Landlord and Tenant Law in North Macedonia

This content is archived and no longer updated.

Landlord and Tenant Law in North Macedonia is classified by us as moderately pro-landlord, given that Landlord and Tenant have complete freedom of contract and freedom to agree rents. The reason we do not class the North Macedonian situation as "strongly" pro-landlord is the practical difficulty and cost of evicting a tenant.

Our thanks for the following valuable contribution to Martin Boskoski of Lalicic and Boskoski Law Office

Can the landlord and tenant freely agree on rents (or is there rent control)?  Yes, they can freely agree.  In North Macedonia, the lease agreement is determined in accordance with the Law on Obligations, which does not specify the amount of rent that the landlord and the tenant can agree on. Also, this law determines that the parties can freely agree

The only other regulation that affects the amount of the rent is the Habitual Law. In accordance to this law, the determination of the value of the amount of rent, non-profit rent, temporary lease, lease of dwellings for official purposes and lease of dwellings for a particular purpose is done based on the following criteria: distance from the downtown area, facility location, secured communal and other infrastructure, floor of the building, number of residential units in the building, structure of the apartment building, material from which the building is built, furnishing of the apartment and energy efficiency of the building. The law also prescribes that the methodology of the rent determination should be stated in an act issued by the Government.

But, again, this is not a mandatory regulation and the landlord and tenant can freely agree on the rent amount, payment method, etc.

Period and termination of the contract, legal issues, and constraints.  In North Macedonia, the lease agreement can be concluded for a definite and indefinite period of time. The lease agreement and the sublease agreement has to be concluded in written form and certified by a notary public. The lease ends with the termination of the lease.

If the agreement is signed for an indefinite time, the lessee may terminate the lease at any time without giving reasons, unless otherwise agreed.  A definite time agreement can only be terminated after the time period passes.

In addition to this, even for the definite time agreements, the parties can agree to terminate the agreement prematurely. But, without this kind of clause, this type of agreement will be terminated only after the time period set in agreement passes.

Deposits  It is quite usual for the landlord to require a deposit from the tenant. This amount is usually a one or more monthly rent paid upfront as an assurance that the tenant will fulfill the material obligations towards the landlord.

Eviction of a tenant, how difficult, procedure, the time it takes.  In order to evict a tenant, termination of the lease agreement is needed.

Once the agreement is terminated, the tenant is obligated to leave the property in the agreed period. If the tenant fails to act in accordance with this agreement, the landlord can initiate a legal procedure. The court procedure can take up to one year (usual timeline).

But the landlord and the tenant can agree on the enforceability clause in the agreement, which might give the landlord the right to seek from an enforcement agent to force the tenant to leave the property. This enforceability clause will have the same legal power as the court’s decision. In this case the eviction might be quicker and this practice is usual. The only reason that discourages the parties is the additional costs for the certification required for this form of an agreement.