PREPIS or IZVOD: which property document to ask the seller for
Published: 8 September 20263 min read
Both are valid public documents, and only one of them has to show you the encumbrances. The difference is a single word in the header, and it decides how much of the register you are looking at.
A seller sends you a property sheet, it carries a stamp and a print timestamp, and it looks complete. Whether it is complete depends on one word in the header, printed right after the sheet number: PREPIS or IZVOD.
Both are genuine documents and both are issued by the same authority. Under Article 55 of the cadastre law a certified property sheet and an extract from it are equally public documents, and the authority must issue either within three days of the request. So an IZVOD is not a forgery, a shortcut or a red flag. It is simply less of the register.
Where the word is, and what else the header tells you
The header runs in a fixed order: the regional unit (PODRUČNA JEDINICA), the cadastral municipality (KO), then the sheet line itself — for example LIST NEPOKRETNOSTI 1782 - PREPIS — and a print timestamp (Datum i vrijeme štampe).
The timestamp carries a date and a time, and the time is not decoration. Priority in the register runs by the moment an application is received, so a sheet printed at 09:00 does not describe the register at 16:00 the same day. Any sheet is a snapshot, and the header tells you exactly which instant it is a snapshot of.
What the register keeps, section by section
| List | What it holds |
|---|---|
| A | The land: the parcel, its area, land use |
| B | Who holds rights over the land, on what basis, in what share |
| V | Buildings and individual units, and who holds rights over them |
| V, part 1 | Utility lines and who holds rights over them |
| G | Encumbrances and limitations — mortgages, easements, usufruct, injunctions |
Article 53 defines the property sheet as the basic document about a property and the rights over it, and it names its parts by letter. The letters are worth knowing, because the register uses them and a lawyer or notary will say them out loud.
The section the law does not list, and why it exists anyway
Pending applications are printed on the sheet under Podaci o aktivnim zahtjevima, and they are not among the five parts of Article 53. They appear because of a different rule: Article 12 requires the authority to enter the number and time of an application into the property sheet immediately on receipt, and to publish the application data on its website.
That is worth pausing on. The section exists specifically so that a third party — you — can see what has been filed but not yet decided. It is the register warning you about its own future, and it is the section an extract is most likely to leave out. What that section can do to a completed purchase is a subject of its own: why a clean encumbrance section guarantees nothing.
PREPIS against IZVOD, in practice
| Aspect | PREPIS | IZVOD |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Full transcript of the sheet | Extract from the sheet |
| Encumbrances (list G) | Always present | May be omitted |
| Pending applications | Always present | May be omitted |
| Historical entries | Shown, including deleted ones | Typically not shown |
| Public document | Yes, Article 55 | Yes, Article 55 |
| Issuing deadline | Three days | Three days |
| Enough to complete a purchase | Yes | No |
The row that matters is the second one. An IZVOD can be entirely accurate about what it shows and still omit the mortgage, because omitting is what an extract is for. You cannot tell from the document whether something was left out — an absent section and an empty section look identical once printed.
Deleted entries: the reason a transcript is worth more
A PREPIS shows the history of the sheet, including entries that have been struck through. A mortgage discharged last year, an injunction that was lifted, a usufruct that was deleted — none of these bind a buyer today, and all of them tell you something about the property you are about to buy.
A property whose sheet has been quiet for fifteen years and a property that has carried four injunctions in two years are different purchases at the same price. The extract shows you both as clean.
What to ask for
Ask for a PREPIS, issued recently, for the specific KO and LN. Not a photograph of a sheet from the agency file, not a scan without a header, and not an extract. If the seller resists, the request costs them a three-day statutory deadline and a small fee, which is a poor reason to refuse and worth noticing as an answer in itself.
And check the print timestamp against today. A transcript from March describes the register in March. Everything filed since then — the section that exists precisely to be seen — is missing not because the document is an extract, but because it is old.
What is the difference between PREPIS and IZVOD?
A PREPIS is the full transcript of the property sheet: all sections, including encumbrances, pending applications and historical entries. An IZVOD is an extract and may legitimately omit those sections. Both are public documents under Article 55 of the Montenegrin cadastre law, but only the transcript shows you the whole register entry.
Is an IZVOD enough to buy a property in Montenegro?
No. An extract may omit the encumbrances section and the pending applications section, which are the two parts of the sheet that decide whether a purchase is safe. Ask for a PREPIS before completing.
How long does it take to get a property sheet in Montenegro?
Article 55 of the cadastre law obliges the authority to issue a certified property sheet or an extract from it within three days of receiving the request.
How can I tell which document I was sent?
Read the header line with the sheet number. The document type is the word printed immediately after it — LIST NEPOKRETNOSTI 1782 - PREPIS or LIST NEPOKRETNOSTI 1782 - IZVOD.
Why does the print timestamp on the sheet matter?
Because registration follows the time an application is received, so the sheet is only accurate as of the moment it was printed. A sheet printed weeks ago will not show applications filed since, even if it is a full transcript.
If you would rather have it checked
We pull the current transcript ourselves, so the document type and the print time are never in question. Every entry is translated with the original Montenegrin wording kept beside it, and what a buyer should act on is flagged. Fixed price, one working day, nothing to pay if the register is unavailable. Order a report with a KO and an LN, or see a sample report first.