Serbia's new legalization law 2025 ("Svoj na svome"): how registration works
The new 2025 legalization law in Serbia (novi zakon o legalizaciji 2025): who applies, deadlines, fees by zone, exclusions and cadastre registration.
What the new 2025 legalization law brings
What the public calls the "new legalization law 2025" (novi zakon o legalizaciji 2025) or the "Svoj na svome" law is officially the Law on Special Conditions for Recording and Registering Rights in Real Estate (Zakon o posebnim uslovima za evidentiranje i upis prava na nepokretnostima, Službeni glasnik RS, Nos. 91/2025 and 80/2026). It has been in force since 24 October 2025. On that day the 2015 Law on Legalization of Buildings (Zakon o ozakonjenju objekata) ceased to apply, and all unfinished legalization procedures were discontinued (Art. 27).
The new law does not do the same thing as the old one. Previously, the legalization procedure checked whether the building could fit the plan, required a report on the existing condition and ended with a municipal decision. Now the building is recorded and ownership is registered on the basis of satellite imagery, public databases and the application, with no assessment of planning and technical conditions. That is why the law expressly states that the Republic of Serbia does not guarantee the safety of a registered building and that the owner bears the risk (Art. 5).
Registration covers the building and the land beneath it. The law applies to buildings on construction land and, exceptionally, on agricultural or forest land if the other conditions are met (Art. 1 paras. 3 and 4).
Who applies and by when
The application is filed by an "interested person": the de facto owner of a house, the owner of an apartment, the developer, and for residential buildings also the manager or professional manager of the residents' association (Art. 7 paras. 1 and 4). For a building with several apartments, the building itself is registered first, and only then are the applications of individual apartment owners processed (Art. 7). Anyone who is not the developer attaches a document showing how they acquired the apartment.
The application window opened 45 days after the law entered into force and lasted 60 days (Art. 20 para. 1). Anyone who missed it for objective reasons may apply within one year of the law's entry into force, but must attach evidence showing beyond doubt that the delay was justified (Art. 20 para. 2). That late window closes on 24 October 2026. The law does not say which reasons count as objective.
Buildings built after 24 October 2025 are outside this law. The rules on unlawful construction apply to them: suspension of works, removal or transfer into public ownership, along with criminal proceedings (Art. 20 paras. 3-5).
How the procedure runs: application, Agency, cadastre
The procedure is entirely electronic. The application is received by the Agency for Spatial Planning and Urbanism. It compares the data in the application with imagery, the municipality's zoning plan, the cadastre and other official databases. If something is missing, it sets a 30-day period for correction. When it finds that the conditions are met, it calculates the fee and sends a notice with payment instructions, to be paid within 30 days.
After payment the Agency issues the confirmation and forwards it to the Republic Geodetic Authority. The Authority does not conduct an administrative procedure or issue a decision; it registers ownership on the basis of the confirmation, free of charge. The registration is visible in eKatastar within 24 hours.
If the building stands on someone else's private parcel and the applicant has no evidence of a right to the land, the Agency directs them to resolve that question before the competent body within five years (Art. 13 para. 1). There is an exception for a house in which the applicant has lived for at least 20 years, for which tax has been paid continuously for at least 10 years, for which no removal order has been issued, and whose owner has no other residential property (Art. 13 para. 3).
Fees, exemptions and what is excluded
For a family house up to 400 m² and for an apartment in a building whose developer is unknown or unavailable, the fee is fixed and ranges from EUR 100 to EUR 1,000, depending on the city and zone (Art. 8 para. 2). When the building's developer is known and available, the developer pays the fee and apartment owners are registered without paying (Art. 8 para. 6).
No fee is paid by owners of a house or apartment they live in if the applicant is a person with a disability, a war veteran, a single parent, a recipient of social assistance, or a family with three or more children (Art. 8 para. 15). No fee is paid for auxiliary and farm buildings on an agricultural holding that serve the main building (Art. 12 paras. 5 and 6), or when the contribution was already paid with an earlier building permit (Art. 8 para. 12).
Buildings registered under the earlier 2013 law (Službeni glasnik RS, Nos. 25/13 and 145/14) were put on an equal footing by the 2026 amendments with buildings registered under the new law, with no obligation to pay the fee, and the previously entered prohibition on disposal is deleted.
Relationship to the Zakon o ozakonjenju objekata
The Law on Legalization of Buildings no longer applies. Anyone who had a pending procedure does not continue it before the municipality, but had to file a new application with the Agency. Municipalities must deliver documentation from old case files, including geodetic survey reports, to the Agency at its request (Art. 6 para. 5). Anyone who already obtained a legalization decision that became final before 24 October 2025 is registered in the cadastre under the regular registration rules (Art. 20 para. 16).
Registration under the new law does not affect third parties' rights to property protection and damages, nor does it affect criminal proceedings for unlawful construction (Art. 17).
