This Master's thesis discusses the legal relationships arising from investing into foreign real estate. Very common in practice, they usually take place between related parties without any clear and explicit agreements, which leads to property disputes of high value. The introduction presents the fundamental principles and institutes of property law necessary for understanding the basic principle of the newly regulated Articles 48 and 54 of the Law of Property Code. A thorough systemic property reform re-centred on the previously ignored principle of integration of land and building (superficies solo cedit) on it and thus greatly interfered with the expectations investors based on the previous, long-standing regulatory and judicial practice of the Austrian Civil Code and the Yugoslavian Basic Property Relations Act. The main section of the thesis focuses on the fact that investments – even if carried out with the consent of the owner of the property – prevent any effects of property law for the investor. This effect automatically occurs for the owner of the real estate in the form of a rise in value, and any transfers of assets are carried out through compensation of any obligations related to unjust enrichment. The derivative acquisition of any property on real estate is only made possible if the agreement is made on a legal basis, so the thesis presents all the necessary and recommended tenets of such a legal transaction in terms of content in form, as well as the consequences of a flawed arrangement and the possible ways of eliminating these flaws. The thesis also briefly touches upon the specifics of the statute of limitations and some specifics of the consequences of investment between spouses, close relatives and tenants. The objective of the theisis is to clearly indicate that a detailed, complete and formal arrangement is necessary before the start of investment if we wish to safeguard the legal status and rights of all parties.
|
