Dr. Filomena

Ljubljana, 8 February 2008, 12:00

On the occasion of the Slovenian Culture Day (a.k.a. Prešeren day), the 22nd traditional recital of France Prešeren’s poetry will be taking place at noon at his monument at Prešeren square in collaboration of the Slovenian Association of Dramatic Artists, the City of Ljubljana and Radio KAOS.

If you can’t come in person and enjoy beautiful poetry in sunny weather, you can listen to the event live at the Radio Kaos website or watch it live (also courtesy of Radio Kaos) by entering the following address into your Media Player:

mms://217.72.76.71/8FEB (click)

As predicted at this blog before, prices of real estate in Slovenia, especially Ljubljana, have continued their upward trend.

RTV Slovenija reports that an analysis has shown that the advertised prices of Ljubljana properties have increased by an average of 14.3% in one year. Apartments in the immediate surroundings of the capital have appreciated even further, by an average of 14.7%. As expected, the greatest price increase was marked in the segment of small apartments while the prices of the smallest (studios) and large apartments grew more slowly (their intense upward surge occurred in 2006).

The average advertised price for small apartments has already passed the EUR 3,000/m2 mark, which makes property purchase a growingly elusive goal to many. Quite a number of new apartments are expected to be developed in the next three years, which should help curb the trend somewhat, although it is unikely that the new supply will satisfy the demand.

In Maribor, Slovenia’s second largest town, prices are much lower and it is not uncommon to pay half the price of a comparable property in Ljubljana. In addition, prices have been rising at a much lower rate with one-bedroom apartments appreciating 5.6% since March 2007 and the average advertised prices of apartments from EUR 955 to EUR 1,675 per square metre.

The only area that compares to Ljubljana in terms of real estate prices is the coastal region with some parts of Gorenjska not lagging far behind.

Although I still do not possess a reliable crystal ball, my prediction would be for property prices to keep rising although at a slightly lower rate with properties in the suburbs and in scenic but remote areas picking up. Furthermore, it will be interesting to observe the effect these trends will have on rentals with fewer people buying and more renting.

All in all, the real estate market will be just fine. As long as people’s earnings start picking up the pace with the property value trends.

Just before you get to enjoy Luka’s Thursday Kitsune and Pengovsky’s Friday Foxy, here’s your chance to catch glimpse of another purrfect pussy. As today is Ash Wednesday (pepelnična sreda), I thought this kitty would make a good choice.

(click here for more pics of Cindy)

Meet Grand Champion Planika Pepelka of Palmetto a.k.a. Cindy, a Black Smoke Persian born at my house that went on to become a star at beauty pageants called cat shows both in Europe and in the US and became the second best of breed in the world the year she was shown in the Cat Fanciers’ Association. She was a gift to a dear friend, Pat Lichtenberg in south Georgia. Pepelka is Slovenian for “Cinderella” as ‘pepel’ translates to ‘ash’.

Cindy’s sidekick is another cat on fire 😉

And yes, it had to be a red dress.

One of the most frequently asked questions we receive from clients is what is the usual difference between the advertised and actual sale price of real estate in Slovenia.

Based on our experience and limited research done by students in the scope of their undergraduate theses (source), the difference seems to be affected by both the type and location of the property, but most sales are concluded at prices around 6% to 10% lower than originally advertised.

(source)

Thanks to DougguoD, I may have just found the true reason why I like high-heel shoes. I always thought it had to do with my less than extra-tall height or the effect they have on the style of walking, but here’s another take:

BBC reports that high heels may improve sex life. Apparently, wearing higher heels may improve pelvic floor muscles and in doing so boost your sex life. In a letter to European Urology, Dr Maria Cerruto said her research showed it was time to stand up for the heel. “Like many women, I like high-heeled shoes,” she added. “It’s good to know they have potential health benefits.” (read more)

As abbym0308 says (great choice of photo, btw), heels also look sexy, which might make you feel more confident and therefore appear more attractive to a potential mate… which might make you score a date that leads to a romp in the sack… which also may be an improvement in your sex life.

Still have to get to the bottom of the red dress thing, though. Whoops 😉

After yesterday’s re-election of Serbia’s pro-Western President Boris Tadić, the European Union is talking of speeding up Serbia’s progress towards membership while at the same time deciding to send 1,800 police and legal officials to Kosovo where they are to take over from the United Nations forces under UN Security Council resolution 1244 which refers to an international security presence. (see BBC)

I read Lisa’s post on the elections and have been thinking a bit. Tadić and Nikolić are not as different in their POV as portrayed, especially when it comes to Kosovo. I will go out on limb to suggest that possibly, Nikolić would have been (will be?) able to negotiate better when the initial after-independence-declaration limited outbursts of violence subside. Then again, I could be wrong.

So you’ve decided you’d like to build your own property in Slovenia and are looking to buy a plot to develop. Assuming that you can buy real estate in accordance with Slovenian legislation (in case of doubt, read this), these are the basic steps you’ll be taking once you’ve found a plot to your liking:

• Obtain a land register record for the plot in question
• Obtain the municipality’s certificate of the purpose of the plot and information on the permissible development of the plot
• Obtain a confirmation or decision from the municipality stating its waiver of the right of pre-emption (if it has such a right) or a waiver of the right of pre-emption from any other holders of such right to the plot in question
• Obtain consent for the sale of an undeveloped building plot issued by the competent administrative unit of the Ministry of Defence if such a consent is required
• Sign a sales contract in the form of a notarial record drafted by a notary or drafted by another lawyer with the seller’s signature later certified by a notary
• The seller then has to report the sale to tax authorities that levy the sales tax (required: two copies of the sales contract as one is retained by the tax authorities)
• Tax authorities provide a mony order form for the levied tax
• When the form with the bank’s proof of payment (this tax is paid by the seller) is returned to the tax office, it returns one of the copies of the sales contract with a seal certifying the tax has been paid
• Notarize the seller’s signature on the sales contract
• Prepare a motion for the entry of your ownership right into the land register (done by a notary, lawyer or real estate agent) and supplement with:
  a/ The original sales contract stamped by the tax authorities
  b/ Certificate of the Purpose of the Plot
  c/ Proof of payment of the court fee for the entry of the ownerhip right
• Submit the motion and supplements to the land register at the competent court
• The court issues a decision on the entry of the ownership right into the land register
• Obtain a new land register record for the plot (which will already list you as its owner)

Once the above steps have been taken, you will have full title of the plot and can continue the process by obtaining a building permit.

