Who pays what when you rent in Croatia: reserve fund, communal fee and repairs (2026)

In short: who pays what

A simplified overview, with the rule behind each item. Details and exceptions are in the sections below.

The owner, i.e. the landlord, pays:

• The 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 to the building. The building's co-owners owe it (Building Management and Maintenance Act, Arts. 28 and 29).
• The communal feeCommunal fee (komunalna naknada)simplifiedA public charge paid to the City for maintaining communal infrastructure, per m² of useful floor area. The owner pays it unless a written contract moves it to the tenant.Source: Zakon o komunalnom gospodarstvu (NN 68/18 … 145/24), čl. 93. i 94., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary to the City, unless a written contract passes it to the tenant (Communal Economy Act, Art. 93).
• Necessary repairs in the flat (Housing Lease Act, Art. 14(3)).
• 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, which isn't due on a flat let under a lease for permanent housing for at least ten months of the year (Local Taxes Act, Arts. 25 and 27), and 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 on the rent (Income Tax Act, Art. 62).

The tenant pays:

• Small repairs and the costs of regular use of the flat (Obligations Act, Art. 554(3)).
• Damage they or the other occupants of the flat cause in the flat or to the building's common parts, under the general rules on liability for damage (Housing Lease Act, Art. 15).
• Damage that results from not telling the landlord without delay that a repair is needed (Obligations Act, Art. 554(4)).

The lease decides:

• Bills. The law doesn't say who pays electricity, gas or heating, water, waste collection and internet. The lease sets out which housing costs the tenant pays and how (Housing Lease Act, Art. 5).
• The reserve fund. The tenant can pay it to the landlord if that's agreed, but towards the building the debt stays the owner's.
• The communal fee. The lease can put it on the tenant, either as a refund to the landlord or as a transfer of the duty to pay the City.

The lease rules of the Obligations Act apply to flat leases only as a fallback, alongside the Housing Lease Act (Art. 551), and parties set their terms freely, but not against the Constitution, mandatory rules or public morality (Art. 2). So a lease can arrange some of these rules differently.

The reserve fund: what it is and who owes it to the building

The 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) is money for maintaining the building's common parts and devices, such as the roof, facade, stairwell, lift and shared installations, and for managing the building (Building Management and Maintenance Act, Arts. 18 and 28(1)). All co-owners pay it, in proportion to their shares, monthly, into a separate reserve account and in the amount set by the building's maintenance programme (Arts. 28(2)–(3) and 29(1)–(2)). As a rule, the co-owners decide the amount by a majority, meaning co-owners holding more than half of the building's weighted floor areaWeighted floor area (vrijednosna površina)simplifiedA flat's net floor area weighted by the usable value of its parts. A building's reserve fund and co-owners' majorities are counted by it or by registered shares.Source: Zakon o upravljanju i održavanju zgrada (NN 152/24, 47/26), čl. 4., 28. i 29., checked 23 Oct 2026More in the glossary or co-ownership shares (Arts. 4(1) point 8 and 39).

The building managerBuilding manager (upravitelj zgrade)simplifiedThe company or registered trader the co-owners choose to run the building. It allocates and collects the reserve fund and organises maintenance and emergency repairs.Source: Zakon o upravljanju i održavanju zgrada (NN 152/24, 47/26), čl. 41., 49.–52., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary allocates the reserve to the co-owners, collects it and takes steps to enforce unpaid instalments (Art. 52(1) points 10 and 11). The Act puts the duty to pay on the co-owners (Arts. 28(2) and 29(1)), so the building asks the flat's owner for it. The register of co-owner communities does list “reserve payers” separately from owners, from the manager's records (Art. 9(4) and (6)), but the Act doesn't say a tenant can be one. As we read it, a lease doesn't change that: a clause saying the tenant pays the reserve binds the tenant towards the landlord, not towards the building. If the tenant doesn't pay, the debt to the building stays the owner's.

