The purchaser’s lawyer should:

(1) deal with the formation of any necessary Romanian company to own the property;

(2) deal with the drafting and negotiation of the pre-agreement, also arranging for it to be signed and (where appropriate) registered with the Land Registry;

(3) investigate the title of the property, probably in conjunction with the notary selected by the purchaser’s lawyer;

(4) investigate the seller (a married seller will require the consent of his or her spouse to sell property; other parties may have pre-emption rights); and

(5) deal with the drafting and negotiation of the formal agreement for the transfer of ownership of the property, including liaising with the notary on the arrangements for signature of such agreement and the completion of the transaction. The result of this work should be that the client purchaser will obtain a clean ownership title (except in so far as there are any agreed encumbrances) which is not vulnerable to a successful court challenge by a third party.