Why register?

1.  Is it compulsory to register all transactions relating to land/property in your system?

Unfortunately it still isn’t.

2. If not, are there any circumstances under which is it compulsory to do so?

The registration is performed ex officio on the basis of an inheritance decision and decisions of administrative bodies. However in such cases there is an option of not implementing a decision or a ruling in the land registers.

4. What percentage of land/titles is/are registered in your system?

The registration coveys real property rights on the basis of a legal transaction; by registering, the owner acquires all rights to owners’ protection and, most importantly, by registering the owner publishes to everyone that he or she owns a certain real property.

5. What types of legal rights in property are capable of being protected by registration?

Apart from a title, other real property rights can be protected by registering in the land registers, as well as the liens (mortgages), servitudes, real charges, construction right as well as administrative rights recorded in the land registers and related to a real property.

6. Are there other rights, legal situations, judicial decisions affecting property rights or owner’s powers capable of registration?

It is possible to determine in a litigation that someone is an owner of rather a title holder whereby the person winning the suit acquires the ownership after the enforcement of the court decision while the registration in land registers is of declarative nature only.

7. What are the effects of registration of a transfer of ownership?

By registering in land registers, an owner acquires ownership on the basis of a legal transaction. As long as he or she is not registered in the land register on the basis of a legal transaction, he or she has not acquired ownership or other real property right. After ownership of the acquirer is registered, ownership of the previous owner ceases to exist.

8. What are the effects of registration of a mortgage/charge? What powers or rights are available to the registered owners of charge in order to enforce their security?

The holders of a lien (mortgage) recorded in the land registers are entitled to exercise their rights, depending on the order of priority. This means that the one having registered his or her mortgage earlier has the right to collect the dues in full amount as compared to the one recording a mortgage later.

9. Is the title guaranteed by the State/Registrar? If so, to what extent and under what circumstances?

The title is a constitutional right and the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia states that the title is guaranteed. This means that the protection of rights can be achieved in court, the Constitutional Court as well as the European Human Rights Court.

10. What remedies are available to land registry information users who may have relied on register information and suffered loss as a result of reliance on that information?

When speaking of remedies, one should distinguish between the remedies that parties can file in a land registration procedure. The parties are the applicant and the counterparty i.e. the person requesting that a right be recorded in the land registers and the person against whom such a registration is requested. They can file a complaint against the first-instance decision that will be decided by a first-instance court and an appeal against the decision on the complaint that will be decided by a second-instance court. The parties in the procedure are entitled to file some special suits envisaged by land registration laws in order to protect his or her rights in the land registers.

If one refers to users of information such as the person obtaining an extract from the land registers and concluding, on the basis of such an extract, a contract and later finding out that the information on the extract was not accurate or something else, then the person is entitled only to compensation provided that he or she proves all the preconditions for liability damages.

11. How does a party who has suffered loss make a claim for compensation if applicable?

By filing a separate lawsuit for compensation. Thereby compensation can be asked from the person having caused the damage or, if the court has inflicted damage through its actions, compensation can be claimed also from the Republic of Croatia.

12. What are the risks involved where property transactions are not registered?

Loss of rights when a third party has acquired a right with the trust in land registers, inability to obtain a construction permit, inability to obtain a mortgage over the real property.

13. Are there any penalties for non-registration?

No.

14. Is cadastral/mapping information included in the title registration process? If so, is it guaranteed? If yes, by whom?

According to the present organisation, the data on sheet A of the land register should match the cadastral information because the cadastral information involves the shape, area, name and extent of the development of a cadastral parcel that is relevant also for the land registers. Each change of cadastral information on the above-mentioned data changes also the data in the land registers on the basis of the cadastral application report and valid decision passed in the administrative procedure in the cadastre. Thus, the aim is to achieve that the cadastral and land registry information match.

In the future Land Database, it is planned that all the information on sheet A be under exclusive jurisdiction of the cadastre in order to avoid duplication in passing decisions and passing a decision once in the administrative cadastral procedure and the second time in the land registration procedure before a court.