[BUYING AND SELLING REAL ESTATE IN ROMANIA]
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KEY FACTS OF REAL ESTATE ACQUISITIONS UNDER ROMANIAN LAW
I. Types of Real Property Transactions A. Purchase of an undeveloped plot of land (agricultural); B. Purchase of brownfield renewable power generation projects along with land rights for power generation installations, connection, and the collection network; C. Secure land rights (ownership right, superficies right, concession right, use and easement rights) to enable the development and delivery of turnkey renewable power generation greenfield projects; D. Purchase of a buildable plot of land (with or without a building); E. Purchase of a building without the land (with superficies right over the land); F. Purchase of a flat (condominium); G. Purchase of a company having real estate assets. II. Major Content of the Purchase Agreement A. Main elements of the Purchase Agreement The contract must include: the identities of the parties, description of the real estate (address, surface area, buildings, cadastral number and Land Book registry number), purchase price (which must be serious – not derisory, real – not fictitious, and determined or determinable), as well as the main obligations of the parties (i.e., to transfer the property rights and to pay the price). The rest of the contractual provisions are, in principle, freely negotiated between the
parties: conditions precedent, transfer date, risk allocation (with certain legal exceptions), guarantees, payment date, etc. A separate note should be made in respect to purchase agreements for brownfield/greenfield renewable power generation projects, which usually include specific conditions precedent related to project permitting. B. Specific conditions applicable to renewable generation projects Permitting of a renewable project in Romania is split into several streams, sometimes interconnected: (i) civil construction permitting stream (covering also urban planning and environmental aspects), (ii) Sector-specific permitting stream. The relevant authorities have already significant experience with the permitting process from the first generation of renewable projects. Several pieces of legislation regulating land use and building permitting was amended in 2022 to make the permitting process for renewable energy projects easier by reducing land planning formalities and thus, project development time. Thus, under Law No. 254/2022, the Land Fund Law No. 18/1991 was amended to allow, until 31 December 2026, the development of renewable energy projects on agricultural land located outside a built- up area (extravilan). The measure applies to solar, wind, biomass, bioliquid, and biogas power facilities, as well as electricity storage units, transformer stations, and similar infrastructure, on plots of up to fifty hectares.
ILN Real Estate Group – Buying and Selling Real Estate Series
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