Finding a reliable Croatian lawyer …

From time to time we get enquiries about finding a reliable Croatian lawyer to handle property transactions and we’re always happy to help out. Property buyers can usually opt for one of two routes - using an-house agency lawyer or using an independent lawyer. There are pros and cons attached to both routes and if you’re interested in these then have a look at our Property Buying FAQs.

Recently, we decided to check out a few independent lawyers by conducting a very simple telephone “mystery” shopping excercise. We started with a list of English speaking Croatian solicitors provided by the British Embassy in Zagreb - at the time of writing this, the list is in three sections in the left-hand navigation of the page, covering solicitors in the Zagreb, Dubrovnik and Split consular districts. We also contacted some Croatian solicitors from the list provided by the Croatian Bar Association, though this list doesn’t specify which ones speak English or other languages.

In all, we selected five English speaking lawyers at random from these lists and emailed them the same question: “What do you charge for handling a property transaction worth around EUR 200,000?” We got 1 bounced email and two replies back within a day.

There was a wide range in the two prices quoted. One lawyer quoted EUR 1500 plus disbursements of about EUR 400, and the second quoted, wait for it, EUR 3500 plus EUR 700 for disbursements.

Moral of the story? Be prepared to shop around if you would like to hire an independent lawyer to handle these affairs on your behalf. Alternatively, if you’re thinking of buying a property in Istria, or a holiday home in Gorski Kotar, or even a villa on Krk Island, we can point you in the right direction.