Public call for affordable rental published by APN – details available for vacant property owners

Owners of residential property who want to put their apartments up for affordable rent can apply to APN’s public call as of today. The fundamental requirement is for the property to have been vacant for two years, which will be verified through energy and water bills. The call is open until February 15, 2026.

In order to enter the Affordable Rental Programme, residential properties need to have been vacant for two years, which means that the owners neither lived in nor rented out the property - this will be verified through energy and water bills. An exception is possible if renovation works were carried out in the property, which resulted in higher electricity or water consumption. All applicants to the Public Call will have to provide proof and explanation for it, upon which APN will make the final decision.

Even before the public call, tenants were afraid they might be evicted from the apartments so the owners could put the property up for affordable rent. This will not be possible, APN explains, which is precisely why the requirement was introduced that a property needs to have been vacant for two years. The owners can apply by mail or email, and soon an application will also be operational. Since some residential property owners live abroad, it is also possible to apply online.

Property preferably in good condition

The property offered by the owner should preferably be in good condition, habitable, vacant, except for a kitchen potentially left in the property. Everything else is recommended to be removed from the property. The property will be inspected by APN officials and court experts. The plan is to carry out on-site inspections promptly, immediately upon the owner’s application to the public call.

Apartments that are immediately ready for occupancy, i.e. that require no adaptation or minor works - will enter the affordable rental property database the fastest. They are followed by properties requiring minor repairs; in such cases, a contract is concluded with APN under which the property owner is obliged to remove the deficiencies within six months. Once the owners have addressed the issues, those properties will also enter the database. If the property requires major adaptation, the owner will receive an advance payment for renovation only after an interested tenant has been found. APN officials point out that it is important that damage to the property is not structural.

Median rent amounts

Median rent amounts could be calculated most accurately in those local self-government units that have the highest number of registered rental agreements, which usually refers to large cities.

The highest median rents for 2025 are registered in Dubrovnik (€15/m2), Zagreb (€12.7/m2) and Split (€12.2/m2).

For instance, the rent for a 60-square-metre apartment is 760 euro in Zagreb and 730 in Split. The amount can vary depending on the cadastral municipality - in Zagreb, the most expensive one is Centar novi (€14.55/m2), Centar (€14.20/m2), Trešnjevka (€13.90/m2), Jakuševec (€13.80/m2) and Žitnjak (€13.55/m2), while the lowest price is in Sesvete (€9.20/m2).

In Rijeka the median rent is €10.45/m2 and in Osijek it is €7.9/m2.

In terms of rent amounts, prices are also high in Kaštela (€10/m2), Velika Gorica (€9.5/m2), Varaždin (€8.5/m2), Šibenik (€7.5/m2), while the lowest prices are in Knin (€3.7/m2). In Vukovar the rent is €4.43/m2.

Amounts for tenants and property owners

Affordable rent must not exceed 30% of the total net monthly income of tenants and their family members. Regarding property owners, they will receive payment for the contracted period in two instalments - the first one (60%) will be paid at the start of the contracted period, and the rest (40%) will be paid once half of the period has passed. The contract is concluded for a period of three to ten years.

APN believes that this, along with the certainty guaranteed to property owners, will be one of the most important reasons to attract owners to enter the Affordable Rental Programme. Instead of waiting for their rent from month to month, they will receive it in two instalments.

The documentation required for the Public Call includes:

• a copy of the ID card if the owner is a natural person, or a copy of the ID card of a responsible person within a legal person if the owner is a legal person

• a copy of the land registry extract or the extract from the book of deposited contracts

• an occupational permit or a permit to legalise the residential property (use permit or decision on the as-built condition)

• photo-documentation (representative photos of the building and the residential property) that proves the residential property is habitable (a photograph of the property from the outside showing the entire property, then a photograph of the entrance into the property (the entrance into the building, apartments, entrance into the house), photographs of all rooms within the property (that show all parts)

• a bill for the common reserve fee for the month prior to applying to the public call if the residential property is subject to payment of a reserve fee

• proof the residential property has not been used for two years (bills or statements for energy and water consumption).

​Interested property owners also need to complete the form.

Applications should be sent to APN’s address - Savska 41/VI, Zagreb - or by email to priustivi.najam@apn.hr titled “Request for offering residential property for use.”

The public call will be open until February 15, 2026. Upon its completion, APN will also publish a public call for interested tenants.

More information about the Affordable Rental Programme is available at the Ministry’s and APN’s websites.

Source: HINA/APN/MPGI

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