12 Common Claims About Buying Property in Romania, Checked Against the Law: What Is True, What Is Partly True and What Is No Longer in Force

Quite a few buyers arrive at the first meeting with figures already in their heads: "the bank gives 85%", "VAT is 9%", "no need to fly", "an apartment gets you residence". Some of these figures once described the situation, some are true only for a certain type of buyer, and some were never true. Artificial intelligence engines also replicate them, because they feed on the same pages.

We took 12 such claims and tested each one against a primary source: Romanian legislation, central bank regulations or an official publication of the European Union. The situation described is current as of 17 October 2026. We have quoted the claims in the wording in which they circulate online, without pointing to any particular website.

1How do you check a claim about real estate in Romania before relying on it?

Most of the errors we found are not fabrications but outdated information. Within about a year and a half, Romania changed VAT on apartments, the dividend tax, the planning and construction code and the protection of buyers' money in off-plan projects, while articles from 2023 that have not been updated continue to appear in search results. Before deciding on the basis of a figure, it is worth asking four questions about it:

1. From what date is the figure? When there is no update date, assume it is old.
2. What is it based on? A good source is a law and article number, a regulation or an authority's website. A general statement about "experts" is not a source.
3. To whom does it refer? What applies to a Romanian or to an EU resident does not necessarily apply to an Israeli.
4. Is it a maximum or a promise? A ceiling in a regulation or "up to" in an advertisement does not tell you how much you will actually receive.

2Summary of the check: 12 claims at a glance

3Can an Israeli buy property in Romania, and does it give them any status?

The claim that Israelis are barred from buying: wrong. Israelis buy apartments and houses in Romania and are registered as owners in the land book. The restriction concerns land only: Article 6 of Law 312/2005 permits a citizen of a country that is not an EU member to acquire ownership of land only under an international treaty and on condition of reciprocity. In practice one of two routes is used: Superficie, a right of superficies that allows the house to be held on another's land, or a Romanian company in whose name the land is registered. The suggestion "to register the land formally in a local's name" is not a solution but a risk.

Agricultural land outside the built-up area (extravilan) is subject to an additional step. Article 4 of Law 17/2014 requires the seller first to offer it, at the same price, to holders of a right of pre-emption in the order set by law: co-owners and close family members, then the tenant farming the land, then other farmers, owners of adjoining plots and young farmers, and at the end of the queue the residents of the locality and the State.

The claim that buying a property confers residence: wrong. The temporary residence visa for business activity set out by the Romanian immigration authority (IGI) is based on ownership or management of a company, with investment or job creation. A private property does not appear on the list of grounds, and Romania has no "golden visa" in exchange for an apartment.

The claim that Schengen allows property owners to live in Romania without limit: half true. The true part: from 1 January 2025 checks at Romania's land borders were lifted, by decision of the Council of the EU, and at air and sea ports they had already been lifted on 31 March 2024. The wrong part: Israelis are exempt from a visa only for a stay of at most 90 days within any 180 days (EU Regulation 2018/1806, Annex II), and owning a house does not increase the allowance.

4What does the notary do, and can you sign without travelling to Romania?

The claim that the notary protects the buyer: wrong. Notaries Law 36/1995 defines the notary's role as a service of public interest (Article 3), the essence of which is authenticating transactions that are not in dispute (Article 1). The notary verifies the identity of the parties and the validity of the document, collects the taxes and forwards the transaction for registration, but does not represent the buyer against the seller and does not examine the developer, the project or the commercial terms. The developer's lawyer also works for the developer, so the buyer needs an independent lawyer.

The claim that you must fly to sign: wrong. Article 91(2) of Law 36/1995 permits representation through an attorney-in-fact holding a special notarial power of attorney. Israel and Romania are both signatories to the Apostille Convention, so a power of attorney signed in Israel receives an apostille and a certified translation. What is still not possible is signing by video call: under Article 98(2), the parties or their representatives sign before the notary.

