Buying property in Bosnia from Germany: POA, apostille, tax

You can buy property in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) from Germany without travelling, through a person you authorise with a punomoć (power of attorney). Your signature on it is certified either at a BiH embassy or consulate in Germany, if you hold valid BiH documents, or by a German notary with an apostille. Before you sign anything, ask the BiH notary who will draw up the contract to approve the text and confirm they accept your chosen certification route: some sources say a power of attorney for property must be certified by a notary only, and it is not confirmed that a consular certification counts the same.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. A notary or lawyer in BiH confirms the details for your specific case.

The process in brief

1. Choose the property and check ownership and any burdens on it.
2. Pick a person in BiH to act for you (a relative, a lawyer or someone else you trust).
3. Have a BiH lawyer or notary draft or review the power of attorney for this specific property and transaction.
4. Get the BiH notary to confirm in advance that they accept either a consular certification or a German notary's certification with apostille.
5. Have your signature certified in Germany and send the original to BiH.
6. Your representative signs the contract at the notary, and the price is paid in an agreed, traceable way.
7. The purchase is then entered in the land registry and taxes and fees are paid.

Power of attorney: BiH consulate or German notary

Option A: certification at a BiH embassy or consulate

Only BiH citizens with a valid BiH passport or ID card can use this route. You sign in person, in front of an official.

What to bring (according to the Berlin embassy):

• the original power of attorney, legibly written and not yet signed
• your valid BiH passport or ID card (original to show) and a copy
• proof that the consular fee has been paid

The Berlin embassy and the Munich consulate list fees of €11 for certifying a power of attorney and €26 for an izjava (a signed statement). The Munich page dates from 2017, so check the amount before you go. In Frankfurt the fee can only be paid by EC card, not in cash. According to the older Munich page, you can pay there by EC card at the consulate or in cash at a bank.

Which office covers you:

• Embassy in Berlin: Berlin, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Schleswig-Holstein.
• Consulate General in Frankfurt: Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony and Bremen. Its website has power of attorney and statement forms.
• Consulate General in Munich: for the other federal states, check on the embassy and consulate websites which office covers your place of residence.

Important: before booking an appointment, have the BiH notary confirm that they accept a consulate-certified power of attorney for a property purchase. Legal sources disagree here, and the wrong form of certification means a new appointment and another round of posting documents.

Option B: German notary plus apostille

This route is for people without valid BiH documents, including German nationals, but anyone can use it.

• A German notary certifies your signature on the power of attorney.
• You get an apostille (an international certificate confirming the notary's certification, see below).
• According to the BiH embassy in Berlin, no further step at the embassy is needed and the document can be sent straight to BiH.

Language: the power of attorney should be in Bosnian, Croatian or Serbian. If it is in English, it needs a translation by an authorised translator. It is not confirmed whether a document in German with a sworn translation is accepted, so it is safer to have the text in one of the local languages from the start. When booking, check with the German notary whether they will certify your signature on a text written in Bosnian.

If you are buying as a German national, also check whether you need approval or proof of reciprocity: see Can foreigners buy property in Bosnia? Reciprocity and exceptions.

Which form of contract and power of attorney BiH requires

The form the contract must take decides what kind of power of attorney you need, and the rules differ between BiH's entities.

• Republika Srpska (RS): according to academic literature, a property sale contract is only valid as a notarska obrada (a full notarial deed, drawn up by the notary). The notary must send a copy of the contract to the RS Tax Administration.
• Federation of BiH (FBiH): sources disagree. Some say a notarial deed is compulsory for property transfers; others say that, following the position of the FBiH Supreme Court and a ruling of the FBiH Constitutional Court, signatures certified by a notary or a court are enough. Amendments to the Law on Notaries have also been proposed. Confirm what applies today with a notary or lawyer before the power of attorney is drafted.
• Brčko District: we found no reliable source. Confirm the form of contract and power of attorney with a notary in Brčko.

The safest approach is to get the text from the notary or lawyer handling your purchase, with an exact description of the property and of the powers you give: signing the contract, making payments, filing the land registry application, collecting the keys.

Apostille

Germany and BiH are both parties to the 1961 Hague Apostille Convention. According to the German notaries' institute (DNotI), it has applied between the two countries since 6 March 1992. This means a German notary's certification with an apostille needs no further legalisation at a BiH consulate.