Sources
- Law on Special Conditions for Recording and Registering Rights in Real Estate (Zakon o posebnim uslovima za evidentiranje i upis prava na nepokretnostima, Official Gazette RS Nos. 91/2025 and 80/2026), Arts. 7, 8, 20, 25 and 28
- Law amending the Law on Special Conditions for Recording and Registering Rights in Real Estate (Official Gazette RS No. 80/2026 of 1 September 2026), Art. 7 (paragraf.rs)
- News item "Rok za prijavu bespravnih objekata uz opravdanje traje do 24. oktobra 2026", 11 February 2026 (paragraf.rs)
What to do
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1
Check whether the building is covered by the law
Deadline: The law covers buildings built by 24 October 2025, the day it entered into force
Registration covers buildings and parts of buildings built contrary to the law, works carried out without approval, buildings with a temporary building permit issued before 13 May 2003, buildings from the period when no permit was required, and category A and B residential buildings and commercial buildings that have a building permit but no occupancy permit (Art. 1 para. 2). The building must be visible on a satellite or other image, or be contained in the database of the Agency for Spatial Planning and Urbanism or the Republic Geodetic Authority (Art. 1 para. 3).
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2
Electronic application to the Agency for Spatial Planning and Urbanism
Deadline: The regular window lasted 60 days and opened 45 days after the law entered into force (Art. 20 para. 1). A late application is possible within one year of entry into force, with evidence of objective reasons for the delay (Art. 20 para. 2). The regular window ran from 8 December 2025 and, as announced by the competent ministry, was extended from 5 to 8 February 2026; the late window closes on 24 October 2026.
The application is filed electronically through the digital platform, separately for each property (Art. 7 paras. 1 and 2). The local government unit must provide legal and technical help to people who cannot file on their own (Art. 25 para. 2).
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3
Supplementing the application and the geodetic survey report
Deadline: 30 days to fix technical defects in the application; up to six months for defects in the survey report (Art. 7).
A geodetic survey report (elaborat geodetskih radova) is attached when the building is not visible on imagery for technical reasons or is not recorded in the Geodetic Authority's database (Art. 7). If defects in the application are not fixed in time, the Agency decides on the basis of the data available (Art. 7).
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4
Public display of data and objections
Deadline: An objection is filed within 60 days, and no later than 90 days, from publication of the data set (Art. 20 para. 15)
Any interested person may file an objection with the Agency against the data in someone else's application, with evidence (Art. 10 para. 2). When several people apply for the same building and the owner cannot be established beyond doubt, the Agency directs the applicants to first resolve ownership before the competent body, within five years at the latest (Art. 11 paras. 2 and 3).
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5
Fee notice and payment
Deadline: 30 days from service of the notice with payment instructions (Art. 8 para. 14)
The amount of the fee is determined before the confirmation is issued (Art. 8 para. 11). After the 2026 amendments, the confirmation is forwarded to the cadastre only once the fee has been paid (Art. 8 para. 14, Art. 10 para. 5 and Art. 14 para. 1). The fee is paid in a single instalment (Art. 8 para. 17).
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6
The Agency's confirmation
Deadline: The law requires action "without delay" (Art. 10 para. 4), with no fixed number of days
When it finds that the conditions are met, the Agency issues a confirmation, which is a document fit for registration, and delivers it to the Geodetic Authority through the e-counter (Art. 12 para. 1). No appeal or administrative dispute is allowed against the confirmation, but a lawsuit may be filed with the court of general jurisdiction where the property is located (Art. 12 para. 11).
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7
Registration in the real estate cadastre
Deadline: The change is visible in eKatastar within 24 hours of registration (Art. 14 para. 6)
The Republic Geodetic Authority registers ownership on the basis of the confirmation, with priority, without conducting an administrative procedure and without charging fees (Art. 14 paras. 1 and 3). Along with ownership, a note is entered that the registration was made under this law, and earlier notes on the building's status, for example that it was built without a permit, are deleted (Art. 5 para. 1 and Art. 12 para. 3).
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8
Obligations after registration
Deadline: Five years from registration to form a cadastral parcel for the regular use of the building (Art. 16 para. 9)
The obligation to form a parcel does not apply to buildings on agricultural and forest land. Temporary connections to electricity, gas, water and sewerage become permanent once ownership is registered (Art. 24).
Required documents
- Applicant details and a means of electronic identification to access the digital platform. The accepted authentication methods are prescribed by the Agency (Art. 7)
- Property details: cadastral municipality, parcel number, address and purpose of the building
- Document showing the basis of acquisition (sale contract, gift contract, inheritance decision, etc.) when the applicant is not the developer of the unit (Art. 7)
- Geodetic survey report, if the building is not visible on imagery or not recorded in the Geodetic Authority's database (Art. 7)
- Sketch and specification of the separate units for residential and mixed-use buildings, prepared by a licensed engineer (Art. 7 para. 4)
- Contract with the residents' association and the consent of 51% of unit owners, if the apartment was created from common areas (Art. 7)
- Evidence of a right to the land, if the building stands on someone else's private parcel (Art. 13)
- Evidence of the ground for exemption from the fee, if you rely on one (Art. 8 para. 15)
- For a late application: evidence showing beyond doubt that missing the regular window was justified (Art. 20 para. 2)
- Proof of payment of the fee, after receiving the Agency's notice
Jurisdiction
The application is received, and the conditions are assessed, by the Agency for Spatial Planning and Urbanism of the Republic of Serbia (Agencija za prostorno planiranje i urbanizam), through a digital platform set up on the infrastructure of the Republic Geodetic Authority (Arts. 6 and 7). Ownership is registered by the Republic Geodetic Authority (Republički geodetski zavod) on the basis of the Agency's confirmation (Art. 14). Municipalities and cities no longer run legalization procedures; their role is to deliver zoning plans and help citizens file applications (Art. 6 and Art. 25 para. 2). Supervision lies with the ministry in charge of construction (Art. 18). A dispute over the Agency's confirmation is heard by the court of general jurisdiction where the property is located (Art. 12 para. 11).
