CROATIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Marko Paulinović and Dino Vukoša, Buterin & Partneri
funding from state and local budgets and financial institutions amounting to several billion euros. In 2025, additional legislative initiatives were imple - mented allowing partial VAT refunds for the purchase of a first residential property for persons under the age of 45, and increasing standard construction prices for state-subsidised housing in order to ensure the sustainability of the programme in light of rising con - struction costs. The government of the Republic of Croatia also con - tinues to implement measures aimed at activating state-owned real estate in order to increase budget revenues and reduce rental costs for public authori - ties. The National Housing Policy Plan until 2035 envisages the activation of a significant portion of state-owned properties through sale, lease and other forms of disposal, which could affect the supply of real estate on the market. However, most of these reforms will require time before their effects on the real estate market become apparent. The types of property rights that may be acquired over real estate are prescribed by the Ownership and Other Proprietary Rights Act. These are divided into ownership rights and limited property rights. Owner - ship is the only property right that exists over one’s own property. Limited property rights are rights exercised over another person’s property and allow the holder to use the property in a certain manner, satisfy a claim from the property, receive a certain periodic benefit from the property owner or construct a building on another person’s land. Limited property rights include ease - ments rights, pledges (mortgages), real burdens and building rights. 2.2 Laws Applicable to Transfer of Title The transfer of ownership rights and their registration in the public register (land register) are governed by the Land Registry Act. 2. Sale and Purchase 2.1 Categories of Property Rights
All types of real estate are subject to the same regime for the transfer of ownership, although certain special regulations may prescribe additional requirements concerning the disposition with specific types of real estate, most commonly those owned by public authorities. 2.3 Effecting Lawful and Proper Transfer of Title Ownership of real estate is acquired through registra - tion in the land register on the basis of a valid legal transaction (most commonly a sale and purchase agreement), inheritance, a court decision or by opera - tion of law. In each of these cases, ownership must be registered in the land register maintained by the municipal courts. The land register is a public regis - ter containing information on the legal status of real estate relevant for legal transactions, including the description of the property, information on the owner and any encumbrances. Where ownership is acquired on the basis of a legal transaction, it is deemed to be acquired only upon registration in the land register. Title insurance is not customary in Croatia, as acquir - ers of real rights acting in good faith may rely on the accuracy of the information recorded in the land reg - ister. 2.4 Real Estate Due Diligence While legal due diligence is standard in most transac - tions, the scope of technical and environmental due diligence primarily depends on the specific character - istics of the property. Legal due diligence typically includes: • verification of land registry data relating to the property; • verification of the legal basis for the acquisition of ownership; • review of the historical status recorded in the land register; • verification of property data in the cadastral records; • analysis of encumbrances and annotations regis - tered in the land register;
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