Limitations to Foreigners
1. Are there in your national system any limitations to foreigner citizens or foreign companies/companies controlled by foreign citizens regarding the acquisition of immovable properties? If yes:
1.1. Which legal regulations regulate in your country the prohibitions or limitations for foreigners’ acquisitions in case of transfer of property? Please specify the legal regulation and/or the range of the regulation that contains the prohibition.
a) THE CONSTITUTION OF ROMANIA, respectively art. 44 para. (2), second sentence, according to which ”Foreign citizens and stateless persons may acquire private ownership of land only under the conditions resulting from Romania’s accession to the European Union and other international treaties to which Romania is a party, on the basis of reciprocity, under the conditions laid down by organic law, as well as by legal inheritance”.
b) Law No 312/2005 on the acquisition of private ownership of land by foreign citizens and stateless persons, as well as by foreign legal entities;
– according to art. 3 of this act ”The citizen of a member state, the stateless person domiciled in a member state or in Romania, as well as the legal person established in accordance with the legislation of a member state, can acquire the right of ownership of land under the same conditions as those provided by law for Romanian citizens and for Romanian legal entities”.
Member State means any member state of the European Union or the European Economic Area;
– and in art. 6. the same law regulates the acquisition of land ownership by foreign citizens, stateless persons and legal entities belonging to third countries (any other than the member states of the European Union or the European Economic Area), as follows:
(1) The foreign citizen, the stateless person and the legal person belonging to the third countries can acquire the right of ownership over the lands, under the conditions regulated by international treaties, on the basis of reciprocity.
(2) The foreign citizen, the stateless person and the legal person belonging to the third countries cannot acquire the right of ownership of the lands under more favorable conditions than those applicable to the citizen of a member state and the legal person established in accordance with the legislation of a member state”.
1.2. What do these limitations consist of?
Citizens of states which are not members of the EU or EEA, stateless persons and legal entities from these states may not acquire ownership of land unless international treaties have been concluded between Romania and the respective state, under the conditions regulated by that treaty.
1.3. Do these limitations apply to any foreign citizen, regardless their nationality, or only to non-EU Members national citizens?
These limitations apply only to foreign nationals, stateless persons and legal persons of non-EU or non-EEA Member States.
1.4. Do these limitations have?
- A defensive/protective purpose
- An economic purpose
- «Both economic and defensive/protective purposes»
- Other purposes (please specify)
2. To which kind of land registry unit do these limitations apply? (Example: only land plots, only rural areas, only foreign borders, dwellings and homes, other buildings?
These limitations apply only to land plots.
3. To which kind of transfers or burdens do these limitations apply? (Example: to every transfer, non-free transfers, differently in case of inheritance than in case of purchase, mortgages in favor of foreigners….)
These limitations apply to any transfer of ownership of land, except for the acquisition of ownership of land by foreign nationals and stateless persons through legal inheritance.
4. Apart from the previous limitation to acquisition of property by foreigners, are there any other measures at your country relevant for this topic? (Example: pre-emption rights in case of purchase un favor of a foreigner, social or residential measures bases on nationality and non in residential permits….)
Yes, in case of transferring by sale of agricultural land located in extravilan. The limitations are applicable to citizens of EU, EEA member states and Swiss Confederation. In case of citizens belonging to third countries, the rule stated at point 1.a. is also applicable for this type of operations.
5. To what extent the land registrars’ controls in a deed of transfer the prohibitions imposed to foreigners to acquire land and buildings in your country?
The legal acts that transfer or constitute real rights to be registered in the land book are concluded through an authentic document and are drawn up only by public notaries.
In order to authenticate legal documents constituting or transferring real estate rights, the public notary is obliged to verify the legal situation of the immovable property, the encumbrance on the property and, as the case may be, the matrimonial regime of the parties, as well as the supporting documents, authorizations and information necessary for the authentication of the act.
Land registrars only check that the registration is completed in accordance with the formal conditions laid down by law.
5.1. Do you only check if the transfer administrative authorization requirement is met, or do you also confirm that the authorization is valid? For example, do you consider property type, like rural or forestry classification, which might limit foreign transfers? Or do you verify the percentage of foreign land ownership in a specific area, especially if there are restrictions on the number of buyers or land size?
Citizens of non EU or EEA member states, stateless persons and legal entities from these states cannot acquire ownership rights over land unless international treaties have been concluded between Romania and that state, under the conditions regulated by that treaty.
In Romania, the transfer of property rights over real estate is done through authentic documents, and in order to authenticate a document, the public notary verifies and establishes the identity of the parties beforehand. The public notary must ask the parties, whenever necessary, for the supporting documents and authorizations necessary to conclude the act.
5.2. What would happen if an authorization were needed, and it does not come with the title submitted for registration?
If the registrar finds that the documents submitted in support of the application for registration in the land book, as well as the application, do not meet the formal conditions required by law for their validity, the application shall be rejected through a reasoned conclusion.
5.3. What would happen in case a deed of inheritance in favor of a foreigner transfers property over land or buildings subject to limitations for foreigners’ acquisitions in your country?
The Constitution of Romania and the relevant legal regulation provide that foreign citizens and stateless persons can acquire the right of private ownership over the land only under the conditions resulting from Romania’s accession to the European Union and from other international treaties to which Romania is a party of, on the basis of reciprocity, under the conditions provided by law, as well as by legal inheritance. They would not be able to acquire land ownership through testamentary inheritance.
Thus, on the basis of the certificate of legal heirship that meets all the validity conditions required by law, the right of ownership can be registered in favor of the heir – a foreign citizen.
5.4. If the states have preemption right in case of transfer, would you reject the registration if no notification to the state to enhanced it right is done?
Yes, if the law would regulate a right of preemption in favour of a state and would sanction the lack of proof regarding the notification of the respective state regarding the exercise of the right of preemption.
In the case of the transfer by sale of agricultural land located in the countryside, the procedure for exercising the right of preemption is carried out before the conclusion of the notarial deed of sale and is provided for by law.
The registrar rejects the application for registration in the land book if he finds that the documents submitted to justify it, as well as the application, do not meet the formal conditions required by law for their validity.
6. Do you expect any legal modifications on this issue?
We are not aware of any intention to change the legal regulations in the field.