What it costs
| Item | Amount | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Fee for a family house or apartment in Belgrade | Extra zone EUR 1,000; first zone 800; second and third 300; fourth 200; fifth 150; sixth and other zones EUR 100, payable in dinars at the National Bank of Serbia middle rate on the day of calculation | Art. 8 para. 2 item 1) and para. 5 of the Zakon o posebnim uslovima za evidentiranje i upis prava na nepokretnostima |
| Fee in cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants | Extra and first zone EUR 500; second 250; third 150; fourth and other zones EUR 100 | Art. 8 para. 2 item 2) |
| Fee in cities and municipalities with 50,000 to 100,000 inhabitants | Extra and first zone EUR 300; second 200; third and other zones EUR 100 | Art. 8 para. 2 item 3) |
| Fee in municipalities under 50,000 inhabitants and in villages | EUR 100 | Art. 8 para. 2 item 4) |
| Family residential building over 400 m² | The zone fee, plus the land development contribution (doprinos za uređivanje građevinskog zemljišta) for every square metre above 400 m². The contribution per m² is set by a decision of your local government unit | Art. 8 para. 3, as worded after the 2026 amendments |
| Warehouses, storage, farm and auxiliary buildings and production facilities | Up to 500 m² no fee; above that EUR 10 for every further m² | Art. 8 para. 4 |
| Other buildings (for example business premises) | A fee equal to the land development contribution for the zone, as set by the local government unit's decision | Art. 8 para. 1 |
| Registration in the real estate cadastre | No fees or charges | Art. 14 para. 3 |
FAQ
When did the new legalization law enter into force?
The Law on Special Conditions for Recording and Registering Rights in Real Estate (Zakon o posebnim uslovima za evidentiranje i upis prava na nepokretnostima) was published in the Official Gazette (Službeni glasnik RS), No. 91/2025, and entered into force the day after publication (Art. 28), that is on 24 October 2025. It was amended in 2026 (Službeni glasnik RS, No. 80/2026, of 1 September 2026); the amendments entered into force the day after publication (Art. 7 of the amending law).
Has the application deadline under the "Svoj na svome" law expired?
The regular 60-day window expired on 8 February 2026, after an extension from 5 February. The law allows a late application within one year of entry into force, that is until 24 October 2026, but only with evidence of objective reasons why the application was not filed on time (Art. 20 para. 2). The law does not list which reasons the Agency accepts, so this is assessed case by case.
Is the Zakon o ozakonjenju objekata still in force?
No. The Law on Legalization of Buildings (Zakon o ozakonjenju objekata, Službeni glasnik RS, Nos. 96/15, 83/18, 81/20 - US, 1/23 - US and 62/23) ceased to apply on 24 October 2025. Pending legalization procedures were discontinued by a collective decision (Art. 27). Final legalization decisions issued by that date remain a basis for registration in the cadastre (Art. 20 para. 16).
Which buildings cannot be registered under the new law?
Buildings on land designated for public use, in the first protection zone of a natural asset, in the protection zone of cultural property of great or exceptional importance, on public water land, in the railway belt, in the immediate sanitary protection zone of a water source and in the expropriation belt of a motorway or expressway are not registered to the user. Ownership of the Republic of Serbia is registered on them (Art. 2 para. 1). Ownership is also not registered on small prefabricated structures or on buildings that are not structurally complete (Art. 2 para. 2). The law does not apply to military, mining, forestry and hunting facilities (Art. 1 para. 11).
What happens if nobody applies for a building?
If the building is not subject to registration in favour of the state, the Agency sends the Geodetic Authority a list of such buildings so that ownership is registered in favour of the owner of the cadastral parcel on which the building stands, and the list is passed to the local tax administration (Art. 11 paras. 9 and 10). If the building stands on land under Art. 2 para. 1, a provisional entry is made in favour of the Republic of Serbia and the building inspector issues a removal order (Art. 15 paras. 4 and 5).
Can a registered building be sold?
After registration the owner has all the rights of an owner of a lawfully built building, apart from the restrictions in the law itself (Art. 12 para. 12), and the 2026 amendments provide that registered buildings are deemed to have been built in accordance with the law. A note prohibiting disposal is entered on unsold apartments when the developer has not paid the fee, until the obligation is settled (Art. 8 para. 9). The state does not guarantee the safety of the building, and the owner bears the risk of using it (Art. 5 paras. 2 and 3).