Lithuania

Registering Property in

Lithuania

Listed below is a detailed summary of the steps, time and cost involved in registering property, assuming a standardized case of an entrepreneur who wants to purchase land and a building that is already registered and free of title dispute.

The information appearing on this page was collected as part of the Doing Business project, which measures and compares regulations relevant to the life cycle of a small- to medium-sized domestic business in 183 economies. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2011.

  • Standard Property Transfer

  • Property Value: LTL 1,401,187.72
  • City: Vilnius

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No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
* 1 Obtaining the real estate transaction certificate

Prior to notarizing the agreement notary public obtains the certificate for execution of the real estate transaction from the State Enterprise Center of Registers. This certificate can be obtained by a notary public only at the request of the owner of real estate that is subject to a sale and purchase agreement. If the land plot and the building (warehouse) are registered under separate register records then two Certificates will be required. If, however, the land plot and the building are registered under single register record, then one Certificate will suffice. As of March 31, 2007, notaries are able to obtain this certificate by using a special software in their bureaus.
Before obtaining the Certificate a notary public will check the data of public registers on the buyer and seller and the property. In addition to the above indicated fees for issuance/obtaining of the Certificate, a notary public normally charges approx. LTL 19(€ 5.50) for his/her services.


Agency: State Enterprise Center of Registers 		1 day -expedited (€10.14); 3 days (€8.33); 5 days (€7.60); 7 days (€6.52) 1 day - €10.14; 3 days - €8.33; 5 days - €7.60; 7 days - €6.52 + € 5.50 for notary services
* 2 Notarization of the sale-purchase agreement

According to the Lithuanian law, the ownership right to the sold real estate passes over as of the transfer of the real estate to the buyer, as long as the agreement expressly states so. The transfer of the real estate must be documented by the act of transfer-acceptance signed by the seller and the buyer. The property shall be transferred and the ownership rights to it shall be deemed passed to the buyer as of the day of signing and notarization of the agreement. The act of transfer-acceptance of the property can be included in the sale-purchase agreement and can therefore can be signed at no additional cost. Failure to notarize the agreement on sale-purchase of real estate makes it null and void by law. It is common practice of the legal counsels of the companies to coordinate the draft agreement with a notary before the notarization of the transaction. Usually, the legal counsel agrees with the notary to render this additional service free of charge.

The notary fee amounts to 0.45% of the value of transaction, however, not less than LTL 100 (about EUR 29) and not more than LTL 20,000 (about EUR 5,792). If more than one agreement is notarised by a single notarial deed, the notary fee is calculated by adding the notary fees for notarisation of each agreement, however, the total notary fee in such a case cannot exceed LTL 50,000 (about EUR 14,481).

The documentation shall include:
• Company’s registration certificate evidencing its legal registration in Lithuania
• Articles of Association of the company
• A resolution of the General Meeting of the Shareholders of the company evidencing the appointment of the Head of Administration of the company.
• Power of attorney if the transaction is concluded by another person than the Head of Administration
• A resolution of the Board of the seller evidencing the approval of the sale of the real estate which book value exceeds 5% of the seller’s authorized capital.
• A resolution of the General Meeting of the Shareholders of the seller evidencing the approval of the sale of real estate which book value exceeds 5% of the seller’s authorized capital, provided the respective approval is required under the Articles of Association of the seller.
• A resolution of the Board of the buyer evidencing the approval of the acquisition of the real estate for the price exceeding 5% of the buyer’s authorized capital.
• A resolution of the General Meeting of the Shareholders of the buyer evidencing the approval of the acquisition of the real estate for the price exceeding 5% of the buyer’s authorized capital, provided the respective approval is required under the Articles of Association of the buyer.
• The Certificate (obtained in Procedure 1)
• The certification on the property and rights to it registered with the State Enterprise Centre of Registers (the respective certification is issued and presented to the owner of the real estate when registering its ownership right with the Real Estate Register)
• The plan of the land plot (if the seller already owns the plan, it is transferred to the buyer; if not, a new one would have to be prepared by either a private or state surveying party)
• The documents evidencing the seller’s previous acquisition of the ownership right to the real estate (e.g. sale-purchase agreement in case the seller had bought the respective property), an act of acceptance of the building as suitable for usage (occupancy permit), and the transfer-acceptance act of the building in case the seller had erected the building.


