Specific registrations

REGISTRATION OF SALES

When speaking of the registration of the ownership right on the basis of a purchase agreement, then the purchase agreement must be executed in writing and the seller’s signature or rather the signature loosing a certain right, must be certified. The signature of the seller is certified by a public notary. The number of public notaries in Croatia is the numerus clausus and is determined by the minister of justice.

Based on a purchase agreement containing a seller’s signature that has not been authenticated, the court can allow only a pre-registration so the acquirer is, in this case, obliged to justify the pre-registration within a certain period of time by submitting a contract containing an authenticated signature of the seller or a court decision replacing such authentication. The deed serving as the basis for the registration must be submitted to the court an original copy or as a document certified by a public notary.

When registering in the land registers, a deed is indicated that serves as the basis for registration, date of compiling such deed and the person for whose benefit the registration is allowed but, apart from the name and surname of the owner, contains also his/her address and personal identification number (the number assigned by the Tax Authorities).

REGISTRATION OF MORTGAGES

The lien as a real right, and even the mortgage as a lien over a real property, have been regulated in the Republic of Croatia by the Law on Ownership and Other Real Property Rights while the registration of a mortgage in the land registers is regulated by the Land Registration Act.

Based on a legal transaction – contract on setting up a mortgage, the mortgage is acquired after its registration in the land registers. However, there are cases when the lien in question is the legally binding lien or a court lien whereby the lien is acquired when the conditions stipulated by law are met i.e. on the effectiveness date of the court decision, whereby the registration of a mortgage in the land registers has only the declaratory and not the constitutive significance.

In Croatia, the mortgages are registered on the basis of certified documents issued by a public notary or on the basis of a court decision allowing the acquisition of a court lien (also called: forceful lien). A mortgage agreement is always of accessory nature because it accompanies some other main contract such as a credit or loan agreement so it is possible that the mortgage agreement is prepared by a bank. However, even such contract must be notarized and, if the contract is to contain also the enforcement clause, then it is necessary for a public notary to compile a public notary document or to notarize such a deed.

When registering a mortgage, the deed serving as the basis for such a registration is recorded in the land registers, along with the precisely determined amount of money that may be determined also in accordance with the rules on the currency or index clause, interest rate; if annuity has been agreed on, then this is also recorded; deadline to repay a loan, enforcement clause (enforcement agreement).

In the Croatian legal system, we differentiate the voluntary lien (voluntary mortgages), legal lien (legal mortgages) and the court lien (forceful mortgages). The most frequent ones are voluntary mortgages contracted when taking a credit or a loan.

The parties to any contract, even the loan or a mortgage agreement, can subsequently agree on amending the contractual provisions. In such a case, in order for the amendment to be recorded in the land registers, it is necessary to repeat the entire procedure in front of a public notary and afterwards modify the registration performed. What cannot be modified is if several mortgages are recorded on the same property, the amount of the first mortgage cannot be modify as to increase it because this would be to the detriment of the following, recorded creditor.

REGISTRATION OF JUDICIARY CHARGES

A temporary measure of prohibiting the alienation of the charges over a real property can be registered by a court decision. Based on the court decision, a notification of enforcement or bankruptcy is registered and such registration result in the owner no longer being able to dispose with his/her real property. Temporary measures can be passed either in litigation or in enforcement procedures or in the bankruptcy procedure but it happens increasingly often that the temporary measures are passed by court in criminal procedures, especially in cases of organized crime.

Temporary measures, real property seizure, bankruptcy are recorded by a notification because it concerns a legal fact of relevance for the legal transactions so if a notification on seizure is e.g. recorded on a real property, then it is considered that everyone is aware that the owner can no longer independently sell the property or charge it with a new loan.

The creditors must rely on the courts in case when the debtor fails to pay the due amount because there is no way other than seizure to get the due amount repaid. However, it is a fact that the court procedures last too long and that the State still needs to act in this segment in order to accelerate the procedures.