Checking a flat before buying - 12 checks before you transfer the money
Buying a flat in Georgia is completed in a single day: the Public Service Hall, the contract, registration, the keys. That very speed is the danger - what a notary and a bank check over weeks in other countries, here the buyer must check personally, and often within an hour. A transaction registered in the registry is almost never reversed.
This guide describes 12 checks in the order a lawyer performs them: first what is visible from the extract within a minute, then what requires enquiries at agencies, and finally what can only be learned from talking to the seller and visiting the flat. An off-plan flat is a separate block, because there the registry says nothing yet.
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The first five checks - everything visible from the registry extract
A Public Registry extract is obtained online, within minutes and for a small fee - by cadastral code or address. Do not take the extract from the seller; obtain it yourself, on the day of the transaction.
Owner = seller
The owner's name and personal number in the extract must match the seller's ID exactly. In a sale by power of attorney - the power of attorney is checked in the registry or with the notary, and must not be revoked. A one-letter difference in the name is a ground to halt the transaction.
Entries restricting the right
Attachment (court, enforcement, tax), mortgage, easement, lease, usufruct, a note of a claim. With any such entry the flat either cannot be sold or is sold with the burden. Releasing a mortgage before or at the transaction with the bank's consent is a separate procedure.
Co-owners and shares
A flat may be owned by several people in shares, or be a spouse's joint property even if in one name. When a share is sold, the other co-owner has a right of first refusal; a spouse's consent must be notarised. A transaction without that consent is voided.
Area, cadastral code, designation
The area in the extract must match reality - a difference signals an extension or unlawful alteration. The code must be the same in the application, the contract and the extract. Residential designation - a commercial or "non-residential" flat pays utilities and taxes differently.
Title history
The transactions of the last few years: a flat sold three times in the last year, or recently inherited, or registered on a court judgment - requires a separate check. The history is shown in the extended version of the extract.
Checks 6-9 - what the registry does not say and must be found at the agencies
Building permit and commissioning
The building must have a construction permit and a commissioning act - checked at the municipality's architecture service. Without the act the building is "unfinished" even if people live in it, and problems with utilities, mortgages and resale drag on for years.
Unlawful extensions and alterations
A closed balcony, an annexed attic, common space "added" - compared against the project. An unlawful extension requires legalisation or demolition, both at the buyer's expense unless the contract says otherwise.
Utility and owners' association arrears
Electricity, gas, water, waste - the latest bills and a certificate of no arrears. The association or neighbourhood fee and planned expenses for the lift, roof or facade - one call to the chairperson.
Registered persons and tenants
A person registered at the flat creates no ownership, but a tenant under a registered lease stays until the end of the term - with the new owner too. A lease entry in the registry and who actually lives in the flat - both are checked.
Checks 10-12 - what can only be learned from a conversation and a visit
The seller's capacity and situation
An elderly seller, a seller in bankruptcy or a criminal case, a seller whose heirs will later dispute the transaction. The notary checks capacity; for a flat recently inherited, the absence of other heirs is checked separately.
The real flat and the flat in the documents
The address on the door, the cadastral code in the extract and the flat you viewed must be one and the same. Two flats with the same number in one block, "floor 4, actually 5" - a classic fraud scheme. View the flat with the extract in hand.
Price, deposit and settlement
A deposit only under a written agreement, with a deadline and return conditions; double return of the deposit if the seller withdraws is the statutory rule. Settlement through a bank, ideally escrow - the money is released after registration. Cash with "received in full" written in the contract - the whole risk shifts to the buyer.
An off-plan flat - the registry says nothing yet, so the contract is everything
When buying from a developer, the flat does not exist in the registry - only the land and the project do. Five points without which the contract should not be signed.
- The developer's right to the land
- Is the land the developer's own or someone else's under a contract? The land extract, attachments, a bank mortgage for project financing. A bank mortgage on the land is normal, but it must be released from your flat before the transaction.
