Mortgage refused by the bank: how to buy an apartment in the EU without a loan
Mortgage refused by the bank: how to buy an apartment in the EU without a loan
A mortgage refusal closes one route, not the question of ownership.
An apartment in the EU can also be bought without a bank loan — under an agreement with the owner, with an installment plan and notarial formalities.
The entry cost in such a deal is higher and the term is shorter: this is a comparison of two schemes, not a claim that one of them is better.
Below: why the refusal comes, what in it can be fixed, how a deal with the owner differs from a loan, and at what moment the apartment becomes yours.
Can you buy an apartment in the EU without a mortgage
Yes. The property is bought under an agreement with the owner: part of the price is paid up front, and the balance is paid on a schedule. Your credit history is not requested.
The decision here is made by the seller, not by a credit committee: the owner is selling an apartment, not issuing a loan. There is no scoring, and nobody reconstructs your income for past years. The unpaid balance of the price is secured by the seller's legal mortgage — Articles 1723 and 2386 of the Romanian Civil Code; it is lifted with the last payment. The precise name of the structure is an installment plan from the owner secured by the seller's legal mortgage.
One requirement remains in any scheme: proof of the origin of the funds the buyer pays in. It is a requirement not of the bank but of European regulation, and it does not depend on whether there is a loan.
Who gets a loan in the EU and why the refusal comes
A loan is available to those with officially declared income, taxes paid in their country of residence and proven creditworthiness. Nationality is not on this list: housing loans are granted, among others, to people with temporary protection status and without a permanent residence permit.
The scale is visible in the market: according to Poland's Ministry of the Interior, in 2025 Ukrainians bought about 9,300 apartments in the country — more than half of all housing bought by foreigners. The barrier, therefore, is not nationality but the transparency of the financial model.
The refusal comes not because of the amount in the account, but because of how that amount and the income look on paper. The bank assesses not today's wealth but your ability to pay over the next 20–30 years.
Three typical reasons for a refusal:
• Unproven income. There are earnings, but only the minimum wage goes through officially, and the rest comes in cash or informally. For the bank's calculation, the unofficial part does not exist.
• International transfers and cash savings without a documentary explanation: income from several countries, payments from foreign clients, large cash deposits.
• Outstanding loans and arrears in Ukraine. These obligations do not stay inside the Ukrainian banking system: credit discipline is part of the overall financial profile and is read in long-term lending.
A separate factor is the structure of income. A short history of self-employment, several currencies and clients from different countries mean less predictability for the bank, even when the amounts are above average.
What a purchase without a loan involves: down payment, term, documents
The structure is short: a down payment of 30% of the property's price, the balance on a schedule over 3 years interest-free, a notarial deed, an entry in the land register and a set of documents on the origin of funds.
A comparison of the two schemes:
• Mortgage: a down payment of 10–20% in market practice, a term of 20–30 years, interest-bearing payments, the decision is made by the bank, and the exact terms are set by the specific bank.
• Installment plan from the owner: a down payment of 30%, a term of 3 years, interest-free, the decision is made by the seller.
A higher down payment, a shorter horizon. What suits a particular family is calculated separately.
A benchmark for the property: a renovated and furnished two-room apartment in Constanța, in a commissioned building, costs about €100,000.
The entry cost is around €30,000 including notary fees and tax, and the monthly installment is about €1,900.
For comparison, a two-room apartment of the same class in major EU cities costs €200,000–300,000.
Documents on the origin of funds are collected before the deal, not on request after the fact: this part is covered in a separate article on proving the origin of funds when buying an apartment in the EU.
Procedure and timelines: at what moment the apartment becomes yours
Ownership arises not when the contract is signed but with the entry in the land register.
A real estate deal in Romania requires the authentic notarial form — this is a condition of validity; a contract in simple written form does not create the deal.
The order of steps:
• Assessment — a review of documents and the origin of funds before a property is chosen.
• Property — selection and checks before a deposit is paid.
• Notarial deed — signed when the down payment is made.
• Land register — the entry; from this moment you are the owner.
• Installment plan — the balance on a schedule; the legal mortgage is lifted with the last payment.
Legal points:
• Article 1676 of the Civil Code: the transfer of ownership in a sale of real estate is subject to the land register rules.
