An extract from the public registry and the registration of rights to immovables are two sides of one system: the registry of rights to immovables is the central part of the public registry of Georgia — it is here that ownership and the rights and obligations connected with it are registered, here that the extract necessary for transactions is prepared, and here that questions of the priority of rights are resolved. This page explains which rights are subject to registration, the role of cadastral surveying and of the extract, how pre-registration works, when abandonment of ownership and changes to land plots are registered, and how ownership of a building or its unit is registered.
The Extract from the Public Registry and Its Significance
An extract from the registry of rights to immovables is prepared on the basis of the unified databank of the registries of rights to immovables, public-law restrictions, tax pledges and mortgages, and debtors, and reflects the data registered and in force in those registries at the moment of its preparation. The extract is issued to any person and is prepared together with the decision on registration, while where registered data exist — upon payment of the corresponding fee. The content and form of the extract are determined by the instruction.
The following rule is particularly important: when a transaction or other legal act is carried out concerning an immovable, except the determination of the right of inheritance, the authority of the interested person is established only by an extract from the public registry. In practice this means that in a sale, gift or mortgage it is precisely this document — and not any other certificate — that reliably confirms the party's authority.
Which Rights and Obligations Are Registered
The following are registered in the registry of rights to immovables:
- ownership;
- superstructure and the encumbrance of the right of superstructure with a mortgage;
- usufruct and servitude;
- mortgage;
- rent and subrent, lease and sublease;
- the right to demand and leasing;
- rights of use and possession provided by public law;
- the privatisation conditions of an immovable disposed of by the state, an autonomous republic or a municipality;
- the preemptive purchase right of state and municipal organs and of other persons.
Besides data on the registered right, the registry also contains identifying data of the subject and object of the right, including the cadastral data of the immovable. A restricted right is registered together with the corresponding restriction or obligation. Data registered on encumbrances and obligations connected with ownership pass to the new owner unchanged, except in cases determined by legislation. A number of rights, including superstructure, usufruct, servitude and mortgage, may be registered only if ownership of the immovable has already been registered. For some of these rights, and likewise for rights arising from transactions concluded with the participation of a private-law legal person for a term exceeding one year, registration is necessary for their creation. The procedure for registering a mortgage certificate is determined by the instruction.
Identification, Cadastral Surveying and Agricultural Land
For compiling the cadastral survey or measurement plan, the owner or lawful possessor of the immovable is responsible for identifying its location and boundary, while the performer of the survey or measurement works is responsible for their proper execution and the accuracy of the data of the plan. The performer is obliged to draw up the plan in accordance with the procedure determined by a decree of the Government of Georgia; the same procedure also determines the suspension and cancellation of the performer's certificate for works executed in breach of the requirements of legislation.
Registration of a right in a plot of agricultural land is carried out under the procedure established by this law, taking into account the requirements determined by the relevant organic law and other legislative and sub-legislative acts. Where a private-law legal person registered in Georgia registers ownership, a mortgage or an obligation entailing the creation of ownership on such a plot, and the data on the partners are not established by the records of the registry of entrepreneurs or are incomplete, duly compiled documentation on the partners establishing the dominant partner must be submitted to the registering organ; where the holder is an organisational entity that is not a legal person — documentation on its members. The composers of these data are responsible for their accuracy, and the submission of incorrect information may become a ground for cancellation of the registration of ownership. Where there is a plurality of partners which are themselves legal persons, the declarant may be asked to provide information on the dominant partner in the manner determined by the instruction. This obligation is not imposed on a financial institution defined by legislation or an international financial institution determined by a government decree acting within the framework of permitted activity, nor on a private-law legal person where ownership is registered on the basis of an investment plan (agreement).