In brief
In Romania there is no obligation to provide a bank guarantee for every payment as under the Israeli Sale (Apartments) Law, and there is no trust in the Israeli sense. The protection of advance payments when buying off-plan is based on the rules of Law 207/2025: a reservation fee of up to 5% and for up to 60 days, a notarial preliminary contract registered in the land book, and a dedicated project bank account from which the developer draws by stages and with a site supervisor's approval. The law protects the path of the money, but does not guarantee that construction will be completed.
Key takeaways
- 1There is no obligation to provide a bank guarantee for every payment. Instead: spending caps by stages, a dedicated account, a notarial preliminary contract and registration.
- 2Advance payments go into a separate, dedicated project account in the developer's name; using the money for another purpose triggers a fine of 1% of annual turnover.
- 3Up to 25% of the price may be drawn from the account for the structural frame, and only after that up to 20% for the building systems, each expense with the "bun de plată" stamp of the site supervisor.
- 4The 10-year liability insurance protects the house after acceptance, not the advance payments; and FGDB deposit insurance applies by depositor, who is the developer.
- 5Three questions for every developer, in writing: at which bank is the account, in whose name, and who approves each withdrawal.
Anyone who has bought an apartment off-plan in Israel is used to receiving security for every shekel paid. That is why the question "where is my money until handover?" comes up with almost every Israeli buyer in Romania, and rightly so. The honest answer is that the mechanism in Romania is built differently. It is worth understanding it before transferring a single euro, so as to know what it provides and what needs to be supplemented in the contract.
Where did the new rules come from?
From the Nordis affair, in which many buyers discovered that their apartment had also been sold to someone else and that the money was no longer in their project. The affair rested on three loopholes: private agreements that were not registered, high advance payments with no anchor, and moving funds between projects. Law 207/2025 (the "Nordis Law"), in force since 11 December 2025, whose rules have appeared since 25.8.2026 in Article 422(6)-(11) of the Code of Spatial Planning, Urbanism and Construction (Law 169/2026), was designed to close each of them.
Advance payments go into a separate, dedicated project account in the developer's name; using the money for another purpose triggers a fine of 1% of annual turnover.
Is there a trust, a guarantee or insurance for advance payments in Romania?
| What you are looking for | What exists in Romania | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| Trust | There is no trust in the Israeli sense. There is a separate, dedicated project bank account in the developer's name | The advance payments are earmarked solely for building the project; any other use triggers a fine of 1% of the developer's annual turnover |
| Bank guarantee | The law does not require a guarantee for every payment | The protection is spending caps by stages and registration, not a guarantee |
| Insurance | There is no obligation to insure the advance payments. There is an obligation to take out 10-year liability insurance for damage after acceptance of the building, presented at the start of works (Article 556) | The insurance protects the house, not the money you paid |
| Registration | The notary submits the preliminary contract for registration by the next business day | A double sale is revealed in the land registry extract |
The Bank Deposit Guarantee Fund (FGDB) insures deposits by depositor, up to 100,000 euro per bank. The dedicated account is registered in the developer's name, so do not assume that it insures you. Ask your lawyer what, if anything, it covers from your point of view.
How much of the money may the developer spend, and when?
It is important to distinguish: the law does not set how much you will pay at each stage, but how much the developer may draw from the account. The path follows from this:
- Reservation: up to 5% of the price, for up to 60 days. Exceeding the cap invalidates the agreement. If the preliminary contract is not signed through the sole fault of the developer, the developer refunds everything within 30 days.
- Preliminary contract before a notary, registered on your unit's page in the land book.
- Structural frame: up to 25% of the price may be drawn from the account.
- Building systems: only after the structural frame is completed, up to a further 20%.
- The balance: towards completion of construction and the final contract.
Your payment schedule is set by the contract, so ask to see it in draft. A good schedule ties each payment to a stage that can be verified by the site supervisor's stamp, and all payments go into the dedicated account. If part of the price is financed by a mortgage from a Romanian bank (usually up to 70%, subject to the bank's approval), obtain in writing at which stage the bank transfers its portion and to which account, and check that this matches the schedule in the contract.
Who signs what along the way?
| Party | The role |
|---|---|
| The notary | Has you sign the preliminary contract and submits it for registration on the day of signing or the next business day. Without a registered building permit and without a land registry extract for the unit, the notary may not have you sign |
| The developer | Holder of the dedicated account, and undertakes in the contract that the advance payments will go into it |
| The site supervisor (diriginte de șantier) | Stamps "bun de plată" ("approved for payment") on each expense; without the stamp the money may not be used |
| You | Sign the contract, and require that it include the payment schedule and the dedicated account number |
How do you check all of this yourself?
- Request in writing the name of the bank, the name of the account holder and the number of the dedicated account, together with confirmation from the bank that it exists.
- Request the name of the site supervisor who signs off on the expenses.
- Compare the account number in the preliminary contract with every payment instruction. "New" account details by email: stop and call.
- A few days after signing, obtain a land registry extract for the unit on the ANCPI ePay website (at a cost of 20 lei), and check that the preliminary contract, or the application to register it, appears in it.
- Check the developer's company in the Trade Register (ONRC) and in the Insolvency Proceedings Bulletin.
- Before paying for a stage, request the site supervisor's confirmation that it has been completed.
- Have a lawyer who represents only you read the contract. The developer's lawyer represents the developer.
A request to "transfer to the company's regular account" instead of the dedicated account is a reason to stop. The advance payments must go into the project's dedicated account, and its number must appear in the contract.
What does the law not give you?
Fairness requires saying this too. The rules protect the path of the money, but they do not guarantee that construction will be completed, they do not set fixed compensation for delay, and they do not say whether the price is fair. These must be dealt with in the contract: handover dates, compensation for delay, rights of cancellation and refund, and what happens if the developer gets stuck.
What to do before paying, and how we assist
The question "at which bank is the money held, in whose name, and who approves each withdrawal?" is not a lack of trust; it is exactly the question the new rules were built to answer. We review the preliminary contract, the payment schedule and the details of the dedicated account, and supplement in the contract what the law does not provide. Actions under Romanian law, such as signing and registration, are carried out by a notary and lawyers licensed in Romania.
The above is general information as of October 2026 and is not legal advice for any specific case. The description of the law is a summary; the binding text is the one published in the Monitorul Oficial.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a bank guarantee for advance payments in Romania, as under the Sale Law?
Not as an obligation. Law 207/2025 does not require a guarantee for every payment. Instead there is a dedicated project account, caps on drawing the money according to construction stages, a notarial preliminary contract and registration in the land book.
What happens to the reservation fee if the transaction does not go ahead?
The reservation fee is limited to 5% of the price and to 60 days, and exceeding the cap invalidates the agreement. If the preliminary contract is not signed through the sole fault of the developer, the developer refunds the money in full within 30 days.
May the developer ask me to pay into the company's regular account?
The advance payments must go into the project's dedicated account, and its number must appear in the contract. A request to transfer to another account is a red flag that justifies stopping and checking with your lawyer.
How do you make sure the preliminary contract has been registered?
Obtain a land registry extract for the unit on the ANCPI ePay website a few days after signing, and check that the contract, or the application to register it, appears in it.
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- Portal Legislativ - Legea 207/2025 și Legea 169/2026 (Codul amenajării teritoriului, urbanismului și construcțiilor)
- ANCPI - Agenția Națională de Cadastru și Publicitate Imobiliară
- ePay ANCPI - extras de carte funciară online
- FGDB - Fondul de Garantare a Depozitelor Bancare
- ONRC - Oficiul Național al Registrului Comerțului
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.