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Property Relations Act (ZOSPO) in brief: ownership, possession

Zakon o osnovama svojinskopravnih odnosa, Serbia's Property Relations Act: how ownership is acquired, adverse possession, co-ownership, easements, protection of ownership and possession, cadastre registration.

INFO
Short answer. The Act on the Fundamentals of Property Relations (Zakon o osnovama svojinskopravnih odnosa, ZOSPO) is Serbia's basic statute on ownership: what an owner may do, how ownership is acquired (contract plus registration, adverse possession, building, inheritance), what co-ownership, easements and pledges are, and how ownership and possession are protected in court. The current text is published in Sl. list SFRJ Nos. 6/80 and 36/90, Sl. list SRJ No. 29/96 and Sl. glasnik RS No. 115/2005 (other statute). The Act is old but still in force; no new civil code has been adopted. This page explains the Act in plain language and does not replace the official text.

What the Property Relations Act (Zakon o osnovama svojinskopravnih odnosa) covers and whom it applies to

Zakon o osnovama svojinskopravnih odnosa, abbreviated ZOSPO, is Serbia's basic statute on rights in rem. It governs ownership, co-ownership and joint ownership, the acquisition and loss of ownership, easements, pledges and possession. When Serbian searches refer to "zakon o svojinsko pravnim odnosima" or "zakon o svojini", they mean this Act. It applies to natural and legal persons, domestic and foreign (Art. 1 and 85b).

The official citation is: Zakon o osnovama svojinskopravnih odnosa (Sl. list SFRJ Nos. 6/80 and 36/90, Sl. list SRJ No. 29/96 and Sl. glasnik RS No. 115/2005, other statute). The Act was passed in 1980 as a federal Yugoslav statute and entered into force on 1 September 1980. The 1996 amendments added the provisions on foreign nationals (Art. 82a and 82b); in 2005 the Mortgage Act (No. 115/2005) took over the subject of mortgages, so Art. 63-69 of ZOSPO ceased to apply. The Act has not been amended since.

For practical questions ZOSPO is read together with several special statutes: the Act on the Procedure for Registration in the Real Estate Cadastre and Infrastructure Cadastre (registration of ownership), the Mortgage Act, the Planning and Construction Act (construction land and conversion of the right of use) and the Law on Contracts and Torts (pledges over movables and rights, Art. 62 ZOSPO).

How the Act is structured

The Act has about 90 articles, some of which have been deleted. Its chapters are:

  • I Basic principles (Art. 1-8): content of ownership, prohibition of abuse, neighbour rights
  • II Ownership (Art. 9-48): objects of ownership, co-ownership and joint ownership, acquisition, protection, loss of ownership
  • III Easements (Art. 49-60): real easements; personal servitudes are only announced
  • IV Pledge (Art. 61-69): general rules; mortgages moved to the Mortgage Act
  • V Possession (Art. 70-81): concept, good faith, self-help, court protection
  • VI Rights of foreign persons (Art. 82-85b)
  • VII and VIII applicable law and final provisions

The most searched provisions

Content of ownership (Art. 3-5). The owner may hold, use and dispose of the thing within the limits of the law. Exercising ownership contrary to the purpose for which it is recognised is prohibited (Art. 4). The owner of real estate must refrain from smoke, noise, vibration, waste water and similar nuisances that exceed what is customary for the locality (Art. 5). This is the legal basis for most neighbour disputes.

Ownership of real estate (Art. 9 and 19). Ownership may exist over buildings, apartments, business premises, agricultural and construction land. A separate part of a building (apartment, business premises, garage, parking space) is a separate object of ownership, while the common parts of the building are in the joint, indivisible ownership of the owners of the separate parts.

Co-ownership and joint ownership (Art. 13-18). Co-ownership exists where each co-owner's share is fixed as a fraction of the whole (ideal share); if the shares are not fixed they are presumed equal. A co-owner may dispose of his share without the consent of the others; the other co-owners have a pre-emption right only where a statute says so (Art. 14). Ordinary management needs the consent of co-owners holding more than half of the value; selling the whole thing, changing its purpose, leasing it as a whole, mortgaging it, creating easements and major repairs need the consent of all (Art. 15). Partition may be demanded at any time and the right is not time-barred (Art. 16). Joint ownership is ownership by several persons whose shares are determinable but not fixed in advance (Art. 18), for example property acquired by spouses during marriage.

