Buyers negotiate the flat. What they acquire is the flat plus a permanent position inside a structure nobody negotiated with them: a share of the building, a share of the land under it, a voting position in an assembly, and a running cost obligation that can be enforced without anyone going to court first.
None of that is hidden. It sits in two statutes that most foreign buyers never see, and it is worth twenty minutes before completion rather than a surprise in the second year.
Sources used: Zakon o svojinsko-pravnim odnosima (Law on Property Relations), Official Gazette of Montenegro no. 19/2009, Chapter VII on etažna svojina, which absorbed most of the 2004 Law on Condominium Ownership; Zakon o održavanju stambenih zgrada (Law on Maintenance of Residential Buildings), consolidated text comprising Official Gazette of Montenegro nos. 041/16, 084/18, the Constitutional Court decision U-I no. 40/20 of 28 July 2022 published at 111/22, 140/22 and 084/24.
What you actually acquire
Article 161 of the Law on Property Relations defines etažna svojina as ownership of a special part of a residential or business building indivisibly connected with defined rights over the common parts of the building and over the land on which the building stands.
Three provisions turn that definition into consequences. Article 169 gives the owner exclusive ownership of the special part. Article 170 gives all owners joint indivisible ownership of the common parts serving the building as a whole — and gives only the relevant owners joint indivisible ownership of parts serving some units but not all. Article 171 does the same for the urban parcel on which the building stands.
Article 173 completes the picture: rights over the land and the common parts are indivisibly connected with the rights over the special part, so every change in the one carries across to the other. You cannot sell the flat and keep the land share, and you cannot be sold a flat whose land share was quietly retained.
Article 165 defines the special parts: flats, business premises, separate cellars, separate attics, separate garages and parking places. It also treats open balconies and terraces as ancillary special parts — which is not the same thing as saying you may do what you like with them, as the next section explains.
The common-parts list contains the surprises
Article 166 lists what is common, and buyers who skim it usually stop too early. The list runs from foundations, vertical and inter-floor structure and roof, through common terraces, to lifts, chimneys, fire systems and escapes.
Two entries are worth reading slowly.
First, the façade of the building, including windows and doors, is a common part. So are the external protection elements — shutters, blinds and similar. The window in your living room is, in law, part of a shared element.
Second, the installations are common up to the meter or the valve: gas and electricity up to the meter for the unit, the main water installation to the point where it separates for the individual flat or to the meter inside it, common central heating to the radiator valve, telephone, television and intercom installations to the point of separation into the unit. That is where "yours" begins.
Article 175 then sets the limit on what you may do. An owner may alter their own part in accordance with construction rules, provided the alteration does not touch another owner's part or the parts serving the building as a whole. Alterations that would disturb the architectural appearance of the building, or reduce its safety or stability, are not permitted, and an owner who infringes another's rights owes appropriate compensation.
Read together with Article 166, that is the legal answer to the most common renovation dispute in Montenegrin buildings: glazing a balcony, replacing windows with a different profile, or fitting an external unit on the façade is not simply an interior decision.
Article 174 adds the maintenance duty in the other direction. An owner repairs their own part at their own expense, must remove without delay any defect that damages other parts or compromises their functioning, is liable for damage caused, and must allow access to their unit where that is needed to maintain the common parts.
Who decides, and by what majority
The building is not a loose collection of neighbours. Under Article 163 of the Law on Property Relations, a residential building has the capacity of a legal person in transactions relating to its maintenance and use. Under the Law on Maintenance of Residential Buildings it acquires a registration number and activity code and holds its own bank account.
Management sits with the owners through two organs: the assembly and the upravnik, the building manager. Under Article 188 a manager is elected once there are more than four owners, for a four-year term, and may be an owner or an external person or company registered for management. Where owners fail to constitute the organs at all, Article 189 allows the municipality to appoint a temporary manager, on request or of its own motion — a power the maintenance statute repeats.
