Property rights

What ownership means / What a property owner can do / Limits of ownership / Ways of acquiring ownership / Violations of ownership / How we can help

What ownership means

The right of ownership is the most important real right that can concern a property because it confers on its holder (the owner) all the prerogatives (powers / abilities) that can be recognised by law over a property.

What a property owner can do

The holder of the right of ownership of a property has a number of prerogatives (powers / abilities / freedoms): (i) the right to possess the asset ( the right to have physical control over the asset ), (ii) the right to use the asset from a physical point of view ( the right to position the asset in a particular location, the right to move the asset etc ), (iii) the right to use the asset from a legal point of view ( the right to lease the asset ), and (iv) the right to dispose of the asset ( the right to sell the asset, the right to destroy the asset etc ).

For more information on the rights of co-owners over the joint property, please see the section on Partition.

Limits of ownership

The owner of a property is obliged to exercise the prerogatives of his right only in accordance with the requirements of the law and good morals.

In general, every property right, irrespective of the property to which it relates, implies certain limits which must be respected by the owner.

The limits of ownership are: (i) material (the owner of a plot of land may only exercise his rights over his land in relation to its extent), (ii) legal (the owner of a plot of land may not build a building at a distance less than that required by law from the property boundary with the neighbouring land), (iii) conventional (a person who has undertaken an obligation not to dispose of a property for a certain period of time is prevented from selling the property), (iv) judicial (the owner of a property is bound by the provisions of a court decision on the use of the property).

For more details on the boundaries of the property right, from the perspective of the owner’s right to build, please visit the section on Demolition of neighbour’s buildings.

Ways of acquiring ownership

The right of ownership can only be acquired in the ways provided by law.

In order to acquire a property right, it is necessary to choose a method expressly permitted by law (e.g. by concluding a contract, by inheritance, by usucaption, etc.).

Infringements of property rights

The right of ownership of property implies a general obligation on all persons, except the owner, to respect it.

Whenever property rights are infringed by a third party (e.g. a neighbour, a third party, a public authority or institution), the owner has a number of means of protection at his disposal to protect his rights and stop any infringement (e.g. if a third party occupies an area of land, the owner can obtain a court order to evict the third party from the land, if a neighbour builds a building without respecting the minimum distance from the property boundary, the owner can have the building demolished, if a person steals property, the owner has the right to reclaim it, etc.).

For more details on claiming the asset please visit the Claim  section.

How we can help you

Our team can help you with any kind of property law issue such as:

• checking whether you have acquired the right of ownership by valid deeds concluded in accordance with the law;
• checking whether a third party can challenge your ownership of property;
• advice on how you can exploit your asset (what you can and cannot do with the asset);
• checking whether your property right is protected against the claims of a third party (e.g. a possible lawsuit or foreclosure);
• determine whether or not your property right has been infringed;
• initiating, supporting and completing all actions necessary to restore the right (e.g. claiming the property, completing the construction, obtaining compensation for the lack of use of the property and for any other damage caused to it).

Informații suplimentare privind dreptul de proprietate