Tenant Screening in Serbia: How to Check Prospective Tenants

Anyone letting a flat in Belgrade tends to reach for the procedure they know from home: request a credit report, check the payslips, done. In Serbia that does not work, because there is no central credit register open to private landlords, nothing comparable to Germany's Schufa or the credit reference agencies used in the UK. That does not mean you have to rely on blind trust as a landlord. It simply means the check works differently, and many foreign owners only realise this when the first prospective tenant is standing at the door.

Why there is no credit report for landlords

Serbia does have a central database of credit obligations and payment defaults, the Kreditni biro Srbije (Credit Bureau of Serbia). Access to it, however, is essentially reserved for banks, leasing companies and other financial institutions that have a contractual relationship with the bureau. A private landlord or a small property management company cannot obtain information about a private individual there. If you search online for a Serbian credit check for landlords, you will not find anything comparable.

Serbian tenancy law itself (governed by the Law on Contracts and Torts, Zakon o obligacionim odnosima) does not require any credit check either. It leaves risk protection entirely to the contract agreed between the parties.

What landlords do instead in practice

Without a central register, screening shifts to a combination of documents, direct evidence and safeguards built into the lease itself.

1. Check identity and residence status

The identity card (lična karta) for Serbian citizens, or the passport for foreign nationals, is checked against the applicant. For foreign applicants it is worth looking at the residence permit (boravak): someone without valid residence status will also run into problems with the police registration of residence (prijava boravišta), and those problems end up indirectly with the landlord, because the registration is tied to the address of the flat.

2. Proof of income instead of a credit score

The usual approach is to ask for a Potvrda o zaposlenju (employer's certificate) stating the net salary, supplemented by bank statements for the last three months showing that the salary arrives regularly. For self-employed people and freelancers, a frequent case in Belgrade given the many IT remote workers, landlords often ask instead for an extract from the business register (APR) or a tax certificate. As a rough rule of thumb, the base rent should not exceed about one third of the documented net income.

3. References from the previous landlord

A short call or written enquiry to the previous landlord (were there late payments, was the flat handed back in good order?) is more common in Serbia than in Germany, where data protection concerns often make this difficult. Many local property managers and estate agents also keep informal lists of problematic tenants from earlier lettings.

4. A guarantor (jemac) as security

For younger applicants without a long employment history, such as students or people just starting their careers, landlords often ask for a guarantor. This is usually a parent or relative with a secure income who signs the lease as a co-obligor (jemac/garant).

5. The deposit as the real safeguard

Because there is no formal credit check, the deposit (kaucija) carries more of the protective function in Serbia than it does in Germany. A deposit of one month's rent is usual; for upmarket flats, or for applicants without a local credit or employment history (for example foreigners who have just moved to the country), two months' rent is also asked for. Some landlords additionally back up the deposit with a promissory note (menica), a widely used security instrument in Serbia that allows faster enforcement in the event of non-payment than ordinary civil proceedings.

What happens if a tenant still does not pay?

This is where many foreign owners underestimate the real risk. If the tenant defaults, the landlord has to go to court, to the competent court of first instance (osnovni sud). In practice, eviction and payment proceedings often take six to twelve months, and longer in contested cases. Legal fees for such proceedings are roughly in the range of €500 to €1,500 net, depending on the amount in dispute and the work involved. A menica (promissory note) included in the lease can shorten this route considerably, because it is directly enforceable without first having to obtain an ordinary judgment.

Germany vs. Serbia at a glance

How a menica works in practice

The menica (literally: bill of exchange) is one of the most underestimated security instruments in Serbia, because German tenancy law has no direct equivalent. In practice it is a blank promissory note form that the tenant signs and hands over to the landlord. What matters for it to be effective:

• The menica has to be registered with a bank (a so-called registrovana menica) so that it is directly enforceable if needed, rather than being just an informal signature.
• It is usually accompanied by a menično ovlašćenje (letter of authorisation), which sets out up to what amount and for what reason (for example outstanding rent or damage to the flat) the menica may be filled in and presented for payment.
• Without registration with the bank, the menica loses a considerable part of its practical enforceability, because otherwise the bank cannot collect the payment directly from the tenant's account.
• For tenants in Serbia, issuing a menica is an established, everyday procedure. It is also required for loans, leasing agreements and mobile phone contracts, so it is less a one-sided vote of confidence than a market norm that reliable tenants are used to.

