A foreign citizen can buy an apartment, a house, commercial premises or non-agricultural land in Georgia exactly like a Georgian: with a passport, without a residence permit or a local company. Title is registered in your own name in the Public Registry, usually within four working days. The one hard restriction is agricultural land. Below is the full route for a buyer or their Georgian representative: documents, translation, notary, registration, payment and the traps that cost people money.

What you can buy and what you cannot

Apartments, houses, commercial space and land zoned as non-agricultural (for example residential plots in a city) can be bought freely and registered directly in a foreigner's name. You do not need to be in Georgia (a power of attorney works), you do not need a visa at the moment of purchase, and you do not need a Georgian company.

Agricultural land is different: the Constitution and a special law reserve it, as a rule, for the state, Georgian citizens and Georgian legal entities, with narrow exceptions. This matters when you buy a village house: the yard may be registered as agricultural land, and then the house cannot be registered to you. The land category is printed in the Registry extract; check it before you pay. Changing the category is a separate procedure and not always possible, and buying "in a Georgian friend's name" is the scheme that later ends in court.

Documents and translation

• A valid passport. The notary identifies you by passport; the Public Registry, as a rule, requires a notarized Georgian translation of it. Have it done in advance: the translator's signature is certified for 6 ₾ + 5 ₾, the translation itself is separate, usually within a day.
• A fresh Registry extract for the apartment: owner, area, liens, mortgage, co-owners, land category. Order it on napr.gov.ge or at a Public Service Hall.
• The seller's spouse's notarized consent if the apartment was bought during marriage.
• A power of attorney if you cannot attend: issued abroad with an apostille and a notarized Georgian translation, at a Georgian consulate, or online by video if you hold a Georgian ID card. See power of attorney from abroad.
• A marriage certificate (translated) if the apartment is registered to both spouses.

Every foreign-language document can be used by a Georgian notary only with a Georgian translation made by a licensed translator, whose signature the notary certifies. Send us a photo of the document on WhatsApp and we quote within minutes.

Steps: from the extract to registration

1. Check. New extract: the owner matches the seller, no liens or mortgage, land category is non-agricultural. In a new building: is it commissioned or still under construction? In an unfinished building you buy a future right, not an apartment.
2. Notary or Public Service Hall. A sale can be certified by a notary or signed at the Public Registry. Choose a bureau that files the registration itself and confirm by phone that they work with English- or Russian-speaking clients; the notary explains the contract to you through an interpreter or uses a bilingual text.
3. Contract. Price, currency, payment schedule, handover date, who pays the fees, what stays in the apartment. Bank transfer after registration or through an escrow account is the safe way to pay.
4. Registration. Standard 4 working days for 50 ₾, faster for more. After that the extract shows your name.

What it costs: a 150 000 ₾ apartment

That is roughly 0,3% of the price, and the notary part is the same at every bureau: Decree No. 507 fixes the tariff; only VAT and drafting differ. Real-estate agent commissions are separate and unregulated.

Taxes and living in the apartment

Buying itself triggers no tax for a foreigner. Property tax is paid yearly by the owner depending on income and property value. On resale, the gain on a residential apartment held for more than two years is exempt from income tax; within two years the gain is taxed at 20%. Check current rules on rs.ge. Owning property does not grant residence automatically, but it is one of the grounds for a residence permit above a minimum market value that changes periodically; check sda.gov.ge before applying.

Traps

• Land category on a village house: agricultural land will not be registered to a foreigner after the money is paid.
• Buying "an apartment" in an unfinished building without a notarized contract and a registered claim: you own a promise, not a flat.
• Understating the price in the contract to save on fees: in a dispute only the written price comes back.
• A translation "by a friend": only licensed translators' signatures are certified.
• A foreign power of attorney without an apostille: the Georgian notary cannot accept it. See apostille or legalization (Georgian).

General information based on the fee tariff of Government Decree No. 507 and current Georgian law as of 2026-09-30; the final amount and document list for a specific case are set by the notary. Spotted an error? Write to us.