Every property registered in the Romanian system carries a cadastral number (număr cadastral) — the unique identifier that links the measured parcel on the map to its legal record, the land book (carte funciară). When you order a land registry extract, apply for a building permit, or instruct a notary, the cadastral number is how everyone agrees which piece of ground is being discussed.
Two things it is not. It is not the same as the land book number — the two usually differ, though for newer registrations they often coincide, and either will identify the property together with the locality. And it is not the old topographic number found in pre-reform Transylvanian land books; those Austro-Hungarian-era identifiers still appear on older properties and can be converted, but they are a different numbering system. If your family papers show a "nr. topografic", the property may well be registered under the old system and need a modern cadastral documentation before any transaction.
Before any map, check the documents. The cadastral number appears on: the ownership deed (contract de vânzare-cumpărare, inheritance certificate, donation act) if the property was registered at the time; any old land registry extract; the annual property tax decision from the town hall, sometimes; and the cadastral documentation file itself if a surveyor ever worked on the property. Ask the seller, the heirs, or the town hall's agricultural register (registrul agricol) — rural municipalities keep records tying families to their parcels even where no land book exists.
For rural land restituted after 1991, the key document is the property title (titlu de proprietate), which identifies land by tarla (field block) and parcelă (plot) numbers rather than by cadastral number. A tarla/parcel reference means the land has likely never been registered — finding it physically requires the parcelling plan and, often, a surveyor's identification work.
The geoportal shows only what has been registered, and coverage in rural Transylvania is patchy — in many communes fewer than half the parcels appear. When a plot is absent from the map, identification runs the other way: from the property title's tarla and parcel numbers, through the commune's parcelling plan (plan parcelar), to physical measurement on the ground. That is surveyor's work, and it is the first stage of the first registration that gives the land a cadastral number of its own.
If you send us whatever identifiers you have — a cadastral number, a land book number, a tarla/parcel reference from a 1990s title, or even just a pin on Google Maps and the commune name — we will tell you what the official record shows, whether the parcel is registered, and what it would take to make it transactable. This desk check is quick and often the single most valuable step before committing to any purchase or inheritance plan.
No — it is an informational viewer. The legally authoritative record is the land book itself, read through an official extract. Use the map to locate and the extract to verify; never rely on the polygon alone for a purchase decision.
That is exactly the kind of discrepancy that needs measurement. Sometimes the registration is wrong or imprecise (older registrations carry larger tolerances), sometimes the fence has drifted. A verification survey compares registered coordinates against reality and documents the difference.
Often, yes. The trail runs through the town hall's agricultural register, the 1991 restitution files, and the parcelling plans. It is research work with no guaranteed outcome, but we can usually establish within a few days whether there is something findable — before you spend money on lawyers.
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