1. Choosing the property, organizing site visit
After having your prospective property unit chosen on our website or from our portfolio, you can request additional info on the property of your choice and discuss your ideas, expectations and goals with us to choose several additional identical property units for you to visit. Having this done, we could organize a site visit to a short list of selected properties. You shall inform us about the planned dates of your trip to Montenegro and we will meet you at the airport, make a free transfer to your hotel, and plan the viewing program for you.
Usually the viewing could take 1-2 days. We recommend to visit not more than 5 properties per day.
2. Signing the Sales contract and leaving the reservation deposit
When the purchase decision is taken for a particular property, the property Sales contract shall be signed with the property Seller. The signing of all contracts and agreements for property sale and purchase in Montenegro shall be accomplished in presence of Public Notary (Attorney at law). In case either side to the contract (Buyer or Seller) does not speak local language, it is also obligatory to invite an official licensed interpreter. We prepare all the necessary documents needed for the deal and pass them to the Notary in advance, and arrange a meeting with Notary for a certain date and time in order to save your time. Notary has full liability up to the amount of all of his/her personal assets for the legibility of the deal and its compliance with local laws and regulations. Notary approves and certifies the Sales contract and other documents related to the deal. Simultaneously with the signing of the contract, the Buyer passes to the Seller in Notary's presence the reservation deposit in the amount, agreed upon by the Parties. Minimal deposit amount is usually 10% of the property price. Conditions of the Sales contract usually include the clause that if the Buyer pulls out of the purchase deal or significantly breaches the payment schedule under the Contract, he/she loses the deposit amount in full. If on the other hand the Seller pulls out for whatever reason, he/she is obliged to return double amount of deposit. The deposit is recognized as a first installment payment for the property, and proportionally reduces the total property price fixed in the Sale contract.
3. Mode of payment
All settlements under the deal are made through bank transfer. The transfer is made either directly from Buyer's bank account in its country of residence or from Buyer's bank account in Montenegro. For this the Buyer shall open a bank account in Montenegro. The transfer is made based on the Sales agreement certified by the Notary and translated into the language of the Buyer's country of residence. This document shall be presented to the Bank in order to make the funds transfer. Usually the full settlement under the deal is performed within 30 days after the signing of the Sales agreement. However, another settlement terms could be agreed upon by the Parties, which is mandatory written down in Sales contract and certified by the Notary.
4. Applying for property ownership title with Cadastre
After all Buyer's payment obligations under the Sales Contract are settled in full (i.e. 100% of property purchase price is paid by the Buyer), the Seller confirms that he has no further claims towards the Buyer with respect to the property sold by signing a special document called Clausula Intabulandi. Clausula Intabulandi and Sales Contract are the major evidence for launching the procedure of passing the property’s ownership title from the former owner to the new one. This procedure is performed by the Cadastre without presence of the Seller. Under current legislation the standard term for such a procedure is set as 60 days.
5. Payment of Property Turnover Tax
After the registration of the Sales Contract with the Notary, one sample of the above mentioned Contract is sent to Tax Authorities. Based on this document and taking into consideration current market prices, tax inspection performs the tax base evaluation for the payment of the Property Turnover Tax, and issues a Tax payment order of a non-reccurent payment of 3% on the market value of the property purchased.This actions are taken by tax authorities independently from Cadastre. The calculated tax shall be paid not later than 15 days from the reception of the Tax payment order. Otherwise, a fine of 0,03% per each day of delay is imposed.
The Buyer is not subject to Property Turnover Tax (PTT) in case of buying property units on primary market – directly from construction or development company. In this case, the construction company is subject to VAT (Value Added Tax) of 21% which is included into the price of the unit sold, while no PTT is payable by the Buyer.
6. Obtaining the Title of Ownership
As soon as the ownership title registration procedure is finished, both Buyer and Seller, or empowered person possessing the Power of Attorney obtain the Decision for the registration of ownership title for the new owner. Seller, Buyer or the authorized person shall confirm the reception of the Decision by putting their signature at the Cadastre's registry. During 8 days following the issuance of the Decision (time frame for appealing to the Decision), the new owner is entitled to obtain the so-called «List Nepokretnosti» - an exempt from the State Registry of real estate owners on its name.
De-facto the Buyer obtains the ownership title at the moment of obtaining Clausula Intabulandi from the property owner. Officially, the ownership title passes to the new owner after his title of ownership is registered with Cadastre.
