Buying a house

Buying a house

So you like Susak so much that you decided to buy a house there! That’s great news - congratulation!

There are a few pitfalls you should be aware of. In text that follows you can find out what to watch out for.

Part 1 - Inheritance without heirs

Plenty of Susak’s houses are over 100 years old. Since the houses were constructed in 18th century they changed owners many times. This hapend through sale or through inheritance (after the previous owner died). Each time the ownership changes it should be recorded in the Land Registry in Mali Lošinj.

The start of the 20th century marks the beginning of exodus of Susak’s people first to Italy and then to United States. Whole families leave for better life abroad, leaving houses which they once occupied behind. In time more and more houses become abandoned.

On the other end of the world, in United States, people find work, have children settle down. Their children have children. They grow old, retire and eventually die. Today children of original emigrants are also getting old and are starting to die.

At the same time their houses on Susak lie abandoned. Many offspring who are scattered all accross the United States and the world are unaware that they rightfully own a fraction of a house their ancestors left behind on Susak. The recored in land registry are not updated, so they still list the original emigrants as owners.

Part 2 - 1936 census

Until the WWII Susak was part of Italy. In year 1936 the state of Italy conducts a census, which also entails updating real estate records. They wanted to determin who is living in or using which house. Residents didn’t have to provide any evidence apart their own statement, which enabled anybody with access to to claim a property.

At that time many houses at Susak were already abandoned, whith their owners already living in United States. Some people who still remained on Susak saw an opportunity to claim rights on real estate which wasn’t rightfully theirs. True owners were far away in the US and were unaware of what was happening.

The information gathered through census is recorded in cadastre in Mali Lošinj. Names of the people occupying or using the real esate are recorded into corresponding property deed. Proprietorship register stored are Land Registry is not updated so it still contained names of real owners.

Part 3 - Real estate brokers

In the seventies and eighties of the 20th century, Susak became an interesting tourist destination, and more and more people are becoming interested in buying houses there.

Although the interested customers have cash on hand, they often can’t by the house they want. There’s one obstacle: they can not find the legitimate owners of the property!

After a while real estate brokers started popping up, offering their service for a fee.

Brokers are usually Susak emigrants, who occasionally return from the United States to their native island. They present themselves as a person with good connections in Susak Diaspora, and offer a service of finding the owner or people who inherited the house.

To help speed up the matters they also offer to act as legal representative of the owners. That way owners don’t need to travel from USA to Croatia. The buyer will never deal with the owners directly - in fact they may never see them!

Part 4 - Fraud

Brokers can indeed help in the process of getting in touch with legitimate property owners!

This however is not always possible - sometimes heirs can not be found! In such situations, mediators are known to try to find people whose names have been entered in the cadastral register (in the 1936 census they were registered as real estate users)!

There’s one slight problem. People registered cadastral register are not the legal owners and can not sell the property - it’s not theirs to sell!

Despite being aware of this fact brokers withold this information from potential buyers. Brokers instead present the these people (the ones they found) as heirs and legal owners of the property.

To make the matter worse, to untrained eye everything seems legal: property deed found in cadastral records really does contain names of ancestors of people represented by broker. Brokers create an illusion by use this document as a proof of ownership. IT IS NOT!!! … continue reading.

Part 5 - Revelation

Proud new owners are already dreaming of enjoying their new house on Susak, not realizing their pink dream will soon turn into a nightmare!

First sign of trouble becomes apparent when the new owners visit the Land Registry Office in Mali Lošinj to register themselves as new owners of the purchased house. To their horror, their request is denied.

Soon they learn that property deed found in cadastre is not a proof of ownership. The only legual document proving ownership is proprietorship register stored in Land Registry Office in Mali Lošinj. They have been cheated!

Oh my God! What has just happend!? We should have been careful!

And money … where’s our money ?!

The money is already far away in the US, along with the friendly broker!

Part 6 - Nightmare

What follows is the nightmare. Although buyers do start using the house, the are restless. They can not stop worrying that one day legitimate owners can come knocking on the door wanting their house back!

An additional problem is that there is no way back. The money is gone and the house can not be sold to somebody else. Every smart new buyers will check the Land Registry and will see who the real owner of the property is!

Measures of precaution

When buying real estate, always check the Land register office of Mali Lošinj and ask for proprietorship register.

Ignore property deed from cadastre - it is not proof of ownership!

Regardless of whether you negotiate business with a broker or an owner directly, make sure to do the following:

In case you deal with the broker, take all he says with a grain of salt! No matter how friendly the broker is never follow he’s advice blindly. Remember that they are motivated only by money - your money!

Disclaimer

I am not a lawyer! Information given in the text above do not represent legal advice - use them at your own risk. Always seek legal advice from a lawyer!

Hi! How can we help you today? 😀
Chat with Susak