A lease sets out, among other things, which housing costs are paid and how (Housing Lease Act, Art. 5), and anything the Act doesn't regulate is up to the parties (Art. 3). So the lease can say the tenant bears the reserve. Not paying it on time is a ground for notice, after a written warning giving 30 days (Art. 19). If the lease says nothing about the reserve, as we read the law the tenant doesn't owe it, because the law puts it on the owner and no rule moves it to the tenant.

In Zagreb, for buildings managed by GSKG, the reserve arrives on Zagrebački holding's single payment slip (jedinstvena uplatnica), together with the communal feeCommunal fee (komunalna naknada)simplifiedA public charge paid to the City for maintaining communal infrastructure, per m² of useful floor area. The owner pays it unless a written contract moves it to the tenant.Source: Zakon o komunalnom gospodarstvu (NN 68/18 … 145/24), čl. 93. i 94., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary and other charges (according to Zagrebački holding).

What an owner who lets the flat owes the building:

• They tell the co-owners' representativeCo-owners' representative (predstavnik suvlasnika)simplifiedThe co-owner whom a building's owners elect to represent them in running it and to work with the manager. An owner must report a change of tenant to them within 15 days.Source: Zakon o upravljanju i održavanju zgrada (NN 152/24, 47/26), čl. 41. i 42., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary about a change of tenant within 15 days (Building Management and Maintenance Act, Art. 41(1) point 6), and give the representative their tenants' name, surname and contact (house rules regulation, Art. 2(4)).
• The owner answers for everyone using the flat keeping to the house rules (Building Management and Maintenance Act, Art. 31(3)).
• They let the building manager into the flat when needed to maintain common parts or fix a fault that damages or could damage the building or another flat, and allow urgent repairs (Art. 41(1) points 8 and 9). For an owner who is a natural person and doesn't allow this immediately, or as soon as possible, the Act sets a fine of €1,000 to €5,500 (Art. 58(1)–(2)).
• Letting to more than four adults who aren't related in a direct line, or collaterally up to and including the second degree, needs prior written consent from a two-thirds majority of co-owners and from every co-owner whose walls, floors or ceilings border the flat, and the co-owners' agreement can then set a double reserve for that flat (Arts. 28(4) and 35).

The 2026 minimum reserve: how much for your flat

The Building Management and Maintenance Act sets a minimum: 0.54% a year of 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 per m² of the flat's weighted floor area (vrijednosna površina)Weighted floor area (vrijednosna površina)simplifiedA flat's net floor area weighted by the usable value of its parts. A building's reserve fund and co-owners' majorities are counted by it or by registered shares.Source: Zakon o upravljanju i održavanju zgrada (NN 152/24, 47/26), čl. 4., 28. i 29., checked 23 Oct 2026More in the glossary, with the benchmark price published by the Ministry in Narodne novine (Art. 29(3)). The monthly reserve in a maintenance programme can't be less than 1/12 of that (Art. 29(4)). The May 2026 correction to the Act (NN 47/2026) doesn't change this rule. Which area each bill uses is in our floor area guide.

The latest published benchmark price “for use in other regulations” is €796.34 per m² (NN 106/2025 of 25 July 2025, point III). The earlier notices give the same amount (NN 99/2024, and NN 154/2022 as 6,000 kuna), so the price has been the same since at least 28 December 2022. The Ministry used that price for the minimum in its presentation of the bill in February 2024: €0.36 per m² a month.

The calculation (our calculation):

1. 1€796.34 × 0.54% = €4.30 per m² of weighted floor area a year.
2. 2€4.30 ÷ 12 = €0.358, rounded to €0.36 per m² a month.
3. 3For a flat of 50 m² weighted floor area: 50 × €796.34 × 0.54% = €215.01 a year, or €17.92 a month.

