With the adoption of the new Law on Special Conditions for the Registration and Entry of Rights on Real Estate (Official Gazette RS No. 91/2025), Serbia has opened what may be the final window for legalising buildings constructed without complete or valid permits. Effective from 24 October 2025, this legislative initiative offers a streamlined and time-limited mechanism to register ownership over previously unregistered structures, including many used for commercial or industrial purposes.
The law covers a wide range of real estate, including buildings constructed entirely without permits, those with expired or incomplete documentation, and facilities that never obtained final use permits. Underground and above-ground infrastructure installations also fall within scope. To be eligible, a structure must have physically existed by the date the law came into force. The state will rely primarily on satellite and aerial imagery to verify existence, though technical surveys may be required in certain cases.
Applicants must demonstrate legal or factual interest in the property, and the building must not be located on another person’s private land or within protected areas, such as national parks, heritage sites, or infrastructure corridors. These limitations are firm: where such restrictions apply, the building may be demolished or registered into the cadastre as state-owned property.
Legalisation requests will be submitted electronically through a centralised digital platform. Filing is expected to begin in early December 2025 and will remain open for just 60 days. No general extensions are foreseen, although an additional one-year grace period exists for applicants who can justify late submission due to objective reasons, such as illness or force majeure. For this reason, early preparation is strongly encouraged.
Fees for legalisation have been standardised and, in many cases, reduced compared to previous frameworks. For most properties, the cost ranges from around EUR 100 in rural areas to EUR 1,000 in the most valuable urban zones. Owners of warehouses, agricultural, or industrial buildings up to 500 m² will benefit from a full exemption. Where facilities exceed this size, a fee of EUR 10 per additional square meter applies.
Successful applicants are expected to obtain full ownership rights, recorded in the Real Estate Cadastre. While the legalisation process does not constitute a building-use certification or structural safety approval, it does remove long-standing legal uncertainties, unlock financing and transaction potential, and significantly reduce enforcement risks. Importantly, once registered, the property may be used as collateral and can be further developed in accordance with the zoning regulations.
Those who do not act within the legal timeframe risk losing the opportunity to formalise their rights. Properties for which no application is filed may be assigned to the landowner by default or registered in favour of the Republic of Serbia. The law also signals a firm shift toward enforcement: new illegal construction initiated after 24 October 2025 will not be eligible for legalisation.
This is a critical moment for anyone holding or using property that remains outside the legal framework. Identifying such assets, reviewing supporting documentation, and taking timely steps to comply will ensure that buildings of enduring value can be retained, improved, and leveraged in full accordance with Serbian law.
The information in this document does not constitute legal advice on any particular matter and is provided for general purposes only.
