Suspicious registrations of foreigners on land and forests: Real estate deeds from Bar indicate possible illegal registrations of property rights

In the Bar cadastre, there are at least dozens of cases of illegal registration of foreigners on agricultural and forest land, said the interlocutor of "Vijesti", who is a long-time employee of the Cadastre Administration and who submitted about 50 copies of real estate deeds showing that foreigners were registered as owners of agricultural and forest land in violation of the Law on Property and Legal Relations.

Article 415 of this law lists the restrictions on property rights for foreign natural persons, according to which, among other things, they cannot be owners of agricultural and forest land, with the exception of an area of ​​up to 5.000 square meters only if the subject of the alienation contract (purchase, gift, exchange, etc.) is a residential building located on that land. An exception is also made for citizens of the European Union who will receive the right of ownership of this land after Montenegro joins the EU, i.e. they cannot legally be its owners now.

The real estate lists submitted to "Vijesti" refer to registrations in the period from 2008 to 2025, and most of them are from the last four years. They show that the subject of registration is agricultural and forest land without residential buildings or that they were registered subsequently, that is, several years after the land was registered to these owners. There are also several cases where foreigners were registered on areas larger than 5.000 square meters, where by law they cannot be registered even if there are residential buildings on those locations.

The property titles list the names of foreign owners, as well as information that the personal documents of foreign countries are most often from Germany, Russia, Poland...

Bar cadastre: Everything is according to the law

"Vijesti" sent the numbers of these real estate certificates to the Real Estate Administration - Bar Regional Unit, which said that they had checked them in detail and that not a single case had been identified in which a foreign citizen was illegally registered as the owner of agricultural or forest land.

"It has been established that in some cases there are properly registered objects on the plots, which is why these real estate properties do not correspond to the description in your letter. Also, upon inspection of the case files, it has been determined that in some cases the acquirers of rights to real estate are citizens of Montenegro and citizens of European Union member states, then in some cases the acquirer of rights is a legal entity, in certain cases it is a matter of completing the property, while in two cases the acquirers of rights are citizens of the Republic of Serbia, where the subject of registration is not agricultural or forest land, but rather land with registered objects. In all cases covered by the check, the registrations were made on the basis of appropriate legal grounds, in accordance with applicable legal regulations and documents drawn up in the form of notarial records," it was stated in the response signed by the head of the Bar cadastre Mrjan Kovačević.

He sent copies of 31 real estate lists with more detailed data to "Vijesti", which shows that three are now registered to Montenegrin citizens, and that in one case a foreign company is registered, while the rest are registered to foreign individuals. In several cases, buildings are listed, but they were registered several years after the land was registered, while in most cases it is only agricultural and forest land that is registered to foreigners.

Possible responsibilities from notaries to directors

An interviewee of "Vijesti" who was familiar with this case and the alleged checks in the Bar cadastre, told "Vijesti" that Kovačević's claims are not true and that the real estate papers themselves deny it.

He states that Article 415 of the Law on Property and Legal Relations is clear and that residents as natural persons cannot under any circumstances be owners of agricultural and forest land larger than 5.000 square meters, and that they can only be owners of smaller areas provided that a residential building is registered on them as part of a purchase contract, inheritance, etc., drawn up by a notary.

"Since the registration took place outside the law, legal consequences must exist, and if foreign citizens are registered as owners of land without a residential building or on plots over 5.000 square meters, then three levels of liability are possible - the notary who drew up the contract outside the legal basis, the cadastral officer who carried out the registration, and the head of the regional unit and the director of the Administration if they failed to exercise supervisory responsibilities or gave instructions."

"The notary was obliged to refuse to draw up a notarial deed if the contract was contrary to mandatory regulations, the content of the contract was prohibited or illegal. The notary's possible liability is disciplinary before the Notary Chamber of Montenegro, material liability for damage caused by illegal work or criminal if there was intent. The notary cannot justify himself by saying that 'the Real Estate Administration accepts it', because his obligation is a prior control of legality. A cadastral officer could have made such an entry only with abuse of official position, negligent work in the service and in certain cases forgery of documents. The head of the Bar PJ may be liable due to command and supervisory responsibility if he knew or should have known about the practice, and the director of the Real Estate Administration did not react if he gave instructions, tolerated the practice or did not supervise it," said the interlocutor of "Vijesti".

EU citizens still have no rights

It also points out that it is not true that citizens of EU member states as natural persons can acquire property rights, even without the exception of the existence of a residential building, because Article 422a of the Law on Amendments to the Law on Property Relations provides that this possibility applies from the date of Montenegro's accession to the European Union.

He also states that the cadastre was obliged, under Article 416 of the same law, to submit data on the registration of foreigners as owners of this land to the Ministry of Finance. He also states that this is a large number of disputed registrations, continuously and over a long period of time.

First they registered foreigners on the land, then they added illegal structures later

The "Vijesti" interlocutor also cites details from the disputed real estate deeds, which were allegedly checked.

"In LN number 3046 KO Pečurice, an illegal registration of co-ownership rights in the scope of the right of 1/2 of the ideal share was made to German citizens on 3. 2. 2023, thereby enabling these persons to build an illegal facility that was registered as a building on 16. 12. 2025, which only increases responsibility, because the land was illegally registered without the existence of a residential building. Also, in LN number 199 KO Tuđemili, an illegal cadastral plot without a building was registered to foreign citizens in the scope of the right of 1/2 of the co-ownership share, the registration was made on 18. 3. 2008, and after that they illegally built a family residential building and registered it in the valid cadastral records on 20. 5. 2026, the same abuse as in the previous case," said the interlocutor.

He claims that in a similar manner, illegal registrations of foreign citizens were made in the administrative district of Tuđemila in real estate lists number 352, 333, 329, 277, 273, 199, 147 and 81, in the administrative district of Dobre vode in real estate lists number 2301, 549, 463, 430, 363 and 162, in the administrative district of Kunje 3579, 3557, 3553, 3547, 3545, 3541, 3534, 3507, 3501, 43, 30, 3495, as well as in the administrative district of Pečurice in real estate list 222.