A request for the legalization of an illegally constructed real estate in Montenegro should be submitted to the competent local authority. The package of documents for legalization is submitted to the competent local authority - the municipality in whose territory the facility is located.
The deadline for filing a legalization request is exceptional and applies to all illegally constructed facilities. This means that objects for which the application has not been submitted before the deadline cannot be legalized.
A prerequisite for submitting a request for legalization is the presence of an object in the real estate cadastre (katastru nepokretnosti). Registration of a building in the Real Estate Cadastre is carried out on the basis of the owner’s application, after examination of the object (elaborat), which is carried out by a licensed geodesic organization, in accordance with «The Law on State Land and Real Estate Cadastre» (Zakon o državnom premjeru i kadastru).
The results of the study (elaborat), together with the application for legalization and an extract from the Real Estate Cadastre confirming the registration of the property (list nepokretnosti), must be submitted to the competent local authority.
The list of licensed surveying organizations in Montenegro is located on the Montenegro Property Management website - Uprava za nekretnine.
To legalize a property in Montenegro, it must be built:
- in accordance with the existing development plans (detailed urbanization plan - DUP), which were in force until the Law on Territorial Planning and Construction of the Facilities came into force (Zakon o planiranju prostora i izgradnji objekata, October 14, 2017);
- plans approved before the adoption of the General Plan for the Spatial Planning of Montenegro, which must be adopted within three years from the date of entry into force of «The Law on Territorial Planning and Construction of Facilitie»;
- in accordance with the General Plan for the Spatial Planning of Montenegro.
This means that at the first stage, the legalization procedure will focus on objects that are built in accordance with the norms of valid planning documents, and for objects that are not included in existing plans, the procedure is postponed until the General Plan of territorial planning is adopted.
If the object is built on state land, after filing an application for legalization, the request for the purchase of the land on which the illegal building was built is transferred to the body responsible for the disposal of these lands. It can be a government body - the ministry of finance or a local government body (municipality). In this case, the legalization procedure is terminated before the settlement of property (land) legal relations.
The procedure for the purchase of land is carried out in accordance with the Law on State Property (Zakon o državnoj imovini neposrednom pogodbom). After the settlement of land relations, the legalization process continues.
Procedure and Documentation
If the application for legalization is submitted to an object that was built in accordance with the current development plan and the legal relations of land ownership have been settled, the competent authority obliges the applicant to submit the following documents within 120 days:
- a decision or agreement on the settlement of relations for compensation for utilities and land allotment and, if the payment is implemented, then the corresponding confirmation (receipt) of payment of the fee;
- a decision or agreement on the settlement of relations for compensation for the construction of a regional water supply system on the territory of the municipality of the Montenegrin coast, in accordance with the Law governing the financing of regional water supply of the Montenegrin coast, and if the fee is paid, then an appropriate confirmation (receipt) of payment of the fee;
- confirmation (receipt) of payment of the legalization fee;
- Three copies of the architectural design for objects with an area of more than 200 m2, performed by an organization that has a license for the production of technical documentation and construction of objects;
- report on the positive condition of the object, built without permission for objects with an area of more than 200 m2;
- statement of the owner that the building was built in accordance with the revised architectural design of the object, built without permission for objects with an area of more than 200 m2;
- analysis carried out by a licensed company in accordance with the rules approved by the ministry, confirming the seismic stability and safety of an object built without permission for objects up to 500 m2;
- analysis carried out by a licensed company in accordance with the Law governing the construction of facilities, confirming the seismic stability and safety of the facility built without permission for facilities with an area of more than 500 m2.
The method for checking the static and seismic safety of buildings is determined depending on the area of the object. For objects with an area of up to 500 m2, the analysis is carried out on the basis of rules approved by the Ministry, for objects with an area of more than 500 m2 - in accordance with the Law on Construction, which involves X-ray scanning of the object, study of the foundation, etc.
If the illegally constructed object is the main dwelling of the applicant, then instead of checking the seismic stability, the owner of the object can provide a notarized statement that he is liable for damage caused to third parties caused by the use of the object. This fact, according to the law, will be entered in the real estate register (list nepokretnosti) in order to inform third parties about the owner’s responsibility in case of problems with this property.
An illegally constructed main dwelling is considered an object with an area of less than 200 m2, in which the owner of the building, his family members and who do not have other residential real estate in Montenegro, live.
The cost of developing technical documentation is borne by the owners of illegal buildings.
Legalization decision
Based on all the submitting submitted, a decision is made on legalization, which will be recorded in the Real Estate Cadastre. The decision on legalization necessarily contains prescriptions for bringing the object in accordance with the development plans or the instructions of the chief architect of the city, if there is no such plan.
In accordance with the prescription, the owner of the object must, within three years from the date of the decision on legalization, agree on the appearance of the illegal structure with the requirements of development plans, the instructions of the chief architect of the city and bring the object into proper condition.
After all the instructions are fulfilled, the object is removed from the list “G” of the Real Estate Cadastre (objects built without permission) and the owner is issued a certificate of ownership without encumbrance.
Planning documents and orthophotos
An important provision of the Law on Territorial Planning and Construction of Objects is the fact that only objects included in the territory development plan can be legalized. Objects that are absent in the development plan cannot be legalized.
The law on the legalization of real estate in Montenegro cannot be applied to facilities located: near roads, railways, airports, electric power facilities, in landslides, national parks, at a distance of less than 400 m from military facilities used to house explosives and ammunition, in places where the construction of infrastructure and public facilities is planned, as well as temporary facilities.
For objects that are not in the development plans, the legalization procedure will be terminated before the adoption of the General Plan for the Spatial Planning of Montenegro. If the illegally constructed object does not fall into the General Plan for the Spatial Planning of Montenegro, it will not be legalized.
To date, orthography of a significant part of the territory of Montenegro has already been completed. Orthophotography is also a documentation base for the preparation of the General Plan for the Spatial Planning of Montenegro. Municipalities of the Montenegrin coast, as well as the territory of Podgorica, municipalities of Niksic, Danilovgrad and Cetinje have already been registered. Objects from other areas cannot be legalized yet, because their spelling photographs are absent and, accordingly, they are absent in terms of the development of the territory.
If You have any questions about preparing a package of documents and submitting an application for the legalization of constructed real estate, we are always ready to help You with the preparation and submission of documents in accordance with the current legislation of Montenegro.