Protected tenants in Croatia in 2026: what's changing

What's changing: the dates at a glance

The Act on enforcing the European Court of Human Rights judgments in the Statileo v. Croatia group (NN 36/2024, the Act below) covers protected tenantsProtected tenant (zaštićeni najmoprimac)simplifiedA tenant who lives in a flat on the basis of a former tenancy right and paid a protected rent. For private flats a transitional protected lease has applied since 1 January 2025.Source: Zakon o načinu izvršenja presuda ESLJP u skupini predmeta Statileo (NN 36/2024), čl. 4., 17., 18. i 20., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary in flats owned by private individuals and companies (Art. 2). It hasn't been amended since it was passed. The key dates:

• 2 April 2024: the Act comes into force (Art. 62).
• 15 July 2024: the deadline to enter a flat on the Register, with a supplementary deadline of 31 August 2024 (Arts. 12 and 13).
• 1 January 2025: chapter XIII of the Housing Lease Act (the transitional provisions, Arts. 30–49, which governed the protected lease) ceases to apply. For flats on the Register, the protected lease is replaced by a transitional protected lease, in which the tenant and the state each pay the owner 50% of an average rent (Arts. 18 and 58).
• 15 March 2025: the deadline for each party's statement choosing a measure, with the signature certified by a notary; the supplementary deadline was 30 April 2025 (Arts. 42 and 43).
• 15 April 2025: the deadline for owners to claim solidarity compensation (Art. 53).
• 1 January 2026: the base average rent rose with inflation from €7.50 to €7.725/m², and the rent for a state flat from €2.00 to €2.06/m² (NN 4/2026).
• 1 September 2026: the date by which the Ministry was to decide solidarity compensation claims (Art. 54).
• By the end of 2026: the minister decides the inflation adjustment of the base average rent and the state-flat rent for 2027 (Arts. 18(3) and 30(3)). The 2026 decision was signed on 16 December 2025 and published in Narodne novine on 14 January 2026.

The 2024 and 2025 deadlines have passed. This guide explains what follows from them and what applies in October 2026.

The draft new Housing Lease Act hasn't been passed. It wouldn't apply to the transitional protected leases under this Act (draft Art. 1(2)), but it would cover protected tenants in publicly owned flats (see below). Our guide to the draft covers the rest.

Who counts as a protected tenant

A protected tenantProtected tenant (zaštićeni najmoprimac)simplifiedA tenant who lives in a flat on the basis of a former tenancy right and paid a protected rent. For private flats a transitional protected lease has applied since 1 January 2025.Source: Zakon o načinu izvršenja presuda ESLJP u skupini predmeta Statileo (NN 36/2024), čl. 4., 17., 18. i 20., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary is a former holder of a tenancy right (stanarsko pravo), the socialist-era right to occupy a flat. When the Housing Lease Act came into force on 5 November 1996, tenancy rights in flats that hadn't been bought were replaced by a protected lease at a protected rent, and tenants in privately owned flats had never been able to buy theirs (Programme of measures, reasoning). The City of Zagreb describes protected tenants as people who held a tenancy right in 1996 in flats owned by the City, the state or other legal and natural persons.

The Act covers people whose status was recognised by the Housing Lease Act or by a court, and people to whom those rights passed, if they were living in a flat owned by a private individual or company on 2 April 2024 (Art. 4(1) point 27).

A protected subtenantSubletting (podnajam)simplifiedWhen the tenant lets the flat, or part of it, to someone else. They need the landlord's consent; subletting without it is a ground for notice.Source: Zakon o najmu stanova (NN 91/96 … 105/20), čl. 19. i 28., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary (zaštićeni podstanarTenant (podstanar, everyday word)The everyday Croatian word for someone renting a flat. In the law the tenant is called najmoprimac.Source: Zakon o najmu stanova (NN 91/96 … 105/20), checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary) is a separate category: someone who gained protected subtenant status under the rules in force before 5 November 1996 and pays a protected rent in proportion to the part of the flat they use. Their rights can't be passed on (Art. 4(1) point 29). The rules for protected tenants apply to them, but they can only get a payout or a move to a state flat unless they settle otherwise with the owner (Arts. 2(4) and 17(3)).

