Home / Services

Property due diligence and conveyancing in Georgia

We check the property against the registers, go through the history of title, draft or revise the contract and see the transfer of title through registration at the Public Service Hall.

The risk in buying a home is almost never where people look for it.

What the work covers

• Title. Who owns the property according to the register, on what basis they became the owner, and how title has moved before.
• Encumbrances: pledge, mortgage, lease, attachment, court proceedings, third party rights to live in or use the property.
• The layout. Whether what you saw matches what is registered. An unregistered alteration becomes the buyer's problem, not the seller's.
• Consents that are required. A spouse, co-owners, anyone whose consent the transaction is vulnerable without.
• For a new build: who the developer is, on what basis construction is going on, the status of the building and what exactly is being sold under the contract.
• The contract. We draft ours or revise the one offered: the order of payment, the moment title passes, liability, and what happens if the deal falls through.
• The order of payment. Arranged so that money and title move together, rather than "pay first, we will register later".
• The transaction itself and registration of title at the Public Service Hall.
• Encumbrances and mortgages. Releasing a pledge, running a mortgage transaction, agreeing the order with the bank.
• After completion: a fresh extract showing your title and the full set of documents.

Due diligence on its own

The check can be ordered by itself, before any arrangement with the seller. It is cheaper and earlier. The point is to find out about a problem before you pay a deposit, not after.

What is not included

• Valuing the property at market price or negotiating for you.
• Technical survey: the state of the structure, the services, the quality of the build. That is an engineer's work, not a lawyer's.
• The bank's mortgage decision. We run the procedure, the bank approves.
• Finding a property and shortlisting options.
• Any guarantee that the seller will accept the contract terms we propose or disclose the documents we ask for.

What you will need

• The address and cadastral code of the property. Every check starts there.
• Passports of the parties.
• The extract from the register for the property.
• The documents under which the seller became the owner.
• The seller's marital status documents where a spouse's consent is needed.
• For a new build: the contract with the developer and the construction documents.
• A power of attorney if either side acts through a representative.

How the work goes

1. You describe the task, through the form on the site, by email or in a messenger.
2. A lawyer goes through what you have, what still has to be obtained and where the tight spots are.
3. We agree the scope and the price. You pay nothing before that point.
4. We sign a contract in which the scope of the service is set out in writing.
5. You hand over the documents, we check the set and tell you what is missing.
6. We run the procedure and keep you informed at every step.
7. You receive the result and the full set of documents.

Prices

Our fee and the state registration fee are counted separately. The fee depends on how quickly the transaction has to be completed.

Property due diligence without a transaction. Covers: identifying persons registered at the property; establishing its legal status (mortgage, foreclosure, injunction, lease); checking the seller against the debtors and taxpayers registers; obtaining a fresh extract; inspecting the condition of the property; checking the building permit, the construction project, the construction deadlines and the legal status of the developer.

Legal review of a developer contract. The price depends on whether the lawyer needs to deal with the developer and amend the contract, and whether the service or management agreement also has to be reviewed.

Consultation from $30. The price for your case is confirmed before the work starts and fixed in the contract.

What is outside our control

• Whether the seller is willing to disclose documents. A refusal to show the basis of title is itself a signal.
• How long registration at the Public Service Hall takes.
• How complete the registers are. Not every circumstance is recorded in them, and some risks only surface through enquiries and the parties' own documents.
• The bank's decisions on a mortgage or the release of a pledge.

If after the check we consider the transaction risky, you will hear it plainly, with what exactly troubles us and whether it can be put right.

Frequently asked

How much does property due diligence and transaction support cost?

Property due diligence without a transaction: from $300. The other items are in the table on this page. Due diligence and transaction support are charged separately; transferring utilities is a service of its own. State fees and charges, where your procedure has any, are paid separately from our fee: their amount is set by the state and we do not mark them up. Consultation: from $30.

Are state fees included in the price?

State fees and charges, where your procedure has any, are paid separately from our fee: their amount is set by the state and we do not mark them up. The invoice shows our fee, state fees and third-party costs separately.

Is a spouse's consent required to sell property in Georgia?

No. The person recorded as the owner in the register disposes of the property. If there are several owners, they all sign the contract as co-owners, not by way of spousal consent.

About this page. It sets out the scope of our service and the general order of the procedure. It is not legal advice and not a public offer: the scope, the timing and the price for a particular matter are agreed individually and recorded in the contract. Requirements, fees and practice change, so anything here is checked against the position on the day you apply. In many procedures the final decision rests with the competent authority and its discretion, so a positive outcome cannot be guaranteed.