When you find the desired new-build apartment, the purchasing process itself seems straightforward. The sales agent is friendly and persuasive, the developer seems reliable, they even have their own lawyer, and the notary will perform all checks. All you need to do is pay and move in—everything else seems like just a formality, right?
In reality, it’s not that simple. In Serbia, buyers of apartments under construction are not automatically protected unless they take steps to protect themselves. Paradoxically, a consumer buying a product in a store has a proportionally higher level of protection than a buyer of an apartment under construction, even though the financial stakes are much higher. If buyers are unaware of the risks involved in purchasing a new-build apartment, they will easily encounter preventable oversights that are difficult to fix.
As a lawyer who has advised clients on real estate transactions for years, I can tell you: even successful, educated people make mistakes when they assume the legal part is “just a formality,” even though buying a new apartment in Belgrade may be the largest investment of their lives. Here are common misconceptions that can seriously jeopardize your investment and cost you both money and stress.
- The render of the new development looks amazing – it will be a top-notch complex
I have to admit, it happened to me too: at a meeting, I was completely captivated by the sales pitch and the glowing render. It didn’t even matter that the apartments were small and the location wasn’t ideal. With beautiful images, they explained how life in the complex would be fantastic! There would be activities for all ages, a large residents’ pool, and for the future, a magically beautiful park next to the building with trees already being ordered straight from Asia! They intentionally wouldn’t sell the commercial units but would carefully select tenants—high-end shops, restaurants, and other services. Since the developer would also live there, everything would be flawless. What really blew me away was the dog park—safely fenced, with agility equipment, the only one of its kind in the city. That’s it—I wanted to live there.
Of course, all it took was sleeping on it to realize that buyers aren’t purchasing a dog park—or any other part of the complex—but exclusively the apartment itself, defined by walls whose thickness is also included in the square footage and price. The contract didn’t mention the commercial units, the pool, or the park (which would have had to be on state-owned land anyway—but who checks that…). Today, even though the complex was eventually built and occupied after years of delay (of course, without a proper occupancy permit), it still doesn’t have a pool and the commercial units are a mix of random shops. The dog park remained only on that render on someone’s server and in my imagination.
The buyer only buys what is written in the contract. Everything important to you should be stated there, and you should additionally perform all necessary legal, and also factual-technical, checks. Marketing stories remain a matter of the seller’s goodwill and often end up as nothing more than amusing anecdotes. The seller is absolutely not obliged to fulfill verbal promises (nor will you be able to prove them) if they are not ultimately included in the contract.
There are also well-known cases where a buyer purchased a penthouse for the view, only for the developer to change the project in the next phase, adding additional buildings twice as tall. The penthouse buyer is now left worrying about potential leaks (and hope it is covered by a warranty that someone will be there to fulfill), while the highest apartment has become one positioned in the middle of the complex. Instead of a stunning view, they got the view of others onto their terrace and apartment. Naturally, the contract made no mention of the complex’s final height or the penthouse view, which was crucial to the buyer.
- The preliminary contract isn’t important, we’ll sort out the main contract later
I remember situations where a buyer said: “We just signed the preliminary contract to reserve the apartment; we’ll sort out the main contract later.” Of course, the developer then had no reason to change anything that suited them, especially provisions the buyer agreed to in the preliminary contract (for example, that the developer bears no consequences for construction delays, even though the buyer paid everything on time).
By signing a preliminary contract, you undertake the obligation to conclude the main contract, with the clauses stated in the preliminary contract. The preliminary contract must contain all legally necessary elements of the main contract (and problems rarely arise here) but very often contains almost all other provisions that will be in the main contract (where problems often arise later for the buyer). What you accept in the preliminary contract is practically like hammering in a nail: the other party is not obliged to remove or change it in the main contract. On the contrary, you are committing to sign the main contract with exactly those terms, without modification. A good real estate lawyer can help you negotiate many improvements, but some things are not negotiable. It’s crucial to seek expert advice right from the start, already at the stage of reviewing the preliminary contract.
I know—it’s hard to resist the pressure: “If you don’t sign the preliminary contract today, there are three other buyers waiting for the same apartment” or “We want to finalize this quickly so the project can move forward.” In practice, very little is truly urgent, and it often turns out that there’s no rush for the developer to fulfill any of their obligations. Delays are almost normal and generally expected.
- The contract is not to be changed, everyone signs the same one, the lawyer should just ‘take a look’
Investors would like everyone to sign a pre-prepared “template contract.” The agent assures you that “all buyers sign it like this” and that “there is no need to change anything.” This particularly applies to residential or apartment complex projects where a large number of units are being sold and sales agents are not authorized to make changes themselves to the pre-set terms. As a rule, they have also undergone training on what is important to present to the buyer from a marketing perspective (often served with coffee and chocolates) and how to induce them to simply sign everything that is presented to them in a pleasant environment, accompanied by an even more pleasant conversation full of logical explanations and vividly depicted future.