5Are deposits in an off-plan purchase protected today?

The claim that there is no protection at all: no longer true. Since 25 August 2026 the Planning and Construction Code, Law 169/2026, has applied, and its Article 422 sets three rules:

• A preliminary undertaking for a unit not yet built is made only by notarial deed, and only after the building permit has been registered in the land book.
• On the day of signing, or at the latest on the following working day, the notary files the undertaking for registration in the land book.
• Deposit money goes into a separate account that the developer holds for the project only, and withdrawals are permitted only in line with the progress of construction.

This mechanism is not equivalent to a bank guarantee under the Israeli Sale Law, so the check is still necessary. Registration also carries weight if the developer collapses: Article 131 of Insolvency Law 85/2014 allows the insolvency practitioner to perform a preliminary contract for immovable property only when it is registered in the land book, and subject to further conditions.

6How much does a Romanian bank finance for a buyer from abroad?

The claim of 85% for every buyer: half true. In practice, a buyer living outside Romania receives up to 70% of the price from a Romanian bank, and needs equity of at least 30%. The 85% figure is taken from Article 18 of Regulation 17/2012 of the National Bank of Romania (BNR), but it describes a specific case:

• The 85% ceiling applies to a loan in lei.
• For a loan in foreign currency the ceiling falls to 80% when income is in the same currency, and to 75% for a loan in euro when income is in another currency.
• A borrower who already owns a home: each of the ceilings is reduced by 10 percentage points.

These are upper limits set by the regulator, not a promise by any bank.

7What is true about taxes: purchase, VAT, annual, rental and dividends?

There is no purchase tax: true. The Romanian code does not impose tax on the buyer upon purchase. The transfer tax is a tax on the seller's income, 3% of the transaction value for a holding of up to 3 years and 1% for a longer holding (Article 111), and the notary calculates and collects it before signing. Even so, the buyer pays: the notary's fee, the registration fee, translations and the lawyer's fee, and for a new apartment also VAT.

VAT of 19%, 9% or 5%: wrong. Law 141/2025 set, from 1 August 2025, a standard rate of 21% and abolished the reduced rate for apartments (Article 291 of the Tax Code). A 9% rate was retained as a transitional arrangement only for those who had signed a contract and paid an advance by 1 August 2025, for an apartment of up to 120 sq m and at a price of up to 600,000 lei before VAT. Law 161/2026 revived the arrangement until 30 September 2026, including a VAT refund for those who purchased between 1.8.2026 and its entry into force, and it has since closed. Today a private individual buying a new apartment from a developer pays 21%.

Annual tax of 0.1%: half true. Article 457 of the Tax Code sets, for an individual's residential building, a range of 0.08% to 0.2% of the taxable value, and the rate is set by decision of the local council. The value is not a market price but the result of built area multiplied by a fixed amount per sq m set out in the law. From 2026 the rate may not be lower than the 2025 rate.

Rental tax of 10% of gross: wrong. The rate is indeed 10% (Article 64), but it is applied after a flat deduction of 20% of gross income for ordinary letting (Article 84(3), in the version applying to 2026 income), so the effective burden is about 8%. For short-term letting of up to 7 rooms the deduction is 30% (Article 85). An Israeli tax resident reports the income in Israel as well.

Low dividend tax of 8% or 10%: wrong. Law 141/2025 raised the tax to 16% on dividends distributed from 1 January 2026 (Article 97(7) of the Tax Code). A recommendation to hold a single apartment in a Romanian company because of a "cheap dividend" rests on a calculation that is no longer valid. A tax treaty may change the rate for a non-resident, and that is a question for a tax adviser.

8Before deciding: how we work

A figure with no date and no source is a rumour. In our work with Israeli buyers we start with the question of what actually applies to them: the holding structure, the financing, the tax in both countries and the limits on stay. Acts under Romanian law, such as authenticating contracts, registration and filings with the authorities, are carried out by locally licensed notaries and lawyers.

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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.