Public notaries and Belgrade authorities file initiative – Ban on sales and purchase of illegal facilities sought

The City of Belgrade and the Chamber of Public Notaries have agreed to jointly file an initiative for the amendment to the Law on Property Transfer which would ban the sales and purchase of illegal facilities to the Ministry of Justice, Beoinfo reported.

The common interest is to improve legal security in the field of property transfer in order to protect the citizens. At the meeting held on Tuesday, August 28, it was agreed that all investors need to pay all their liabilities towards the state under the law and that illegal construction does damage to the budgets of local self-governments and the Republic of Serbia.

– Public notaries are not the only ones who should solve the problem of illegal construction, but the City of Belgrade believes that the authorization of contracts on real estate should not be allowed without the building permit – Deputy Mayor Goran Vesic said.

He reminded that those that build without a permit do not pay contributions for the building land, taxes and other fees, whereby the city budget has lost between 70 and 100 million euros in the past few years.

– It's not normal for investors not to pay their obligations while continuing to build and then being able to sell that property. Notaries are obliged to check whether the building permit exists anyway. The amount that would otherwise have been paid to the city budget could now be used to build schools, kindergartens, waterworks, sewerage... This means that all citizens are suffering the consequences, as they are not getting what they should be from the city, because someone is looking to take the money that belongs to the state. We therefore insist on having this decades-long problem solved, as the conditions for it have met now – Vesic added.

The deputy mayor pointed out that many illegal facilities were being built outside the urban planning standards, jeopardizing the safety of the citizens.

– When there is a building permit, there is a commission which controls the compliance with the standards of the profession, whereas illegal construction means that this is not the case. I therefore warn the citizens not to buy such property, as no one can guarantee them safety in such facilities, and the citizens living nearby also suffer the consequences due to the additional burden put on the infrastructure, as well as the lack of parking spaces. The state can only guarantee for those facilities with a building permit or a decision on legalization – Vesic said and thanked the competent ministry and everyone working on solving this problem.