Although the application process for property legalization in the Municipality of Presheva ended on February 8 this year, citizens who have not yet registered their properties — due to being outside the territory of Serbia or for other personal reasons — have an additional one-year period to complete the process.
Meanwhile, by February 8, when the application deadline expired in the Municipality of Presheva, over 4,000 people had applied.
This was confirmed to KosovaPress by the Director of Urbanism in the Municipality of Presheva, Ardian Aliu, who stated that there had been no pressure from the Government of Serbia regarding the legalization of properties owned by Albanians in this municipality.
“According to our statistics, over 4,000 people in the Municipality of Presheva have applied for property registration… There was no pressure, and this is good and beneficial for the citizens of the municipality to register their property, because buildings constructed without permits did not have usage permits or similar documentation and could not be sold. Also, if citizens needed to mortgage them, they did not have that right. Now, with this law, they enjoy all rights and can sell them,” Aliu said.
Aliu also announced that citizens who were not within the territory of Serbia during the application period have up to one year to legalize their properties.
As for possible measures against those who do not legalize their properties, Aliu said he has no information from the Government of Serbia, as no notification has been issued.
“All those persons who were unable to register their property due to illness or being abroad have a legal deadline of about one year. Everyone can register their buildings. The legislator has foreseen that citizens who, for their own reasons, were not present in the territory of Serbia may apply. We also have cases after February 8, when the regular deadline for property registration closed, where several people came and we enabled them to exercise this right… We do not know, as we have no information because the Government of Serbia has not announced any measures against persons who do not register their property,” he added.
On December 8, 2025, the Government of Serbia issued a decision allowing all buildings constructed without permits to apply and register their property. This deadline lasted until February 8, 2026.
