Registering a flat or house on old (Soviet-era) documents: what to do under Georgian law

What to do

1. Basis: transactions made before the Civil Code took effect that were not registered within the time then required can serve as the basis for registration now (Law of Georgia on Public Registry, Art. 35). An old privatisation or purchase contract is a working document; a court is not needed to register on its basis.
2. Assemble the package before filing. Otherwise a document will be missing and registration will be suspended for 30 calendar days (Law of Georgia on Public Registry, Art. 21). The Agency's technical inventory archive (formerly BTI) issues a descriptive certificate (ცნობა-დახასიათება) on the last recorded condition (Instruction on the Law on Public Registry, Art. 11), and a certified copy of the document held there (Instruction, Art. 11). No translation is needed: archival documents in Russian are accepted without translation into Georgian (Instruction, Art. 11). If the right is not marked but the document is on the file card, the information is issued on the basis of that document (Instruction, Art. 11). For a plot with a private house: a plot recorded in the archive before 4 October 2004 is documented by the Agency's descriptive certificate (Instruction, Art. 43).
3. Area: the area is taken from the document, or from the measurement drawing if one exists (Instruction, Art. 16). The total area, both residential and non-residential, is registered (Law of Georgia on Public Registry, Art. 35). If the measurement differs from the document, the drawing applies with the consent of the co-owners or the association (Instruction, Art. 16).
4. Name mismatch: if the letters of the name differ but the personal number and date of birth match, registration is made on the identity card (Law of Georgia on Public Registry, Art. 24). Otherwise, a Ministry of Justice commission decides whether the document belongs to the person (Art. 24), or a court establishes that fact (Civil Procedure Code of Georgia, Art. 312).
5. Refusal or suspension: appeal within 30 calendar days from official notification (Law of Georgia on Public Registry, Art. 29).
6. Where to apply: Public Service Hall or National Agency of Public Registry; National Archive or municipal archive for copies.
7. Evidence: privatisation or purchase contract, allocation order, BTI technical passport, archive certificate and copies, identity card, measurement drawing.
8. Pitfalls: going to court for 'recognition of the right' when an archive certificate is enough; stating only the residential area from the allocation order; a plot with no documents at all, which requires a separate route for recognising land rights.

Be sure to check

• basis: a contract or transaction from before the Civil Code; registration on it is possible now
• the Agency's technical inventory archive: descriptive certificate and certified copies; Russian-language text accepted without translation
• total area and area discrepancy (measurement drawing, co-owners' consent)
• name mismatch: registration on the identity card, commission or court
• deadlines for suspension and appeal