Special power of attorney to buy property in Albania from abroad: where to sign it, costs and the apostille

If you live outside Albania and cannot be at the notary on signing day, someone you trust can complete the purchase of your property in Albania for you with a special power of attorney. This power of attorney cannot be a simple letter: under the Albanian Civil Code, a power of attorney to conclude a contract that can only be made by notarial deed must itself be a notarial deed, otherwise it is invalid (article 72). Selling a property is exactly such a contract, because ownership of immovable property is transferred by notarial deed and then registered (article 83).

Below you will find where you can sign the power of attorney, what it costs in Albania and abroad, how the apostille is added and what it must say. This article expands on step 5 of the guide to buying property in Albania from abroad and applies once you have chosen the property, for example among the apartments for sale in Albania. If you need a power of attorney to sell rather than to buy, read how to sell your property in Albania while living abroad.

Special power of attorney at a notary in Albania, under the official fee schedule

3,000 lek

Official translation of one page into Albanian, excluding VAT

1,300 lek

Certification of the translation by the notary

200 lek

The Apostille Convention enters into force for Albania

9 May 2004

General or special power of attorney

The Civil Code draws a clear line between the two (article 71). A general power of attorney gives the representative authority for a wide range of acts concerning all of your rights in a given area. A special power of attorney gives authority for one or more specific acts with a common purpose, for example buying a particular apartment. When you buy from a distance, a special power of attorney protects you better, because the representative can only do what is written in it.

Your representative can be your lawyer or a relative, provided they have full legal capacity to act (article 64). The law on notaries requires every notarial power of attorney to state the date of issue, its subject, the legal circumstances of the representation, its validity, its term and the cases in which it ends (Law no. 110/2018, article 99).

Where to sign the power of attorney: three routes

1. At a notary in Albania

If you come to Albania, even for a few days, you can sign the power of attorney at any notary (noter). The official fee is 3,000 lek (ALL) for a special power of attorney and 5,000 lek when more than five people take part in it, while a general power of attorney costs 5,000 lek (Joint Instruction no. 22/2020). Because it is an Albanian deed, it needs neither an apostille nor a translation.

2. At the Albanian consulate: ask first

Consulates do issue powers of attorney, but not every kind. The Consulate General in Milan states that a power of attorney for the sale and purchase of movable or immovable property cannot be made at the consulate: it is made at a notary and legalised at the competent court with the “Apostille” stamp. The Embassy in Germany states that it does not issue powers of attorney concerning the transfer of ownership of immovable property and refers citizens to a German notary.

For the powers of attorney a consulate does issue, the application starts online on e-Albania (the government services portal) and you then attend in person to sign it. The Embassy in London states that your presence is compulsory and nobody can come in your place. The fee listed by the Embassy in London for a power of attorney or notarial declaration is 20 €, while the Embassy in Berlin lists 20 € per page. Before you apply, ask the consulate in the country where you live, in writing, whether it issues a power of attorney for a property purchase.

3. At a notary where you live, with an apostille

This is the route the consulates themselves point to. You sign the power of attorney before a local notary, then the competent authority of that country adds the apostille. An apostille is a standard certificate that confirms the notary's signature and seal, so that the document is accepted in Albania without any further legalisation. Albania is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, in force for it since 9 May 2004, according to the Hague Conference (HCCH). Italy, Germany and Greece objected to Albania's accession in 2004, but withdrew their objections in 2011, 2016 and 2018 respectively, according to the treaty depositary, so the convention also applies between them and Albania.

The Embassy in Germany's website still describes certification at the Landgericht followed by legalisation at the embassy. So before you sign, send the draft power of attorney to the notary in Albania or to your lawyer and ask which form they accept.

Who adds the apostille and what it costs

The apostille is added in the country where the power of attorney was signed, not by the Albanian consulate, as the apostille table in the guide to buying from abroad also shows. Here we add the fees, as the official sources list them. Some HCCH pages are not updated often, so confirm the fee with the office before you go.

In the United Kingdom, the standard paper service usually takes up to 25 working days, plus postage time, while the e-Apostille takes up to 2 working days (GOV.UK). For other countries, ask the office how long it takes, because the signing date at the notary in Albania depends on it.

Translation into Albanian

A power of attorney signed at a foreign notary is usually in the language of that country, so in Albania it must be translated into Albanian. Under the law on notaries, the translation is done by the notary themselves, when they are on the list of official translators for that language, or by an official translator (Law no. 110/2018, article 135). The official fee for translating an official document from a foreign language into Albanian is 1,300 lek per page of 1,800 characters, excluding VAT (Joint Instruction no. 8/2022, amended on 9 June 2026). Certification of the translation by the notary costs 200 lek, and a certified copy of the original 300 lek.

On signing day, the representative presents the power of attorney to the notary and a copy is attached to the contract (Law no. 110/2018, article 102). You will find the other documents the buyer needs in the list of documents for buying a home.

What a special power of attorney costs in total

Example: for a power of attorney signed at a notary in Germany that comes to two pages of 1,800 characters once translated, in Albania you pay 2,600 lek for the translation (excluding VAT) and 200 lek for its certification, so 2,800 lek, on top of the notary and apostille fees in Germany. For the costs of the purchase itself, see the costs of buying property.

What the power of attorney must say

For a purchase, the power of attorney must be clear enough to leave no room for interpretation:

• You and the representative: full names, dates of birth, identity documents and addresses
• The property: address, property number and cadastral zone, as they appear on the ownership certificate
• The permitted acts: signing the preliminary and the final contract, paying the price, applying for registration at ASHK (the State Cadastre Agency, Agjencia Shtetërore e Kadastrës), collecting the certificate and the keys
• The maximum price and the payment method, by bank transfer
• The term: the date until which it is valid and the cases in which it ends (Law no. 110/2018, article 99)

Three details of the Civil Code are worth keeping in mind:

• Substitute: the representative must act in person, but the law allows them to appoint a substitute in some cases, for example when the property is outside the district where they live (article 69). If you do not want this, say so expressly.
• Two representatives: when you appoint two, each can act alone, unless the power of attorney says otherwise (article 68).
• Contract with oneself: the representative cannot conclude a contract in your name with themselves, unless you expressly allow it (article 67).

Do not include authority to sell or mortgage your other assets, or to borrow money in your name.

Sample special power of attorney for a purchase

I, [first name and surname], born on [date], holder of passport no. [number], residing at [address], authorise [representative's name], personal number [number], in my name and on my behalf to sign the preliminary contract and the final contract of sale for the apartment with property number [number], cadastral zone [number], at [address], at a price not exceeding [amount], paid by bank transfer to the seller's account, and to submit the application for registration at ASHK and collect the ownership certificate. The representative may not appoint a substitute. This power of attorney is valid until [date].

The sample only shows the points you should find in the power of attorney: the notary drafts the final text, under the law of the country where you sign.

How to cancel or change it

You can revoke the power of attorney at any time, and any agreement to the contrary is invalid (Civil Code, article 75). Revocation at a notary in Albania costs 3,000 lek. Changes and revocation must be brought to the attention of third parties (article 74), because acts the representative carries out after the power of attorney has ended bind you if the other party did not know it had ended (article 77). So notify the representative, the notary and the seller in writing. The power of attorney also ends by itself when the representative completes the acts it was given for or when its term expires (article 76).