- Building permit and stage
- A permit for a specific number of floors and area; the flat you are buying must exist in the project. The construction stage against the schedule - a two-year delay is itself a risk signal.
- Type of contract
- A preliminary sale, a sale of future property, an investment - the three give different protection. Registering the claim in the registry (where the contract allows it) puts the buyer ahead in the queue if the developer goes bankrupt.
- Deadline, penalty and exit
- An exact completion date, a daily or monthly penalty for delay, the buyer's right to terminate on breach of the deadline and recover the money with interest. A contract where the date is "indicative" is a contract without a date.
- What you get in the end
- Area (design or actual, and the recalculation rule), state of finish, share of common areas, parking, utilities. Everything in an annex, signed. "Black frame" and "white frame" must be defined in the contract by technical specification.
Eight typical schemes and the check that defuses each
What you must have in hand on the day of the transaction
- A registry extract obtained the same day, with extended history.
- The seller's ID (and a notarised consent of the spouse if the flat was acquired during marriage); with a power of attorney - the original and a certificate from the notarial registry.
- The commissioning act or the building permit, and the page of the project showing the flat.
- Certificates of no utility and association arrears, the latest bills.
- A draft sale contract checked by a lawyer: price, payment terms, hand-over date, the seller's warranties of no encumbrances, liability for breach.
- The deposit agreement, if a deposit was paid, and the condition for crediting it.
- The bank's or escrow agent's instruction on releasing the money after registration.
Five checks yourself, the rest with a lawyer
The first five checks - from the extract - any buyer can do: the registry website, the cadastral code, a few lari and ten minutes. If an attachment, a mortgage or someone else's name shows up there, you decide for yourself, before a lawyer, whether to continue. This is the stage at which a share of purchases rightly stops.
Checks 6-12 and the off-plan contract are a lawyer's job - not because they are difficult, but because each requires enquiries at an agency, reading the contract text and drafting the escrow terms. A real estate lawyer's fee on a typical transaction is a fraction of a percent of the flat's price, and it is recovered by one mortgage discovered.
One specific rule: do not pay a deposit before the lawyer's check. A deposit is a contract, and getting it back if a problem is found later becomes a separate dispute. Within 15 minutes the coordinator will connect you with a lawyer who knows the practice of the registry and the municipality in your city and completes the check in one or two days.
Questions about checking a flat
There is a mortgage on the flat and the seller says they will repay the loan with my money. Is that safe?
It is possible, but only with the bank's involvement: part of the money is transferred directly to the bank, the bank issues a mortgage release letter, the registry entry is cancelled and only then - or on the same day, in one package - is your ownership registered. Transferring to the seller's account so they "repay later" - no.
I am a foreigner. Can I buy a flat?
A flat and non-agricultural land - yes, by the same procedure, with a passport and a notarised translation. There are restrictions for foreigners on agricultural land. If the flat's value exceeds the threshold, it can also become a ground for a residence permit.
I paid a deposit and the check revealed an attachment. Will I get the deposit back?
If in the deposit agreement the seller warranted that there were no encumbrances - the deposit is returned double, since the transaction failed for their reason. If the agreement was oral or without a warranty - the return becomes a court dispute. That is exactly why a deposit is paid under a lawyer's agreement and after the check.
The seller wants to write a lower price in the contract "because of tax". What do I risk?
Everything: if the transaction is voided you recover only the contract sum; on a later resale the difference becomes your taxable gain; a contract in which the parties knowingly state a false sum itself carries a risk of nullity. The price only the real one.
How long does a full check take?
The extract - minutes. The agency checks (permit, act, association, notary) - one or two working days. Analysis of an off-plan contract - the same. A flat with an inheritance or litigation history - up to a week. "We must sign tomorrow or someone else will buy" - the pressure is itself a risk signal.
Chosen a flat? The check takes a day or two; a mistake takes years
At a free consultation a real estate lawyer will read the extract with you and tell you which checks you still need - within 15 minutes the coordinator will contact you.