The legal path to an apparently unsolvable problem
Allow me to present another legal issue I encountered during my career.
What I’ve noticed is that a significant number of people in Serbia face such situations and often consider them unsolvable. I will try to simplify and shorten the story so that it is understandable to everyone, and I believe that those who have the same or similar problem will clearly understand what I am talking about.
The apartment was purchased in 1991 from a then-state-owned company, by an individual.
The individual then carried out a “judicial settlement without the expertise and legal possibilities” in court. It is an apartment of 36 square meters, and it was indivisible, both then and now.
There was a physical division of the apartment into two parts (2×18 square meters) without registration in the cadastre. The apartment was thus divided and sold, with one half being sold, while the other was not. The contract at that time was notarized by the court for the sale of 18 square meters or 1/2. Let me remind you that, during those years, there were no notaries in the legal system.
The conscientious buyer then paid the purchase price based on the court notarization and could not carry out the cadastral registration of ownership, nor could they sell the property.
Meanwhile, notaries were introduced into the legal system, but they will not notarize such a contract for the property. The property or apartment “cannot be divided by court decisions.”
The client was unable to resolve the situation for the next 25 years, even though they were a conscientious buyer. The apartment was bought from an agency, and they certainly paid a commission for it, and a contract was made for the acquired property.
To register the property in the cadastre and sell it, 25 years after the conscientious acquisition, the client needed to obtain the following in an “administrative procedure”:
A building permit, and
An occupancy permit.
A lawsuit against the legal entity from whom the apartment was purchased (in 1991), as well as the seller (the first in this legal story) for damages and/or the agency that carried out the documentation, check when purchasing the apartment (the current owner/conscientious buyer) was not an option. Instead, they wanted to legally/permitly retain the property with ownership registration before the Cadastre.