It is advised to use a competent real estate agent that will guide you through the process and minimize your worries and involvement with paperwork.

In order to sign a sales contract, you will need to first obtain a Slovenian personal registration number and a tax number if you do not have those papers yet. (Again, a good real estate agent will handle that bit of paperwork for you as well.)

Whether you are selling or buying real estate in Slovenia, you might be interested in the issue of the right of pre-emption.

Pre-emptive right (see: right of first refusal: The seller is under an obligation to inform the pre-emptive right holder of an intended sale to a particular person and of the conditions of the intended sale and to offer to him its sale under the same conditions.

I’ve tried to put it as simply and concisely as possible and list the various legal bases of pre-emptive rights in real estate under the Slovenian legislation. In any case, if the pre-emptive right is established contractually and is not statutory, it must be entered into the land register.

Code of Obligations (Obligacijski zakonik)

A pre-emptive right can be statutory (Art. 513) or established with a contract (Art. 507). It cannot be enforced in case of a compulsory public auction, but a holder of the pre-emptive right can request cancellation of such auction if he does not receive a due invitation.

Law of Property Code (Stvarnopravni zakonik) awards pre-emptive right to:

• Any co-owner (Art. 66)
• Other condominium / sectional title holders if there are two or more owners and fewer than six individual parts (Art. 124)

Click here for an explanation of condominium owner (sectional title holder)

Housing Act (Stanovanjski zakon)

• A Lessee/holder of a right of occupancy with a lease contract for an indefinite period has a pre-emptive right to the apartment if such right is not exercised by its co-owner.

(Next in line are the sectional tile holders under the Law of Property Code, the Municipality under the Spatial Planning Act and the The Housing Fund of the Republic of Slovenia – if the apartment was built by the Fund and is sold in less than 5 years from original purchase.)

Agricultural Land Act (Zakon o kmetijskih zemljiščih)

If purchasing agricultural land, forest or farm and other laws do not provide otherwise, the following order or precedence applies (Art.23):

1. Co-owner;
2. A farmer who owns property bordering on the land being sold;
3. The tenant of the and being sold;
4. Another farmer;
5. Agricultural organisation or a sole proprietor who require the land or farm for the purpose of an agricultural or forestry activity;
6. The Farmland and Forest Fund of the Republic of Slovenia

If none of the holders of the pre-emptive right exercises his right of pre-emption, the seller can sell agricultural land to any other person.

Spatial Planning Act (Zakon o urejanju prostora)

• Municipality (Art. 85) – in all populated areas decreed as areas in which the municipality has a pre-emptive right and in the areas of existing and planned infrastructure network and facilities beyond populated areas

However, the municipality cannot exercise its pre-emptive right in the case of a sale or gift to a spouse, a lineal relative, adopter or adoptee or in case of a sale to the state or a state-founded legal person of public law, a provider of state public service or an infrastructure investor under Article 91.

So, if you are buying real estate in Slovenia, you may want to know whether another person (natural or legal) holds a statutory (based on laws and regulations) or contractual (check the land register record) right of pre-emption to the property in question.

If you are selling your property, you will need to offer it to any pre-emptive right holders before the transaction with the interested person can go through.

There are two types of ownership when it comes to multiple-unit buildings:

• Condominium (sectional title, etažna lastnina);
• Ideal share (idealni delež).

Condominium implies ownership of an individual part of the building and co-ownership of common areas where:

• An individual part of the building must be an individual functional unit fit for standalone use, e.g. an apartment or office (other, separate facilities can belong to such an individual part, e.g. a shed or a garage); and
• Common areas are other parts of the building intended for joint use by the sectional title holders and the land on which the building stands, or even other real estate.

Ideal share: If condominium/sectional title is not established, the owners of the various parts of the multiple-unit building are entered in the land register as owners of a(n ideal) share of the entire property.

As long as the ideal share refers to (and is defined as such in the sales contract) a physically separate area (e.g. an apartment, ground floor of a house, etc.), it is a title equal to condominium. You can, for example, mortgage the property, although banks much prefer condominium.

One of the differences is in that in case of ideal-share property, the owners of other ideal shares (co-owners of sorts) have the right of pre-emption. Example: If you own an apartment that is not entered in the land register as condominium and would like to sell it, you have to first offer it for sale to all other owners in the building and cannot sell it to a third party under more favourable conditions than waived by the other (co)owners.

As a regular visitor to the legendary Monday Meat (and ok, Friday Foxies) and the newly established but very well received Thursday’s Kitsune, I’ve been considering starting a new category here as well.

This is a trial posting of a Purrfect Pussy:

Timmy is an attractive green-eyed guy that quite obviously appreciates a luxurious lyfestyle and fine food, but swears by milk rather than wine as it keeps his sexy moustache in perfect shape. Purrfect or what?
(Source)

And Timmy’s sidekick kitty for today:

(Source)

So… should the new category stay??