Living in Romania

looking for a place in the country side outside a large city.
cw

I will suget you Sibiu .

Hello cw,

First question is about your nationality. If you are American and don't have any kind of EU passport, then you can't yet own land in Romania. Of course, you can get around this by setting up a Romanian company and owning the land through the company, but this obviously means some extra set up costs and yearly expenses (even if the company is dormant).

Dan suggested Sibiu, which is a very good idea. There are some very quiet villages around Sibiu, which is itself a beautiful city with plenty of facilities. You can find a village house in that area from 20'000 Euro (for something small and in need of moderizing) up to about 60K for something smallish, but renovated.

An alternative would be Brasov, annother large city. Access to Bucharest is probably a bit easier, but that also means there are a lot more holiday home in the area so prices are a little higher. It's also close to the Prahova Valley, which is inundated with guesthouses, ski cabins, holiday homes, and so on, and is now pretty expensive (by Romanian standards).

If you are more adventurous you could head north to the Maramures region, which is beautiful, but more isolated. Or there is Cluj, which has an international airport and is a pretty big town meaning you've got everything you need there if you were to buy a place in one of the outlying villages.

@maykal

Your suggestion that non-EU citizens cannot own land in Romania is not completely true.

According to Law 312/2005 art 4 , any EU citizen can own land (excluding agricultural/forests) five years after Romania has entered the European Union. In fact, this is NOT even true, as EU citizens could own land in Romania since 2007 if they would have a simple "Registration Certificate" ("certificat de inregistrare"). So many EU citizens personally own land just due to this document (and the interpretation of art 4 as such)

But since 01.01.2012 the need for this Registration Certificate for EU citizens is not any more needed to own land, as any EU citizen can own land on his/her personal name (excluding agricultural land, which has its conditions)

The issue with non-EU citizens is that if you interprete art 6, there are foreign (non EU) citizens who could own land on their personal name depending if there is an excisting treaty on the matter (between Romania and the country of the non-EU foreign citizen).

Of course, if one is a non-EU citizen, and wants to buy the land as well (garden/parking space), then you probably dont want to figure out if there is such a treaty and deal with such paperwork and interpretation. But the worst solution that one can choose as a non-EU citizen, is to start up a micro-company for the sake of owning the land.

The best way to do it, is to find a Romanian friend/family member who will hold the title over the land, but at the same time the non-EU foreign citizen will register a "usaga/surface" right in the landbook. You can put this in a simple sales-purchase agreement where the non-EU citizen will have the right to oppose a future sale of the land,as the surface right is registred as such in favour of the non-EU citizen. In such a sales-purchase agreement one can easily invoke/introduce a clauze which would prevent the Romanian person to financially benefit from any future sale of the land.

In this way the Romanian person who owns the land (garden/parking space) cannot sell it without permission from the non-EU citizen. This solution is much simpler, saver and WAY cheaper than to start up a micro-company for the sake of owning the land.

Hi Mark,

Re EU-citizens; that's what I've been saying all along and it's how I've personally always interpreted that law. There are some notars who won't accept the certificat de inregistrare as proof of being resident in Romania but it's only a matter of time before you find a notar who'll interpret it your way. The law actually states that 'EU citizen who are not resident in Romania may not buy land until 2012' which some notars interpret as meaning that EU citizens who ARE resident CAN buy land. Other notars claim that the law doesn't state that EU citizens can buy land, so it's not legal. That's the Romanian legal system for you...

As for non-EU citizens owning land, in the example you give (getting a Romanian to buy it), the non-EU partner doesn't actually own the land. I've lost count of the people I've met who have gone down this route only to get screwed over in the courts a few years down the line when everything have gone pear-shaped. I know of one poor chap who lost 3 out of the 4 properties he had bought this way! I'd have to REALLY trust someone to go about it this way. But each to their own.

The company route is a little costly (setting up a company is actually quite quick and cheap - takes about a week, costs a few hundred Euro) and there are some taxes to pay and probably a small retainer for an accountant, but at least it's all in your name (via the company).

By the way, have you been to the APS for permanent residency in the last month or two?