SLOVENIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Blaž Ogorevc, Miha Štravs and Blaž Murko, Odvetniki Šelih & partnerji, o.p., d.o.o.
6. Commercial Leases 6.1 Types of Arrangements Allowing the Use of Real Estate for a Limited Period of Time The most common type of agreement that allows a person, company or other organisation to occupy real estate for a limited period of time without buying it outright is a lease agreement. A similar effect may be achieved by personal easements (ie, usufruct, use and apartment easement), as well as the building right, which is a right to own a built structure above or beneath the real estate of another person, and in effect comes close to ownership. 6.2 Types of Commercial Leases Slovenian law differentiates between different types of leases depending on the subject of the lease. The Obligations Code prescribes gen - eral rules applicable to all lease agreements. In addition to and/or instead of the general rules, mandatory provisions are prescribed by the Housing Act for leases of residential buildings and the Agricultural Land Act for leases of state- or municipality-owned agricultural land. In the past, leases of business buildings and business premises were also regulated by the Business Buildings and Business Premises Act; however, this Act was repealed and continues to apply to only lease agreements concluded before 19 June 2021. 6.3 Regulation of Rents or Lease Terms In principle, rents and lease terms are freely negotiable. However, the Housing Act applica - ble to leases of residential buildings designates rent as usurious if it exceeds the average market rent in the municipality for the same or a similar category of housing by more than 50%. Further - more, in accordance with the Agricultural Land Act, lease terms of state- or municipality-owned
Tax There are no material differences in tax benefits or costs for the two types of entities set up to invest in real estate. For details on the taxes, see 2.10 Taxes Applicable to a Transaction . 5.3 REITs REITs are not directly present in Slovenia, but there are other investment entities present in the market. Real estate funds and real estate companies are on the rise, but most of them are privately owned and are not open-type funds available to the general public. 5.4 Minimum Capital Requirement A limited liability company is required to have capital that amounts to at least EUR7,500, whereas a public limited company is required to have minimum share capital in the amount of EUR25,000. 5.5 Applicable Governance Requirements No specific governance requirements apply to investment in real estate as such, save that each company must be registered for any activity it pursues. The general requirement to act with the diligence of a prudent businessperson must be complied with. 5.6 Annual Entity Maintenance and Accounting Compliance Annual entity maintenance and accounting com - pliance costs depend predominately on the type of entity as well as the real estate investments themselves, and therefore cannot be estimated at a general level.
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