Albanian Immovable Property Registration System: Review Of Legislation

The registration system of immovable property in Albania was chosen for four basic reasons: (1) it protects the right of immovable property owners by providing strong and reliable evidence about ownership and other interests in immovable properties; (2) it is simple and inexpensive to administer and maintain; (3) it provides the public with easily accessible information which they need to buy and sell, mortgage, and rent immovable property, thereby providing the basis for a market-oriented economy; and, (4) it permits the building of a Geographical Information System with property information as an integral and fundamental segment. The registration system is similar in concept to what is used in Nordic countries, Austria, the Netherlands, Germany, Hungary, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Croatia, Macedonia, the United Kingdom, and the northern provinces of Italy. It is different from other European countries in that it is expressly "property" or "parcel" based and not simply a recording of transactions. It is an improvement over both types of European systems in that it combines property mapping with the recording of legal rights into a single administrative system. This paper describes Republic of Albania's Law on the Registration of Immovable Property and includes a copy of the law as an annex.