Buying or selling an apartment in Serbia can sometimes feel like this: you agree on the price, shake hands, and think the difficult part is over — and then, seemingly out of nowhere, come the notary, estate agency fee, taxes, Land Registry costs and a few other expenses nobody mentioned at the beginning.
The good news is that the apparent chaos becomes much easier to understand once you remember one simple rule: some costs are determined by Serbian law, while others depend on what the buyer and seller agree in the contract.
There is no single rule in Serbia stating that the buyer always pays all transaction costs, or that the seller always does.
The short answer: in common real estate practice in Serbia, notary and Land Registry costs are usually allocated by agreement between the parties; the estate agency fee is paid by whoever entered into a brokerage agreement with the agency; and when it comes to taxes, you first need to establish which tax applies — property transfer tax, VAT or capital gains tax.
Is there one rule determining who pays all the costs?
No — and this is exactly where much of the confusion begins.
A real estate transaction in Serbia involves at least four separate issues: notarisation of the sale contract, any applicable estate agency commission, taxation, and the cost of registering ownership with the Real Estate Cadastre.
Each of these is governed by its own rules. This is why saying that “the buyer pays everything” may sound convenient, but it is not legally precise.
It is therefore much better to discuss not only the purchase price at the beginning of negotiations, but also which party will bear each additional transaction cost.
When this is clearly stated in the preliminary agreement or final sale contract, there is far less room for last-minute arguments and the familiar: “But I thought the other side was supposed to pay that.”
Who pays the notary in Serbia?
Contracts for the transfer of real estate in Serbia must be executed in the legally prescribed form and solemnised by a public notary.
In practical terms, a property sale cannot be validly completed without the involvement of a notary.
Public notary fees are regulated by an official tariff and are not freely negotiable. The fee for solemnising the contract is calculated under the applicable tariff and is linked to the value of the transaction.
So what is the practical answer to the question: Who pays the notary?
Serbian law does not simply state that the cost must always be paid exclusively by the buyer or exclusively by the seller.
The applicable tariff governs the notary’s fees and expenses, while in practice the parties agree on who will ultimately bear those costs.
Sometimes it is the buyer, sometimes the seller, and sometimes the parties split the expense.
In residential property transactions in Serbia, it is very common for the buyer to pay the notary costs. However, this is common practice rather than an automatic legal rule that applies regardless of what the parties have agreed.
Important: when it comes to notary costs, the key question is not only “How much does it cost?” but also “Have we clearly agreed who pays it?” The tariff determines the amount; the agreement between the parties determines who ultimately bears the cost.
Who pays the estate agency fee?
Here, the rule is more straightforward than many people assume:
The estate agency fee is paid by the party that entered into a brokerage agreement with the agency.
Under Serbian brokerage rules, the client of the agency may be either the seller or the buyer. The client who engages the broker undertakes to pay the agreed brokerage fee.
As a general rule, the broker becomes entitled to the fee once the transaction for which it provided brokerage services has been concluded, unless otherwise agreed.
In practical terms, if only the seller hired an estate agency, the seller would normally pay the agreed commission.
If the buyer has separately engaged an agency as well, the buyer may also have an agency fee to pay.
This means that a single property transaction can legitimately involve two separate brokerage fees — one on the seller’s side and one on the buyer’s side — if both parties have separately entered into brokerage agreements.
The amount of the commission and the method used to calculate it should be specified in the agency’s general terms and in the brokerage agreement itself.
So when someone says, “The buyer always pays the agency,” that is simply not correct as a general rule in Serbia.
The accurate rule is:
The party that has contractually undertaken the obligation towards the estate agency pays the brokerage fee.
Who pays tax when buying a resale property in Serbia?
This is where misunderstandings become particularly common.
When an existing property is sold — in other words, a resale property rather than a new-build property being sold for the first time by a developer — the relevant tax is usually property transfer tax, formally known in Serbia as the tax on the transfer of absolute rights.
The rate is 2.5%.
Under Serbian law, the taxpayer in a standard property sale is the seller, as the person transferring the right.
However — and this is an important distinction between the legal rule and common practice in Serbia — the sale contract may provide that the buyer will bear the cost of the tax.
Where this is agreed, the seller remains the formal taxpayer, while the buyer assumes liability for payment under the contractual arrangement and may also bear statutory liability in relation to the tax obligation.
This is why many people in Serbia have the impression that “the buyer always pays the property transfer tax”, even though the legal starting point is that the seller is the taxpayer.
This distinction is one of the most important in the entire transaction:
The statutory taxpayer and the person who ultimately bears the economic cost under the contract are not necessarily the same person.
Unless you distinguish between the two, it is very easy to give an inaccurate answer to the apparently simple question: “Who pays the tax?”
What if the buyer is purchasing their first home?
For resale properties in Serbia, an important tax exemption may be available to qualifying first-time homebuyers.
Subject to the statutory conditions, a first-time buyer may qualify for an exemption from property transfer tax for up to 40 m² for the buyer, plus an additional 15 m² for each qualifying member of the buyer’s household.
Property area exceeding the applicable exemption limit remains taxable.
This is one of those situations where failing to check eligibility can literally mean leaving a significant amount of money on the table.
Do not rely solely on someone telling you informally that “you should qualify”.
The conditions should be checked carefully and the necessary documentation prepared properly. The relevant supporting documents are submitted as part of the procedure, which is then processed through the competent Serbian authorities.
