CEDER 2026 in review: Legal Shifts Affecting the Residential Market

The second Residential panel held at CEDER 2026 touched upon the legal shifts affecting the Romanian market in the recent months. The most significant legal development is the enactment of the so-called “Nordis Law” in December 2025. While intended to protect consumers, legal experts argue the final version of the legislation is ineffective and adds unnecessary complexity without addressing core risks. Simona Guțiu, Founding Partner of the Notarial Office EQUITY explains the law’s shortcomings: “The actual law, in the form of [enactment] shows that the transactions are still required to be carefully revised by the parties. And the risks are high. So many of the previous risks have not been covered. You are not covered by the insolvency of the developer. You are not covered enough by the fines… 1% of the turnover of the SPV for the previous year may lead to zero. We do not have, six months later, the norms of application [of] the law. We have only a higher bureaucracy with a lot of papers to be done, to be registered with the land book. But the legal risks are still there.”

Silviu Stratulat, Managing Partner, Stratulat Albulescu Attorney at Law is even more critical, suggesting that the law fails to impose necessary criminal penalties for the misuse of buyer funds: “The original bill (…) was sensible and logical. The current law, it’s not (…) I mean, breach of law is fined with 1%. I mean, it’s administrative. (…) It should have been criminal. If you take someone’s money and use it for other purposes than for (…) erecting the building, then you should be criminally prosecuted. And it’s not there (…) It’s smoke and mirrors. That’s what it is. It’s dust in the wind”.

While Bogdan Letcă, CEO of Bog’Art Residential considers that the new law will further complicate the environment for developers, creating new roadblocks and “only making delays”, Claudiu Bisnel, Managing Partner of Brisk Group, is more optimistic: “it’s a good law in essence (…) because it tries to regulate the market” and he sees a “cleansing effect”, as only top-tier developers with robust governance and legal structures can navigate the current environment: “If you don’t know what you’re doing in this kind of a market, you’re exposed to high risks.”