An ordinary tenant on a market lease (in everyday Croatian, a podstanar) isn't a protected tenant. Their rights are in Arts. 1–29 of the Housing Lease Act, which the 2024 Act didn't change (tenant rights).

Can anyone become a protected tenant today? As we read the law, no. The status comes from tenancy rights that existed in 1996, the Act covers only people living in the flat on 2 April 2024, and the rights can pass only to registered household members, as described below (Art. 4(1) point 27).

Why the law changed: Statileo and the Constitutional Court

On 10 July 2014 the European Court of Human Rights held in Statileo v. Croatia (no. 12027/10) that the owner of a flat in Split had suffered a breach of his right to the peaceful enjoyment of his possessions under Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention, because he could neither charge an adequate rent nor get the flat back (§§ 3, 8, 143 and 145). The Court said the social and financial burden of the reform couldn't be placed on one particular group (§ 142).

Amendments to the Housing Lease Act in 2018 (NN 68/18) would have raised the protected rentProtected tenant (zaštićeni najmoprimac)simplifiedA tenant who lives in a flat on the basis of a former tenancy right and paid a protected rent. For private flats a transitional protected lease has applied since 1 January 2025.Source: Zakon o načinu izvršenja presuda ESLJP u skupini predmeta Statileo (NN 36/2024), čl. 4., 17., 18. i 20., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary in private flats every 12 months from 1 September 2018 and ended protected tenants' rights on 1 September 2023. The Constitutional Court struck those provisions down (Arts. 28.a–28.n) in decision U-I-3242/2018 of 14 September 2020 (NN 105/2020).

The 2024 Act implements both decisions. According to the Ministry, on 8 October and 12 November 2024 the Constitutional Court decided not to accept proposals to open a review of the Act's constitutionality.

What is paid in 2026

For a flat on the Register, a transitional protected lease has run since 1 January 2025: the tenant pays the owner 50% of the average rent and the state pays the other 50% (Art. 18(1)). The average rent is worked out like this (Art. 18(2)–(5)):

• base rent: €7.50/m² in 2025, €7.725/m² from 1 January 2026 (an inflation adjustment of 3.0%, NN 4/2026)
• × a floor coefficient: 1 for standard flats on regular floors, 0.90 for semi-basement and attic flats, 0.80 for basement flats
• × a geographic location coefficient: 1.25 for the City of Zagreb, Zagreb County and coastal towns and municipalities, 1.00 elsewhere

A Zagreb example (our calculation): for a 50 m² flat on a regular floor the average rent in 2026 is 50 × 7.725 × 1.25 = €482.81 a month. The tenant and the state pay about €241.41 each. In 2025 the same rent was €468.75. For comparison, in flats managed by the City of Zagreb, to which the Programme of measures doesn't apply, the protected rentProtected tenant (zaštićeni najmoprimac)simplifiedA tenant who lives in a flat on the basis of a former tenancy right and paid a protected rent. For private flats a transitional protected lease has applied since 1 January 2025.Source: Zakon o načinu izvršenja presuda ESLJP u skupini predmeta Statileo (NN 36/2024), čl. 4., 17., 18. i 20., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary was €0.36/m² in June 2024 (City of Zagreb, 26 June 2024), or €18 a month for 50 m².

The Ministry sets the amount for each flat by decision (Art. 19). Both halves go straight into the owner's bank account every month, by the last day of the month for the next month, and late payment carries default interest (Art. 20(1), (2) and (8)). Owners were to send their account number to the tenant and the Ministry within 15 days of receiving the decision (Ministry leaflet).

If half the average rent is more than 25% of the household's total monthly income and the household has no other assets of higher value, the state pays the difference (Art. 20(3)). Under the Programme of measures, the tenant then objects within 30 days of receiving the decision, with Tax Administration income certificates and a statement certified by a notary (Form H). Assets of higher value means property worth over €25,000 and movable assets, savings included, worth over €15,000. The tenant then pays, each month, 2.083% of the household's total annual income for the previous year, a twelfth of 25% (Programme of measures, Art. 12).

If the tenant doesn't pay their share for three months in a row, the transitional protected lease ends by operation of law. At the owner's request the Ministry confirms this by decision, and the tenant must leave within 30 days of it becoming final (Art. 20(5)–(7)).