• Article 885 (1): rights in real estate entered in the land register are acquired, both between the parties and with respect to third parties, only from the moment of entry.
• Article 565: proof of ownership is an extract from the land register.
• Registration in the ordinary course takes a few business days; the notary files the documents on the day of the deal.
Fixed figures of the route: setting up a company — from €1,300 (documents prepared by a lawyer and a registered address), about a month, remotely; status support — €1,300, about three months, one trip for biometrics; accounting services — €600 a year; the full cycle — about 4 months. Timelines, amounts and procedure are set out in the contract.
The processes run in parallel, not one after another, so the overall timeline is determined by the longest of them, not by their sum. A residence permit does not follow automatically from buying real estate: it is obtained on the basis of an employment contract with your own company.
Refused at home, and now applying to a Romanian bank
This is a dead end: Romanian banks do not grant mortgages to non-residents, so the bank route is closed here. A refusal in your country of residence does not open a loan in the country of purchase — it moves the question into a different deal scheme.
The second common mistake is sending out applications in all directions right after a refusal.
Applications are recorded, and a series of refusals in a short period is read by the next lender as a separate signal.
Most often the bank will not give a detailed explanation: it is not obliged to disclose its assessment method.
The reason is found by calculation: take only proven income and subtract current obligations and fixed expenses. If the payment does not fit into what is left, the reason is found.
What can realistically be fixed in a month:
• collect statements for the period and income certificates;
• put the documents on sources of income in order;
• find out and record the status of old obligations;
• close small loans that reduce the calculated remainder.
What cannot be changed in a month: how long you have had official income and how long your own business has been running.
If the bank needs a history of 2–3 years, it will not appear in four weeks. Hence the fork: if documents are missing, they are collected and the application is resubmitted; if time is missing, the route without a loan works.
How Alliance works
The work is done under a contract that sets out the timelines, the fee and the procedure. The company's licenses and documents are publicly available on the website; the offices are in Constanța and Mamaia-Sat.
The roles are separate. Armonia selects properties to fit the client's strategy. Alliance is responsible for the strategy, the bank, financial monitoring and coordination of all processes; the legal part is handled by specialized professionals, and the accounting by audit firms. The deal is registered to the client: to an individual or to their Romanian company.
After the deal, the property is run by a management company under an official contract: utility bills, preparation for rental, finding and supporting tenants, day-to-day matters with the apartment. The owner keeps living where they live — the city, work and the children's school do not change.
Two boundaries are stated plainly. Alliance does not analyze the terms of specific banks in your country of residence and gives no advice on them: the company does not consult on other jurisdictions.
The condition of a specific property, its history and encumbrances are assessed by the check before the deal and by the notary at the deal — the general rule of the code does not replace that check.
What to do next after a bank refusal
There is one next step: a review of documents before a property is chosen and a deposit is paid. The order is the reverse of the usual one — first the reason for the refusal, then what can be fixed, and only then the choice of deal scheme.
Alliance's free strategic assessment is a review of your situation, at least two routes, a budget and a sequence of steps. The assessment is free and commits you to nothing. It may end in a reasoned refusal explaining why: that is also a result of the work. The deal goes through under the Romanian Civil Code, and the notary files the land register entry; the company's office operates in Constanța, and its licenses are publicly available on the website.
Do Ukrainians get mortgages in the EU?
They do. Housing loans are granted, among others, to people with temporary protection status and without a permanent residence permit. The conditions are the same for everyone: officially declared income, taxes paid in the country of residence and proven creditworthiness.
Does one bank's refusal affect another bank's decision?
Applications are recorded, and a series of refusals in a short period is read by the next lender as a separate signal. The sensible order is the reverse: first the reason, then fixing what can be fixed, and only then a new application.
What down payment is needed when buying without a loan?
With an installment plan from the owner, the entry is 30% of the property's price. For an apartment of about €100,000, that is around €30,000 including notary fees and tax; the balance is paid on a schedule over 3 years interest-free.
About the author
Sergey Valentinovich Kononov — head of the consulting company Alliance Consulting (Constanța, Năvodari).
More than 30 years of management experience; the company has run a licensed practice in Romania for four years and supports clients from the first consultation to receiving their documents. The company's licenses and documents are publicly available on the website.