Acquisition of ownership (Art. 20-36). Ownership is acquired by operation of law, by legal transaction, by inheritance and by decision of a state body (Art. 20). By operation of law it is acquired by making a new thing, joining, mixing, building on another's land, separation of fruits, adverse possession, acquisition from a non-owner and occupation (Art. 21). Under a contract, ownership of real estate is acquired by registration in the public register (Art. 33) and ownership of a movable by delivery (Art. 34). By inheritance, ownership passes at the moment the succession opens (Art. 36).

Building on someone else's land (Art. 24-26). A builder in good faith, who neither knew nor could have known that the land was not his, acquires ownership of the building and the land if the landowner knew of the construction and did not object at once; the landowner may then claim the market value of the land within three years of learning of completion, and no later than 10 years after completion (Art. 24). If the builder acted in bad faith, the landowner chooses: to take the building against payment of its construction value, to have the builder demolish it, or to be paid the market price of the land; the choice must be made within three years of completion (Art. 25).

Easements (Art. 49-59). A real easement is the right of the owner of one property (the dominant tenement) to perform certain acts on another's property (the servient tenement) for the needs of his own, for example to pass over a neighbouring plot. It is created by contract plus registration, by court decision where the dominant tenement cannot be used without it, and by prescription after 20 years of actual exercise to which the owner did not object (Art. 51-54). It must be exercised in the way that burdens the servient tenement least (Art. 50). It ends, among other cases, if it is not exercised for three consecutive years against the objection of the servient owner or when it becomes unnecessary (Art. 58).

Pledge (Art. 61-62). A pledge may exist over movables, real estate and rights and arises by contract, court decision and by law (Art. 61). For pledges over movables and rights the Act refers to the Law on Contracts and Torts (Art. 62); registered pledges and mortgages are governed by separate statutes.

Rights of foreign persons (Art. 82-82v). Foreign persons acquire movables like domestic persons, and real estate subject to reciprocity: an apartment or residential building on the same terms as a Serbian citizen, and business real estate if they carry on a business in Serbia. A contract may be certified only if those conditions are met.

Protection of ownership and possession: actions and deadlines

The Act distinguishes protection of ownership from protection of possession, and that distinction usually decides the strategy.

The action for recovery (reivindikaciona tužba) under Art. 37 is the owner's action against whoever holds his thing without a legal basis. The owner must prove ownership and that the thing is in the defendant's hands. The right to bring this action is not time-barred. A possessor in good faith returns the thing without paying for its use and is entitled to necessary and useful expenses (Art. 38); a possessor in bad faith also returns the fruits and is liable for damage (Art. 39). A person who obtained the thing on a legal basis but has not yet become owner (presumed owner) has a similar action under Art. 41.

The action against interference (negatorna tužba) under Art. 42 targets interference short of dispossession: a neighbour crossing the boundary, building in a way that endangers a structure, discharging water onto another's land. It seeks an end to the interference and, under general rules, damages. This action is not time-barred either. A co-owner may sue to protect the whole thing and his own share (Art. 43).

Protection of possession (Art. 70-81) is faster and simpler, but time-limited. Possession belongs to anyone who directly exercises factual control over a thing, and also to the indirect possessor who has handed the thing to another under a lease, usufruct or deposit (Art. 70). Good faith in possession is presumed (Art. 72). A possessor may use self-help where the danger is immediate and self-help is necessary and proportionate (Art. 76). Court protection against disturbance of possession must be sought within 30 days of learning of the disturbance and the perpetrator, and no later than one year after the disturbance (Art. 77). The court decides only on the last state of possession; the right to possession, its legal basis and good faith are irrelevant (Art. 78). Independently of that dispute, protection may also be sought on the basis of the right to possession (Art. 81). A practical guide for a plot occupied by a neighbour is on the page Komšija mi je uzurpirao plac.

