Unit extract, registered permit, notary, capped reservation fee, a payment schedule tied to construction, and the dedicated account.
Every future unit gets its own property sheet in the register. No sheet for the unit? You may not be signed up.
Up to 5% of the price, up to 60 days, and a full refund within 30 days if the deal falls through because of the developer.
Up to 25% at the structure stage and up to a further 20% at installations, tied to verified milestones, not calendar dates.
The bank's name, the supervising engineer's name and a bank letter confirming the account. And before each payment, check where it goes.
The Nordis law checklist: the gap between knowing and checking
Investors come to me far better prepared than they used to. They have read about the Nordis law, and they have heard about the dedicated account and the caps on advances.
Then comes the question: "Fine, I understand the law. But what exactly do I do with it tomorrow, sitting across from the developer?"
That is the gap. The law does not work on its own. It works only when you ask the right questions and get the answers in writing.
So I wrote the Nordis law checklist: six checks, and for each one, what to ask for, what a good answer looks like, and when to stop.
In short: what the Nordis law says, and where to read more
Law 207/2025 came into force on 11 December 2025, after the Nordis scandal in which off-plan apartments were sold twice. We told the full story in our article on the apartment that was sold twice.
The law rests on five mechanisms: early registration of every future unit, a preliminary contract signed only before a notary, a cap on reservation fees, advances staged by construction phase, and a dedicated bank account under engineering supervision.
You will find the full legal explanation in our article on what the Nordis law changes for off-plan buyers, and the protection of your money in our article on the dedicated account. Here we move from theory to practice.
From the field: “We bought the land, now we start selling”
Attorney Ilan Leibovitch recalls:
A veteran contractor with twenty years of building in Israel called me from a restaurant after he and his partners had signed for a plot in a Bucharest suburb: “We bought it, now we need to start selling.” I asked how much equity the project had. He answered: the land.
I explained that a Romanian bank would not finance a foreign developer on the value of the land alone, certainly not on a first project with no local track record and no liquid capital. He said he knew contractors who had built with buyers’ money. I told him that was no longer possible: since December 2025, under the Nordis law, a developer may take no more than 5% at reservation, no more than 25% up to completion of the structure and no more than 20% up to completion of the building systems, and all the money sits in a dedicated account and is released according to actual progress.
He approached three banks. Two never got back to him; the third asked for documents that took two months to gather, and in the end said no. The project stalled, and the land is still in his hands.
From the buyer’s side, this story is the law at work: a developer without capital or bank financing is stopped before taking buyers’ money. That is why the question of who finances construction is part of the check, no less than how much you pay and when.
The six checks of the Nordis law checklist
1. A land register extract for your unit, not for "the project"
Ask for a land register extract (Extras de Carte Funciară) for your specific future apartment. Under the law, every future unit gets its own property sheet in the register before it is built.
No property sheet for the unit? You may not be signed up. It means this stage, known as pre-apartmentation, has not been completed.
2. A building permit registered in the land register
Not "in progress", not "soon", not "just a technicality". Registered. A permit that is not in the register is reason enough to wait.
A spoken answer is a promise. A written answer is a commitment.
3. Signing before a notary only
The preliminary contract is signed before a Romanian notary, who enters it in the register the same business day or the next.
An offer to first sign a private "memorandum of understanding" is a red flag. Such an agreement is not valid as a preliminary contract under the law.
Note: notarial signing in Romania cannot be done remotely. If you cannot attend, you can give a power of attorney to a representative.
4. A capped reservation fee
Up to 5% of the price, for up to 60 days, with a refund clause. If the deal falls through because of the developer, the money comes back in full within 30 days.
A 10% "good faith deposit" is a breach of the law. Exceeding the cap makes the reservation agreement absolutely void.
5. A payment schedule tied to construction
No more than 25% at the structure stage, and up to a further 20% at the installations stage. The schedule should follow verified construction milestones, not calendar dates.
