Notarising a lease in Croatia: certified signatures, solemnisation and costs

Signature, certified signature or solemnisation: what each gives you

The Zakon o najmu stanova (the Housing Lease Act) only requires writing (Art. 4(2)), so a lease you've both signed is valid without a notary, and it needn't be a notarial deed (Zakon o javnom bilježništvu, the Notaries Act, Art. 53). At a notary, you can:

• Certify signatures (ovjera potpisa). The notary confirms that a person signed in front of them, or acknowledged a signature as theirs. They don't check the content and aren't responsible for it (Art. 77).
• SolemniseSolemnisation (solemnizacija)simplifiedA notary confirms a contract: checks it, explains the consequences and gives it the force of a notarial deed. With an enforcement clause it becomes an enforcement title.Source: Zakon o javnom bilježništvu (NN 78/93 … 57/22), čl. 54. i 59., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary the lease (solemnizacija, or potvrda). The notary reviews your lease, checks the parties can make it, explains what it means and warns about unclear or invalid clauses (Arts. 57–59). A solemnised lease has the force of a notarial deed.
• Have it drawn up as a notarial deed (javnobilježnički akt), written by the notary.

With the tenant's statement that the lease can be enforced directly, a solemnised lease or a notarial deed becomes an enforcement titleEnforcement (ovrha)simplifiedCourt proceedings that force an obligation to be met, such as paying a debt or moving out. They rest on an enforcement title or, for money claims, an authentic document.Source: Ovršni zakon (NN 112/12 … 06/24), čl. 13., 23., 31. i 255., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary. The notary can add that statement at the tenant's request before solemnising (Art. 54(1) and (6)). A lease with certified signaturesSignature certification (ovjera potpisa)simplifiedA notary confirms that the signature on a document is yours but doesn't check its content. The fee is €6 per signature, before VAT and the state fee.Source: Zakon o javnom bilježništvu (NN 78/93 … 57/22), čl. 77., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary has no such force.

When you need it: registering an address, foreign tenants, enforcement

• Registering an address. A tenant who is a Croatian citizen and has a lease certified by a notary doesn't need the owner's consent (gov.hr). The rest is in our address registration guide.
• Third-country nationals registering an address attach a lease certified by a notary or by Porezna uprava, the Tax Administration (rulebook on third-country nationals, Art. 77). Workers have extra rules (housing for workers).
• EU, EEA and Swiss citizens attach a lease certified by a notary or the finance ministry, or the owner signs Form 6b (Obrazac 6b) at the police (rulebook NN 107/2020, Art. 29). More in our guide for foreigners.
• Enforcement without a lawsuit. With a solemnisedSolemnisation (solemnizacija)simplifiedA notary confirms a contract: checks it, explains the consequences and gives it the force of a notarial deed. With an enforcement clause it becomes an enforcement title.Source: Zakon o javnom bilježništvu (NN 78/93 … 57/22), čl. 54. i 59., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary lease and the tenant's enforcement statement, the landlord can apply for enforcement without suing, and the notary certifies enforceability (Art. 54(7)). How a lease ends is in our guide to ending a lease.

The registration rules ask for a lease “ovjeren” (certified) by a notary without saying whether certified signaturesSignature certification (ovjera potpisa)simplifiedA notary confirms that the signature on a document is yours but doesn't check its content. The fee is €6 per signature, before VAT and the state fee.Source: Zakon o javnom bilježništvu (NN 78/93 … 57/22), čl. 77., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary are enough. The Notaries Act calls signature certification “ovjera” and solemnisation “potvrda”, so as we read it they are, but check with the police first.

If an obligation depends on a condition or a deadline not fixed by date, such as notice, enforcement first needs proof that it has happened: a public document, a document with the creditor's certified signature or, if neither is possible, a final court judgment, unless the lease says otherwise (Art. 54(4)). Read the enforcement statement before you sign.

What it costs: the tariff maths

The Pravilnik o privremenoj javnobilježničkoj tarifi (the provisional notarial tariff) sets the notary's fee in points, and a point is worth €2.00 (Art. 40, NN 139/2024). An agreement on a fee that breaks the tariff has no effect (Art. 2).

• Signature certificationSignature certification (ovjera potpisa)simplifiedA notary confirms that the signature on a document is yours but doesn't check its content. The fee is €6 per signature, before VAT and the state fee.Source: Zakon o javnom bilježništvu (NN 78/93 … 57/22), čl. 77., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary: 3 points, or €6 per signature (Art. 19). Two signatures cost €12, and a certified copy asked for within three years €2.
• SolemnisationSolemnisation (solemnizacija)simplifiedA notary confirms a contract: checks it, explains the consequences and gives it the force of a notarial deed. With an enforcement clause it becomes an enforcement title.Source: Zakon o javnom bilježništvu (NN 78/93 … 57/22), čl. 54. i 59., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary: half the fee for a notarial deed, or the full fee if the notary must also draw up a separate deed. Several people pay one fee (Art. 16).
• Notarial deed: the fee rises with the lease's value, from 21 points for a value up to €663.61 (Art. 12).

