Parking Space & The Precarious Parking Platform in The Distance

Today, I completed the purchase of additional land in Zabrdje, located right next to the house I had already bought. This plot includes two lovely trees, one of them an olive tree, and I purchased it to extend the existing garden.

This extra land was originally part of a much larger plot, but I was only interested in buying about a third of it. The seller agreed to my request on the condition that I also purchase a smaller plot on the opposite side of the road, almost directly above my house. This second plot was offered at a significantly lower price per square metre than the rest of the land. In the end, I accepted his terms.

Map of The Plots I Purchased

On the map above, you can see my original purchase of villas and land on Plot 286. The new garden occupies approximately a third of Plot 287. Plot 229, situated on the other side of the small road above the villas, is designated for parking and a garage.

This smaller, additional plot 229 is proving to be a fantastic extra investment. It will be excavated to create parking for five cars and, eventually, a garage. All the excavated stone will be used within this project, effectively providing me with my own mini quarry.

The existing parking platform that came with the villas is both precarious and unsightly, so I'll be glad to see it removed.

The purchase of this land was a necessary step before the main project could start.

I'm back in Montenegro for more meetings, and the weather is truly perfect though, of course, I'm sitting in the shade.

Tivat Municipality is proving to be extremely difficult about all the changes we believed had previously been approved. It turns out the original architect hadn't submitted them properly, so we're almost back to square one. We now realise that the planning process is going to take much longer than we had originally anticipated.

A few months earlier, my daughter and I had come across another lovely house on a Montenegro property website. So, while I was here, I thought, why not go and have a look at it?

I phoned an English estate agent I already know at ntRealty, who happened to have that same lovely house still on his books that I had see all those months ago.

Off we went to see it, and it was one of those special property moments: love at first sight.

It consisted of two very old houses. The first had three floors and was structurally sound, though it needed to be completely redesigned and updated. The second had two floors with much larger rooms, but it was a complete ruin.

I nearly forget o mention it also had most exceptional views.

I'm going back to London tomorrow and, never being one to let the grass grow under my feet, I will immediately put in an offer to buy this potentially beautiful property.

This Milovići house was so badly damaged in the 1979 earthquake that extensive demolition works is required, including work to make the dangerous sections safe, before it can be rebuild using the original stone in order to restore it exactly as it was before.

It is now April, and I've just been into Tivat, Montenegro, to meet my new builders, or rather, their representative, at Prova Restaurant.

Prova Restaurant in Tivat

Stefan, my new project manager from a company called Prostor-Projekt, is a very capable and intelligent young man who speaks fluent English, which, in my experience, is quite rare in the Montenegrin building trade.

He works closely with Vlado, an extremely knowledgeable engineer and building contractor with many years of experience, including designing and constructing the new cathedral in Bar, a costal town and seaport in southern Montenegro.

Stefan will begin by handling the planning approval process with Tivat Municipality on my behalf. I now need to focus on completing all the drawings as soon as possible.

My New Project Manager Stefan

I felt extremely confident, after years of dealing with different building companies in the UK, that I was going to be able to work really well with the Prostor-Projekt team, as we approach our work and understand what needed to be done in exactly the same way.

I was in the middle of a large refurbishment project in London, so I felt really torn, wanting to stay and get more involved with what was about to begin in Montenegro, yet needing to rush back to my commitments in London.

Back to London I must go.