Weighted floor area isn't necessarily the size in a listing. It's the net floor areaUseful floor area (korisna površina)simplifiedA flat's net floor area measured inside the walls, with loggias and balconies counted only in part. Property tax and the communal fee are charged on it.Source: Pravilnik minimalnih tehničkih uvjeta za projektiranje i gradnju stanova iz POS-a (NN 106/04, 25/06, 121/11), čl. 19., checked 23 Oct 2026More in the glossary calculated under the HRN ISO 9836 standard, with usable-value coefficients applied (Art. 4(1) point 19). Ask the building managerBuilding manager (upravitelj zgrade)simplifiedThe company or registered trader the co-owners choose to run the building. It allocates and collects the reserve fund and organises maintenance and emergency repairs.Source: Zakon o upravljanju i održavanju zgrada (NN 152/24, 47/26), čl. 41., 49.–52., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary which area the building uses for your flat.

The minimum is only a floor. The building's maintenance programme sets the actual reserve, which can be higher. If the building has adopted neither an annual nor a multi-year programme, the co-owners pay five times the last adopted reserve, which can't be below the minimum (Art. 29(5)).

No regulation says outright which benchmark price applies now. The NN 106/2025 figure was published under the Act on Socially Subsidised Housing, which ceased to apply on 7 May 2026 (Affordable Housing Act, NN 45/2026, Art. 100). By 19 October 2026 no benchmark price decision under Art. 19 of that Act had been published (we went through every official-gazette document published in 2026). As we read it, €796.34/m² still applies, because the Building Management and Maintenance Act refers to the price the Ministry publishes. The notice states the price per m² of useful floor area, while the Act applies it per m² of weighted floor area; we apply the amount as the Act is worded. If the point I price of the same notice, €1,315/m², were used instead, the minimum would be about €0.59 per m² a month, about €29.59 a month for 50 m² (our calculation).

The communal fee: owner or tenant

The communal fee (komunalna naknada)Communal fee (komunalna naknada)simplifiedA public charge paid to the City for maintaining communal infrastructure, per m² of useful floor area. The owner pays it unless a written contract moves it to the tenant.Source: Zakon o komunalnom gospodarstvu (NN 68/18 … 145/24), čl. 93. i 94., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary is a public levy for maintaining communal infrastructure and goes to the City budget (Communal Economy Act, Art. 91). The owner or the user of the property pays it. The user, a tenant for example, pays it if the duty was passed to them by a written contract, if they use the property without a legal basis, or if the owner can't be identified (Art. 93(1)–(2)). Where a contract passes the duty on, the owner remains jointly liable for payment (Art. 93(3)). Zagreb's communal fee decision repeats this (Art. 4).

The payer reports the start of the duty, or a change of payer, to the City office in charge of communal affairs within 15 days. If they don't report it in time, they pay the fee from the day the duty arose (Communal Economy Act, Art. 94(2) and (4); communal fee decision, Art. 5).

If the lease says nothing about the communal fee, the City collects it from the owner. Between landlord and tenant, as we read the law, the rule then applies that the landlord bears taxes and other public charges on the leased property (Obligations Act, Art. 554(5)). A lease can put the fee on the tenant in two ways:

• The tenant refunds the fee to the landlord, and the City keeps sending the decision and payment slip to the owner.
• The duty to pay the City passes to the tenant by written contract (Communal Economy Act, Art. 93(2) point 1). The change of payer must be reported within 15 days, and the owner remains jointly liable. We haven't checked which wording the City office accepts as a transfer.

How much it is in Zagreb: the yearly amount per m² of the flat's useful floor area (korisna površina)Useful floor area (korisna površina)simplifiedA flat's net floor area measured inside the walls, with loggias and balconies counted only in part. Property tax and the communal fee are charged on it.Source: Pravilnik minimalnih tehničkih uvjeta za projektiranje i gradnju stanova iz POS-a (NN 106/04, 25/06, 121/11), čl. 19., checked 23 Oct 2026More in the glossary is the zone coefficient times the purpose coefficient times the point value (Communal Economy Act, Arts. 99 and 101). Zagreb's point value is €1.39 per m² a year from 1 January 2024 (Službeni glasnik Grada Zagreba 36/2023), the purpose coefficient for a flat is 1.00, and the zone coefficients are (communal fee decision, Arts. 7 and 8):