For what similar flats ask on the open market, see the rent estimate. Those are asking prices from listings and don't affect the amount in the decision.

The five measures and who decides

Every case ends with one of five measures (Art. 17):

1. 1Settlement: the tenant stays as an ordinary tenant on an open-ended lease at a freely agreed rentRent (najamnina)simplifiedWhat the tenant pays the landlord for the use of the flat. In market leases it's agreed freely; the lease and the law limit changes during the tenancy.Source: Zakon o najmu stanova (NN 91/96 … 105/20), čl. 3., 6., 9. i 10., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary. The settlement is made before a Ministry official and has the force of an enforceable decision (Art. 21).
2. 2Payout: the state pays the tenant a tax-free sum, and the tenant moves out and hands the flat to the owner (Arts. 22–25).
3. 3State flat: the tenant hands the flat to the owner and moves into a suitable flat the state lets to them, with the right to buy it (Arts. 27–31).
4. 4Swap: the owner exchanges the flat for state-owned property, and the tenant can buy the flat from the state (Arts. 34–38).
5. 5Purchase: the state buys the flat from the owner at a price set by a court-appointed valuer, and the tenant can buy it from the state (Arts. 34–38).

In their statements, owners chose between a settlement, getting the flat back empty, and a sale or swap with the state; tenants chose between a settlement, a payout, a move to a state flat and buying the flat they live in (Art. 42). A swap or a purchase is possible only if the owner chooses it (Art. 17(2)).

If the parties didn't agree or an agreement failed, the third measure, a move to a state flat, applies by law unless the tenant expressly asks for a payout (Arts. 21(8)–(9) and 48). Where only one side sent a statement, an owner who missed even the supplementary deadline is taken to have chosen getting the flat back, and such a tenant to have chosen a payout, though the tenant can later opt for a state flat. Where neither side sent one by 30 April 2025, the lease becomes by law an open-ended lease at the average freely agreed rent (Arts. 43 and 13(4)). A tenant who, or whose spouse, partner or life partner, owns another habitable property in the same town or municipality can only get a payout (Art. 22(3)).

There's no appeal against the Ministry's decisions, but they can be challenged in an administrative dispute (Art. 5(2)). A party who obstructs or delays the process can be warned, and with the third warning fined €500 to €2,500 (Arts. 55–57). A party who misses a meeting without good reason is fined straight away, without prior warnings (Art. 45(8)).

Payout, state flat or buying: the tenant's options

The state guarantees permanent and secure housing to a protected tenantProtected tenant (zaštićeni najmoprimac)simplifiedA tenant who lives in a flat on the basis of a former tenancy right and paid a protected rent. For private flats a transitional protected lease has applied since 1 January 2025.Source: Zakon o načinu izvršenja presuda ESLJP u skupini predmeta Statileo (NN 36/2024), čl. 4., 17., 18. i 20., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary who, like their spouse, partner or life partner, owns no other habitable property in the same town or municipality (Art. 3(2)).

The payout is the benchmark construction price (etalonska cijena građenja)Benchmark construction price (etalonska cijena građenja)simplifiedA building cost per m² that the Ministry publishes in the official gazette. The minimum reserve fund and some sums for protected tenants are based on it.Source: Podatak o etalonskoj cijeni građenja (NN 106/2025), checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary times the largest area of a suitable flat: 35 m² for one person plus 10 m² for each further household member who lived in the flat from 5 November 1994 to 5 November 1996 or was born later and has had their registered address there for the last three years, plus up to 7.5 m² where that gets closer to one room per person. For the City of Zagreb, Zagreb County and the coast the sum is multiplied by 1.2, and it isn't taxed (Arts. 4(1) point 11 and 22). The benchmark price has been €1,315/m² since 25 July 2025 (NN 106/2025), so the Ministry gives about €55,887.50 to €67,065 for a single person plus €13,150 to €15,780 for each household member, depending on location. That is the last benchmark price published under the Act on Socially Subsidised Housing (Zakon o društveno poticanoj stanogradnji), which ceased to apply on 7 May 2026 (NN 45/2026, Art. 100). A new benchmark price decision under the Affordable Housing Act (Art. 19) could change these amounts.

