Simplified procedures for land registration to remain in force in Georgia

Simplified procedures for land registration, planned to remain in force until January 1, 2020, will become the general rule of land registration, announced Georgian Justice Minister Thea Tsulukiani at a government meeting earlier today.

The decision to extend the reform of simplified and cheap procedures of land registration is the result of high public interest in the reform.

Since the land registration reform came into force in 2016, the number of citizens asking for land registration services has increased five times, and the rate of land registration increased more than three times.

• Simplified procedures help 600,000 private owners register lands in Georgia

738,483 applicants have successfully registered land since 2016 which means that the area registered since 2016 is more than three times more than the total registered area since Georgian independence up until 2016.

Our goal is to register the remaining land over the next three years," said Georgian Justice Minister Thea Tsulukiani.  

This initiative… is important for every [Georgian] citizen, especially for citizens which live in villages or own lands in the countryside.  On the other hand, it is critically important to our economy, because land is one of the most important resources of our economy,” Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia said at a government meeting earlier today.

Tsulukiani says that beyond the forest fund and the occupied territories a million and a half hectares of land are unregistered.

Up until January 1, 2021, registering the land will not affect the rating scores of families receiving social assistance and benefits. 

Consequently, these families will receive social assistance and all the benefits they enjoyed before land registration.

Until January 1, 2022, document acquisition and systematisation for land registration, and the recognition of property rights of land will be free. Also, until January 1, 2022, receiving a certificate of inheritance will be free.