• Zone I: 1.00 (including the local committee areas Gornji grad, Cvjetni trg, Zrinjevac, Maksimir and Peščenica)
• Zone II: 0.95 (including Trnje, Jarun, Knežija, Špansko – sjever and Špansko – jug)
• Zone III: 0.80, zone IV: 0.65, zone V: 0.55
• Zone VI: 0.45, zone VII: 0.35, zone VIII: 0.30, zone IX: 0.20

For a flat of 50 m² useful floor area that's €69.50 a year in zone I, about €5.79 a month, and €66.03 a year in zone II, about €5.50 a month (our calculation). The fee is paid monthly, by the 15th for the previous month, and yearly amounts up to €15.93 quarterly or once a year (communal fee decision, Art. 18). The City Assembly sets the point value for the following year by the end of November, and if it doesn't, the value stays the same (Communal Economy Act, Art. 98).

The exact amount for a flat is in its communal fee assessment (rješenje o komunalnoj naknadi), which states the amount per m², the area charged, the yearly and monthly amounts and the due date (Communal Economy Act, Art. 101). In Zagreb the fee arrives on Zagrebački holding's single payment slip. The communal fee decision lists which zone each local committee area is in (Art. 6). The payer of the fee for a flat can ask for a 50, 75 or 100% exemption for the current year if their household's average income per member in the previous year was at most 50% of the average net wage, or if they receive the guaranteed minimum benefit (Art. 21).

Work out the zone and amount for your street with our communal fee calculator.

Repairs: necessary, small, and damage

The landlord hands over a flat fit to live in and keeps it that way, in line with the lease (Housing Lease Act, Arts. 12 and 13). The tenant must tell the landlord about necessary repairs in the flat and to the building's common parts, and the landlord bears them (Art. 14(3)). The Obligations Act, which applies as a fallback, adds (Art. 554):

• The landlord carries out needed repairs at their own cost and in good time, and the tenant must allow them.
• The landlord reimburses a repair the tenant made themselves because it couldn't wait, or because the landlord, once told, didn't do it within a reasonable time. Our advice: keep the receipts.
• The costs of small repairs and of regular use fall on the tenant.
• The tenant reports a needed repair without delay, or answers for the damage that results.

The tenant answers for damage they or the other occupants of the flat cause in the flat and to the building's common parts, under the general rules on liability for damage (Housing Lease Act, Art. 15), but not for wear from regular use or for ageing (Obligations Act, Art. 566(2); Housing Lease Act, Art. 17). If they don't put right damage they caused to the common parts through their own fault within 30 days, the landlord can terminate the lease (Housing Lease Act, Art. 20).

If, through no fault of the tenant, the flat can't be used, or repairs considerably reduce its use for a long time, the tenant is entitled to a rent reduction, and to terminate the lease if the flat isn't made usable within a reasonable time (Obligations Act, Art. 555).

Appliances: neither the Housing Lease Act nor the Obligations Act's lease rules mention a washing machine, fridge or water heater as such. Simplified, and as we read it, appliances let with the flat are part of what's leased, so the same split applies: the landlord keeps them working and pays for needed repairs, and the tenant pays small repairs, regular-use costs and damage they cause. List them in the record of the flat's condition at handover (Housing Lease Act, Art. 12(2)), for example with our handover report form.

The law doesn't define a “small repair” or set an amount, so it's worth agreeing one. Faults in the roof, facade, shared installations and other common parts are the building's matter: the community of co-owners and the co-owners answer for the costs, which are paid first of all from the reserve (Building Management and Maintenance Act, Arts. 25, 26 and 28(9)). Our tenant rights guide covers the landlord entering the flat and the tenant's other rights.

Damp and mould: who is responsible

The law has no special rule for damp and mould: the cause decides. Damp from the roof, facade or shared pipes is the building's matter, paid first of all from the reserve (Building Management and Maintenance Act, Arts. 25, 26 and 28(9)). The landlord answers for a defect of the flat itself that gets in the way of using it, including defects that arise during the lease, whether they knew of it or not, but not for one the tenant knew of when signing (Obligations Act, Art. 557(1), (2) and (5)). The tenant uses the flat with the care of a good householder and protects it from damage (Housing Lease Act, Art. 14(1); Obligations Act, Art. 561(1)), so damp that comes from use, such as too little airing, is in our reading the tenant's.