6. The dedicated account
One question: in which bank is the project account held, and who is the supervising engineer who approves withdrawals?
Then three documents in writing: the bank's name, the engineer's name, and a bank letter confirming the account exists. And before every payment, make sure the transfer goes to the registered project account, not to another company account.
A compliant developer shows you this in a second. A developer who dodges has already answered.
The Nordis law checklist at a glance
| Check | What to ask for in writing | Red flag |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Unit extract | Land register extract for the specific apartment | "There's an extract for the project, that's enough" |
| 2. Building permit | Permit registered in the land register | "The permit is in progress" |
| 3. Notary | Draft notarial preliminary contract | "Let's start with a memorandum" |
| 4. Reservation fee | Up to 5%, up to 60 days, refund clause | A 10% "good faith deposit" |
| 5. Payment schedule | Schedule tied to construction stages | A large payment before the structure |
| 6. Dedicated account | Bank name, engineer name, bank letter | "Transfer to the company account" |
How to use the checklist in a meeting with a developer
The simplest way: email the six questions before the meeting and ask for written answers, ideally as an annex to the contract.
A spoken answer is a promise. A written answer is a commitment. A developer who answered beautifully in the meeting but struggles to put it on paper has answered you a second time.
That is how we work in our own project in Balotești: we go through the checklist with every buyer, item by item, against the documents themselves. The questions that go beyond the law, management, service and an all-inclusive price, are in the five-question test for developers.
What the checklist does not cover
This checklist was built for off-plan purchases. There are three things it does not check.
- A finished resale apartment. There, the Nordis law is barely relevant. Your protection is a clean title, a lien check and an independent lawyer, as in our due diligence guide.
- Land registration for buyers from outside the EU. That is a separate track from this law, covered in our article on registering the property and the land in your name.
- The price itself. The law protects your money; it does not tell you whether the price is fair.
And in fairness: the law indirectly makes new homes more expensive. Developers need more equity and face compliance costs, and new supply shrinks. That is the price of safety, and it is structural.
Frequently asked questions
What is a land register (CF) extract?
An extract from the Romanian land register (Cartea Funciară) showing who the owner is, which rights are registered and which charges sit on the property. Under the Nordis law, even an apartment that has not been built yet has its own property sheet and extract.
The developer wants 10% to "reserve" the apartment. Is that allowed?
No. Under Law 207/2025, reservation fees are capped at 5% of the price and a period of up to 60 days. Exceeding the cap makes the reservation agreement absolutely void.
I signed before December 2025. Does the law protect me?
As a rule, the law applies to new transactions, and agreements signed before it came into force remain under the previous rules. If you are in the middle of an older deal, get an individual review from a lawyer, because the stage of the deal matters.
Can I sign the preliminary contract from abroad?
Notarial signing in Romania cannot be done remotely. You can give a power of attorney to a representative, who signs on your behalf before the notary.
What if the developer refuses to answer in writing?
That is your answer. A developer who complies with the law loses nothing by putting the answers on paper. A refusal is the strongest red flag on the whole checklist.
The bottom line
The Nordis law gave you tools that did not exist before December 2025. But a tool left in the drawer protects no one.
If you are about to sign for an off-plan home in Romania, with us or with any other developer, book a 30-minute call with me. We will go through the six checks against the documents you have received.
Moti Azulay, Compass Group Romania
Sources and data: Law 207/2025, Romanian Ministry of Justice legislation portal · Monitorul Oficial, issue 1133, 8 December 2025 · National Agency for Cadastre and Land Registration (ANCPI) · National Union of Notaries Public of Romania (UNNPR) · Legal analyses: TPA Romania, AmCham Romania, Hategan Attorneys, GGI / Mondaq.
This article is for general information only and is not legal, tax or financial advice. The description of Law 207/2025 is a general summary; the binding text is the one published in Monitorul Oficial. Before any transaction, consult an independent local lawyer.
Now you know more.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult local professionals before any transaction.
