In brief
A double sale of an off-plan apartment in Romania was possible when promises of sale were signed as private agreements that were not registered in the land book, so no one could see that the apartment had already been sold. Law 207/2025, which entered into force on 11 December 2025, now requires a notarial preliminary contract that is sent for registration immediately, and advance payments into a dedicated project account. The protection works only if you yourself check the extract for the unit and the account details before every payment.
Key takeaways
- 1The Nordis affair stemmed from three loopholes that operated together: unregistered agreements, advance payments without security, and money moving between projects.
- 2Law 207/2025 was published on 8 December 2025 and entered into force on 11 December 2025. Since 25 August 2026 its rules are found in Article 422 of the Planning and Construction Code (Law 169/2026).
- 3A preliminary contract for a future unit is signed only before a notary, and the notary applies to register it on the day of signing or on the next business day.
- 4Advance payments go into a dedicated project account, and the developer draws on them only with the approval of a site engineering supervisor and within caps set by construction stage.
- 5For a completed and registered property this law is barely relevant. There, the protection is a clean extract and a check for encumbrances.
Israeli buyers considering an apartment or villa under construction in Romania almost always arrive at the same question: what prevents the developer from selling the same unit to another buyer as well? The question is not theoretical. In the Nordis affair, hundreds of buyers of off-plan apartments discovered that their agreement had never been registered, and that someone else had also signed for the same apartment.
In this guide we explain how a double sale was legally possible, what has changed in the law since December 2025, and what you actually need to check before you transfer a single euro. We reviewed the details of the law itself in a separate article on the Nordis law. Here the focus is on the risk of a double sale and the tools for identifying it.
How is it even possible to sell the same apartment twice?
The short answer: when the undertaking to sell is not recorded in any public register, there is no way of knowing that it exists. In Romania, as in Israel, what counts vis-à-vis third parties is what is registered in the land book (Cartea Funciară, the Romanian equivalent of the land registry).
In projects where promises of sale were signed as a private document, without a notary and without registration, your agreement was visible only to you and to the developer. Another buyer who obtained an extract did not see it, and neither did the bank. In such a situation a double sale is not a complicated failure. It is simply another signature on the same paper.
What is not registered in the land book does not exist for whoever checks the property. This is as true in Romania as it is in Israel.
Law 207/2025 was published on 8 December 2025 and entered into force on 11 December 2025. Since 25 August 2026 its rules are found in Article 422 of the Planning and Construction Code (Law 169/2026).
Which failures made the Nordis affair possible?
The affair did not stem from a single failure. Three mechanisms operated together, and each of them aggravated the damage caused by the others.
- Unregistered agreements. The promises of sale were signed as private agreements. No one outside the room could know that the unit had already been promised to someone.
- Advance payments without an anchor. Buyers transferred significant sums at a stage when construction had barely started, without any mechanism tying the money to their unit.
- Money moving between projects. The funds did not stay in the project for which they were paid. When the money of several projects sits in one pot, a difficulty in one of them rolls over to all of them.
The public reaction was severe, and the Romanian Parliament passed the amendment unanimously. Law 207/2025, known as the "Nordis law", was published in the Romanian Official Gazette (Monitorul Oficial) on 8 December 2025 and entered into force on 11 December 2025. Since 25 August 2026 its rules are found in Article 422(6) to 422(11) of the Planning and Construction Code, Law 169/2026.
What does the law change today for someone buying off-plan?
Each of the three loopholes received a separate response. The table sets out how each problem maps to the rule that applies today.
| The problem | What it made possible | The rule today |
|---|---|---|
| An unregistered private agreement | Selling the same unit to more than one buyer | A preliminary contract only before a notary, who applies for registration on the day of signing or on the next business day |
| Signing before a registered unit exists | An undertaking over a property that has no identity in the register | Signing only after the building permit is registered and each future unit has its own sheet opened in the land book |
| Unsupervised advance payments | A large amount of money at risk before anything is built | A reservation fee of up to 5%. Advance payments in a dedicated account, with drawdowns of up to 25% of the price for the structural frame and up to 20% for the building systems |
| Moving funds around | The collapse of one project drags down others | A separate account for each project, drawdowns with the approval of a site engineering supervisor, and a fine of 1% of turnover for use for another purpose |
The central change with respect to a double sale is registration. Once the preliminary contract is registered on the sheet of your unit, an attempt to have another buyer sign for the same unit will be exposed in the first extract that buyer obtains.