A lease's value isn't the rent times the term: it's one year's rent, or for a lease under a year, the rent for its whole term (Art. 8; for the state fee, Zakon o javnobilježničkim pristojbama, the Notarial Fees Act, Art. 18). A three-year or open-ended lease counts as one year's rent. Examples for solemnisation without a separate deed:

• €700 a month, for a year or longer: €8,400, the bracket up to €9,954.21 carries 85 points, half is 42.5 points, or €85
• €1,000 a month: €12,000, the bracket up to €13,272.28 carries 106 points, half is 53 points, or €106
• €700 a month for six months: €4,200, the bracket up to €6,636.14 carries 64 points, half is 32 points, or €64

On top of the fee:

• VAT. The tariff doesn't mention it, but as we read the VAT Act, a notary registered for VAT adds 25% to the fee (Arts. 6 and 38), so €85 becomes €106.25. A notary with annual turnover up to €60,000 is exempt (Art. 90).
• The state notarial fee (javnobilježnička pristojba), paid to the state budget (Notarial Fees Act, Arts. 1 and 9). We don't give an amount: the Act's fee table is still in kuna, and we couldn't find in Narodne novine the Government decree with a new table, required since 2023.
• Extras: work outside the office costs €32 per started hour, outside working hours another 50% of the fee, at most €160 (Art. 38), and a certificate of enforceability €8 (Art. 31).

The notary writes the fee, the state fee and costs on the lease and issues an itemised bill, and the competent court where the notary is based can set a disputed fee (Notaries Act, Arts. 162 and 165). Search notaries' offices on the Croatian Chamber of Notaries' site.

“Certification” at Porezna uprava

The rulebook for third-country nationals accepts a lease “certified by a notary or Porezna uprava”, and the EEA rulebook one certified by the finance ministry. Neither the rulebooks nor Porezna uprava's pages say what tax-office certification is. The pages only describe filing the lease with the RPO form through ePorezna, in person or by post (not by email). So before you move in, ask the tax office and the police what they accept.

Who pays the notary

No law says whether the landlord or the tenant pays, so agree on it and write it into the lease (our lease checklist). Towards the notary, everyone who asked for the service is jointly liable for the fee, and the notary may ask for payment straight away (Notaries Act, Arts. 163 and 164). The state fee is paid by whoever asked for the service or benefits from it (Notarial Fees Act, Art. 2).

The notary files the lease with the tax office

The landlord files a lease with Porezna uprava within 8 days. If a notary certified the landlord's signature, solemnisedSolemnisation (solemnizacija)simplifiedA notary confirms a contract: checks it, explains the consequences and gives it the force of a notarial deed. With an enforcement clause it becomes an enforcement title.Source: Zakon o javnom bilježništvu (NN 78/93 … 57/22), čl. 54. i 59., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary the lease or drew it up as a notarial deed, the notary sends it electronically within 30 days instead, and that counts as the landlord's taxpayer registration too (Zakon o porezu na dohodak, the Income TaxIncome tax on rent (porez na dohodak)simplifiedThe tax a private landlord pays on rent: 12% of the rent less 30% for expenses, i.e. 8.4% of the rent. It's paid monthly under a Tax Administration decision.Source: Zakon o porezu na dohodak, čl. 57. i 62., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary Act, Arts. 62(7)–(8) and 87(6)).

The trigger is the landlord's certified signatureSignature certification (ovjera potpisa)simplifiedA notary confirms that the signature on a document is yours but doesn't check its content. The fee is €6 per signature, before VAT and the state fee.Source: Zakon o javnom bilježništvu (NN 78/93 … 57/22), čl. 77., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary, because the landlord is the taxpayer; if only the tenant's is certified, the landlord files. The City of Zagreb gets the lease and rent changes from the landlord either way (Housing Lease Act, Art. 26). Every step is in our lease reporting checklist.

The new law: solemnisation for every lease (draft)

The draft new Housing Lease Act was in public consultation from 3 August to 2 September 2026. On 19 October 2026 there's no consultation report and no bill in the Sabor, and the law in force is unchanged.

Under the draft, every new lease would have to be a notarial deed or solemnisedSolemnisation (solemnizacija)simplifiedA notary confirms a contract: checks it, explains the consequences and gives it the force of a notarial deed. With an enforcement clause it becomes an enforcement title.Source: Zakon o javnom bilježništvu (NN 78/93 … 57/22), čl. 54. i 59., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary, or it wouldn't be valid, so certified signaturesSignature certification (ovjera potpisa)simplifiedA notary confirms that the signature on a document is yours but doesn't check its content. The fee is €6 per signature, before VAT and the state fee.Source: Zakon o javnom bilježništvu (NN 78/93 … 57/22), čl. 77., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary wouldn't do. It would need enforcement clauses for debts and damage up to five months' rent and for handing back the flat, the landlord would pay the notary unless agreed otherwise, and the notary would file the lease with Porezna uprava within 30 days (draft Art. 7). The proposed start is 1 January 2027 (Art. 61). More in our guide to the draft.

Frequently asked questions