The Registry Extract: A Map of Risks, Not a Mere Certificate
Everyone knows to obtain an extract before transacting in immovable property, but reading it correctly is a skill. Under the Law on the Public Registry, an extract from the registry of rights to immovables is prepared on the basis of the unified data bank of the registries of rights to immovables, public-law restrictions, tax pledges and debtors, and reflects the data registered and in force in those registries at the moment of its preparation. The extract is therefore both a source of information and a map of risks, and every entry in it acts on the future of your transaction.
The law gives this document special force: in effecting a transaction or other legal act on an immovable, except the determination of a right of inheritance, the authority of the interested person is established only by an extract from the public registry. The extract is issued to any person — a buyer may request it directly — and a fee is charged only where registered data exists. This page explains how the document is read within a disciplined due-diligence methodology.
The Presumption of Reliability and Its Limits
A presumption of reliability operates toward data registered in the public registry until they are declared invalid, void or null in the manner established by Georgian legislation. For the buyer this means that reliance on the facts reflected in the extract is legally protected — but the presumption is not absolute: an entry may be struck down by a court or another authorized body, which is precisely why a sound inspection must detect the signs pointing to a contestable entry — frequent re-registrations, preliminary entries, restrictions and arrears.
Sound diligence always rests on a fresh extract. Since the extract reflects only the data in force at the moment of preparation, a document months old cannot show a new mortgage or a pending dispute. The Agency is authorized to keep and issue documentation in the form of electronic copies, and an application may be submitted through unified automated management means — through any territorial registration service or authorized person — which makes obtaining a fresh extract fast.
What to Check in the Extract: Registrable Rights
The law precisely regulates what is registered in the registry of rights to immovables: ownership; superficies and its encumbrance by mortgage; usufruct; servitude; mortgage; rent and subrent; lease and sublease; claim; leasing; public-law rights of use and possession; obligations connected with ownership, including privatization conditions; and pre-emptive purchase rights. Besides the registered right, the extract contains identification data of the subject and the object, including cadastral data.
Two rules make this list particularly consequential. First, limited rights — from superficies to leasing — are registrable only where ownership of the thing is already registered. Second, the data registered on those rights and on privatization conditions pass to the new owner unchanged, except cases defined by legislation — a lease or servitude visible in the extract will survive together with your purchase. In addition, for ownership-class rights, and for transactions with the participation of a private-law legal person concluded for more than 1 year, registration in the public registry is required for the creation of rent, lease and similar rights — an unregistered transaction creates no such right.
Pending and Preliminary Registration: The Risk of Hidden Deals
Registration proceedings begin on an application or a decision of an authorized body, and the application must be accompanied by the documentation defined by instruction. The registering body may additionally require any necessary document or information; on a request for information the interested person is given a 30-day term to submit the additional information, during which the examination period is suspended. This mechanism explains why a transfer sometimes slows down — and why checking pending proceedings before a transaction is essential.
Preliminary registration deserves particular attention: on the basis of a contract between the parties, a preliminary registration of a right over an immovable may be made, and it excludes the registration of any other right over the thing and of the abandonment of ownership, unless the parties agree otherwise. It terminates upon registration of the secured right, expiry of the term, written agreement of the parties, or registration of another person's ownership. The priority rules are equally strict: of mutually exclusive rights, only the one first submitted for registration is registered, and in general the ranking of registered rights follows the time of submission of the application — an application connected in the evening competes with the morning's entry.
Buildings in the Extract: The Information-Card Trap
The most common practical trap concerns buildings. Ownership of a building or its unit is registered on the basis of a right-confirming document and construction documentation — and, once construction is complete, a fitness-for-use document. Where such documentation does not exist and the building is neither legalized nor lawfully deemed, its registration is not subject to the law: the landowner receives only an information card for the building actually existing on the plot, and that building is not reflected in the extract or on the cadastral plan. Accordingly, a plot that looks "empty" in the extract may in fact carry a building — this always calls for verification on site.
For units the rules are equally strict: alienation of a unit of a building is allowed only after its registration as a separate object of right; upon registration of a division, co-ownership shares proportionate to the unit's area are registered over the plot. The abandonment institution is also noteworthy: abandonment of ownership is registered only if no other right is registered over the thing at the moment of the request, and after abandonment ownership passes to the state. That flag warns the buyer in advance that special caution is required.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is an extract enough for a transaction?
In a transfer of ownership the seller's authority is established only by an extract from the public registry, so the document is indispensable. Yet the extract reflects only the data in force at its preparation, so the transaction should be accompanied by a fresh, current extract and by verification of the factual situation on the ground.
Which rights pass to me on purchase?
Data registered on superficies, usufruct, servitude, mortgage, rent, lease, claim and leasing, as well as privatization conditions, pass to the new owner unchanged. Every such entry in the extract must therefore be examined and assessed before the deal.
What is a preliminary registration and why does it matter to a buyer?
It is an entry resting on the parties' contract which secures a future transaction and meanwhile blocks the registration of other rights over the thing. If you see a preliminary entry in the extract, a registrable transaction is pending over the property and your purchase cannot be registered until that entry is lifted.
Why is a house missing from the extract of the plot?
If the house has no construction documentation, fitness-for-use document, legalization act or lawful-deeming basis, its ownership is not registrable: only an information card is issued and the building is not reflected in the extract or cadastral plan. A deal involving such a building needs separate legal analysis.
How We Help on Legal.ge
The Legal.ge team performs the full title-diligence package: we examine a fresh extract, analyze the registered rights, restrictions, mortgages and preliminary entries, establish the registration status of buildings, and deliver a pre-transaction opinion listing every identified risk. Contact us — make your decision on the basis of the complete picture.