Cost of buying property in Albania?

Set aside about 4-7% above the contract price. That planning range is your completion file, on top of the price: the notary, ASHK, your lawyer, translations, and the bank charges on the wire. The seller pays 15% on the gain. You do not pay a 2% transfer tax on a normal apartment purchase.

Topics

• Two fixed lek fees
• Who pays the 15%?
• How the notary fee scales
• What pushes the total up
• Is VAT inside the price?
• Fit-out and the first bills
• The percentage in each city
• Lock the schedule first
• Wrapping up

Two fixed lek fees

ASHK registration is about 3,500 ALL, and the notary's filing of that registration is about 4,000 ALL, so together you are looking at about 7,500 ALL, a small line beside a coastal apartment that still has to sit on the statement so a later return at home can show a registry fee rather than a price someone blended to look tidy.

Ask first.

Pay them as fees. Do not roll them into the purchase price. A blended figure is a nuisance for your bank at home, and again if you sell. Keep the receipts.

Registration is when ownership is complete. Keys, a reservation receipt, and a preliminary contract do not put your name on the register. Budget the lek even if someone else sits with the notary.

So what do you actually wire?

Who pays the 15%?

The tax on the sale sits with the seller. Under Law 29/2023 the seller typically pays 15% capital gains tax on the gain, not on the whole price. We still see old comparisons that stick a 2% transfer tax on the buyer. That figure is not yours.

Has anyone asked you to fund their tax?

A seller who wants the price lifted so the 15% is covered is negotiating. You pay more, and the notary's percentage rises with the price. Write it into the contract, or refuse it. Do not leave it as a promise that the notary will sort the tax.

The building tax, and any tax on rent, are not part of the 4-7%. Fit them once you know the zone's fiscal reference value. That map is in property taxes in Albania. Who may buy is in buying property in Albania.

How the notary fee scales

The notary tariff is a percentage of value, so it grows with the price and stays modest next to it. On an illustration of EUR 150,000, 0.23% is EUR 345 and 0.35% is EUR 525. On EUR 250,000 the same rates are EUR 575 and EUR 875. On EUR 400,000 they are EUR 920 and EUR 1,400. Those figures illustrate the range buyers are quoted. They are not a quote for your deed.

The notary uses the value on the deed. Get it in writing.

Buyers who lift the price so the seller can pay that 15% should expect the lift twice, once in the wire and again in the tariff, while the fixed ASHK amounts stay put. If the invoice is in lek and your budget is in euro, convert with the Bank of Albania reference rate that day.

The tariff is the fee for the deed. It is not the lawyer's fee, a tip, or a second walk to ASHK. A percentage with no name is where old guides smuggle in a transfer tax the buyer does not pay.

What pushes the total up

On a clean apartment the statutory pieces are small. Legal fees are what turn that stack into the wider 4-7% planning range. The lawyer reads the kartela, the permit, the right to sign, and, on a new build, the payment schedule. There is no national lawyer tariff that replaces a written engagement for your unit.

Then stop.

Translations and apostilles sit in the same pocket. A passport, a civil document, a power of attorney signed abroad, and a contract you want in your own language each cost money. Holidays at home and in Albania stack. Price only the notary, and a sworn translation in completion week will surprise you.

Bank charges on the transfer are yours too. Send a test of the story before you send the price. The 4-7% can hold ordinary banking costs. It will not rescue a failed transfer, or a penalty on a reservation you already called non-refundable. "Fees included" is not a budget.

Is VAT inside the price?

A new build from a registered developer commonly carries VAT at 20%. A private resale often does not. A unit at EUR 2,000 per square metre excluding VAT is EUR 2,400 including 20%. A private resale at EUR 2,200 per square metre with no VAT can be the cheaper cash.

Read that clause.

That VAT is part of the price you pay the developer. It is not inside the 4-7%, and it is not the notary tariff. The tests sit on VAT on a new build. Convert every quote into cash leaving your account, then add about 4-7% for completion.

Staged payments do not cancel the notary, ASHK, and the lawyer at the deed. Keep a separate reserve.

Fit-out and the first bills

Many coastal handovers are a shell. A kitchen, wardrobes, appliances, and furniture are purchase costs if you need them to live there or to let. Ask, in writing, what the price includes: floor, sanitary ware, doors, air conditioning, kitchen, and whether parking and storage are in the deed or on a side invoice.

Count three totals.

Service charges can start before you have slept there, and a pool tower can cost more each year than the registry fees cost once. Get that quote with the notary's tariff. Insurance and utility deposits are cash too.

A buyer who budgets 4-7% and ignores a EUR 15,000 fit-out has priced the legal file and missed the product. Write three totals: price including any VAT the contract adds, completion at about 4-7%, and fit-out from quotes.

The percentage in each city

The legal lines do not change between Tirana and the bay. The price they attach to does. Vatreja Q3 2026 asking levels sit near EUR 1,900 per square metre in Tirana, about EUR 2,084 in Vlora, and about EUR 2,017 in Saranda. Durres has its own fiscal story in the Consul 2026 reference schedule, including a marina-zone jump of as much as 196%. Listings are not the contract. Reference prices are a tax floor.

Apply the 4-7% to the contract, not to a city average, unless the deed actually uses that fiscal value. Browse projects and run each candidate through the same three totals. A lower price per square metre, with VAT on top and a shell, can cost more cash than a finished resale.

Lock the schedule first

Ask for one page before the reservation grows.

• Contract price. Currency, and whether VAT is inside it.
• Notary tariff. The figure on that value, in writing.
• ASHK and filing. The amounts that will be disbursed.
• Lawyer. What is included, and what a title defect does to the fee.
• Translation. Needed if someone else will sign.
• The seller's 15%. Who pays, and whether you were asked to fund it.
• Fit-out. What the price leaves out.
• The account. In the seller's or the developer's name.

Cap the deposit.

A large non-refundable deposit, taken before that page exists, is money you chose to risk. The 4-7% assumes you still control the price.

Agricultural land, forest, and pasture are not a personal purchase for a foreign individual. A company or a lease, where counsel says one is available, has its own costs. Do not borrow the 4-7% for a plot as if the category did not matter.

Wrapping up

Store the completion statement with the deed and the new kartela. You will need that split for a return at home and for a later sale. We match buyers to local partners, and we are not the notary who sets these fees. Use the appointment page if you want that introduction, and read due diligence and title checks before the reservation grows.