People are often unaware of the free services they can get within the framework of systematic registration. If you own land that is not registered in your name, be sure to read my third blog.
What is systematic land registration?
This is the process when the state decided to measure and register land on its own initiative as part of this reform. Within the framework of systematic registration, citizens will receive the following services free of charge: land cadastral survey works; preparation of a cadastral plan; retrieval and systematization of titling documents; recognition/legalization of ownership of illegally occupied land plots; notary mediation; statement of facts; determination of compliance of titling document with the location of the land plot; registration of land ownership rights and making changes to the registered data.
What are the stages of systematic land title registration?
Land measurement
The employees of the National Public Registry Agency will measure the land plots free of charge and fill out an electronic protocol for the inspection of the land plot. You won't need to go to your local state registry office to do this. The main thing is you present some kind of record confirming ownership to the specialists. This could be: an act of acceptance and transfer, a cadastral document, a registration card, a technical description of the land, a unified list of land tax payers or another document issued by the municipality, this could be a judicial act, a gardening book or any other document showing that this plot of land was used by him or his ancestor - grandmother, grandfather or father.
Documents search
If you do not have a document to prove the ownership of the land (which I mentioned above), the employees of the state registry search for the document in archives.
Land information
Land information and cadastral maps will be publicly published in the local municipality as well as posted on the official web page of the National Agency of Public Registry: www.napr.gov.ge.
Anyone can familiarize themselves with the information about the land plot within 1 month, if you do not agree with the data, you can write a reasoned statement to verify the data. Based on the application, the National Agency of Public Registry, with your participation, re-measures the land plot.
Registration
Completing the process of paperwork in the state registry and transferring the land into your name that is free of charge and you will not have to pay additional costs.
To whom does systematic registration not apply?
“The Systematic Land Registration Reform applies to private, state or municipal land plots in all municipalities of Georgia (except for occupied territories and self-governing cities – Tbilisi, Batumi, Kutaisi, Rustavi and Poti)
What services will be free of charge within the framework of systematic registration?
• Land cadastral survey works;
• Preparation of a cadastral plan;
• Retrieval and systematization of titling documents;
• Certification of the signatures of the parties to the transaction;
• Recognition/legalization of ownership of illegally occupied land plots;
• Notary mediation;
• Statement of facts;
• Determination of compliance of titling document with the location of the land plot;
• Registration of land ownership rights and making changes to the registered data
When I spoke about systematic land accounting in the morning program of the radio station Commersant, one of the listeners asked me a question. I believe that this information in the blog will be very useful for those who own unlawfully occupied land and have no supporting documents.
“I own a plot of land, but I don’t have supporting documents. My parents ilegally occupied the land in the village in 1996. Can I use systematic land registration in this case?”
Yes, this is possible, but one of the main criteria is that a citizen had to voluntarily occupy the specified land plot before September 20, 2007. After this, the unauthorized occupied territory will not be registered.
The second criteria envisages a house or some kind of outbuilding on the site. The reform is positive as the condition of the house does not matter and the building can be demolished, built or under construction
The third criteria is that the total area of land to be registered should not exceed 1.25 hectares in the total and 5 hectares in mountainous areas.
If a citizen has occupied a plot of land without permission and meets the criteria described above, he should contact the agency.
A person who wants to register unlawfully occupied land, should correctly indicate the boundaries of the land plot to a NAPR employee; attend the survey process; confirm the fact of squatting/unlawfully occupying the land plot by the owner/landholder/user of at least two adjacent land plots located in the same registration block, or by the owner/landholder/user of at least three non-adjacent land plots; sign the on-site inspection minutes with a witnesses
Additional information can be viewed on the website https://napr.gov.ge.