Does the law also protect foreign buyers?
Yes. The protections attach to the transaction and not to the buyer's citizenship. The obligation to sign before a notary, the registration, the cap on the reservation fee and the dedicated account apply to every buyer, Romanian or foreign, including Israeli buyers.
What the law does not do is check on your behalf. A notary will register a contract signed before them, but will not tell you that the account in the contract is not the dedicated account, or that the unit for which you received an extract is not the unit in the contract. These cross-checks are done by you, or by a Romanian lawyer who represents only you.
Which checks prevent a double sale before you pay?
Most of the checks are simple and based on official documents. The recommended order of work:
- An extract for the specific unit. Request an Extras de carte funciară (land book extract) for your future unit, not for the plot as a whole. Make sure the building permit is registered in it.
- A notarial preliminary contract only. If you are offered a promise of sale to sign as a private document, that is a stop sign.
- A new extract after signing. A few days after signing, obtain another extract and make sure your contract appears in it.
- The account question. Ask in writing at which bank the project's dedicated account is held and who the site engineering supervisor approving drawdowns is. Compare the account number with the one stated in the contract.
- The reservation cap. If you are asked for a reservation fee above 5% of the price, stop and ask your lawyer for an explanation.
"At which bank is the project's dedicated account held, and who is the site engineering supervisor approving drawdowns?" A well-organised developer can answer this immediately and in writing. Hesitation or a general answer is a reason for a more thorough check.
What is the price of the new security?
It is worth knowing the other side as well. The new rules require developers to put in more equity and to bear compliance costs, so project launches are slowing and the costs are passed on to prices. The expected result is less new supply, at a higher price.
This also has implications for choosing a developer. Developers who relied on buyers' advance payments and on transferring money between projects find it hard to work under the new rules. A useful question, therefore, is whether the developer worked with this kind of transparency even before the law required it, or only since.
I am buying a completed apartment. Is all this relevant to me?
For the most part, no. The rules of Law 207/2025 are aimed at the purchase of a future unit. For a completed and registered property, your protection is a clean extract, a check for encumbrances and an independent lawyer. The principle is the same, only the tools differ: what is not registered does not exist. We wrote about the check for a completed property in the guide to due diligence in Romania.
What to do before signing, and how we accompany the check
Before signing for a project under construction in Romania, gather the extract for the unit, the draft preliminary contract and the details of the dedicated account, and pass them to a Romanian lawyer who represents only you for review. Acts under Romanian law, such as the signing and the registration, are carried out by a notary and by lawyers licensed in Romania. We help Israeli buyers understand the documents, formulate the questions for the developer and coordinate the work with the local professionals.
The above is general information and is not legal advice for any particular transaction. The description of Law 207/2025 is a general summary, and the binding text is the one published in the Monitorul Oficial. Before a transaction, consult an independent local lawyer.
Frequently asked questions
What was the Nordis affair in Romania?
An affair in which hundreds of buyers of off-plan apartments in projects of the Nordis group discovered that their agreements had not been registered, that apartments had been sold more than once and that funds had moved between projects. In its wake, Law 207/2025 was passed unanimously.
How do you make sure an off-plan apartment has not been sold to another buyer?
You request an extract for the specific unit before signing, sign only a notarial preliminary contract, and obtain a new extract a few days after signing to make sure your contract is registered on the unit's sheet.
Is buying off-plan in Romania still risky?
The risk has not disappeared, but it has changed. Today it lies mainly with those who skip the checks: signing without an extract for the unit, paying above the reservation cap or not checking where the money is held.
Does the Nordis law apply to Israeli buyers?
Yes. The protections attach to the transaction and not to citizenship, so the notary, the registration, the reservation cap and the dedicated account apply to every buyer.
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The information in this guide is general in nature and does not constitute legal or tax advice on any specific transaction. Every transaction is assessed on its own facts.