Job Discussion Forums

[Mike_2003]

Hi Spiral78,

You can buy property in Romania. In theory you can not buy the land, unless you own a company, but you can buy flats. If you do want to buy a piece of land, but don't want to open a company, you can have a 'secret' contract, which means you have to find a trustworthy Romanian partner/laywer (that's the hard part) who'll buy the property in his/her name but have a 'secret' contract with you. This is completely legal.

When buying a flat (without land) you need to contact the 'notar' who'll pick up about 3% of the sale fee. The buyer is responsible for all fees. Aside from the notar's fee, there are a few ownership registration fees and taxes, but they don't amount to much. Really, the only major problem is finding a good lawyer to deal with all the red tape for you efficiently and honestly. I don't think it matters whether you are EU or not, but I presume things will eventually get easier for EU citizens once Romania joins the EU (and consequently prices will raise further so it's probably worth getting in this year and putting up with the red tape).

I visited Croatia (the Yugoslavia obviously) about 20 years ago. Lovely place. I'd love to go back and see how it's changed.

All the best,
Mike

[mick_luna]

Thanks Mike
I guess Bucharest is well out of my league. I'm thinking maybe Ukraine or Bulgaria, possibly a smaller town, might be more in my ballpark (25,000 CAD). Anybody know anything about that? Is forming a company always necessary, and is that tricky?