[BUYING AND SELLING REAL ESTATE IN ROMANIA]
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consideration of the fact that property right is guaranteed under the Romanian Constitution. Nevertheless, according to the Land Book Law, if no deficiency arises from the analysis of the relevant Land Book, a third party may no longer be deregistered after three years from the moment the last owner was registered in the Land Book. This provision is applicable only if the third party is at least the third owner registered for that particular Land Book – i.e., if the Land Book is newly opened, this should not apply, and the third party may be deregistered at any time. Consequently, in practice, as the safeguarding of concluded transactions is preferred, it becomes more difficult to amend the content of the Land Book, and implicitly, to challenge the ownership title once the aforementioned conditions are met. The seller should disclose any relevant hidden defects in the property itself or in the property rights. If the buyer intends to build on the land, verifications should be made in order to assess the existence of restrictions on building in that area (general, zonal, and detailed urbanism plans). Note that a permit is, in most cases, needed for building, as well as for demolition. Moreover, should building be envisaged on the acquired land, the buyer must take into account that, in order to obtain a building permit, several authorizations such as an urbanism certificate, environmental clearance, or ISU approval certificate must be obtained from the relevant Romanian authorities. In addition, according to Law no. 102/2023 on amending Law no. 50/1991 and Law no. 350/2001, the holder of the building permit must fulfil several publicity formalities, including, but not limited to the notification of the building permit in the Land Book and publishing the title of the investment objective and the number and
date of the building permit in a widely circulated newspaper. Furthermore, if the acquired land is agricultural, its type may be changed to buildable, in order to be able to actually build on it, by requesting modifications to the regional urbanism plans – if the land is outside city limits. However, in consideration of Law 175/2020, which entered into force on 13 October 2020, this has to be carefully assessed as it might be extremely difficult to amend the regional urbanism plans and to move the land within city limits. In light of the aforementioned, it is strongly recommended to undertake a due diligence investigation prior to proceeding with real estate investments in Romania.
ILN Real Estate Group – Buying and Selling Real Estate Series
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