Albania property revaluation: can you pay 5% until 2026 ends?

Law 85/2025 lets you revalue a property you already own until 31 December 2026, and pay 5 percent on the gap instead of 15. The bill is the difference between the old registered value and a new official base. It is not a tax on the whole flat. If the cadastre still shows a low historical figure and you expect to sell, this window is the decision.

Topics

• What Law 85/2025 changes
• Who the 5 percent helps
• A numerical illustration
• How the new base is fixed
• What if you miss the date?
• Where the gap gets large
• Fees and the filing
• Wrapping up

What Law 85/2025 changes

Many apartments still show an old registered value, far below a 2026 sale. Tax on a later gain starts from that figure unless you have already revalued and paid on the step-up.

Until 31 December 2026 the temporary rate is 5 percent of that difference. Outside the window the rate cited for the same difference is 15 percent. The law does not wipe the tax. It prices a voluntary step-up more cheaply, and only for a while.

The new base is not a number you invent. It is the ASHK reference value for the zone, or a report from a licensed expert where that route applies. ASHK is the State Cadastre Agency. Which path fits the asset is for the notary or accountant who files. Purchase costs, annual building tax, and rent sit in property taxes in Albania. This page is only the 2026 deadline.

You cannot type in a friendly figure. We have sat with owners who tried.

Who the 5 percent helps

The window helps when you expect to sell afterwards, and the new base sits well above the value still on the register. Paying 5 percent now shrinks a gap that would otherwise be taxed at 15 percent later. The arithmetic is simple. The judgement is not. You need a sale you can see, cash for the 5 percent, and a new base you accept.

Look hard if one of these is you:

• A Tirana flat registered at an old price, with a sale in the next few years.
• A coastal home in Vlore, Sarande, or Durres whose cadastral value predates the rise in fiscal reference prices.
• An heir on a low historic figure, where the family expects to sell.
• A foreign owner who already has title and wants the base updated before a resale. Buying is a different job, in buying property in Albania.

Pause in these cases:

• No sale in view. The 5 percent is real cash. The saving shows up on disposal.
• The registered value is already near the new figure. The gap is too small.
• The purchase is not finished. You cannot revalue what you do not own.
• You hope the new figure forces a buyer to pay it. It updates a tax base. The sale price is still negotiated.

So is the 5 percent worth paying?

Only when a sale is realistic and you can live with the new base.

A numerical illustration

Treat the rows as arithmetic, not as your file. Swap in the old value on your extract and the new base your notary or accountant obtains.

On the first row, 200,000 ALL inside the window covers a gap that would cost 600,000 ALL at 15 percent. That is 400,000 ALL of tax, before fees. On the last row the entire saving is 20,000 ALL. Fees can eat that.

Run your own row. If the new base is the reference price per square metre times the registered area, ask the filer to show that multiplication in writing. Use the legal area, not the brochure area.

Do not lock a base you cannot get on a sale. In Vlore and Sarande, asking prices and reference prices diverged in 2026. The map is in reference prices for 2026.

How the new base is fixed

Two sources count.

The first is the ASHK reference value for the zone. These are minimum values for tax, published by area. They are not an agent's asking price, and they are not an automatic sale price. Where the reference price applies, the new base follows that official figure and the area on the title.

The second is a licensed expert's report, used when the file needs an individual valuation rather than the zone table alone. The expert has to be licensed. An agent's opinion, a portal listing, or the flat next door is not a substitute.

You do not pick the higher or the lower result because you prefer it. The route the cadastre accepts is the route that counts. If you live abroad, expect the papers in Albanian. A translation helps you read them. The document the process accepts is the official one.

What if you miss the date?

The cheap rate is temporary. An application that is not finished by 31 December 2026 does not keep the 5 percent. The difference is then taxed at 15 percent. There is no published grace period in the material this note uses. Plan for that end date.

A chat in November is not a filing. The value has to be set, the 5 percent paid, and the registration steps finished. Leave time for an expert report if you need one. Coastal files queue in peak season. Tirana files queue near the end of the year.

Miss it and the default is 15 percent. Do not assume a later law will repeat the 5 percent.

Where the gap gets large

In Tirana, a central flat can show a wide gap if the cadastre still reflects an older registration. Ish-Blloku carries the highest published reference price on the 2026 national map. That helps sellers who can live with the base on a real sale.

In Vlore, the 2026 map split the bay. Lungomare, Sazan, Radhimë, and Orikum are not one price. Apply one old city figure to a seafront apartment and you will mis-state the gap. Ask for the zone on the parcel, not the beach name in the listing.

In Sarande, the shift from one citywide price to zones changes the base for many seafront homes. A property on the old single price can jump in zone 1 and move less inland. The zone drives the calculation. The town name does not.

In Durres, port and marina reference prices rose most sharply against the older single figures. A beach apartment and an inland flat in the same municipality can produce very different gaps. Use the parcel. Two flats in one building can still differ by area, and by what was declared when they were first registered.

Fees and the filing

The 5 percent is not the only cash. Budget the expert, the filer, the extracts, and any translation or power of attorney. Get a quote that splits tax from fees.

Pay from an account you can document. If you live outside Albania, ask your home advisor whether the tax on the step-up is creditable. We do not answer that here.

A local notary or accountant files through e-Albania and ASHK. Before you pay, get the old value, the new base and its source, and the tax in writing. From abroad, start a power of attorney, an apostille, and a translation early, especially if you will not be in Tirana, Vlore, Sarande, or Durres.

Keep the extract before and after, plus the payment proof. Revaluation updates a tax base. It does not fix a bad title, create a residence right, or set the buyer's price. Fix a wrong name, area, or boundary first. The property tax guide is where those papers belong.

• Read the ASHK extract, then compare 5 percent plus fees with 15 percent on the same gap.
• Finish through e-Albania and ASHK before 31 December 2026.

A sale versus a longer hold is in investing in Albania.

Wrapping up

Pay 5 percent only when you have seen the gap in writing and a sale is actually likely. If you want that comparison set up with a local notary or accountant, use the appointment page and start from reference prices for 2026. We match you to local partners, and we do not sell, notarize, or give legal advice.