Process · Due diligence
Due-diligence checklist for a Montenegro hotel site
A listed site is a starting point, not a verified asset. This checklist sets out what to confirm before you rely on a location or an incentive, grouped by topic, one check per line.
Stari Bar
Not legal advice
The guide is explicit on two points. Putting a project into effect may need coordination between central and municipal authorities on spatial planning, title, environmental assessment, heritage, utilities and construction permits. And inclusion of a site in the portfolio does not confirm title, planning readiness, permitting status, commercial feasibility or availability for award. The checks below turn those caveats, and the site-specific conditions in the opportunity fact sheets, into questions to answer.
Title and ownership
- Obtain the current cadastral property list for every parcel and match parcel numbers and areas to the offer.
- Confirm who holds the right of disposal: the Government, a ministry or the municipality.
- Check whether any part of the land or buildings is privately owned, and how it will be consolidated.
- Search for mortgages, easements, restitution claims and pending litigation.
- Confirm whether the plot is free of structures and occupants, or what must be cleared and by whom.
Planning and permitted use
- Identify the plan in force (detailed, spatial-urban, general regulation or location study) and its adoption date.
- Confirm that a hotel is a permitted use on the specific plot, not just somewhere in the zone.
- Get the parameters in writing: site occupancy, floor-area ratio, height, setbacks, green area and parking.
- Where documents describe the permitted use differently, have the municipality confirm the designation in writing.
- Ask whether a new or amended plan is in preparation that could change the parameters.
Environment and heritage
- Find out whether an environmental impact assessment is required and which authority issues it.
- Check protected-area and protected-landscape designations on and next to the site.
- Check cultural-heritage protection for the site and its setting, and who must consent.
- Commission geotechnical, seismic and flood surveys before fixing the design.
- Confirm water sources and wastewater treatment, especially for mountain and riverside sites.
Utilities and access
- Confirm electricity capacity and the connection date; several state projects are still waiting for power.
- Confirm water supply and sewerage capacity for the hotel at full occupancy, not just the base load.
- Check legal and physical road access, including any crossing of third-party land.
- For mountain sites, ask who clears and maintains the access road in winter.
- Agree who pays for off-site connections and on what timetable.
Permits
- Map the full permit path, from urban-technical conditions to building permit, use permit and operating licence.
- Identify which steps sit with the state and which with the municipality.
- List the municipal fees and contributions due, and any that do not apply to five-star construction.
- Ask for recent timelines on comparable projects for each step.
- Check how hotel categorisation is obtained and when it can be applied for.
Tax and incentives eligibility
- Confirm whether the site lies in a priority tourist location, and what property tax reduction will actually apply.
- Check the planned category against each threshold: zone, condo-hotel and five-star construction relief.
- Model VAT on the actual food and beverage mix; some drinks stay at the standard rate.
- Ask how state-aid rules limit stacking of grants, payroll relief and tax incentives.
- Check treaty eligibility of your holding structure for dividends, interest and capital gains.
Workforce and seasonality
- Assess local labour supply and skills, and the cost of recruiting from elsewhere.
- Budget for staff housing where the site is remote or the season is short.
- Test demand outside the peak: shoulder months on the coast, summer in the mountains.
- For ski-dependent sites, check snowmaking plans, water for snowmaking and the climate outlook.
- Check whether the site falls inside a business zone with payroll relief for new hires.
Maritime Domain (coastal sites)
- Establish which parts of the site lie inside the Maritime Domain.
- Identify which uses need a concession: berths, piers, beach areas or sea access.
- Align the concession term with the hotel lease term.
- Check public access obligations along the shore.
- Bring the authority responsible for the Maritime Domain into the first round of meetings.
UNESCO and national park rules (Durmitor, Kotor)
- Durmitor National Park is a World Heritage Site: confirm what its management and conservation framework allows.
- Ask the park authority for its consent process, zoning inside the park and any fees.
- Expect energy- and water-efficient design and low-impact construction to be required.
- In the Bay of Kotor World Heritage area, expect heritage review of height, massing and materials.
- Ask whether a heritage impact assessment is needed and allow for it in the timetable.
Use the answers to decide which land route and which instruments fit the project; the process page sets out who to ask.
Want help running these checks?
We collect the planning documents, parcel data and the right contacts at the Ministry of Tourism, the Montenegrin Investment Agency and the municipality, and run those conversations in parallel with you.
We reply within one business day. Prefer email? Write to hello@montenegroinvest.com.