In my many years of working with both property sellers and buyers, I unfortunately still encounter people who believe that “clear and proper papers” simply mean documents that are not dirty, stained, scribbled on, or crumpled.
Yes — exactly that.
Of course, there are also those who understand everything, and working with them is easy. As real estate agents, we come across all kinds of situations. That is precisely why it is important to talk about these topics and to educate everyone who is planning to sell or buy property — especially in Croatia.
In particular, when a property involves legal or technical issues that are not easy to understand, I always recommend engaging a licensed real estate agency or a lawyer specialising in property law in Croatia.
Information about property often consists of dry facts that are not especially interesting to the general public. Most people only start paying attention to such information when the time comes to sell or purchase a property.
Through the story of a house seller with incomplete documentation, I will address a very common issue that real estate agents in Croatia face almost daily: “clear papers” — meaning property ownership and the legal status of the building itself.
PROPERTY OWNERSHIP
A video on this topic (with English titles) is available here:
WHICH DOCUMENT PROVES PROPERTY OWNERSHIP IN CROATIA?
The first and most important requirement when selling property is proof of ownership. In Croatia, this is proven by an extract from the Land Registry (often referred to as a Title Deed). You may also hear the terms ownership certificate (vlasnički list) or land registry extract (gruntovni izvadak) used for the same document.
Let me illustrate the most common misunderstanding with a real-life example.
A seller — let’s call him Jure — comes into our office wanting to sell his property. He is quite confident and believes that all he needs to sell his property, is the ownership certificate (vlasnički list). He walks in waving with the document and proudly says:
“I’m selling a house! Everything is clear! One-to-one!”
As agents, we immediately treat such statements with caution. There are dozens of reasons why ownership must always be verified online through the official land registry system.
Ownership does not have to be 1/1 to be valid for sale. A property may be owned in shares — for example 1/5. If all five owners agree to the sale, everything can still be perfectly fine. Therefore, 1/1 ownership alone does not automatically mean that everything is in order.
There are many possible variations of what an ownership certificate may contain, but that is a topic for another blog post.
LEGAL STATUS OF THE BUILDING
A video on this topic with English titles, is available here:
WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR A PROPERTY TO BE LEGAL IN CROATIA?
Once we establish that ownership is clear and that there are no obstacles to selling the property, we ask our seller Jure about the second crucial issue: the legal status of the building.
We ask whether the house has a valid building permit and occupancy permit, or whether it has ever gone through a legalisation process — as required by Croatian law.
This is where the problems usually begin.
Jure confidently tells us that he would never have bought the property himself ten years earlier if everything had not been “perfectly in order.” We respond politely and ask him to provide documents proving this.
He does not have them, but insists that everything is fine.
While ownership can be checked online, building and occupancy permits cannot. These documents must be physically reviewed. We explain, in addition to ownership, that the legal status of the building is equally important and that this is proven by the building permit and the use/occupancy permit.
Jure then tells us that the ownership certificate is “clean” and that it states there are no encumbrances — which, in his view, means everything must be legal.
In a perfect world, that might be true. Unfortunately, in reality — and especially in Croatia — this is not enough.
Court officials who enter data into the land registry do not inspect the property on site. They rely on information received from the cadastral records and assume that construction was carried out according to the issued building permit.
At this point, Jure pauses and recalls that he may have some additional documents at home. He promises to look for them.
We again explain — as kindly as possible — that the legal status of the building is extremely important. We are also responsible towards potential buyers, who must be informed if a property lacks essential documentation or if parts of it were built illegally.
Moreover, from a buyer’s perspective, any property with fully compliant documentation — both ownership and building legality — will always have an advantage over one that does not.
The next day, Jure returns proudly with new documents.
“Here they are — I found both the building permit and the use/occupancy permit!”
We are pleased as well — another property with clear papers… or so it seems.
THE UNEXPECTED PROBLEM
We carefully review the building permit issued in 1980. It allows the construction of a family house with a ground floor and one upper floor.
The use/occupancy permit (issued at that time as a Decision on Use which is fine) also approves the use of a family house consisting of a ground floor and one upper floor.
Everything appears to be in order.
Jure is thrilled:
“I told you I had everything!”
However, based on our experience, we take one final step and open Google Earth. We ask Jure for the property address so we can double-check something.
As the images load on the screen, Jure is impressed by modern technology. We ask him to point out his house.
He proudly indicates a beautiful yellow three-storey house with large terraces and says:
“This is my house. Do you think we could ask half a million euros for it?”
At that moment, the problem becomes obvious.
The building and use permits cover only the ground floor and the first floor — not the additional two upper floors. This means that the use permit is no longer valid, as it applies only to the building as originally approved.
In other words, the upper two floors were built illegally.
From a legal standpoint, we must treat this property as one without clear papers, because the building no longer corresponds to the approved project. The entire property is being sold, and therefore the entire building must be legally compliant.
Jure is surprised and explains that he purchased the house in this condition. Unfortunately, this is not a valid justification — he did not seek professional advice when buying the property.
I will stop the story here, as there is no need to go further.
What I want to emphasise is this: the legal status of a building in Croatia is extremely important. No one wants to pay a large amount of money for a property with 1/1 ownership that is nevertheless illegally constructed.
CONCLUSION
If a property is registered in the land registry in Croatia, this does NOT mean that it is legally built.
Ownership and building legality are two completely separate matters.
Legal construction is proven by a valid building permit and use permit.
The use permit must reflect the current, actual state of the building. Any construction carried out after its issuance without a permit renders the use permit invalid.
Simply put:
👉 Clear ownership does not equal legal construction.
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Author:
Jasminka Fišer Gavranović – Owner of Alfa Nekretnine real estate agency in Vodice, licensed real estate agent and home staging expert
📍 Alfa nekretnine, Obala Juričev Ive Cote 27, Vodice
📞 Tel.: 022 441 292 | Mob.: 091 525 3260
✉️ Email: info@alfanekretnine.hr
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About the Author
Jasminka Fišer Gavranović is a long-standing licensed Croatian real estate agent with many years of professional experience. Born in Slavonia and raised in Zagreb, she spent a short period living in London before eventually settling with her family in Dalmatia, in the beautiful Croatian coastal town of Vodice.
After working in a variety of professions in Zagreb, she found her true calling in the real estate sector in Vodice — a field she genuinely enjoys and now runs together with her husband, Frano.
Since 2005, she has been actively involved in real estate brokerage, specializing in property sales and purchases in Vodice area. Together with her team at Alfa Nekretnine, she has initiated and managed a number of distinctive projects that have set the agency apart on the local market. One of her achievements was participating, in 2011, as one of the few real estate professionals in Croatia, in the popular American half-hour TV show “House Hunters International.” In the episode, she hosted her Australian client and guided them through the property-buying process in Vodice, showcasing the town to viewers around the world. This proved to be excellent promotion not only for her agency, but also for the destination of Vodice itself.
Through many years of hands-on work in real estate, she has seen every kind of apartment and house imaginable. In 2018, she decided to take a step further and enter the world of home staging. She completed her professional training in English in 2014, earning the title “Certified Home Staging and Property Styling Professional,” followed by the “Home Staging Business Training Program.” With this, she rounded out all the knowledge she considered essential to pursue this new and dynamic field, becoming a leading home staging expert in Croatia.
In addition to her active presence on social media and delivering educational presentations on home staging, her other professional interests include writing, public speaking, and communication skills.