Manager is authorized to sign the agreement and a verified paper form of the signature before a notary public. This form will be used as evidence before the lawyer and later before the notary public who will verify the sale agreement.

Agency: Agency for Real Estate Cadastre 		1 day MKD 125 (Title deed) + MKD 50 (Tax stamp for the copy of the title deed)
2 Assessment and payment of sale tax on real estate

Tax liability incurs on the date of conclusion of the agreement for transfer of ownership. The base of tax on sales of real estate is the market value of the real estate at the moment of the tax liability.
Previously paid to the Public Revenue Authority, the payment of this tax moved from the Revenue Authority to the Municipalities in 2005. According to the Law on Property Taxes (Official Gazette of RoM, No. 61, dated September 13th 2004), the tax rates are determined by each Municipality, and the Municipality administration is authorized to determine and collect the property taxes as per the location of the real property. The Mayor should pass and deliver the decision for the amount of property tax within 30 days from the day when the taxpayer submitted the application.
The rate of tax on sale of real estate is proportional and equals 3% of the determined market value of the property. If the two parties are companies registered for VAT, the seller will pay 18% VAT on the determined purchase price from which an amount of 3% paid sales tax shall be deducted. The Law does not provide such provision.

Agency: Municipality 		3 weeks MKD 300 (administration fee) + 3% of property value
3 Notary prepares the contract in form of Notary Act and also verifies it

The notary prepares and notarizes the sale contract agreement.
As the Seller is a Company, it must produce a certificate showing that the Company has not initiated the bankruptcy procedure. This certificate has to be presented to the notary for the preparation and notarization of the sale contract.
The buying company must issue a Decision for buying the warehouse, signed by the Company’s Manager. This Decision will be used by the Notary Public for the drafting and notarization of the sale agreement.

According to the Law on Notary Public, a notary public is obliged to submit these documents to the Cadastre in order to inform the Cadastre about the change in ownership. The selling company must provide a certificate showing that it has not initiated the bankruptcy procedure and the buying company must show a document signed by the Director of the company to show the decision to buy the warehouse.


Agency: Public Notary 		1 day sale/purchase agreement according to the new notary fee that is on force: -if the property value is up to MKD 100,000 the fee is MKD 800, -if the property value is from MKD 100,001 up to MKD 200,000 the fee is MKD 1,200, -if the property value is from MKD
4 Apply for registration into the Cadastral Office

Parties submit a request for changing the title to the Cadastral Office.
A lawyer or the buyer obtains from the Cadastre a new Title Deed in which the new owner will be registered. Ownership right over real estate is established at the moment of registration of that right in the Public Book at the Cadastre, though in practice documentation would be required to resell or use the property to obtain a loan.

The documentation shall include: the sale contract approved by public notary (obtained in Procedure 5).


Agency: The Real Estate Cadastre 		5 - 20 days MKD 250 (for change of ownership) + MKD 125 (for the new title deed) + MKD 50 (administrative tax)
Explore Economy Data