|
|
According to the Law of property and other real estate
property rights - Article
356 paragraph 2 (Official Gazette of the Republic of Croatia Nos. 91/96,
68/98, 13 7/99, 22/00 and 73/00), foreign citizens and enterprises, who
want to become owners of real estate in the Republic of Croatia need to
obtain previous consent from the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the
Republic of Croatia. In order to apply for consent, applicants must
submit a request written in Croatian, either personally or through an
attorney, to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Consular Department, Meduliceva 34, 10.000 Zagreb, Croatia. In addition, applicants must
enclose the following with the application:
-
basis on which the property is acquired (contract of purchasing the
property, gift contract etc.), - original or duly legalized copy;
-
proof of title (land registry certificate etc.) - original not older
than six months,
-
certificate issued by authorized authorities for urban planning
which proves that the particular real estate property is located within the
zone in which construction is allowed, according to the zoning plan,
- original not older than six months;
-
proof of buyer's citizenship (legalized copy of passport, for
instance), - original or duly legalized copy;
-
power of attorney for the attorney - original or duly legalized
copy;
-
copy of each document filed with the request.
Real
estate Property in Croatia, Property in Istria, Property on sale at TheMoveChannel.com
The
applicant shall deliver other necessary documents on request. The
fees for the application includes HRK 20.00 application fee
pursuant to Article 1 of the Croatian Law on Administrative
Fees (Official Gazette of the Republic of Croatia Nos.
8/96, 77/96-Decree, 131/97, 68/98, 66/99-Decree,
145/99-Decree, 30/00-Constitutional Court Decision, 23/02 and
91/02); plus, pursuant to Article 2 of the above mentioned law,
HRK 50.00 per applicant for the decision.
|
Rent your
Croatia's vacations property! |
|
|
If the fee exceeds HRK 100.00, it shall be payable directly to the
national budget of the Republic of Croatia (account No. 100
1005-1863000160, reference No. 24, first adjacent field No.
5002, plus first and last names and address of the applicant,
pursuant to Article 13 of the above-mentioned law. If the fee is
paid from abroad, according to Article 15 of the above-mentioned
law, the payment shall be effected in foreign currency at the
mean exchange rate determined by the Central Bank of Croatia. After
the application has been completed and submitted, it shall be
referred for regular procedure to the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs that shall decide on each application individually.
Pursuant to Article 357 paragraph 2 of the above-mentioned
law, the administrative procedure requires previous opinion from the
Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Croatia, particularly focusing
on the following:
-
Foreign citizens and enterprises cannot acquire real estate property ownership of
agricultural land, pursuant to Article 1 paragraph 3 of the Law on
Agricultural Land (Official Gazette of the Republic of Croatia Nos.
66/01 and 87/02);
-
Foreign citizens and enterprises cannot acquire real estate ownership of forests
and forest land, pursuant to Article 1 paragraph 32 of the Law on
Forests (Official Gazette of the Republic of Croatia Nos. 54/83,
32/87, 47/89, 41/90, 52/90 - final version, 51/91, 61/91, 26/93,
76/93, 29/94, 8/00 and 13/02);
-
If the object of acquisition is a protected cultural monument, it
shall be offered to the authorities first (Republic of Croatia,
Municipality, City, County), and only if they decline to exercise
their pre-emptive right may the property be offered to foreign
citizens and enterprises, pursuant to Article 37 paragraph 1 of the
Law on Protecting and Preserving Cultural Monuments (Official
Gazette of the Republic of Croatia No. 66/99)
Real estate
property reciprocity:
In
deciding on each individual application, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
shall determine whether there is reciprocity between the Republic of
Croatia and the applicant's state in real estate property matters. The Ministry
of Foreign Affairs collects and examines foreign laws concerning
reciprocity with respect to foreign nationals. Interested parties can
contact the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for information on reciprocity
between the Republic of Croatia and other states. For any additional
information regarding reciprocity between the Republic of Croatia and
other states please contact the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Consular
Department.
Acquisition of Immovable Real estate Property in Croatia - Incorporation of a
Croatian Company Information on Legal Requirements and Costs Related to
Acquisition of Immovables in Croatia
1.
When a natural (or legal) foreign person purchases real estate property in Croatia
- A foreign person (either natural or legal) may acquire the ownership
of an real estate property in Croatia only - if the Croatian citizens may
acquire ownership in that person's homeland (mutuality), and - subject
prior approval of the Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Before the
approval of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is given, a positive opinion
of the Croatian Ministry of Justice has to be obtained. Following
documentation has to be presented to both Ministries: - Sale and
Purchase Contract (which, until we get the approval is not legally
valid), - Extract from the Land Register for the real estate property in question, -
Evidence of Citizenship for both the Buyer and the Seller's, - Evidence
that the land is not for agricultural use If the land is for
agricultural use, it cannot be acquired by a foreign person.
2.
Running business activities in Croatia - A Croatian company may acquire
real estate property in Croatia without limitation, not withstanding the
origin of the company's capital (i.e. even if it is fully owned by
foreign legal or natural persons). The exception is the land for
agricultural use, where the companies with foreign capital may not
acquire ownership. Foreign entrepreneur can run business activities in Croatiaeither by establishing a registered branch office of a foreign
company, or by incorporation or investment in an existing Croatian
company. 3. Incorporation of a Croatian company (CC) There are four
types of company, but we shall mention only the two ones with the
limited liability (company limited by shares) and the company with
limited liability, leaving the two others (partnership and limited
partnership) out of the consideration.
a.
Company limited by shares, is a company with the strictest legal regime.
It is a company the basic capital of which is divided into shares, which
are, more or less available for public trade.
b.
Company with limited liability Members' liability is limited to the
investment quote in the company's capital, which is stated in the Act of
Incorporation, but the company is not entitled to issue shares. The
company may be incorporated by and can have only one or more members.
Once all documents are prepared, it may take approximately one month to
complete the registration. Since the Act of Incorporation has to be a
Croatian notaries deed, the Buyer has to come to Croatia to sign it
before a Croatian Notary Public in the presence of a sworn Court
interpreter. If the Buyer does not want to travel to Croatia, he may
execute a special power of attorney (specifying all details of the
company such as name, scope, capital etc.) authorising an attorney to
execute the Act of Incorporation in Croatia on his behalf. The special
POA has to be notarised and apostilled in the Country of issue and
translated into Croatian. If a corporation is the founder of CC, then an
original extract from the registry of the domicile country has to be
provided, certifying the authority of the corporation's representative
to sign the POA and other corporate papers for CC. To draft the special
power of attorney and prepare the incorporation the following is needed:
- Proposals for the name of the Company. The name needs to be in
Croatian or ancient languages. The use of the incorporator's name is
permitted. - Address of the Company. - Names, address, passport nos.
of all the incorporators (I have your name and passport no, but not the
address, and I understood that you would not be the sole incorporator).
- Name, address, ID no. of the director of the Company (a foreign person
may be the director, and you can authorise another person with the
domicile in Croatia to effect the transactions on behalf of the Company,
which have to be done on day by day basis). - activity of the Company -
capital amount .
REAL ESTATE PROPERTY -
USEFUL INFORMATION FROM THE
GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA
You
can visit HITRO.HR which is a service of the Government of the
Republic of Croatia intended for quick communication of citizens and
business subjects with the state administration. HITRO.HR will
enable the citizens and entrepreneurs to have quicker, simpler access to
information and services in one location. The link to their website is:
http://www.hitro.hr/index_en.htm
Back to home
page!
top page |
