Buying apartment in Kotor Montenegro

Hi Nienkeuil,

Your request is normal and possible in most countries in the world. Unfortunately, Montenegro is so small (you know this since you are from an also small neighbouring country) and Kotor extremely small, so you will hardly find any "independant" lawyer, and most of them will be connected somehow to some property business (very often their own). It is not rare here to find in the same office a lawyer and a real estate agent under the same company name (which would be illegal in most countries because of independance / conflict of interest) but here it is frequent.

Checking the ownership of a property can be done by yourself (or you can find a local speaking person to assist you) even online: http://www.nekretnine.co.me/me/Katastarski_podaci.asp
If anything is unclear in the ownership then you can ask a lawyer to research more.

Maybe find a lawyer in Podgorica or Bar if you want to check properties in Kotor if you want to avoid any risk of conflict of interest.
Check http://montenegro-lawyers.blogspot.com/ or the chamber of lawyers http://www.advokatskakomora.me/advokati … inama.html

To answer your questions (and I'm sure Nemanja will correct me if I'm wrong as he knows all this stuff the best here!)
- what are the steps in the property buying process for which I need a lawyer? TO CHECK THE OWNERSHIP AND ANY POTENTIAL PROBLEMS RELATED TO IT (But again in most cases anyone can do this)
- can anybody recommend a good lawyer for these purposes?
I HAVE BEEN DEALING WITH A FEW LAWYERS IN KOTOR AND TIVAT AND WOULDN'T RECOMMEND ANY MORE THAN THE OTHER. MOST OF MY PEERS IN THE BUSINESS WOULD TELL YOU THE SAME.
- any advice on lawyer fees in Montenegro?
THEY USUALLY LIKE TO CHARGE 500 to 1500 EUR FOR THEIR SERVICES RELATED TO BUYING PROPERTY (which can include reviewing the sales contract, checking the land registry...)
- other tips about buying in Kotor old town?
TRY TO VISIT THE PROPERTY YOU LIKE BETWEEN JUNE AND SEPTEMBER AS THE OLD TOWN GETS VERY LOUD. YOU MIGHT WANT TO ADD EXTRA SOUND INSULATION IN THE PROPERTY. BUYING AN OLD PROPERTY CAN BE VERY COSTLY TO RENOVATE AND IN KOTOR BUILDING PRICES ARE MUCH HIGHER THAN ANYWHERE ELSE BECAUSE NO CARS CAN GO IN, SO MATERIAL HAS TO BE BROUGHT "BY HAND"

All the best in your search!

Carine

Thank you very much for your detailed answer! I am definately going to stay over in the old town to check out the noise situation.

Much appreciated, thanks again.

Hello,

after implementing Notary services in Montenegro, all real estates related business is their responsibility now, so it is pretty safe in way that you will be registered in land registry after purchasing property, since it is their job also to apply for that. They should also be aware that you are foreigner and restrictions which you have as one.
Only thing which you need to check, or to find somebody to do it is about is land urban or not. This means at the first place, which way land is listed in General urban plan, and is it covered by detailed urban plan, and at last what they plan in it for land you are interested in.... if there is house, situation is the same, you can always build more...
Considering houses, as Tsarine already said, ask for usage or building permit, because just with this object, house or apartment is legal, all other (which is majority in NME) will be covered by legalization procedure (low is expected to be soon)and owners will need to pay all taxes for that, which is depending on zoning from 100 and more euros per square meter, probably will be possible to pay in 10 years by monthly installments.

Dear Nemanja,
Thank you for your reply. The house I am interested in at the moment is an apartment, so no land is involved. Just for my understanding: Is is the real estate agent's job to apply for the land registration or the notary's job?
Thanks again,
Regards,
Nienke

Notary's job. Anyway you should check is building legal, which makes you apartment legal too. So ask about building permit for whole building. It should be written in property list in section G "Nema dozvolu" which means No permit, if there is no one, but also it can be with out permit but nut written in property list....