Sources differ on who issues the apostille:

• the Frankfurt and Munich consulates say it is the regional government (Regierung) of the relevant federal state
• the Berlin embassy says it is the court where the notary is registered

Responsibility may vary between federal states. The simplest step is to ask the German notary who certifies your signature where the apostille for their certification is obtained, and whether they can forward the document for the apostille themselves.

Transferring the money

We have not found confirmed rules for payments from Germany that we could state as certain, so general principles of caution apply:

• Pay through a bank, not in cash. A bank record proves the payment and protects you in a dispute.
• Do not pay before the checks. Send money only once ownership, burdens and the contract have been checked.
• Ask the BiH notary how payment is usually secured in their office and whether payment through a notary account or another secure account is possible.
• Ask your German bank whether there is a reporting duty for the amount you are sending and which documents to attach (usually the contract or pre-contract).
• Expect source-of-funds checks. Banks and notaries may ask where the money comes from. Have statements or a loan agreement ready.
• If you carry cash anyway, check the rules on declaring cash at the EU border and with BiH's Indirect Taxation Authority before you travel.

More in How to pay for property in Bosnia safely. Property transfer tax is paid in BiH and differs between cantons in FBiH, in RS and in Brčko District, so include it in your budget.

Tax obligations in Germany

The purchase itself is usually a matter of BiH tax. German obligations may arise later, if you rent the property out, sell it or pass it on to family. We have not confirmed reliable sources for these rules, so we do not state them as facts here.

Before buying, ask a Steuerberater (tax adviser) in Germany:

• whether and how to declare rental income from a BiH property in your German tax return
• how a gain is taxed if you later sell, and whether the length of ownership matters
• whether losses from renting out property outside the EU can be deducted
• whether, and in what form, a double taxation agreement applies between Germany and BiH
• what applies to gifting or inheriting the property within the family

If the property is only for your own visits, the conversation is usually short. If you plan to rent it out, have it before signing the contract.

Video viewings and remote checks

There are no specific legal rules for video viewings. A video helps you judge the flat, but it does not replace checking the papers.

During the call, ask for:

• a walk through the whole flat without cuts, including the bathroom, windows and balcony
• the view from the windows, plus the building's corridor, entrance and lift
• close-ups of walls and ceilings, especially corners (damp)
• the meters and the state of the installations

Papers to see before any payment:

• a recent ZK izvadak (land registry extract) showing the seller as owner and no unknown burdens
• a match between the land registry and the cadastre (the survey records)
• proof of legalisation if the building or part of it was built or altered without a permit

How to read the extract is explained in Land registry extract in Bosnia: checking ownership before you buy. If possible, have your representative also view the flat in person before the contract is signed.

Common mistakes

• Certifying the power of attorney before the BiH notary has approved the text and the certification route.
• A power of attorney in German or English without checking it will be accepted.
• A power of attorney that is too vague, with no property description, or too broad, with powers you do not need.
• Paying a kapara (deposit) on the strength of photos, without a land registry extract.
• Arriving at the Frankfurt consulate without an EC card.
• Going to an office that does not cover your place of residence.
• Seeking tax advice only after buying, when the decision to rent out has already been made.

Example

Amra lives in Frankfurt and has a valid BiH passport. She is interested in a two-room flat of 59 m² in Aerodromsko naselje, Sarajevo, priced at 275,000 KM (convertible marks). For orientation: the median asking price across the seven DMI listings with a stated price, all in Sarajevo, is 5,722 KM per m², ranging from 3,667 to 6,574 KM.

Amra first views the flat on a video call and receives the land registry extract. A notary in Sarajevo sends her a power of attorney in her brother's name, describing the flat and his powers, and confirms that a consular certification is acceptable. Amra books an appointment at the Frankfurt consulate, signs in front of the official and pays the fee by EC card. She sends the original to her brother by registered post. He views the flat in person and signs the contract at the notary, and Amra pays the price from her own account in the way agreed with the notary. Before buying she spoke to a tax adviser, because she may rent the flat out until she retires.

How DMI helps

DMI currently has eight properties listed, all in Sarajevo. We visit every property in person before publishing it and check the land registry, legalisation and photos. For buyers abroad we offer live video viewings, send documents for you to review and put you in touch with a notary who can confirm the text and form of the power of attorney in advance. See all our properties and contact us before you book your certification appointment.