Application for Registration of Ownership Rights

How do you file an application for registration of ownership rights?

For the land registry entry to be accurate and valid, the buyer of the property must follow the registration procedure prescribed by the Land Registry Act (Official Gazette 63/19). A buyer seeking to have ownership of a property transferred to them must file an application for registration of ownership with the competent municipal court that keeps the land registry in which the entry is to be made. The application may be submitted in writing directly to the court or by post, as well as electronically with an advanced electronic signature. An application may be submitted electronically by a lawyer acting as the party's authorised representative.

Application for registration of ownership rights and court proceedings

The application for registration must be clearly marked as a submission addressed to the land registry court, indicating that it concerns a land registry matter (land registry case). The land registry entry will then immediately show (as a priority note, or "plomba") the date and time at which the application reached the land registry court, as well as the land registry journal number under which it was received (journal number). The priority note is deleted ex officio once the registration is carried out or a note of rejection of the application is entered. On the other hand, if the application was submitted electronically, it is deemed to have reached the land registry court when it was recorded on the recipient's server.

Application for registration of ownership rights and its content

The application for registration must state the land registry court to which it is submitted; the first name, surname, address and OIB (personal identification number) of the person in whose favour the registration is to be made and of the person against whom it is made; the land registry folio number; the name of the cadastral municipality; and the designation of the parcels entered in the land registry folio in which the registration is to be made. The application must make clear which right would be acquired, restricted, encumbered or cancelled by the registration and, if a notation is requested, the personal relationship or legal fact to be noted. In addition, the applicant must specify the type of registration requested (intabulation, provisional registration, notation); otherwise, the application is deemed to tacitly request the type of registration that is most favourable, under the current land registry status, to the person in whose favour the registration is requested. Intabulation, provisional registration or notation: Through intabulation and provisional registration, registered rights are acquired, changed or extinguished, without or with the need for subsequent justification. A notation does not register rights but makes visible relevant circumstances that the law allows to be noted in the land registry. In other words, when real rights (the right of ownership) in a property are acquired on the basis of a legal transaction (a sales contract), intabulation is one of the prerequisites for such acquisition, so ownership is acquired by intabulation without any special subsequent justification, whereas provisional registration would confer it subject to subsequent justification and to the extent to which it is subsequently justified. Together with the application, the court must be provided with the sales contract (documents), the seller's certified land registry consent (tabular declaration), if it is not part of the contract, proof of the buyer's citizenship (certificate of citizenship, ID card) and proof of payment of the court fee.

Court proceedings on an application for registration of ownership rights

The competent municipal court is obliged to accept every application for registration, regardless of whether it is suitable for registration to be carried out on its basis. The court acts under the rules of non-contentious proceedings and decides without a hearing or examination of the parties. After reviewing the application and its attachments, the land registry court will allow the registration if:

– the land registry does not show any obstacle to the registration in respect of its subject matter

– there is no reason to doubt whether the persons against whom the registration is sought are capable of disposing of the subject of the registration, or whether the person who filed the application is authorised to do so

– the merits of the application follow from the content of the submitted documents

– the documents are in the required form.

Decision on registration of ownership rights in the land registry

Upon receiving a petition for registration, the court will issue a decision either granting the petition and permitting the entry, or rejecting or dismissing it. A decision ordering an entry must specify the land registry folio (zemljišnoknjižni uložak) in which the entry will be made and, where necessary, the cadastral parcel; the person in whose favour the entry will be made and their address; the type of entry (intabulation, provisional entry, annotation); the subject matter to which it relates; the documents on which the entry is based; the right to be registered and its essential content; and an order that an entry of precisely specified content be made in the land registry. The court will serve the decision on the entry on the petitioner and on the person against whom the entry is sought, and both may lodge an objection and an appeal. Once the deadline has expired without an objection or appeal being filed, the court will register the ownership right to the property in the land registry (zemljišna knjiga) with the content specified in the order issued in the decision on the entry. Through such an entry in the land registry, the acquirer becomes the registered owner of the property, which means that from then on they can prove their ownership only by an extract from the land registry.