Landlords without local legal advice should be careful here: the menica should not be used as a self-made form, but should be set up by a lawyer or a property management company with the correct letter of authorisation. A formally defective document is worthless in a dispute.

Practical example: two applicants compared

To make the screening steps more tangible, here is a simplified, illustrative example (not a real case) of two typical applicant profiles that might come up when letting a flat in Novi Beograd:

Profile A: employee with a permanent contract. Provides a Potvrda o zaposlenju with a net salary of about three times the base rent; bank statements show regular salary payments over six months; the previous landlord confirms punctual payment over two years. Here a deposit of one month's rent plus a registered menica is a security package that is fair to both sides.

Profile B: freelancer who has just moved here, with no Serbian credit history. No employer's certificate, but instead an APR extract for a company founded only a few months ago, irregular payments on the bank statement provided, and no reference from a previous landlord in Serbia, because the applicant has only recently arrived in the country. A formal credit check in the narrow sense is hardly possible here. Even so, this is not an automatic reason to reject the applicant, but a reason to adjust the security package: a higher deposit (two months' rent), plus a guarantor if available, or alternatively proof of sufficient savings in a foreign account, which the landlord accepts as a substitute for the missing local history.

The difference between the two cases is not that Profile B is inherently riskier, but that the available evidence differs in how much it tells you. The security package should be adjusted accordingly, rather than applying a rigid screening scheme regardless of the individual case.

The tax background that explains the caution

One reason why Serbian and foreign landlords give tenant screening real weight lies in the tax framework: rental income of private individuals in Serbia is subject to income tax at a rate of roughly 20% on the net rent (after deduction of flat-rate expenses). A tenant's default therefore does not just hit the landlord as lost income; depending on the taxation model chosen, ongoing tax reporting and payment obligations may still arise. Details of the exact calculation and of structuring options should be agreed with a Serbian tax adviser before the lease is signed, as the tax base can differ depending on the type of return filed.

Frequently asked questions

As a landlord, can I get some kind of credit report after all? Not through a central register like the Schufa. Some property managers and estate agents in Belgrade do keep informal internal lists of former tenants who caused problems. This is no substitute for an official information system, but in practice it is often the only indirect source that goes beyond checking documents.

Do I have to return the full deposit when the tenant moves out if there is no damage? Yes, provided the agreed condition of the flat at handover was documented (ideally with photos or a written handover report) and there are no outstanding utility costs or rent arrears. In practice, disputes almost always arise where the initial condition at move-in was not properly documented.

What if the applicant is a foreigner with no Serbian history at all? Then the check shifts almost entirely to documents from abroad (payslips or bank statements from the home country, translated if necessary), combined with a higher deposit and/or a guarantor. A property management company with experience of international tenants can often judge better than a first-time landlord which foreign documents are meaningful in practice.

Practical recommendation for owners who do not live locally

If you do not view the flat yourself and do not meet the applicant in person, you should not delegate the check by approving it via email, but set clear minimum requirements: a current employer's certificate, bank statements, a copy of the ID and, where possible, a short reference call with the last landlord. A local property management company or a trustworthy estate agent who deals with prospective tenants regularly develops a feel over time for warning signs that cannot be spotted from documents alone at a distance, such as inconsistencies between the stated and the actual place of residence, or unusually strong pressure to sign immediately without a viewing.

In the end, no single measure in Serbia fully replaces the missing central credit report. Only the combination of proof of income, reference checks, an appropriate deposit and sound contractual protection reduces the risk of default to a level landlords can accept.