LPA Law Firm Albania Firm Profile Below is a detailed summary of the steps, time and cost involved in registering property in Albania. Seller obtains ownership title certificate Seller and Buyer appear before the notary public to draft and sign the contract for the transfer of property. At this time, the Seller provides the notary public with a document that certifies the Seller's ownership. Notary public, in turn, must verify the ownership of the Seller through the real estate electronic database (ALBSReP administered by the Immovable Properties Registration Office) before permitting the parties to sign the transfer of property contract. Once the ownership of Seller is confirmed, the parties may proceed to sign the transfer of property contract, which must note that the notary public has verified the legal status of the property to be transferred, and must attach the results of such verification. It reflects on any liens, mortgages, leases or other encumbrances registered over the property. The Property Records are accompanied by the Property Map. Pursuant to VKM Nr. 375, dated 06.06.2012, ALBSReP (electronic real estate database managed by the Immovable Properties Registration Office) is accessible by the notaries public, who have the right to review and print the electronic version of the information of the documents that reveal the legal status of the real estate, after having obtained the consent of the interested parties, as defined in Article 54 of Law Nr. 7829, dated 01.06.1994 “On Notary” . The law no.10 491, dated 15.12.2011 "“On some changes and amendments of the law no.7829, dated 01.06.1994 “On the Notary” introduced new fees and procedure requirements. Buyer
verifies
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The application shall be made at electronic register on immovable properties. At the moment of application the applicant shall obtain a user name and a password, in order to follow up online the status of application. As per the requirements of Law 33/2012 However there is also the possibility that the Notary shall obtain such certificate on Buyer's behalf. Real Estate Electronic Database, administered by the Immovable Properties Registration Office Comparison of property map with the real condition and position of the land While this procedure is not mandatory by law, it is done in practice by the buyer to avoid any dispute with third parties caused by borders misfit and/or land surface. Verification is performed by a private authorized expert (topographer). The cost can be agreed upon by the buyer and seller upon which party will cover this expense.
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The law does not regulate the topographer fees and it is estimated between 15000 ALL - 20 000 ALL. Agency: Private authorized expert (topographer) Notarization of a sale and purchase contract by the notary public Order Nr. 279, dated 14.6.2012, "For the approval of tariffs for notary services", repealed Minister of Justice's Decree Nr. 96/1, dated 23.1.2001, and went into effect on 20.6.2012. In order to execute the sale-purchase contract the seller submits to the notary public: (1) Ownership Certificate or the Ownership Attestation; (2) The updated Property Records, issued not later than 72 hrs before the contract signature; (3) Property Map Payment of taxes (local and income tax) at a second-tier bank Under the law no.9632, dated 30.10 2006 "On local taxes", as amended, in case of transfer of ownership over a commercial area located in Tirana is applicable a tax rate of 2000ALL per square meter. Whereas the tax rate for transfer of the ownership over the land is 2% of the sale price. Additionally under the law no. 8438 of December 28, 1998 “On Income Tax” as amended, the income tax at 10% rate is applied on taxable profit (gross income minus deductible expenses). There is no specific income tax on sale of immovable property. Capital gains from the sale of a company's fixed assets, such as the case of sale of immovable property, are taxed as part of the company's ordinary business income, thus the above 10%. Registration at the Real Estate Registry Office Pursuant to the new law, Law Nr. 10491, Date 01.03.2012, the notary public registers the transferred property at the Immovable Properties Registration Office. The buyer files the original copy of the contract signed by both parties, accompanied by the (1) Original copy of the Ownership Certificate or the Ownership Attestation; (2) The updated Property Records issued no later than 72 hours before the contract is signed; (3) Property Map, and; (4) The receipt of the payment of the fee for transferring the ownership title.
2 | LPA Law Firm Albania - www.lpalbania.com - info@lpalbania.com - Rruga Bogdaneve St. ‘EuroCol’ Building 5th Floor Tirana, Albania. Office: +355 4 4519241 Office: +355 4 4805499
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Renan Berati Renan is a senior associate at LPA Law Firm Albania in Tirana, Albania. He specializes in advising international and Albanian clients on corporate and commercial law. He has extensive experience of supporting M&A deals, intragroup restructuring and joint venture deals. Renan also possesses solid expertise in international commercial contracts. Copyright LPA Law Firm Albania More information about LPA Law Firm Albania Disclaimer: While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this publication, it is not intended to provide legal advice as individual situations will differ and should be discussed with an expert and/or lawyer. For specific technical or legal advice on the information provided and related topics, please contact the author.
