Buying a Villa in a Gated Community in Romania: Who Owns the Internal Road, Who Sets the Management Fees and What to Check in the Land Book

From the outside, a gated villa community looks like an ordinary neighbourhood with a gate. Legally it is something else: it has a road that someone owns, common expenses that someone decides on, and a body that collects them. In Israel most buyers know the building committee of an apartment block. A villa community has no stairwell, but it has a road, lighting, drainage, a gate and landscaping, and sometimes also security.

This guide deals with three questions worth resolving before signing: who owns the internal road, who manages and decides in the community, and how management fees are set and collected. It is not about a particular project, but about what to check in every project.

1Who owns the internal road in a gated villa community?

It depends on what is registered in the land book, not on what you see on the ground. Romanian law distinguishes between public roads, which are public property and maintained from public funds (Ordinance 43/1997, Article 3(a)), and roads for private use, which are managed by whoever holds them (Article 3(b)). In practice there are four possibilities:

Article 646(3) of the Civil Code expressly lists a "common road in a residential neighbourhood" as a case of forced co-ownership. Under Article 647, each owner uses the road without impairing the use of the others, sells their share only together with the house, and contributes to expenses according to their share. Where there is no other agreement, the share is determined by the size of the main property.

The new Planning Code, Law 169/2026, also defines a road for private use: a road designed in accordance with the planning regulations and standards, so as to allow the movement of vehicles and pedestrians and access for emergency vehicles. Ask whether the road in the community was designed and approved as such.

2Why is physical access to the house not enough?

Because a car can reach your door on a road that you have no legal right to use. As long as the owner of the road cooperates, no one notices. The problem surfaces when the road is sold, charged or becomes caught up in legal proceedings.

• An easement must be registered. An easement is a burden on one property in favour of another property (Article 755). It is created by a legal document or by prescription, and the land book rules apply to it (Article 756).
• An easement can end. For example when the owner of the benefiting property renounces it (Article 770(1)(b)), or when the two plots are united in the hands of the same owner (Article 770(1)(a)).
• The bank asks the same question. A bank financing the purchase checks access as part of its security. If you are taking a mortgage, ask in advance what proof of access it requires: a share in the road plot or a registered easement.

3When does the owners' associations law apply to a villa community?

Law 196/2018 was written mainly for apartment buildings, but it also applies to a "residential complex" (ansamblu rezidențial): land on which detached, terraced, adjoining or semi-detached houses stand, with common property and private property (Article 2(b)). Such a complex is treated as a condominium for the purposes of the law (Article 3(3)(c)), and the law applies from three units upwards (Article 1(1)).

In practical terms: once there is a road, a gate or a shared system, the homeowners form an owners' association (asociație de proprietari), choose an administrator and share the expenses. The administrator needs a certificate (atestat), or management is entrusted to a company. The association is usually the body that signs the service contracts, pays for lighting and snow clearance and collects the payments.

4Who decides on expenses, and what is the risk of being in the minority?

Decisions are made at the association's general meeting. That is good, because no one decides alone. It is also the risk: if the majority decides on round-the-clock security, those who opposed it will pay too. So the question "who decides?" matters more than the amount of the payment on the day of purchase, because it determines how much it will cost in ten years' time.

Three questions worth getting a written answer to:

1. Who manages during the interim period? Sometimes the developer manages the community while the houses are still being handed over. Ask when and how management passes to the association.
2. What does the draft statute say? How expenses are divided: equally, or according to the size of the plot or the house. And what restrictions apply to changes to the house and garden.
3. What is the budget for the first year? In writing, line by line, and not a general estimate of "about so much a month".

5What do you pay for, and how is the payment collected?

On a private road, the owners organise and pay for themselves what the authority does on a public street. Snow clearance from public roads, for example, is the responsibility of the local sanitation service (Law 101/2006, Article 2(3)(g)), and public street lighting is the responsibility of the local lighting service (Law 230/2006). On a private road, these are items in the association's budget:

• Management: an administrator or a management company, bookkeeping and collection.
• Road lighting, the electric gate and the intercom: electricity and maintenance. Ask in whose name the meter is registered.
• The road and drainage: cleaning, asphalt repairs, ditch clearing, and in winter snow clearance and de-icing.
• Landscaping of the common areas.
• Security: cameras, and sometimes a guard. This can be the heaviest item in the budget.
• A fund for major repairs.

The local property tax, home insurance and the house's own electricity and water bills are not part of this payment, and you pay them separately. It is also important to know that in a small community, a contract with a management company that sets a minimum monthly amount can make the cost per house higher than expected. Ask for an up-to-date quote and check the terms.

As for collection, the law gives the association tools: payment is due within 30 days of publication of the list of payments. If the general meeting has so decided, a late-payment penalty can be charged after 30 days, up to 0.2% per day and not more than the debt itself (Article 77(1)), and the association may sue an owner who has not paid more than 60 days after the due date (Article 78(2)).

6What do you check in the house's land book extract and in the road's?

The road usually has its own plot and land book. Order an extract for the road as well, not only for the house. According to the structure of the extract set by Law 7/1996 (Article 23):

One more question: is the road planned to pass to the local authority? Such a transfer requires a decision of the local council. Until it is adopted and registered in the land book, the road remains private and all the costs fall on the owners.

7What should you put in the purchase contract?

• Who will own the road after the last villa is sold, and by what date.
• If the developer keeps ownership of the road: a registered easement in favour of your plot, which does not depend on their goodwill.
• Who maintains the infrastructure up to the connection to the public network: pipes, drainage and lighting.
• The draft statute and the first year's budget as annexes, and the management contract if a company has already been chosen, including its term and exit conditions.
• Who manages and who pays until the association is formed.

8What to do before signing?

Before signing, you should have in hand two land book extracts, for the house and for the road, the draft statute, the first year's budget and a written answer on the future ownership of the road. If there is a mortgage, add the bank's list of requirements regarding access. We accompany Israeli buyers in this check together with lawyers and notaries licensed in Romania, who draw up the deeds and register the rights in the land book under local law.

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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.