Buying Off-Plan in Albania: Contracts, Payments and Buyer Protection

Buying before a building is finished means committing money before the property can be delivered. For buyers in Albania, the decisive questions are whether the developer can sell the promised unit, how the contract is recorded, when instalments become payable and what happens if the project fails. This article examines those questions for domestic and international buyers.

For the wider rules on foreign ownership, taxes and residence, see our separate guide to buying property in Albania as a foreign national. Here, the focus is the protection of the buyer during construction and through to transfer of ownership.

1. Before the reservation: check the project and the seller

A sales brochure, a show apartment and a company registration are not enough to establish that a particular unit can be delivered. Obtain the documents before making a substantial or non-refundable payment. Independent legal and technical reviews serve different purposes and should work together.

• The contracting party. Identify the company that will owe you the construction, delivery and refund obligations. Check its registration, authorised signatory, available financial information, litigation and insolvency position. A group's reputation is not a guarantee from its other companies.
• The land and development rights. Check the ownership chain, boundaries, registered burdens and the developer's agreement with the landowner. Where the landowner receives units in exchange for the land, establish whose allocation includes the apartment offered to you.
• The approved project. Obtain the construction permit and approved plans, check their status and compare them with the sales material. Ask an independent technical adviser to review the proposed unit and relevant site conditions. Planned amenities or additional floors should not be assumed to be authorised.
• The unit itself. Match the building, entrance, floor, unit number, parking and storage to the plans and allocation documents. Establish whether each accessory is separately owned, shared or merely available for use.

If a reservation is appropriate, identify the property, payment recipient, reservation period and the documents to be supplied. Negotiate written refund conditions for an unsatisfactory legal or technical review. Do not assume that a payment described as a reservation fee or deposit is refundable.

2. Contract registration: a protection to verify

Article 50 of Law No. 111/2018 provides for registration of construction, order and preliminary sale contracts intended to transfer ownership of a building under construction. The contract is recorded in the construction-permit register and subsequently in the shell-stage register. Registration marks the identified unit as committed, so it cannot be promised to another buyer. The unit must be individually identified by reference to the approved plans.

Request evidence of registration, not just a promise to apply. The implementing framework includes Instruction No. 1 of 17 July 2024, supplemented by Instruction No. 2 of 30 December 2025. Your adviser should check the correct procedure and supporting documents for the project's actual stage with ASHK, the State Cadastre Agency.

Contract registration does not itself mean that you own a completed, individually registered apartment. Nor does it guarantee completion or repayment. Existing mortgages and the sequence of rights remain important. The contract should allocate responsibility for filing, correcting deficiencies and supplying registration evidence, with a workable response if registration is refused or delayed.

3. Define precisely what must be delivered

The signed contract and its annexes should carry the promises that matter to you. Identify the relevant drawings and their versions; include the specification for finishes, windows, insulation, heating or cooling, lifts, connections and common areas. Clarify which advertised facilities are part of the developer's binding obligation and when they must be available.

Distinguish usable internal area from balconies, walls and shares in common areas. Agree the measurement method, permitted variation and price adjustment mechanism. Material changes to layout, area or specification should require your consent or trigger clearly defined remedies. Avoid an unrestricted right for the developer to substitute a different unit or reduce the specification.

State the total price, currency, exchange-rate method where relevant and the treatment of taxes, notarial fees, registration, utility connections and management charges. Identify who bears additional costs and in what circumstances. For bilingual contracts, agree which version prevails and obtain advice on that text before signing.

4. Make payments follow verifiable progress

A payment schedule should give the buyer evidence before each significant release of funds. The stages below are negotiation points, not statutory percentages or a payment scheme required for every Albanian project.

Consider an escrow arrangement or advance-payment guarantee where available and commercially workable. Confirm who controls the account, the release conditions, fees and what happens on dispute or insolvency. Paying into an ordinary developer account does not ring-fence the money merely because the payment is labelled for your apartment.