Ownership and the cadastre

ZOSPO states that ownership of real estate under a contract is acquired by registration in the public register (Art. 33). That register today is the real estate cadastre kept by the Republic Geodetic Authority (Republički geodetski zavod), and the procedure is governed by the Act on the Procedure for Registration in the Real Estate Cadastre and Infrastructure Cadastre (Sl. glasnik RS Nos. 41/2018, 95/2018, 31/2019, 15/2020 and 92/2023). Ownership and other rights in rem are acquired, transferred, limited and extinguished by registration, unless a statute provides otherwise for a particular case (Art. 6(3) of that Act). Ownership is registered as sole ownership, co-ownership or joint ownership (Art. 7).

The procedure in practice: the notary public solemnises the contract and sends the deed to the cadastre through the e-counter within 24 hours (Art. 22 and 23); the cadastre issues a decision within five working days of receiving the deed, or 15 days on a party's own application (Art. 36); an appeal to the Authority may be lodged within eight days of delivery (Art. 42). Ownership acquired by adverse possession, inheritance or court decision arises without registration, but it is registered on the basis of the final decision for security against third parties. What to do when registration has not happened is explained on the page Stan nije uknjižen, šta sada.

Conversion of the right of use into ownership concerns construction land on which building owners from the former system were registered only as users. The Planning and Construction Act provides that the right of use is converted into ownership free of charge, registered by the cadastre ex officio, with exceptions for sports associations, cooperatives, persons covered by Annex G of the Succession Agreement and socially owned enterprises (Art. 102). The earlier statute that tied conversion to a fee was repealed in 2023.

Is there a new property act in 2025 or 2026

No. ZOSPO of 1980, as amended up to 2005, remains the statute in force. A working draft of a Serbian Civil Code, which would also cover property law, has been in preparation for years but had not been adopted by September 2026. The changes people notice in practice come from special statutes: cadastre registration has been electronic since 2018 and, since the 2023 amendments, applications are filed through professional users; conversion of the right of use has been free of charge since 2023. The subjects ZOSPO merely announces, above all usufruct, the right of use and the right of residence (Art. 60), were never regulated by a separate statute, so courts apply the legal rules of pre-war civil law under the Act on the Invalidity of Legal Regulations Adopted before 6 April 1941 (Art. 4). Before relying on any rule about personal servitudes, check with a lawyer what the courts recognise in your situation.

Where to read the official text

The official consolidated text is available in the Legal Information System of the Republic of Serbia: Zakon o osnovama svojinskopravnih odnosa at pravno-informacioni-sistem.rs. Because the Act was passed in another state and before today's cadastre, some terms (public register, social ownership, federal body) are read in their present-day meaning. For a specific case, also check the special statutes listed on this page.

Sources

What to do

  • An owner may hold, use and dispose of the thing within the limits of the law, and everyone else must refrain from interfering with it (Art. 3).
  • Ownership is acquired by operation of law, by legal transaction, by inheritance and by decision of a state body (Art. 20). Under a contract, ownership of real estate passes only on registration in the public register, today the real estate cadastre (Art. 33).
  • Adverse possession (održaj): a possessor in good faith with a valid legal basis acquires real estate after 10 years, a possessor in good faith alone after 20 years; for movables the periods are three and 10 years (Art. 28).
  • Building on someone else's land: the outcome depends on whether the builder and the landowner acted in good faith; the landowner must generally make his claims within three years of completion (Art. 24-26).
  • A co-owner may dispose of his ideal share without the consent of the others and may demand partition at any time; that right is not time-barred (Art. 14 and 16).
  • A real easement (for example a right of way) is created by contract plus registration, by court decision, or by prescription after 20 years of actual exercise (Art. 51-54).
  • The owner's action for recovery of the thing (reivindikaciona tužba) and the action against interference (negatorna tužba) are not time-barred (Art. 37 and 42).
  • Protection of possession: an action for disturbance of possession must be filed within 30 days of learning of the disturbance and the perpetrator, and no later than one year after the disturbance (Art. 77).
  • Registration follows the Act on the Procedure for Registration in the Real Estate Cadastre and Infrastructure Cadastre: the notary sends the deed to the cadastre within 24 hours, the cadastre decides within five working days, and an appeal is lodged within eight days (Art. 22, 36 and 42 of that Act).

FAQ

Which statute governs ownership of property in Serbia in 2025 and 2026?