For Zagreb that means (our calculation, if every member qualifies): €67,065 for a single person, €82,845 for two, €98,625 for three and €114,405 for a household of four. The tenant picks the moving-out day, between 15 days and three months after authorising the notary (Art. 24(2)). The state pays within eight days of the notary sending the record of the move-out; on request the money may be paid before the move-out into a dedicated account, if it goes towards buying another home (Art. 25).

State flat: the state lets a suitable flat as close as possible to the current one, and at the tenant's written request it can be smaller or elsewhere (Art. 28(1) and (2)). The rent has been €2.06/m² since 1 January 2026 (NN 4/2026), with the floor coefficient but no location coefficient (Art. 30), so €92.70 a month for 45 m² (our calculation). If the state can't provide a flat within a reasonable time, it subsidises a flat rented on the open market (Art. 28(3)–(5)).

Buying: a protected tenant in a state flat, and after a swap or purchase, can buy the flat at a preferential price, the benchmark price times the floor coefficient and 1.20 for Zagreb and the coast (Arts. 31 and 38). The Ministry gives €1,315 to €1,578/m², depending on location. The terms (Arts. 31 and 38):

• 20% off for paying in one go
• 10% off for each household member who is a Croatian war veteran or a family member of a killed or missing veteran, for each pensioner and for each minor child registered at the address for the last three years
• no more than 30% off in total
• or interest-free payment in up to 240 monthly instalments, with a state mortgage on the flat

An example (our calculation): a 40 m² state flat in Zagreb costs 40 × €1,578 = €63,120, or €44,184 with the maximum 30% discount. After a swap or purchase from the owner, the preferential price applies up to 65 m², or more for a larger household, and the rest of the area is paid at market value set by a court-appointed valuer (Art. 38(4) and (5)).

A single tenant over 65 can, instead of the measures, ask for a free place in a care home for older people run by the state, the City of Zagreb or a local authority. If those homes are full, the tenant is placed in another care home, and the state pays the cost above the protected rent the tenant paid on 2 April 2024 (Art. 32). People over 65, on low means or with serious health problems or a disability get a one-off moving allowance of €1,000 per person (Arts. 4(1) point 14 and 40).

According to minister Branko Bačić (23 September 2026), 121 state flats have been made ready, 56 of them in Zagreb, and about 240 more are being renovated or designed. In Zagreb's Blato district, at Fiolićeva and Rastočka streets, the state is building a block of 152 flats for protected tenants. The €20 million contract was signed on 19 January 2026 with 16 months for construction, and the rent will be charged at the state-flat rate, which is €2.06/m² in 2026 and is adjusted for inflation every year (Art. 30(3)).

When the owner gets the flat back

The owner gets the flat back empty when the tenant takes a payout or moves to a state flat:

• Payout: on the day the tenant chooses, between 15 days and three months after authorising the notary. A notary records the handover, and the owner may attend (Art. 24).
• State flat: within nine months of the written notice if the tenant chose the move, or four months from the decision becoming final when the measure applies because there was no agreement or the tenant dropped the payout (Art. 27(1)).
• If the owner can't be reached, the state takes the flat and hands it over within 30 days of the owner's written request (Art. 24(6) and (7)).

These periods only start with the Ministry's offer, notice or decision, and the Ministry handles cases in an order of priority (Art. 44).

The tenant's statement 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 by a notary is 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, so the owner or the state can apply for enforcement directly if the tenant doesn't leave on time (Arts. 23(5) and 27(3)). A tenant who doesn't leave loses the status, gets the maximum €2,500 fine after one warning and pays the owner the full average rent until they leave (Arts. 26 and 57).

In a purchase the state pays the price in one go within 30 days of the contract; in a swap any difference in the flats' value can be settled by a top-up either way (Art. 34(6) and (7)). The contract is signed no later than six months after the first meeting (Art. 36). An owner may withdraw if unhappy with the offer based on the court-appointed valuer's appraisal. An owner who withdraws for any other reason is entitled only to the tenant's half of the average rent. Either way the state has a five-year right of first refusal on the flat (Art. 39).

