DEALING WITH AN UNREGISTERED PROPERTY TITLE IN CROATIA

Regardless of whether we would like to buy/sell such a property, transfer the legal title to another individual, or just resolve an unregistered property title issue for our children, in the most such cases it shall be initiated:

• property ownership dispute – a dispute in which the real property rights shall be acquired from persons registered in the Land Register, or their heirs/legal successors. For the purposes of initiating a dispute, it would be necessary to obtain the data on the registered owners or their heirs. Otherwise, there is a possibility of initiating;
• individual correction procedure – a procedure in which entries are corrected, e.g. in the case of long-term neglect of the land register when a tabular document that would meet the preconditions for entry through the regular land registry procedure could not be obtained.

It is further clarified that in this procedure the persons registered in the land register or their heirs/legal successors (who are unknown to us) shall not be parties in this procedure, and the registration of property title shall be requested based on a document (possessory sheets, decision on inheritance, purchase contract which is not certified by a notary public, etc.) that proves who is the current legal title owner and because of this reason certain land registry entries shall be harmonized with the actual property status.

In addition to the above-mentioned basic division of proceedings for dealing with an unregistered property title, it is important to point out that also some other procedures may be initiated such as proceedings to determine the right of ownership over a separate part of property which may be later subdivided; request to settle the dispute amicably which is necessary to file when a person intends to file a lawsuit against the Republic of Croatia; while in the case of initiating the cancellation claim the holder of a registrable right which has been infringed by the entry in favor of another person is authorised to request the cancellation of all entries that infringe his rights and the establishment of the former land registry status.

Which procedure shall be initiated in order to deal with an unregistered property title in Croatia depends on the circumstances of each case. A lawyer could help you to get a clear picture of your rights and legal options.

Author: Silvija Žužić | Lawyer Croatia | Law office Rijeka, Krk