But this is not buying a phone, nor is it a standard utility contract for electricity. Every buyer has the right to negotiate and change the terms. The problem is that buyers are often swayed by the deliberately created atmosphere of “hurry, almost sold out” and sign hastily without adequate professional support. An even bigger mistake is asking a lawyer to “just take a look.” If a lawyer does this, even though it was at your request – know that you do not have a true representative, but someone who is only formally skimming the papers.
- The agency handles everything and has its own lawyer – I don’t have to worry about a thing
A real estate agency can indeed coordinate the buying process. But their primary goal is to close the deal quickly and collect their commission—not to ensure that you are fully protected. Typically, even a licensed real estate agent doesn’t have a law degree or adequate legal knowledge and experience to safeguard your interests.
Even when they say they have “their own lawyers,” those lawyers represent them, not you. Unless you specifically raise certain legal concerns (and buyers often don’t, simply because they don’t know what to ask), the agency’s lawyer won’t address them or warn you about potential risks involved in buying an apartment in a new build. I remember a buyer who was taken aback when the agency’s lawyer said: “I only do what the agency instructs me to do. If you wanted something different, you should have told them.”
The lack of expertise and haste among some agents are also evidenced by their reactions, which I, unfortunately, personally encountered in practice. One commented in shock, “Can you believe the buyer actually asked to see the building permit? What does he think this is?” Another said: “The buyer says it’s not nice that the contract can’t be changed, well, we’re not at a beauty pageant where things need to be nice, we need to close the deal!”
The irony is that viewing the building permit is the bare minimum, and negotiating the contract is a completely normal part of the job, not a whim or an exaggeration.
To find out what real estate agencies must fulfill and what to expect from them, read my text on real estate agencies.
- The notary checks everything – nothing can go wrong
Every real estate purchase contract in Serbia must be signed before a public notary, in a legally prescribed form—which indeed provides an important level of legal security. However, a notary cannot protect you from all risks (nor is that their duty), especially not from the risks you knowingly accept.
Have you ever carefully read the notary’s certification clauses—the fine print after the contract text, written in small letters and separated by dashed lines? You’ll notice that the notary warns you there about many potential risks of buying an apartment under construction, and that by signing the contract you acknowledge that you are aware of them. If any of those risks materialize—well, you agreed to them yourself. That’s why it’s crucial to fully understand what you’re signing, and to minimize your exposure to risk with proper legal guidance.
Many additional terms can be negotiated and included in the contract—sometimes even decisive ones—but buyers often don’t realize they can be regulated contractually. The seller, typically an experienced developer, knows very well what’s better left out of the contract to avoid extra obligations. The buyer, on the other hand—usually less experienced—often assumes such things are implied, without realizing that only what’s written in the contract is legally binding (and enforceable in court, if needed). Ironically, it’s often precisely those “missing details” that later cause serious problems—and ensuring they’re included is not the notary’s responsibility.
I’ve also seen clients misled by incorrect information they received at the notary’s office after signing. How is that possible? The notary’s role is to certify the contract, but that doesn’t mean they are experts on every aspect of real estate law—for example, on VAT refund procedures for first-time homebuyers. Sometimes notary staff don’t know all the answers, but reluctant to admit it, they may give incomplete or even incorrect information. The clerk at the notary’s desk is responsible for handling procedural and technical matters—not for providing detailed legal advice.
- “The addendum was short, nothing important.”
This is a mistake I often discover when a client contacts me because the other party isn’t complying with the contract. I ask: “Was there, by any chance, an addendum?” Client: “No. Well, actually yes, there was one, but it only clarified a small technical detail, just one sentence—nothing important.”
Still, I ask to take a look at it, so I can at least properly refer to the full document when sending a warning to the other party. And then, when I “just take a look,” it turns out that there’s a clause—or even just part of a sentence—that changes things completely. For example, the signed addendum doesn’t explicitly say the buyer is waiving anything, but it does state that Article 5 paragraph 2 point 3 is being amended, even though that point in the original contract also referred (in a small part) to a deadline mentioned in Article 7 paragraph 4—which is now missing. By signing that “minor” change, you’ve unknowingly lost all rights tied to that deadline. What can I say, except—what a shame. If only you’d sent me that one “harmless” sentence before signing the addendum, everything would have been different.
- The handover protocol is just pro forma; we’ll sign it and then easily check everything later
No, that’s not true—especially the “we’ll easily check later” part.