LPA Law Firm Albania Firm Profile LPA is a Full service law firm that serves domestic and international clients in almost all fields of business law. LPA Law Firm is an Albanian law firm, situated in the capital Tirana. Today, the firm is considered to be one of the most reliable Albanian law firms in the fields of business, commercial real estate and corporate law. As a modern and dynamic law firm, we are ready to do things a bit differently for the benefit of our clients. We like to stretch ourselves a bit further for the sake of a good result. Our size as well as the combination of people and legal areas means that as a client with LPA Law Firm you can expect a tailored team, providing you with know-how, innovative thinking and a solution to any legal issue. We are honored to have been chosen by clients from a wide variety of industries and countries. Our clients include local and multinational enterprises, and governmental and international organizations, as well as private individuals. The wide-ranging nature of our client base, in terms of nationality, industry sector and the type of transaction on which our assistance has been sought, has enabled us to build up unrivalled expertise in a substantial number of specialist practice areas and provide tailored solutions for each of our clients.
3 | LPA Law Firm Albania - www.lpalbania.com - info@lpalbania.com - Rruga Bogdaneve St. ‘EuroCol’ Building 5th FloorTirana, Albania. Office: +355 4 4519241 Office: +355 4 4805499
Areas of Practice: Commercial Real Estate Banking Litigation Corporate Competition Construction Distribution & Trade Employment Energy & Utilities Environmental Financial Services & Regulation Infrastructure & Regulatory Insurance Intellectual
Debt Collection Dispute Resolution Investment Incentives Mergers & Acquisitions Pharmaceuticals & Life Sciences Private Equity Privatization Project Finance & PPP Out-of-court debt recovery Public Procurement Restructuring & Insolvency Tax & Customs Telecommunications Property Investment Funds
We leverage our experience on the Albanian market to anticipate difficulties, mitigate risks and where necessary come up with creative legal solutions. Our goal is to facilitate the attainment of the business objectives of our clients within the scope of a specific transaction. To work on specific transactions, we form teams of lawyers with due account of project requirements. LPA knows that nowadays advising professionally means not only possessing excellent legal knowledge and speaking clients’ language, but also understanding the business environment in which clients operate. Therefore, most of the firm’s lawyers, apart from their solid legal background and good command of foreign languages have specialized and earned additional training and education in the areas of information and communication technologies, economics, finance and management. Our goal is to have LPA become our clients' preferred partner in Albania, being chosen for our quality and our international standard legal service supported by a top client business-oriented service.
LPA LAW FIRM ALBANIA TIRANA OFFICE CONTACT: Oltjan Hoxholli (Partner) Gentjan Mucaj (Partner) Renan Berati (Senior Associate) Enuar Merko (Associate) -
email: ohoxholli@lpalbania.com email: gmucaj@lpalbania.com email: rberati@lpalbania.com email: emerko@lpalbania.com
4 | LPA Law Firm Albania - www.lpalbania.com - info@lpalbania.com - Rruga Bogdaneve St. ‘EuroCol’ Building 5th Floor Tirana, Albania. Office: +355 4 4519241 Office: +355 4 4805499
Renata Abeti – Office Manager-
email: info@lpalbania.com
info@lpalbania.com www.lpalbania.com LPA LAW FIRM ALBANIA Ltd Rruga Bogdaneve St. ‘EuroCol’ Building 5th Floor Tirana, Albania. Office: + 355 4 45 19 241 Office: + 355 4 48 05 499 Mobile: + 355 67 2018747
LPA Law Firm Albania Ltd is proud to have been awarded “Recognized Firm” by the most prestigious International Financial Law Review “IFLR”.
5 | LPA Law Firm Albania - www.lpalbania.com - info@lpalbania.com - Rruga Bogdaneve St. ‘EuroCol’ Building 5th FloorTirana, Albania. Office: +355 4 4519241 Office: +355 4 4805499