Report damp to the landlord straight away and in writing, with photos, for example with a repair request (Housing Lease Act, Art. 14(3); Obligations Act, Art. 557(4)). If using the flat is dangerous to health, the tenant may terminate the lease without notice, even if they knew of the condition when signing (Obligations Act, Art. 576(4)). Whether a particular mould problem is that serious, the law doesn't say; it depends on the facts, so get advice before terminating.

Bills, taxes and other charges

The Housing Lease Act doesn't say who pays electricity, gas, heating, water, waste collection or internet. The lease does: it sets out, among other things, which housing costs are paid and how (Art. 5). If the tenant doesn't pay agreed costs on time, that's a ground for notice after a written warning (Art. 19).

Our guide to bills in Zagreb covers which bills a Zagreb flat gets, who sends them and how to move them to the tenant, and our bills calculator estimates the monthly amount for your flat.

Taxes stay with the owner. The owner 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 (Local Taxes Act, Art. 25), and it isn't due on a flat let under a lease for permanent housing for at least ten months of the year (Art. 27). A landlord who is a natural person pays 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 on the rent under a decision from Porezna uprava (Income Tax Act, Art. 62(1)). More in our guide to the empty-flat tax and our rental income tax calculator.

What to write in the lease

Our advice: the more clearly the lease says who pays what, the fewer disputes. It should state:

1. 1Which costs the tenant pays and to whom, directly to suppliers or to the landlord, and by when (Housing Lease Act, Art. 5).
2. 2The 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: whether the tenant pays it, how much or based on which notice from the manager, and who bears a rise in the reserve and the fivefold amount if the building has no maintenance programme (Building Management and Maintenance Act, Art. 29(5)).
3. 3The communal feeCommunal fee (komunalna naknada)simplifiedA public charge paid to the City for maintaining communal infrastructure, per m² of useful floor area. The owner pays it unless a written contract moves it to the tenant.Source: Zakon o komunalnom gospodarstvu (NN 68/18 … 145/24), čl. 93. i 94., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary: whether the tenant refunds it to the landlord or the duty to pay the City passes to them, and who reports the change of payer within 15 days (Communal Economy Act, Arts. 93 and 94).
4. 4Repairs: what counts as a small repair and up to what amount, how faults are reported and how quickly the landlord fixes them, and how much notice the landlord gives before entering, because the Act sets no notice periodNotice to end a lease (otkaz ugovora o najmu)simplifiedA statement by which landlord or tenant ends a lease. A tenant gives at least three months' notice on an open-ended lease; a landlord may only give notice on legal grounds.Source: Zakon o najmu stanova (NN 91/96 … 105/20), čl. 19.–25., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary (Housing Lease Act, Art. 16).
5. 5Appliances and furniture with their condition, plus meter readings, in the handover recordHandover record (zapisnik o primopredaji)A record of the flat's condition that landlord and tenant draw up together at handover. It's the evidence if damage or the deposit is disputed when the lease ends.Source: Zakon o najmu stanova (NN 91/96 … 105/20), čl. 12., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary (Art. 12).
6. 6That the owner tells the co-owners' representativeCo-owners' representative (predstavnik suvlasnika)simplifiedThe co-owner whom a building's owners elect to represent them in running it and to work with the manager. An owner must report a change of tenant to them within 15 days.Source: Zakon o upravljanju i održavanju zgrada (NN 152/24, 47/26), čl. 41. i 42., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary about a change of tenant within 15 days (Building Management and Maintenance Act, Art. 41(1) point 6) and gives them the tenant's name, surname and contact (house rules regulation, Art. 2(4)).