The Act on the Fundamentals of Property Relations of 1980, as amended in 1990, 1996 and 2005 (Sl. list SFRJ Nos. 6/80 and 36/90, Sl. list SRJ No. 29/96 and Sl. glasnik RS No. 115/2005, other statute), is still in force. In Serbian it is often called "zakon o svojinsko pravnim odnosima" or "zakon o svojini"; it is the same statute. No new act on property rights or civil code had been adopted by September 2026. Specific matters are governed by separate statutes: the Mortgage Act for mortgages, the Act on the Procedure for Registration in the Real Estate Cadastre for registration, and the Planning and Construction Act for construction land.

How is ownership of real estate acquired by purchase?

The contract alone is not enough. Under a legal transaction, ownership of real estate is acquired by registration in the public register (Art. 33 ZOSPO), and the Act on the Procedure for Registration in the Real Estate Cadastre confirms that ownership and other rights in rem are acquired, transferred, limited and extinguished by registration (Art. 6(3)). A buyer who holds a notarised contract but is not yet registered is therefore still exposed towards third parties. The sale contract is certified (solemnised) by a notary public, who must send it to the cadastre within 24 hours (Art. 22 and 23 of that Act).

When is ownership acquired by adverse possession?

Adverse possession (održaj) is the acquisition of ownership through long possession. For real estate, 10 years of possession that is both in good faith and lawful (based on a valid legal ground and not obtained by force, fraud or abuse of trust) is required, or 20 years if the possession is merely in good faith (Art. 28 and 72). Good faith is presumed. The time of predecessors in possession is counted (Art. 30). Ownership acquired this way arises by operation of law, but in practice a court action to establish ownership is needed for registration and for security against third parties.

What is the conversion of the right of use into ownership?

On construction land from the former system, many building owners were registered only as holders of a right of use. The Planning and Construction Act provides that the right of use on construction land is converted into ownership free of charge, and the cadastre registers it ex officio (Art. 102). Exceptions apply to sports associations, cooperatives, persons covered by Annex G of the Succession Agreement and socially owned enterprises. The earlier Act on Conversion of the Right of Use into Ownership on Construction Land for a Fee (Sl. glasnik RS Nos. 64/15 and 9/20) was repealed by the 2023 amendments to the Planning and Construction Act (No. 62/2023).

How is ownership protected when someone holds my property or interferes with it?

The owner may bring an action for recovery (reivindikaciona tužba) against whoever holds an individually determined thing; the owner must prove ownership and that the thing is in the defendant's hands (Art. 37). Interference short of dispossession is met with the action against interference (negatorna tužba, Art. 42). Neither action is time-barred. Where speed matters more than proving title, there is possessory protection: an action for disturbance of possession within 30 days of learning of it, and no later than one year after the disturbance (Art. 77), in which the court does not examine who the owner is (Art. 78).

What does ZOSPO say about usufruct and the right of residence?

Very little. The Act only states that usufruct (plodouživanje), the right of use, the right of residence and real burdens are regulated by statute (Art. 60), and no such statute has been enacted. In practice, courts apply the legal rules of pre-war civil law to these rights, on the basis of the Act on the Invalidity of Legal Regulations Adopted before 6 April 1941 (Sl. list FNRJ No. 86/46), which allows those rules to be applied to relations not regulated by current law (Art. 4). ZOSPO mentions usufruct only in passing: the usufructuary acquires the fruits on separation (Art. 27) and the owner who has handed the thing to a usufructuary keeps indirect possession (Art. 70). The Inheritance Act gives a surviving spouse in the second order of succession the right to claim a life usufruct over the estate (Art. 23).

Can a foreign national own real estate in Serbia?

Yes, subject to reciprocity. A foreign individual who does not carry on a business in Serbia may acquire an apartment or a residential building on the same footing as a Serbian citizen, and a foreign person carrying on a business may acquire the real estate needed for it (Art. 82a). By inheritance a foreign national acquires real estate under the condition of reciprocity (Art. 82b). Movables are acquired on the same terms as by domestic persons (Art. 82). Particular areas may be excluded by a separate statute, and agricultural land is subject to special rules in the Agricultural Land Act.