Practical rule for resale property in Serbia: first ask whether the 2.5% property transfer tax applies, and immediately afterwards ask whether the buyer qualifies for a first-home exemption. These are two separate questions, and both can materially change the final cost of the transaction.
Who pays tax on a new-build property in Serbia?
The situation is different when you buy a newly built apartment directly from a developer that is registered for VAT.
For the first transfer of such a newly built property, VAT applies instead of the 2.5% property transfer tax.
For residential property, the applicable VAT treatment generally means that VAT is calculated by the seller and included in the price paid by the buyer.
In plain English: when you buy a new-build apartment from a developer in Serbia, the buyer usually pays a purchase price that already includes VAT rather than paying a separate 2.5% property transfer tax.
If the buyer is purchasing their first home and satisfies the statutory requirements, they may be entitled to a VAT refund.
This is different from the property transfer tax exemption available for resale properties and should not be confused with it.
So:
- Resale property: usually property transfer tax, potentially with a first-home exemption.
- Qualifying new-build property bought from a developer: VAT, potentially with a first-home VAT refund.
They are two different tax mechanisms.
What about capital gains tax?
There is another potential tax cost that buyers and sellers often overlook — and one that can come as an unpleasant surprise to the seller:
capital gains tax.
This is not a tax paid by the buyer for acquiring the property.
It is a tax that may arise for an individual seller if the property is sold for more than its acquisition value, adjusted in accordance with the applicable Serbian tax rules.
The capital gains tax rate is 15%.
So when someone says, “I sold the apartment and the buyer paid the tax,” that does not necessarily mean the seller has no further tax obligations.
The buyer may bear the property transfer tax under the sale contract, or may effectively bear VAT through the purchase price of a new-build property, while the seller may separately have a capital gains tax liability.
Serbian tax rules also provide for potential relief from capital gains tax where the proceeds from the sale are used to resolve the seller’s housing needs, provided the statutory conditions and deadlines are met.
Who pays for registration with the Real Estate Cadastre?
The practical logic here is relatively straightforward:
The cost of registration is usually borne by the person in whose favour the registration is being made, or by the applicant.
In an ordinary apartment purchase in Serbia, this will most often mean that the buyer pays the cost of registering their ownership right with the Real Estate Cadastre.
However, if the transaction also involves removing a mortgage or another encumbrance connected with the seller, the allocation of that particular cost may depend on what is being registered or deleted, who is making the application and whose interest the change serves.
This is why saying simply that “the buyer pays the Cadastre” is not always sufficiently precise.
Another important feature of modern real estate transactions in Serbia is that much of the paperwork is handled electronically through the public notary and the competent authorities.
Where the relevant document has been prepared, certified or solemnised by a public notary, much of the documentation is transmitted electronically through the official system rather than requiring the parties to complete every administrative step independently.
What does this look like in a typical transaction?
Suppose a resale apartment in Serbia is sold for €100,000.
The seller has engaged an estate agency, while the buyer has not.
The sale contract states that the buyer will bear the notary cost, property transfer tax and the cost of registering ownership with the Real Estate Cadastre.
In that scenario, the seller would normally pay their estate agency commission and may also need to consider whether capital gains tax applies.
The buyer, meanwhile, would bear the notary cost, the 2.5% property transfer tax and the registration cost.
But this is important:
The buyer bears those costs because that is what the parties agreed in the contract — not because one universal rule in Serbia automatically requires the buyer to pay every transaction cost.
If that same buyer qualifies as a first-time homebuyer, the calculation changes because the property transfer tax may be reduced or eliminated within the statutory area limits.
If the property is instead a new-build apartment purchased directly from a developer, the tax treatment changes again: VAT applies instead of property transfer tax, and the buyer may potentially qualify for a first-home VAT refund.
What do people most often forget before signing?
There are four particularly common mistakes in real estate transactions in Serbia.
The first is failing to distinguish between a resale property and a new-build property.
The second is confusing property transfer tax with capital gains tax.
The third is assuming that the estate agency fee is automatically paid by one particular side, rather than checking who actually entered into a brokerage agreement and undertook the obligation to pay the commission.
And the fourth is leaving notary and Cadastre costs unstated in the contract because everyone assumes that “it is obvious who pays”.
The most expensive mistake is often not the amount of the fee itself — it is an unclear contract. When the allocation of costs has not been clearly agreed, the argument tends to happen at exactly the worst moment: when everyone simply wants to complete the transaction and collect the keys.
So, who usually pays what in Serbia?
If we had to summarise common Serbian real estate practice in a single sentence, it would be this:
The buyer commonly pays the notary and Real Estate Cadastre costs; the estate agency fee is paid by whoever entered into the brokerage agreement; the seller is the statutory taxpayer for property transfer tax, although in practice the contract often shifts the economic cost to the buyer; new-build purchases are generally subject to VAT instead of property transfer tax; and the seller may also have a separate capital gains tax liability.
This is precisely why professional assistance can be extremely useful when buying or selling property in Serbia.
A good real estate professional does much more than “unlock the apartment and arrange a viewing”.
Their role is also to help you understand which costs arise under Serbian law, which costs can be allocated by agreement, where tax relief may be available, and what should be clearly stated in the contract before you sign.
In a real estate transaction, that clarity is often worth far more than it first appears.
