Housing

Steps

1. Look for a home in online listings or through an agency. Benchmarks from March 2026 (EURES): studio from €350 (Iași) to €410-450 (Bucharest); two-room flat (one bedroom) from €450 (Iași, Timișoara) to €510-680 (Bucharest); three-room flat (two bedrooms) from €480 (Oradea) to €600-1,250 (Bucharest).
2. Sign a written lease with the landlord (contract de închiriere) and show your ID.
3. Ask the landlord for proof that the lease has been registered with ANAF: they must register the contract, and every amendment, within 30 days (art. 83 of the Fiscal Code; agricultural leases and short-term room rentals are excluded from this obligation) and pay tax on their rental income.
4. Pay by bank transfer or insist on a receipt for every rent payment made any other way (EURES).
5. Use this lease for your residence registration: the address is requested by the General Inspectorate for Immigration (sheet RO-SEJOUR-TOUS-001).
6. To buy: check the land registry extract (extras de carte funciară), sign the authentic deed of sale at a notary, then set up your electricity, gas and water contracts and contact your building's administrator (EURES). Then declare the property to your town hall for local tax (sheet RO-IMPOTS-TOUS-002).

Documents

• Valid ID; for a purchase, your tax or personal identification number (sheet RO-NIF-TOUS-001).
• Written lease; for a purchase, the notary's authentic deed and the land registry extract.

Costs and timelines

• Rents: see step 1 (EURES, March 2026).
• Purchase prices for new-build (March 2026, according to a platform cited by EURES): about €3,279 per m² in Cluj-Napoca, €2,099 in Bucharest. The removal of the reduced VAT rate of 9% and the increase of the standard rate from 19% to 21% pushed up new-build prices.
• Tax on the sale: 3% of the transaction value for a property held for 3 years or less, 1% beyond that; paid by the seller, calculated and collected by the notary before the deed is signed (art. 111 al. 6). It is calculated on the value declared in the deed or, if it is lower, on the minimum value set by the market studies of the notary chambers (art. 111 al. 4 and 4¹). Exemptions: gift between relatives up to the 3rd degree and between spouses, among others.
• Notary fees, land registry entry (ANCPI): to be confirmed.
• Deposit (garanție): the Civil Code sets neither a cap nor a deadline for its return; the lease decides, so have them written down in black and white. A clause that obliges you to pay in advance for repairs costed by the landlord alone, or to take out the insurance they impose, is deemed unwritten (Civil Code, art. 1826).
• Notice (Civil Code, art. 1824 and 1825): fixed-term lease: you can leave whenever you want with at least 60 days' notice, any clause to the contrary is void; the landlord can only terminate before the end if the lease provides for it so that they can house themselves or their family, with 60 days' notice (monthly rent). Lease without a fixed term, unless otherwise stipulated (art. 1824): your notice is at least a quarter of the rent period (about one week for a monthly rent), the landlord's is at least 60 days if the rent is paid by the month or for a longer period, 15 days if the period is shorter. A fixed-term lease ends by itself at its term; if it is notarised or registered with ANAF, it then allows the landlord to have you leave without a trial (enforceable title, art. 1809). In other cases, eviction goes through a judge (art. 1831).

Common pitfalls

• A lease that is not in writing or not registered: you will find it hard to prove your address and your payments; tax registration is an obligation of the landlord.
• Paying in cash without a receipt: always keep proof.
• Forgetting utilities: electricity, gas, water, heating and telephone are paid separately; unpaid bills may lead to a disconnection (EURES).
• Buying agricultural land outside a village: the sale is governed by a 2014 law (pre-emption rights); rules to be confirmed with a notary.

What changes by country of origin

• EU, EEA and Swiss citizens: rent and buy a home like Romanians; precise rules for land to be confirmed.
• British citizens (Scots included) and other non-Europeans: the purchase of land may be restricted by the Constitution and the law; to be confirmed with a notary.