I understand the seller’s need to hand over the apartment as soon as possible and avoid breaching deadlines, as well as the buyer’s excitement to finally move into a long-awaited home. But what if you receive a half-finished apartment—scratched doors, broken locks, windows that don’t close properly, unvarnished floors, missing baseboards, cracked walls—and you’ve already signed a report stating you received the property “without any defects”? (because the sales agent “nicely explained” that the report is just a formality, that everyone signs it that way, and any issues are “always resolved later.”)
Later, when you call the developer or contractors, you’ll be the one trying to prove that you didn’t scratch the windows yourself or agree to that shade of flooring. The developer will simply tell you, “You signed everything,” and add that “cracked walls are normal in a new building because it’s settling.” The part about “fixing things later” suddenly disappears from the conversation, and if you remind them it was said, you’ll just get a blank stare.
An additional problem arises if the contract doesn’t clearly define the installed materials or specify any deadlines for remedying defects. In that case, you might end up with an apartment that still isn’t finished even a year after moving in.
- The seller verbally promised that he—or someone else—would take care of it.
Just because a developer casually mentioned that “one day” they’ll build stairs over the hill to connect the residential complex below with the neighborhood above doesn’t make it a legal obligation. Buyers were understandably disappointed when, years later, the buildings were finished—but the stairs were still nowhere to be seen.
I once witnessed a seller getting a bit too creative and saying that the large state-owned facility supplying the entire city (the one the apartment’s windows would overlook) was “scheduled for demolition next year,” because “the Chinese are coming to build a new one somewhere else.” That was three years ago. The facility is still standing—and the new building’s proud owners now have a lovely industrial view.
Similarly, one of my clients, who lives abroad, was convinced that the seller had built a certain access road, since that was “promised” at the very start of the negotiations (though, of course, not mentioned in the signed contract). He was shocked when I showed him photos from a construction forum—nothing but mud and puddles leading to the complex. When he confronted the seller, the response was: “Oh, I never said I’d build it—just that the city plans to build a road there someday.” When exactly? Nobody knows. It’s up to the city.
The seller cannot promise that the city will build something nearby, or that something next to it will be demolished one day, and you cannot be sure that it will actually happen, nor can you legally demand that the seller fulfill a verbal promise of a side obligation. All you can demand from the seller is what is their contractual or statutory obligation.
- If something goes wrong, I can always sue the seller.
Factually, that’s true. Practically, it’s a long and painful road. Court proceedings can drag on for years. You’ll need to gather evidence, pay for expert assessments, cover legal fees—all while time passes and your energy slowly fades.
And even if you win the case, the seller might no longer have the means to fulfill the judgment or compensate your loss. There might simply be nothing left to collect from.
Even reputable developers typically establish a new company for each project—a company that owns nothing besides the land on which the building is constructed. Once the project is completed, the units sold, the bank loan repaid, and the contractors paid off, that company often becomes empty—without assets, without liquidity, and without any real way to pay damages.
So, rather than relying on the courtroom years later, isn’t it much wiser to negotiate everything beforehand—and minimize the risk of ending up there at all?
- The developer and/or the agent said it’s not important.
I was personally taken aback by the casual attitude of a certain “renowned” developer during negotiations when the following happened: The construction site manager (who clearly came unwillingly to assist the sales agent) seemed almost offended when we asked what materials were used for the roof and how the insulation was done in a penthouse apartment. After a puzzled “Why do you even care?” he gave a short, insulted answer implying that, of course, everything was perfectly fine—and how dare we even question it.
When we pointed out that we hadn’t been able to see the building permit, even though the structure already had eleven floors built (which we climbed on foot through the active construction site, without any protective equipment), the agent explained that “it doesn’t matter—this municipality works differently; the building permit is issued later, not like in Belgrade.” When asked how the project was being financed, the agent proudly said that the main financier was a private individual—the developer’s best man—and that this was “much safer” than working with banks, which are annoying and demand all sorts of things.
Unfortunately, there are people who won’t ask any questions at all—and there are sellers ready to say almost anything to sell every square meter. It’s up to the buyers to seek proper professional assistance—both technical and legal—because not every issue will be as obvious as in this example.
Simply put, everyone should stick to their own profession. When clients don’t know exactly what falls within someone’s area of expertise, and the person they’re asking doesn’t want to admit they don’t know, problems arise. Not to mention situations where there’s a complete misunderstanding about the question itself—or the answer—which are often the main sources of confusion.
It’s easy to know that you should call an electrician, not a carpenter or a neighbor, when there’s an electrical problem in your apartment. But when it comes to legal matters, people sometimes fail to recognize that what seems logical or “simple” may in fact belong to a specialized field—and that, just like with wiring, it’s always best to let the right professional do their job.
This text is written for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. We are at your disposal for any additional information.