Agency: Notary Public 		2 days Notary fees: 0.45% of property value (All prices are expressed in €. The local currency (LTL) is pegged to the Euro at a rate of € 1 = LTL 3.4528)
3 Register the transfer of title to the property in the Real Estate Register

According to the Lithuanian law, the registration of the sale-purchase agreement of the real estate is not compulsory, and it is deemed effective with respect to its parties, irrespective of its legal registration. However, only registration makes the transfer opposable to third parties. In addition to the registration, a new property certificate is issued to the new owner of the real estate, at no cost when it is issued in the process of registering ownership rights to the sold property.
As of 2009, it is possible for the notary to electronically register the sale-purchase agreement through (NETSVEP – Public Electronic Service of Transaction of Real Estate).

This means that registration of land and building (even if they are part of the same object and registered together), the cap will apply to each unit: €1,448.10 for registration of the land and €1,448.10 for registration of the building, with a total of €2,896.2.

The documentation shall include:
• A filled application form
• The sale-purchase agreement of the property or other documents which are the legal grounds for the transfer of ownership rights from the seller to the buyer
• Personal ID of buyer
• A document evidencing the representative’s right to represent the company (e.g. A resolution of the General Meeting of the Shareholders of the company evidencing the appointment of the Head of Administration of the company)
• Company’s registration certificate evidencing its legal registration
• Articles of Association of the company (in case of necessity)
• Payment receipts or other document evidencing the payment of the fees for the registration of ownership right
• The plan of the land plot
• Property transfer-acceptance act if the agreement does not state that the agreement is considered a transfer-acceptance act
Note: all documents which are the legal grounds for registration of the ownership right to the property have to be presented to the Real Estate Register in 2 copies, one of which must be an original or a notarized copy. The original copy of the documents submitted for registration shall be returned to the applicant after the registration together with the document confirming the ownership registration with the Real Estate Register. Other copy of the documents submitted for registration shall be filed by the Real Estate Register.

Average market value of Building in € - (Registration fee in €)
Up to 14,481 = € 37.65
From € 14,481 to € 231,696 = € 37.65 + 0.05% of the difference between building’s average market value and € 14,481
From € 231,696 to € 868,860 = € 146.26 plus 0.055% of the difference between building’s average market value and € 231,696, but not more than € 1,448.10 (the ultimate cap fee for registration)
Over € 868,860 = € 496.69 + 0.05% of the contract value in excess of EUR 868,860 but no more than EUR 1,448.10 (the ultimate cap fee for registration)

Average market value of Land Plot in € - (Registration fee in €)
Up to € 2,896.20 = € 23.17
From € 2,896.20 to € 28,962 = € 23.17 + 0.3% of the difference between land plot’s average market value and € 2,896.2
From € 28,962 to € 289,620 = € 101.37 + 0.3% of the difference between land plot’s average market value and € 28,962
More than € 289,620 = € 883.34 + 0.2% of the difference between land plot’s average market value and € 289,620, but not more than € 1,448.10 (the ultimate cap fee for registration)

NOTE:
(i) the average market value is established by a competent authority under mass valuation method;
(ii) different registration fees are applied in respect of natural and legal persons with the considerably lower rates for natural persons. The above indicated fees are applied in respect of legal persons.


Agency: State Enterprise Center of Registers 		10 business days (regular procedure), but can be done in 3 business days by paying a 30% mark-up on the price (fast-track procedure), in 2 business days with a 50% mark-up (fast-track procedure) and in 1 business day with a 100% mark-up (fast-track proced Depends on the market value of the real estate and the desirable term of the registration (see Notes in comments for more details)
* Takes place simultaneously with another procedure.
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