5

At first we just looked at any empty property, but then we found out that to get the permission to operate would be nearly impossible as the law requires all neighbours to agree to a change of use. Many premises had a lot of neighbours above and whilst it was possible they would all agree, it only needed one to disagree and we would not get the change of use necessary to trade. We therefore decided we should only look at premises with the necessary permission already in place (uporabno dovoljenje). The first place we liked got to the stage of agreeing a price and getting a precontract drawn up (predpogodba). However, our lawyer was worried about this property, which had mortgages on it and some kind of attachments caused by creditors trying to get their money. Also it was possible we would not got permission to trade until extensive repairs were carried out to the drainage system. We decided to move on. We quickly found another suitable property and agreed a price. They casually mentioned there was a dispute about ownership but not to worry. It turned out someone else claimed ownership and for this reason the people trying to sell it could not register themselves in the land registry (zemljiska knjiga), so they could not sell it till the dispute was resolved. We waited a while then moved on. The next property we had an interest in did not, upon investigation, have the right permission. The next one had all the right paperwork, everything was perfect but was too far out of town. When we finally decided we might take it anyway, they said they had committed themselves to a one year tenancy agreement. There were several other places that were fine but very expensive. Finally we found somewhere that was our price and had our list of requirements. The only thing that he did not have was a clear title. However, our lawyer believed this could all be fixed easily, so he started work on drawing up a predpogodba for us with an agreement to conclude the sale once we had tidied up his paperwork. However he decided he would not sign a predpogodba, only the final sale contract. We refused to tidy up his paperwork for him without an agreement, so left him to sort it all out. A month later he returned to us ready to go and an agreement was reached for us to buy. He wanted half a million tolars more but it was still good value so we signed the agreement. We agreed to meet the next day to go to the tax office and notary and pay over the money. However when we got there, he was not there and his agent said he wanted to change the agreement again as he was not happy with the terms. Arrangements were made to meet again. Finally after some 2 hours of renegotiation, we all signed a new pogodba. We went to the tax office and notary and in spite of some small hitches, the deal was concluded and we got the keys. So look out Slovenia, Srecni Slon will be opening its business later on this year.