Yugoslavia is Opening its Doors to Foreign Acquisition of Real Property: Alien Ownership of Immovables in Yugoslavia After the New Foreign Investment Act 1988 and Recent Amendments to the Basic Property Relations Act 1980

Abstract

Immovables, being part of the State territory and serving as the basis of many activities, possess great economic, political and strategic importance in every country. Consequently, governments are often unfavourable towards the possibility of aliens appearing as owners of immovable property situated on their territory. In Yugoslavia as well, until quite recently, the rights of aliens in this domain were extremely limited, which was reflected in the inclusion of this country in the group of countries cited in comparative studies as being rare representatives of the system of complete prohibition on the acquisition of immovables by aliens. The mounting criticism of the over-protective rules led to an unexpectedly broad liberalization in this field.