Montenegro

Registering Property in

Montenegro

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: EUR 239,962.15
  • City: Podgorica

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No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
* 1 Obtain property excerpt from Agency for Real Estate

The buyer goes to the local branch of the Agency for Real Estate to obtain an excerpt on the property, proving the seller’s ownership.

Agency: Agency for Real Estate 		1 day (simultaneous with procedure 2) EUR 5 (Republic Administrative Tax) + EUR 3 (to Agency for Real Estate)
* 2 Check boundaries and limitations of the property against the excerpt

It is standard practice for the buyer to check the boundaries and limitations of the property against the excerpt obtained at the local branch of the Agency for Real Estate. If it is the buyer’s lawyer that does this, which is normally the case, he may include this in his fees.
1 day (simultaneous with procedure 1) included in procedure 3
3 Lawyer drafts sale-purchase agreement

It is standard practice for parties to hire a lawyer to draft the sale-purchase agreement. A new standardized form for the sale-purchase agreement is now available online at http://www.nekretnine.co.me/).
1 day EUR 200-300
4 Sign and authenticate signatures in the sale-purchase agreement at the Municipal Court

It is mandatory that the sale-purchase agreement be notarized. Authentication of contractual parties' signatures on the sale agreement is done by the jurisdiction of basic courts. They act only as a witness (checking the signatures of the seller and buyer).

Agency: Municipal (Basic) Court 		1 day Euro 10
5 Tax Authorities assess the amount of transfer tax to be paid by the buyer

The Municipal (basic) court delivers the sales agreement with the authenticated signatures to the tax administration. During this period the tax authorities will compare their valuation of the property with the sale-purchase agreement price. They will assess how much the buyer should pay as transfer tax (3% of the property value) and assign a bank at which to pay. The buyer must then go to the tax administration office to get a copy of the agreement with the stamp (clearance).

Agency: Tax Administration Branch Office (Uprava prihoda Podgorica) 		10 - 30 days no cost
6 Buyer pays transfer tax at a commercial bank

The buyer will take the amount assessed by the tax authorities to pay as transfer tax, to deposit at a bank assigned by the tax authorities in their account.

Agency: Commercial Bank 		1 day 3% property value
7 Request inscription of the new owner at the Agency for Real Estate

Parties fill in a standard form or make a simple written request at the local branch of the Agency for Real Estate in order for the name on the property to be changed to the buyer’s. The Resolution on change of property ownership is made within 8 working days. The Head of the Unit signs on the Resolution and it is delivered to the parties. Once the resolution is made, parties have the right to appeal against the resolution within 8 days at the Ministry of Finance (cost is 5 Euros). If there are no complaints within the deadline of 8 working days, then a Request for issuance of cadastre excerpt is submitted to the Real Estate Agency. This costs 8 Euros and is issued on the same day.
The law precisely states that the property ownership change has to be executed within 20 days.

Registering in real estate cadastre is defined by Law on state survey and real estate cadastre ("Official Gazzette of Montenegro" No. 29/07)

Deadlines for issuing decisions are defined in Law on public administration procedure ("Official Gazette of Montenegro" No. 21 from 28.10.2003)


Agency: Agency for Real Estate 		46 days EUR 5 (request) + 8 Euros (Real Estate Agency) + 5 Euros (Administrative fee)
* Takes place simultaneously with another procedure.
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