There are no restrictions on the purchase of real estate in Montenegro for foreigners. Moreover, the purchase process itself is quite simple. Of the documents, the buyer only needs to have a passport.
The purchase and sale agreement is signed in the presence of a notary and a licensed court interpreter. All necessary documents are prepared in advance and transferred by the real estate agency to a notary, who is criminally responsible for notifying the buyer of all facts concerning the purity of the transaction, and notification of possible consequences and risks in case of encumbrances on the property (debt, litigation, etc.). During the signing of the contract, the buyer transfers to the seller a pledge, the minimum the amount of which is usually 10% of the total transaction value. If the buyer refuses the transaction, the deposit will not be refunded.
To insure the seller, the notary closes with his seal the item confirming the receipt of money by the seller. At this stage, the contract is only the basis for transferring money to the seller's account in a Montenegrin bank or for a foreign bank, so that the buyer, having left, for example, to Russia, could transfer money to Montenegro. The seller's insurance is that the buyer will not be able to submit this contract to the cadastre for registration of property in his name without paying the seller.
You can draw up a contract with a notary in any opshtina (community/ municipality), however, after signing the contract, the documents must be transferred to the cadastre of the particular opshtina on the territory of which the object is located. There are 1-3 notaries working in each department.
The payment schedule is fixed in the contract. Payment can be made as a single payment, or in installments, by agreement between the buyer and the seller. Most often, in this case, an advance payment is made in the amount of 50% of the total amount, the rest can be paid within the prescribed period from 6 months to a year. After fulfilling the buyer's obligations to pay for the transaction, the seller signs an agreement confirming the absence of claims against the buyer – Clausula Intabulandi. After the final settlement, the seller confirms with the notary that he has received the entire amount, and the notary issues to both parties a full-fledged version of the contract they have already signed with an open clause Clausula Intabulandi. The notary is paid for the services of drafting the contract according to the rates approved by the Ministry of Justice of Montenegro. In addition, the services of a licensed court interpreter are paid if the transaction takes place with a citizen who does not speak the Montenegrin language.
Registration of ownership rights
The notary agreement and the Clausula Intabulandi are the main documents on the basis of which the real estate is re-registered in the cadastre. The waiting time for a decision on the transfer of rights to real estate is usually about 60 days – 45 days for a decision and a formal period of 7 days for appeal, plus the registration of the so-called non-secrecy sheet, which can be considered official certificates of ownership. After that, the information is entered into the register of property owners, the buyer receives a non-secrecy sheet and becomes the de jure owner of the property. The seller and the buyer, or a trusted person, must put their signatures in the cadastre, and thus confirm receipt of the decision on the re-registration of property rights.
Taxation
The main difference between buying real estate on the secondary market is that it is taxed on the turnover of real estate in the amount of 3% of the value. After registration of the purchase and sale agreement with a notary, one copy of the agreement is sent to the tax inspectorate. On the basis of the contract and guided by the cadastral valuation of real estate, the expert of the tax inspectorate gives a tax assessment of real estate. After the assessment, the tax inspectorate decides to pay a one-time tax on the turnover of real estate in the amount of 3%. At the same time, the tax inspectorate operates in parallel and independently of the cadastre. The tax must be paid on time, namely within 15 days from the date of receipt of the decision to pay the tax. If the payment is not made on time, a penalty of 0.03% is charged for each day of delay. When purchasing primary real estate from a real estate developer (legal entity), which is a VAT payer, the 3% tax is not paid. VAT on the purchase of housing in the primary market is 19% and has already been included in the cost of the object.
In addition, there is a property tax in Montenegro, which is paid annually in the amount of 0.1-1% of the value of real estate. Foreign buyers who do not have a residence permit in Montenegro must additionally pay a tourist tax of about 90 euros per year.
Daniil Burygin
HomesOverseas.ru
The editorial board of the portal thanks Igor Zhukov ("The territory of Montenegro") and Anton Shamarin (VALUE.ONE) for help in preparing the material.