Majorities matter more than most buyers expect. Under Article 186 the assembly decides when more than half its members are present; each owner has one vote; decisions on regular maintenance and urgent works are taken by a majority of those present. But decisions beyond regular maintenance — extension of the building, converting parts into business premises, necessary works — require the consent of members holding more than half the total area of the special parts. Area, not heads.
Assembly decisions bind every owner and the manager. An owner who disagrees may bring an action to annul a decision, but only within 30 days of its publication (Article 187).
What it costs, and how it is collected
Here the maintenance statute takes over, and it is specific.
Under its Article 16, the costs of regular maintenance and of necessary and urgent works on the building and on the urban parcel are borne by the owners in proportion to the net area of their special parts within the total area of all special parts, according to actual costs. As an advance against those costs, owners pay monthly into the building's common account at one point per m² of net residential or business area, and half a point per m² for non-residential space such as common attics, laundries, drying rooms, corridors, halls, cellars, garages and parking places.
The value of a point is set by the assembly and may not be less than €0.20. There is an exception worth knowing if you are buying in a resort development: the point value may instead be fixed in the contract transferring ownership of a unit in a tourist zone, or by a special agreement of the owners. If you are handed a transfer contract that sets your building's point value, that is where it comes from.
Two further rules in the same article are easy to miss. Costs of parts owned by only some owners — cellars, garages, parking places — are borne by those owners. And the developer must bear the maintenance costs alone, organise maintenance and take steps to form the management organs for one year from transfer. In a new building, the first year is not supposed to be your problem.
Then Article 20, which changes the character of the whole obligation. The local authority, acting of its own motion, issues a rješenje calculating the amount and the manner of payment, naming the owner and the area of the unit. And the article states plainly that this decision is an enforcement title in enforcement proceedings.
That is the sentence to take seriously. Unpaid building contributions in Montenegro do not require the building to sue you and win. The administrative decision is itself the instrument on which enforcement proceeds.
| Question | Position |
|---|---|
| What you own outright | Your flat, cellar, garage or parking place as a special part |
| What you own jointly and indivisibly | The common parts and the urban parcel under the building |
| Where your part begins | At the meter or valve; installations up to that point are common |
| Windows, doors and façade | Common parts, not private |
| Ordinary maintenance decisions | Majority of assembly members present, one vote each |
| Works beyond ordinary maintenance | Owners holding more than half the total area of special parts |
| Challenging a decision | Court action within 30 days of publication |
| Contributions | Proportional to net area; advance of 1 point/m², 0.5 for non-residential; point value set by assembly, minimum €0.20 |
| Enforcement of arrears | The local authority's decision is an enforcement title |
| First year in a new building | The developer bears maintenance and must form the management organs |
Buying from someone who owes money
The obvious question is whether arrears follow the flat.
Neither statute creates a charge over the unit that binds a later acquirer. The contribution obligation is framed as the owner's, and the enforceable decision under Article 20 names the owner and the area of that owner's unit. What the maintenance statute does impose, in Article 23, is a duty to report: owners must notify the assembly or the manager of any change in the disposal of the special part, and the manager must pass that on to the local authority.
The practical conclusion for a buyer is not "ignore it". It is that the protection here is documentary rather than automatic. Ask the manager for a written statement of the unit's account before completion, ask whether an Article 20 decision has been issued, and deal with any balance expressly in the contract rather than assuming it evaporates on transfer.
If you intend to let the flat, Article 23 has two more deadlines. Written notice of the tenancy must reach the manager within 15 days, with the parties' details, the area let and the duration. And a copy of the lease, notarised, must reach the tax authority within 15 days of signature.
Before completion
The checks are short. Ask who the manager is and whether the management organs actually exist. Ask for the assembly's decision on the point value, and for the account statement for the unit. Ask whether any works beyond regular maintenance have been voted, because those are decided by area and may already bind you. Look at whether balconies, terraces or windows have been altered, and whether that was ever approved. And in a new building, ask what the developer did during its year.
Send the documents through the contact page or look through the services directory. Related reading: the property purchase process, the use permit and what it proves, and the due diligence checklist.
This page is general information on a statutory regime and not advice on a specific building.