Solidarity compensation: for the period in which the ownership was restricted by the protected lease, from 5 November 1996 or the later acquisition or return of the flat to 1 January 2025, the state pays the owner 1 euro cent per m² per day, tax-free (Arts. 50 and 52). For a 50 m² flat owned since before 1996 that's about €5,142 (our calculation, 10,284 days). It isn't paid to an owner who didn't enter the flat on the Register, to an owner who acquired it through a transaction for value, for example by buying it, after 5 November 1996, or their successor, or to an owner a court has already awarded more in damages (Arts. 13(4) and 51). As we read it, inheriting from an owner who held the flat before 1996 isn't a transaction for value. For an heir who acquired the flat after 1996, the Act counts the period from acquisition (Art. 50(2) point 3); it doesn't say whether the heir also takes over the deceased owner's earlier period. Claims were due by 15 April 2025, and the Ministry was to decide them by 1 September 2026 (Arts. 53 and 54).

Once the flat is free, our landlord guide covers letting it and the rent estimate shows what similar flats ask. From 2027 an empty flat in Zagreb pays property taxProperty tax (porez na nekretnine)simplifiedA yearly local tax per m² of useful floor area on homes not used for permanent living. In Zagreb it's €8 per m² from 1 January 2027 (€5 in 2026).Source: Zakon o lokalnim porezima (NN 115/16 … 152/24), čl. 26., 27. i 49., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary of €8/m² a year, while a flat let long-term for at least 10 months of the year is exempt (guide to the empty-flat tax).

When the tenant dies: who carries on the lease

If a protected tenantProtected tenant (zaštićeni najmoprimac)simplifiedA tenant who lives in a flat on the basis of a former tenancy right and paid a protected rent. For private flats a transitional protected lease has applied since 1 January 2025.Source: Zakon o načinu izvršenja presuda ESLJP u skupini predmeta Statileo (NN 36/2024), čl. 4., 17., 18. i 20., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary dies or leaves the flat while the Programme of measures is under way, their rights and duties pass to another household member on the Register who stays in the flat and has their registered address there on the day of death (Programme of measures, Art. 6):

• The household reports the death to the Ministry within 30 days.
• If several members are registered, they must agree within 60 days of the death which of them takes the tenant's place, have their signatures certified and send the agreement to the Ministry within 30 days of signing. A Ministry official then names the new tenant by decision.
• If they don't agree or don't send the agreement, the Ministry issues a new decision under which all household members are liable for the average rent, jointly and severally, until they name the tenant (Programme of measures, section on the average-rent decision).
• For each person who dies, the area of the suitable flat, which sets the payout and the size of a state flat, falls by 10 m².

If the tenant dies after signing a contract to buy on instalments, an heir or a third party can take over as the debtor under a separate contract (Programme of measures).

On the owner's side, the Act's rights extend to the owner's legal successors, such as heirs (Art. 4(1) point 25). As we read it, someone who inherits a flat with a protected tenant carries on the process in the deceased owner's place.

The Register: consequences and what's public

The Ministry keeps, in electronic form, the Register of flats owned by private individuals and companies in which protected tenantsProtected tenant (zaštićeni najmoprimac)simplifiedA tenant who lives in a flat on the basis of a former tenancy right and paid a protected rent. For private flats a transitional protected lease has applied since 1 January 2025.Source: Zakon o načinu izvršenja presuda ESLJP u skupini predmeta Statileo (NN 36/2024), čl. 4., 17., 18. i 20., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary and protected subtenantsSubletting (podnajam)simplifiedWhen the tenant lets the flat, or part of it, to someone else. They need the landlord's consent; subletting without it is a ground for notice.Source: Zakon o najmu stanova (NN 91/96 … 105/20), čl. 19. i 28., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary live (Arts. 4(1) point 19 and 8). Applications were due by 15 July 2024, with a supplementary deadline of 31 August 2024 (Arts. 12 and 13).

Where neither the owner nor the tenant registered the flat, even by the supplementary deadline, the protected lease became, by law, an open-ended lease at the average freely agreed rentRent (najamnina)simplifiedWhat the tenant pays the landlord for the use of the flat. In market leases it's agreed freely; the lease and the law limit changes during the tenancy.Source: Zakon o najmu stanova (NN 91/96 … 105/20), čl. 3., 6., 9. i 10., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary, which the tenant pays alone, and the owner lost the right to solidarity compensation. The Tax Administration gives the amount of that rent for a flat on request (Art. 13(4)). Where only one side had registered by the supplementary deadline, its data went on the Register and the other side is taken to have waived any objection to it (Art. 13(7)).

