On November 12, 2025, the Romanian Parliament adopted the so-called “Nordis Law” unanimously, a legislative response to a major real-estate scandal. On December 5, 2025 the president of Romania approved the Law.

The Law provides important additions to the law 10/1995 on quality in constructions and law no. 7/1996 on cadastre and real estate publicity, aiming to strengthen protection for buyers of under-construction units and restore confidence in the residential property market. Real estate developers have to comply with a set of obligations when concluding reservation agreements and sale promises. Non-compliance may lead to significant fines, as well as the absolute nullity of the agreements. This Law is part of a more general approach of the authority to protect buyers and strengthen the control of real estate developers (see article:  https://hategan.ro/en/news/real-estate-developers-under-the-authorities-radar-legal-implications-and-compliance-strategies)

Key Provisions

• Promises of sale must be concluded in notarized form and be registered in the land book so that the same unit cannot be sold to multiple buyers;
• Developers may only propose the sale of a unit once the building permit is recorded in the land book and each unit has its own individual registration. This may give effect to the legal mortgage that the buyer has according to the Rom. Civil Code for the advance payments made, its actual efficiency depends however on the stage of development of the respective unit.
• The verification of the construction progress through specialists is required;
• Advance payments are strictly limited and must correspond to construction progress. For example: a reservation fee is capped to 5% and reservations may be applied for max. 60 days. Further payments may only be made after the structure is completed or installations are finished (25% and 20%).
• All advance payments must be deposited into a dedicated bank account in the name of the developer and approved, and funds may be used exclusively for the specific project. Using those funds for other projects or purposes is prohibited and subject to sanction.

Expected Impact

This Law is expected to have several important effects on the Romanian real-estate market:

• Increased buyer protection & transparency: By forcing registration, individual unit identification and limiting large upfront payments, the Law aims to prevent the kind of abuses linked to the Nordis case (multiple sales of the same unit, large advances with no delivery).
• Risk reduction for purchasers: Buyers will face less exposure to projects that may fail or to unscrupulous developers, because their funds are linked to construction progress.
• Higher compliance costs / slower sales for developers: Developers may need to change their business practices (e.g., open dedicated accounts, delay collecting large down-payments, ensure registration steps) which might slow down some transactions or increase costs.
• Market confidence boost: In the longer term, the changes could restore trust in new-build projects, making the market more reliable for both domestic and foreign buyers.

The “Nordis Law” may not fully eliminate the risks for buyers, such as insolvency of the developer, when buyers may still be behind banks/secured creditors, however it creates a more balanced framework. As for developers, the additional processes may make it more bureaucratic and costly to develop, ultimately impacting the prices, however all these additional measures may serve as tool to separate the professional developers from those who develop speculatively. On the whole, this Law represents an important step towards a more sustainable market.