Our lease checklist covers what else to check before signing, and our deposit guide the depositDeposit (polog)simplifiedMoney the tenant pays as security for unpaid rent, bills or damage, and gets back at the end of the lease. The lease sets the amount and when it's returned.Source: Zakon o najmu stanova (NN 91/96 … 105/20), čl. 3. i 17., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary.

Does the draft new lease law change any of this? (not passed)

Status on 19 October 2026: the public consultation on the draft closed on 2 September 2026, the consultation page shows no report yet (it was announced for 1 October 2026), and the law isn't before the Sabor (parliament). Until it's passed, everything above applies.

Under the draft on e-Savjetovanja:

• Utility costsUtilities (režije)Housing costs on top of rent: electricity, gas or heating, water, waste, the reserve fund, the HRT licence fee and internet. The lease decides which the tenant pays.Source: Zakon o najmu stanova (NN 91/96 … 105/20), čl. 5., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary would include the communal feeCommunal fee (komunalna naknada)simplifiedA public charge paid to the City for maintaining communal infrastructure, per m² of useful floor area. The owner pays it unless a written contract moves it to the tenant.Source: Zakon o komunalnom gospodarstvu (NN 68/18 … 145/24), čl. 93. i 94., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary (Art. 4). Unless the lease says otherwise, the tenant would pay all utilities from taking over the flat, the landlord would tell the providers in writing about the new payer, and the providers would bill the tenant (Art. 14(1), (2) and (5)).
• The tenant would pay the 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 only if the lease expressly says so (Art. 14(3)), and the lease would have to set out the scope and payment of costs outside the rent, the reserve included (Art. 7(4)).
• Small repairs would be those of up to half the flat's annual minimum reserve a month and up to twice the annual minimum reserve a year, and “major damage” anything above five times the annual minimum reserve (Art. 4). For a flat of 50 m² weighted floor areaWeighted floor area (vrijednosna površina)simplifiedA flat's net floor area weighted by the usable value of its parts. A building's reserve fund and co-owners' majorities are counted by it or by registered shares.Source: Zakon o upravljanju i održavanju zgrada (NN 152/24, 47/26), čl. 4., 28. i 29., checked 23 Oct 2026More in the glossary that's up to €107.51 a month, up to €430.02 a year, and more than €1,075.06 (our calculation, using the minimum above). Major damage would be a ground for notice (Art. 22).
• If the landlord didn't carry out works requested in writing within a reasonable time, the tenant could have them done at the landlord's cost by an authorised contractor, but couldn't set the cost off against the rent without a final court decision (Art. 9).
• The landlord would give the co-owners' representativeCo-owners' representative (predstavnik suvlasnika)simplifiedThe co-owner whom a building's owners elect to represent them in running it and to work with the manager. An owner must report a change of tenant to them within 15 days.Source: Zakon o upravljanju i održavanju zgrada (NN 152/24, 47/26), čl. 41. i 42., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary and the building managerBuilding manager (upravitelj zgrade)simplifiedThe company or registered trader the co-owners choose to run the building. It allocates and collects the reserve fund and organises maintenance and emergency repairs.Source: Zakon o upravljanju i održavanju zgrada (NN 152/24, 47/26), čl. 41., 49.–52., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary the name, surname, OIBOIB (personal identification number)Croatia's personal identification number, a permanent identifier used in official records. Croatians get it at birth; foreigners when there's a reason to.Source: Porezna uprava: Osobni identifikacijski broj (OIB), checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary (personal ID number) and contact of the tenant and household (Art. 12(1)).

Two things are unclear. The draft's reasoning on Art. 14 says the opposite of the article itself: that the tenant pays the reserve as a rule, and the landlord only if the lease expressly says so. Nor does the draft say how its communal fee rule would fit the Communal Economy Act, under which the user pays the fee once the duty is passed to them by written contract.

The draft changes neither the minimum reserve nor the Communal Economy Act, and it would also apply to leases signed before it takes effect (Art. 58), from 1 January 2027 (Art. 61). Our guide to the draft covers its other proposals.

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