Where court or administrative proceedings on the flat's status are pending, it gets a provisional register number, and the parties can register it within six months of the decision becoming final (Art. 15(3) and (4)).

The flat's register number, county, area, the parties' initials, the number of household members and the chosen measures are published (Art. 10(3)). Other data can be seen by the owner, the protected tenant, people with a legal interest and public authorities (Art. 10(1)).

The register statistics on the Ministry's site (viewed 19 October 2026; the page carries no date) list 959 properties, 2,529 owners and 1,841 tenants and household members; of these, the City of Zagreb accounts for 429 properties, 987 owners and 810 tenants and household members. The table of completed move-outs and payouts lists 373 properties, 201 of them in Zagreb, and the table by measure lists 22 under the third measure and 3 under the fourth and fifth. On 23 September 2026 the minister said 391 of about 1,300 claims had been resolved so far and that all should be resolved by the end of the decade.

Publicly and formerly socially owned flats

The Act doesn't apply to flats owned by institutions set up by the state or a local authority (Art. 2(2)), and the Programme of measures doesn't apply to flats owned by the state or local authorities, or to flats whose tenants had the right to buy but didn't use it. The Government says in the Programme's reasoning that they remain under the Housing Lease Act.

According to the Ministry (31 July 2026), there are about 4,000 protected tenantsProtected tenant (zaštićeni najmoprimac)simplifiedA tenant who lives in a flat on the basis of a former tenancy right and paid a protected rent. For private flats a transitional protected lease has applied since 1 January 2025.Source: Zakon o načinu izvršenja presuda ESLJP u skupini predmeta Statileo (NN 36/2024), čl. 4., 17., 18. i 20., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary in formerly socially owned flats, now owned by the state, local authorities, institutions and privatised companies. In a reply of 26 June 2024 to the City Assembly's spatial planning committee, the City of Zagreb said that, by its manually kept records, protected tenants occupy 456 flats the City manages, and that the protected rent was then €0.36/m².

Art. 58(1) of the Act, under which protected-tenant status acquired under the Housing Lease Act ends on 1 January 2025, is worded generally and repeals the whole of chapter XIII of the Housing Lease Act, which governed the protected lease of all former tenancy-right holders, while the Act covers private flats. We don't explain how this works for tenants in public flats. The Government still calls them protected tenants in the Programme of measures and in the draft new law.

The draft new Housing Lease Act, not yet passed on 19 October 2026, proposes for them (draft Arts. 48–52, 54 and 57):

• a separate register with an application deadline of 31 December 2027; anyone not registered would lose the status and become an ordinary open-ended tenant
• the owner could offer the flat for sale to the tenant or the state, and the state would have to buy it, unless the owner is a local or regional authority or one of its legal entities, at a price at least 30% below the market price of the flat free of the protected lease, paid in five yearly instalments
• the state would have to sell its own flats to a tenant who asks, at 30% below the market price of the flat free of the protected lease, in one go or in up to 240 monthly instalments; there'd be no discount if the tenant or a household member owns property worth over €50,000
• after the tenant's death the lease would pass to a registered household member who lived in the flat from 5 November 1994 to 5 November 1996 and has had their registered address there for the last five years

According to the Ministry's slides of 31 July 2026, their rent couldn't be lower than twice the minimum building reserve fundReserve fund (pričuva)simplifiedMoney the co-owners pay each month to maintain the building's common parts and run it. The flat's owner owes it to the building, not the tenant.Source: Zakon o upravljanju i održavanju zgrada (NN 152/24, 47/26), čl. 28. i 29., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary (zajednička pričuva) or higher than the state-flat rent, and would be capped by household income and assets, at up to 30% of income. The text can still change after the consultation.

Where to ask

The Ministry of Physical Planning, Construction and State Assets (MPGI) runs the process: provedba.statileo@mpgi.hr and tel. 01 6383 988, with phone information on cases on Mondays 12:30–14:30 and Fridays 9:00–11:00. The Ministry's page has the Programme of measures, the forms, calculators for an indicative estimate and the register statistics (in Croatian).

Free legal help in Zagreb is available from the City of Zagreb's free legal aid section and the Faculty of Law's legal clinic; our tenant rights guide has the addresses.

Frequently asked questions