Finding Land in Slovenia

Finding land in Slovenia is relatively easy. Finding land at a good price with good access is a bit harder.

The main place to search is nepremicnine.net and the english version: realestate-slovenia.info

The search engine is pretty good, although they don't have a way of viewing the results on a map which would save quite a bit of time!

For example this is a search for buildable land plots (i.e, not agricultural) that are in the LJ surroundings and are between 1000 and 2000 sq m in size:

As you can see, there are currently 208 results. Its fairly easy to browse through, see roughly where the land is and a description. Quite a few adverts have minimal information on the english language version of the site though, so if you are interested in a piece of land its worth looking it up on the Slovene version of the site (and using Google Translate :-)). The best way to find the land on the Slovene version is to search by the "ad reference number".

Once you find land that you are interested in, you can contact the seller (or their agent). We advise to ask for the following:

1. The parcel number - with this you can search for the land on one of the GIS portals. For example in Ljubljana you can use gis.iobcina.si . You can register for free and get loads of information about a particular plot, for example the exact size, how it is zoned, flood risk, utility connections, etc.
2. The "Lokacijska informacija" (location information) - the seller should have this - it gives the detailed conditions on what can be built on the plot. There may be restrictions on what shape the house can be, its height, what percentage of the plot it can take up, etc. Any architect or pre-fab house company will need this information to advise you on the plot.

With the above information there are a few things that it is good to consider:

Access to the plot

Is there access from a public road. Quite a few plots don't have direct access from a public road - this isn't a deal breaker, but could add a lot of time and cost to your build. In some circumstances it may mean you need permission from a host of land owners to build a road.

Existing building permit

Some plots have an existing building permit. If you are happy to roughly follow the design included in the permit this can be a shortcut. Not many plots have this though, and its likely that the reason you want to build your own house is so that it can be fully customised to your tastes, so this may not even be that useful.

Location Information

This varies a lot. There are some plots that don't are awaiting detailed spacial planning. These plots can't be built on until this is completed by the municipality - so there is a lot of risk in buying them as an individual. Some plots have very prescriptive spacial planning and building restrictions - this isn't necessarily bad, but you definitely need to be aware.

Municipal Contributions

There is an amount of money that needs to be paid to the municipality for each plot of building land to cover things like road access, etc. This only needs to be paid once per house per plot of land - so if you are buying land with an old house that you will demolish then you may not need to pay this. If you are knocking down one house and building two houses, then you will need to pay the difference. The amount varies a lot, in some areas where lots of houses are being built and a lot of new infrastructure is needed the cost could be €80.000+, whereas existing built-up areas may only require a €10.000 contribution. The seller of the land should have an idea on how much this will be.

How flat is the plot

The plot may have beautiful views, but if it is all at a 30 degree angle then your foundation costs are going to be enormous. From our research, the reduction in price for sloped land was never enough to offset the increased cost of building on that land.

How much will it cost?

There is huge variation in land costs from €30 to €500 a square metre. Our experience is that if the land is cheap, there is a reason. It could be that there is no access, or it is steep, or it is far away from any main roads, or its not possible to build yet, etc.

If you are looking in the Ljubljana area and you want good access then you need to be ready to pay €250+ per sq metre of buildable land. Premium land will be up to €500 a sq metre, and if you are ready to be 10min+ from the highway your prices can go down to €60 a sq metre. You need a minimum of 400 sq m, but ideally something closer to 1000 sq m if you want a decent house with parking and privacy. This means that in the LJ area you are looking at spending between €100.000 and €400.000 just on land. A smaller plot off the beaten track however could only cost you €30.000.

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I hope this information was useful. We'll post more detailed information on how the actual purchase process works in another post.