Legal check before signing for property in Romania

"The developer has a lawyer who handles everything. Isn't that enough?"

I hear this question in almost every first meeting. It is asked in good faith, usually after the investor has already fallen for the renderings.

My answer is short: no. And this is not about suspicion. It is about structure.

The developer's lawyer works for the developer. Even when he is professional and honest, his duty is to the client who hired him. The legal check before signing is done by a lawyer you hire. In this article you will find what that lawyer checks, in what order, and what you should ask to see yourself.

Why the legal check must come before signing

A problem found before signing is a negotiation, or an orderly exit. A problem found after signing is a lawsuit.

That difference is the whole story. And under Law 207/2025, the "Nordis law", you are protected in the in-between stage too: reservation fees are capped at 5% and a period of 60 days, with a full refund within 30 days if the deal falls through because of the developer. In other words, walking away from a problematic deal you caught in time should not cost you years of savings.

The four stages of the legal check before signing

Stage 1: Ownership. In whose name, and through which route

In Romania, what is not registered in the land register (Cartea Funciară) does not exist legally. Someone who is not a Romanian or EU citizen does not register land directly in their own name, so the lawyer checks that your right, whether Superficie, a Romanian company or a caution note, is spelled out in the contract and registered in the land register. We explain the routes in our article on land ownership in Romania.

Stage 2: A clean property. What the extract hides

You pull a current extract (Extras de Carte Funciară) and check four things: the owner and whether they match the actual seller, mortgages and seizures, caution notes and third-party rights, and whether the register matches what is on the ground. How to read each part of the extract is in our due diligence guide.

Important: a "clean" register does not always mean a clean property. That is why the check is twofold, legal and planning.

Stage 3: The developer. Who stands behind the project

In a new project, the property is worth exactly as much as the developer building it. Check:

The company's registration in Romania.
Previous projects actually delivered, not just renderings.
Financial soundness and full transparency of documents.
Full compliance with the Nordis law.

A developer who stumbles on any of these? Move on. Five simple questions that help you spot this in the meeting itself are in our article on the questions to ask a developer.

Stage 4: Structure. Written commitments, not promises

A foreign investor's best protection is not a promise. It is a structure: a Romanian notary handling the transaction, registration in the land register directly in your name, a language you understand and an independent lawyer of your own, and an identified party that stays after handover. We take them one by one in our article on the four guarantees.

What to see before a preliminary contract on an off-plan unit

If you are buying a unit that has not yet been built, these are the five documents Adv. Ilan Leibovitch insists on seeing before any preliminary contract:

A building permit registered in the land register.
An extract for your specific unit. Under the Nordis law, even an apartment not yet built has its own property page.
A preliminary contract signed only before a notary, registered in the land register within one business day, so a double sale is exposed immediately.
Advances within the legal caps: up to 25% at the structure stage, and up to a further 20% at the building-systems stage.
A dedicated project bank account, from which money is released only with a site engineer's approval.

We cover what the law changed for off-plan buyers in our article on the Nordis law.

From the field: an Israeli jurisdiction clause on a Bucharest building

Attorney Ilan Leibovitch recalls:

A precise structure neutralises the risk. A verbal promise neutralises nothing.

An Israeli developer who had bought a residential building in Bucharest with a partner asked me to draft their partnership agreement, with the competent court in Israel. I warned him that an Israeli judgment would be almost impossible to enforce in Romania, and that a court in Israel cannot issue orders to the authorities there. He insisted, and that is how it was written.

Two years later the partner stopped paying his share of the expenses, refused to approve the eviction of a tenant who had not paid for four months, and refused to approve the repair of a serious fault in the central heating. We sued in Tel Aviv. Every question from the judge, how a tenant eviction works in Romania and what the status of the owners’ association is, required a Romanian lawyer’s opinion and a translation, and the other side brought a counter-opinion. After a year we won, but enforcing the judgment required a separate recognition procedure in Romania. The costs in Israel had reached tens of thousands of shekels.

The client then sued directly before a Romanian court, and within three months things moved: the orders were immediately enforceable, the local police evicted the tenant, and the contractor repaired the heating.

A jurisdiction clause looks like a technical line at the end of the contract. In a deal on a Romanian property, it decides whether you get an order that can be enforced at once, or a judgment that starts a whole new procedure. It is a clause to check before signing.

What to check by when: the timeline

Stage of the deal	What must be checked by then
Before a reservation fee	Ownership route, current extract, developer's registration and past projects
Before the preliminary contract	Registered permit, extract for the unit, notary, advance caps and dedicated account
Before the final contract and registration in your name	Delivery matches the contract, and your right is registered in the land register

An independent lawyer: how much, and how long

The cost depends on the size of the deal and on the lawyer, so ask for a written fee quote up front. The typical timeframe: a few weeks, running in parallel with the rest of the process.

And the right yardstick is not "how much does it cost", but "how much does it cost to find a problem after signing". On a property worth hundreds of thousands of euros, it is the cheapest expense in the deal.

And honestly: in our project in Balotești we encourage it explicitly. A developer whose documents are in order gains from an outside check. He does not lose.

Can the whole check be done remotely?

Yes, and that is the usual practice. The extract is ordered online, an apostilled power of attorney lets your lawyer act for you, and meetings happen on Zoom.

One point worth knowing in advance: signing before a Romanian notary cannot be done remotely. You attend in person, or you give a power of attorney to someone who signs on your behalf. The flight, if you want one, is saved for the pleasant part: seeing the property.

And a moment of honesty: most investors will not do these four stages. They will be impressed by the renderings, trust "everyone buys this way", and sign. Bad deals exist because of them. Because you will check, those deals won't be yours.

Frequently asked questions

What does a legal check before signing for property in Romania include?

Four stages: the ownership route and registration in the land register, a clean property based on a current extract, a check of the developer and its compliance with the Nordis law, and written commitments in the deal structure. The check is both legal and planning.

Why not rely on the developer's lawyer?

Because that lawyer works for the developer. Support provided by the project is there to make sure you understand every document, but the review is done by a lawyer you hire, who has no stake in the deal closing.

How long does the legal check take?

Usually a few weeks, in parallel with the rest of the process. The cost depends on the size of the deal and the lawyer, so get a written fee quote before you start.

What if the check finds a problem after I paid a reservation fee?

The Nordis law caps reservation fees at 5% and a period of 60 days, and requires a full refund within 30 days if the deal falls through because of the developer. A problem found at this stage is a negotiation or an orderly exit, not a lawsuit.

Can I sign the deal without travelling to Romania?

The check can be done entirely remotely. The signing before the notary cannot: you attend in person, or give an apostilled power of attorney to someone who signs on your behalf.

The bottom line

The difference between "unprotected" and "truly protected" is your entire investment. Before you transfer money, check the legal structure, not just the price and the pictures.