Renting a Home in Romania Before Buying: Tenant Rights, Registering the Lease With ANAF and What to Check Before Signing

Many Israeli families moving to Romania choose not to buy immediately. They rent for a year or two, get to know the neighbourhood, the schools and the daily commute, and only then decide where to buy. This is a measured way to enter a foreign market, but it starts with a lease, and that lease is subject to rules that Romanian law sets itself, sometimes even contrary to what is written in it.

This guide deals with the legal side of renting: what the Civil Code guarantees the tenant, what registering the lease with the tax authority means, and what the same transaction looks like from the landlord's side. We wrote about the tax on rental income and about letting to tourists in separate guides.

1Which law applies to a lease of an apartment or house in Romania?

The Romanian Civil Code (Law 287/2009), in the lease chapter at Articles 1777 to 1835. From Article 1824 onwards there are special rules for residential leases, many of them designed to protect the tenant.

The practical meaning: not everything signed is valid. Israelis are used to reading a contract as the last word, but in Romania a clause that contradicts a protection in the code may be deemed unwritten. Before arguing with a landlord about a particular clause, it is worth checking whether the law has already decided the question.

2How much notice is given for leaving, and when can the landlord end the lease?

Under a fixed-term lease you may leave early if you have given at least 60 days' notice. This is a provision that cannot be waived in advance. The table sets out the main situations:

Two situations worth knowing. If the term has ended, you stayed in the home and continued to pay without the landlord objecting, a new lease arises on the same terms but without a fixed term (Article 1810), and the notice rules for such a lease then apply. And a tenant who has met their obligations enjoys a pre-emption right to a new lease of the same home, on equal terms (Article 1828).

3Can the landlord evict you without a court?

As a rule, no. Under Article 1831, eviction takes place by court judgment, unless the law provides otherwise. Changing the lock or removing belongings without proceedings is not a route the code recognises.

The important exception concerns the end of the term. A lease signed before a notary, and also a fixed-term lease registered with the tax authority, are an enforceable title for recovering the home when the term ends (Article 1809(3)). In other words, a landlord holding such a lease does not need to bring an ordinary lawsuit. Your practical protection is to know exactly when the term ends, and to settle a renewal or a move in good time.

4What does registering the lease with ANAF achieve, and whose obligation is it?

The landlord's. A private individual letting a home registers the lease with the Romanian tax authority (ANAF) on form C168, with a copy of the lease. It can be filed at a branch, by post or through the authority's online personal area (SPV). Both an amendment to the lease and its termination are registered.

Although the obligation is not yours, it has three consequences for the tenant:

• Collecting a rent debt. A registered private lease is an enforceable title for the rent, like a notarial lease (Article 1798). A landlord can collect unpaid rent without filing a lawsuit.
• Recovering the home. With a registered fixed-term lease, as noted, the landlord can recover the home at the end of the term by a fast route.
• Proof of residence. A registered lease has an official number and date, which helps when you need to show an authority where you live.

If the lease is to be used in a residence permit file, ask the Romanian immigration authority (IGI) in advance which type of lease it accepts. In any case, ask the landlord for the registration number and the confirmation.

5How much deposit may be required, and how do you make sure it is returned?

The Civil Code sets no amount and no cap for the deposit. Everything is set in the lease, so whatever is not written will be hard to claim on the day you leave. These are the details that should appear:

1. Amount and currency. If the rent is quoted in euro, state whether the deposit will be returned in euro or in lei (the Romanian currency), and at what exchange rate.
2. The return date, counted from the day you hand over the keys.
3. A closed list of deductions: unpaid rent, open bills and damage beyond ordinary wear.
4. A handover report (proces-verbal de predare-primire) signed by both parties, with photographs and meter readings. Every deduction will be assessed against it.
5. Payment by bank transfer with a description, and keeping every confirmation.

6Who repairs what, and what do you do when the landlord does not respond?

The landlord is responsible for every repair necessary to keep the home fit for use throughout the lease (Article 1788(1)). You are responsible for “tenant repairs” arising from ordinary use, such as a dripping tap, a switch or a handle (Articles 1788(2) and 1802).

• Notify the landlord immediately when a repair is needed (Article 1801), preferably in writing.
• A landlord who does not act in time: you may carry out the repair yourself and claim the cost from the landlord plus interest (Article 1788).
• An urgent repair lasting more than 10 days reduces the rent proportionately, and a home that has become unfit allows the lease to be terminated (Article 1803).
• A serious danger to health in the building or the home allows the lease to be terminated even if you waived this in advance (Article 1827).

7Bills, the owners' association and subletting: what should be settled in writing?

In a multi-unit building the tenant contributes to the costs of lighting, heating and cleaning the common areas, and to other costs the law places on the tenant (Article 1829). In practice a monthly maintenance bill arrives from the owners' association (asociația de proprietari, the equivalent of a building committee), alongside electricity, gas and internet bills, and sometimes water and heating as well.

Write in the lease in whose name each supplier contract is registered, who pays the association bill and which components of it, for example the repair fund. Both options, bills in the landlord's name or transfer into your name, work, provided the lease states expressly which was chosen. And if you want to let a room to someone else or assign the lease, the landlord's written consent is required (Article 1833).

8How much does it cost to rent in Bucharest, and what needs to be prepared to move in?

According to Anunțul Telefonic data for June 2026, published on the Bucharest City Hall website, the average asking rent was about 350 euro for a studio, 533 euro for a two-room apartment, 751 euro for three rooms and 2,420 euro for a house or villa. These are listing prices, not transaction prices, and they vary between neighbourhoods.

To the move-in cost add the first month's rent, the deposit and the brokerage fee if you work with a broker. As long as you do not have a Romanian identification number (CNP), landlords and utility companies may ask for a Romanian tax number (NIF).

9What does the same lease look like from the landlord's side?

Someone renting today may become a landlord in a few years. The same provisions also work in the landlord's favour: registering the lease with ANAF is the landlord's obligation, and it is what makes the lease an enforceable title for collecting rent and for recovering the home at the end of a fixed term. A detailed handover report is the landlord's evidence of damage. On the other hand, a landlord cannot prevent the tenant from leaving with 60 days' notice, and cannot end a fixed-term lease early unless the lease permits this for the housing needs of the landlord or their family.

10What should you do before signing?

• Ask for a current extract from the land register (extras de carte funciară) and make sure the landlord is the owner and what is registered on the property, for example a mortgage.
• In Bucharest, check whether the building appears on the list of buildings at seismic risk.
• Require a written lease in Romanian with a translation you understand, and check the term and the notice clauses against Articles 1824 and 1825.
• Complete a full deposit clause, the allocation of repairs and bills, and a handover report.
• Obtain an undertaking to register with ANAF, and for a long lease also to register a notation in the land register.

When an Israeli family rents in Romania as a step before buying, it is worth reading the lease through the eyes of someone planning the next two years: when the term ends, how to exit it and what will happen to the deposit. We accompany families in reviewing the lease and in preparing for the purchase that follows, together with licensed lawyers and notaries in Romania, who carry out the actions under local law, such as a notarial lease or registration in the land register.

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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.