Dividing a new building into flats

Every flat you are going to sell must be a self contained unit: with its own entrance, space for sleeping and cooking and a separate bathroom. Besides a flat, a separate unit can be a commercial space, a garage or a clearly marked parking space in the building.

A flat can come with ancillary parts: a balcony, a terrace, a storage room in the basement or attic, a garden and up to two parking spaces. They must be clearly separated and reachable from the shared parts or from the flat itself. The staircase and other parts that serve everyone cannot belong to one flat. That is why we lay out the separate units already in the design, not after construction.

An application for a multi unit residential building comes with the main design, the energy and acoustic performance certificates of the building, proof of legal interest and a list of the flats with data on their housing quality.

The building authority issues the permit once it finds that the main design complies with the spatial plan, that the special and connection conditions have been set and that the accessibility regulation has been applied. The permit and the list of flats also go to the cadastre office.

At least five days before works begin, the investor files the notice of start of works electronically. It names the contractor and the supervising engineer and includes the certified setting out survey, where one is needed.

Construction supervision is the investor's duty, and the supervising engineer may not be an employee of the contractor. When several engineers supervise, the lead supervising engineer writes a final report at the end, which is needed for the use permit. We no longer do construction supervision, you choose the supervising engineer.

The building may be used only once the building authority has issued the use permit. Before that, a technical inspection checks that the building was built according to the building permit and the main design.

The investor and the public bodies that set special conditions are invited to the inspection. The investor must make sure that everyone involved in the construction attends and must present the required documents.

Once the use permit is enforceable, the building authority sends it with the survey to the cadastre office electronically. The investor can also apply to have the building recorded in the cadastre.

The cadastre then notifies the land register court, which enters the building of its own motion and adds a note that the use permit was submitted. Without that note, the building is considered not to have proven its fitness for use.

The division plan (etažni elaborat) divides the building into separate units and gives each a co ownership share. Usable area is as a rule taken from the main design, and open balconies, terraces, stairs and storage rooms unfit for living are not counted. We prepare the division plan and coordinate the survey part with the surveyors we work with.

The owner of the land with the building can, by a declaration to the land register court, divide the ownership into co ownership shares and attach a particular flat to each. This can be done even before construction, but ownership of a flat arises only once the building is built. The application for registration is filed electronically through a Croatian notary or attorney.