Use traceable bank transfers, independently verify beneficiary details and retain the contract, invoices and receipts. Do not pay an agent or another group company without documented authority and a clear agreement that the payment discharges your obligation to the seller. Prepare source-of-funds documents early.

5. Mortgages, lender consent and developer failure

A bank-financed project is not automatically unsuitable, but the release of your unit must be addressed before you pay. Inspect the actual security documents and registry position. Article 50 places restrictions on promises and enforcement affecting units, while preserving an important exception for earlier mortgages. Contract registration should therefore never be presented as wiping out prior security.

Where lender consent or release is needed, seek an arrangement binding the lender and specifying the unit, release amount, payment route and documents. A developer's assurance that its bank will cooperate is not the bank's undertaking.

Evaluate what would remain if construction stopped tomorrow: unpaid instalments, funds already advanced, security that can actually be enforced and the status of the recorded contract. A refund clause is only as useful as the means of recovering the money. Guarantees require scrutiny of the guarantor, amount, expiry, demand conditions and available assets; they should not be assumed to be standard or obtainable in every project.

6. Separate deadlines, delay remedies and termination

Set distinct deadlines for construction completion, required use documentation, physical handover and the final ownership transfer and registration steps. A finished interior does not mean that all legal and administrative requirements have been completed.

Negotiate a final deadline beyond which you may terminate, a clear notice procedure and a repayment timetable. Define delay compensation, any cap and its relationship with other remedies. Check enforceability under Albanian law rather than importing a clause from another jurisdiction.

Extensions should depend on defined events, timely notice and evidence. Broad wording allowing indefinite extensions for any difficulty can undermine the promised delivery date. Conversely, do not suspend instalments or declare termination without checking the contractual and legal conditions: an incorrect step may expose the buyer to a default claim.

7. Handover, defects and the insurance documents

Arrange a technical inspection before accepting handover. Record unfinished work and defects in a signed schedule, supported by photographs, with responsibility and deadlines for correction. Document keys, meters, utility connections, access, parking and common areas. Check any proposed acceptance wording carefully, particularly statements that everything is complete or that no claims remain.

The Albanian construction-insurance framework provides for a ten-year policy for covered transactions, benefiting the buyer and addressing specified serious construction risks. ASHK's service requirements include insurance documentation for the developer-to-buyer transfers concerned. Obtain the policy and verify its application to the building and buyer, effective dates, insured events, exclusions and claims procedure.

Ten-year insurance is not a general guarantee of completion or repayment of your advance. Routine snagging, delay, structural risks and developer insolvency are different issues. Review the contractual defects procedure and applicable legal rights separately, including notice requirements and time limits.

8. From handover to registered ownership

Plan the final notarial transaction and cadastral filing before the last instalment. Reconcile the completed unit, approved plans and contract references; obtain the required use and registration documents; confirm the mortgage-release arrangements. Keep evidence of the completed filing and check the resulting cadastral entry. Possession of keys is not a substitute for completing the ownership formalities.

A buyer abroad should arrange a transaction-specific power of attorney and confirm the required authentication and translation. Agree who may approve amendments, acknowledge handover and authorise payments. Keep independent technical oversight available locally. Do not treat an off-plan reservation as proof of ownership for a residence application; residence planning requires a separate assessment.

Before signing: eight questions for the buyer

1. Is the seller entitled to commit this exact unit, and do the landowner's allocation and approved plans support the sale?
2. What mortgages or competing commitments affect it, and which consents or releases are needed?
3. Who will register the contract, by when, and what evidence will I receive?
4. Does each instalment depend on a defined, verifiable stage rather than the developer's demand alone?
5. Are the specification, area, total price and permitted changes clearly agreed?
6. What are the final deadlines, termination conditions and practical refund safeguards?
7. What inspection, defects and insurance documents will I receive at handover?
8. How will final payment, mortgage release and the transfer and registration of ownership be coordinated?

Related reading: Buying property in Albania as a foreign national.

Related services: Real estate legal services.