Buying property in Georgia remotely, without travelling

How can you buy without being in Georgia?

Georgian law lets someone else sign for you. Article 103 of the Civil Code allows a transaction to be made through an agent whose authority comes from a mandate, the power of attorney, and Article 104 says that a transaction the agent makes within that authority creates rights and obligations for you, not for the agent. A remote purchase is therefore an ordinary purchase in which one person, your representative, stands in your place at the signing and at the registry, while you follow every step from abroad.

What makes a remote purchase safe or unsafe is not the distance but the paperwork around the representative: what the power of attorney allows, how it was made abroad, how the transaction is certified in Georgia, and whether money can move without passing through the representative's hands. This guide takes those points in order. If you would rather have a team run the whole process, our remote purchase service describes how we do it.

What does the Civil Code say about a power of attorney?

What should your power of attorney say?

The safest power of attorney for a purchase is narrow. It allows your representative to do the specific things the purchase needs and nothing else, and it names the property so precisely that it cannot be used for a different one. The checklist below is the content we look for before a power of attorney is signed abroad; the final wording is for the lawyer and the notary.

• Your full name and passport details, and the representative's Exactly as in the passports, in the spelling the translation will use.
• The property by cadastral code and address A power for "an apartment in Tbilisi" can be used for any apartment in Tbilisi.
• The acts allowed For example: obtain extracts, sign the sale contract at a stated maximum price, file the registration, receive the extract and the keys.
• Money excluded, or tightly limited The safest form does not allow the representative to receive or pay money; the price moves from your account to the seller's.
• No acting for the other side Article 114 already restricts self-dealing; say expressly that the representative does not act for the seller.
• An end date Expiry is one of the grounds on which authority ends under Article 109. A dated power cannot be reused years later.
• No right to delegate further, unless you want it Decide whether the representative may pass the authority on, and write it down.

Print this checklist

How is a power of attorney made abroad valid in Georgia?

The power of attorney is signed before a notary in your country. It is then legalised so that a Georgian notary and the registry can rely on it: by apostille if your country is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, or by consular legalisation through a Georgian consulate if it is not. Finally it is translated into Georgian by a certified translator, with the translation certified in Georgia. The order matters: an apostille certifies the foreign notary's signature, so it is added to the signed original, and the translation covers both the power and the apostille.

The Georgian side has changed recently. According to Revera Legal, an amendment to the instruction on notarial acts now requires a transaction in which a party is represented under a power of attorney issued abroad to be certified by a Georgian notary as a public deed, where previously the registry could certify it. In practice, a remote purchase therefore runs through a Georgian notary, who reads the foreign power, checks the representative and certifies the contract before it goes to the registry.

A Georgian notary can also certify some acts over the internet. The Notary Chamber of Georgia says that consents, declarations and powers of attorney can be certified online from any country, but that for a power of attorney certified this way the grantor must be a Georgian citizen or a person known to the notary. For most foreign buyers, the power of attorney is therefore made in their own country and legalised, as described above.

How does a remote purchase run, step by step?

1. Choose the representative

   A lawyer or a professional you have a written agreement with, not a seller's agent or a friend of the seller.

   Before any power of attorney is drafted

2. View by live video

   Ask for an unedited walk-through in real time, from the street to every room, and for the cadastral code before the call ends.

   One call per property

3. Run the legal check

   Your lawyer orders and reads the registry extract, checks the seller and, for a new building, the developer's documents. You receive the extract and a written summary.

   Days, depending on the other side's documents

4. Sign the power of attorney abroad

   At a notary in your country, with the content checklist above; then the apostille or consular legalisation.

   Depends on your country's notaries and authorities

5. Send the original and translate it

   The legalised original travels to Georgia and is translated into Georgian with a certified translation.

   Courier time plus translation

6. Agree the contract text

   You approve the final text in writing before your representative signs it; the Georgian notary certifies the transaction.

   One or two rounds of comments

7. Pay bank to bank

   From your account abroad to the seller's account, timed against registration. The representative does not hold your money.

   Your bank's and the receiving bank's processing time

8. Register and receive the extract

   The registration is filed and completed; you receive the updated extract naming you as owner, then the keys go to your representative or manager.

   Registry: GEL 150 at the standard speed, or faster for GEL 270 or GEL 350

How should the money move?

From your account to the seller's account, in the seller's name, through banks. Not in cash, not to the representative, not to an agent or relative of the seller. Tie the payment to registration, so that the money is released when, or after, the transfer to you is filed or completed. Expect questions from your bank and from the Georgian bank about where the money comes from: Georgia's anti-money-laundering law obliges banks and notaries to identify their clients and allows them to ask. A Georgian bank account is not a legal condition of owning property, so a transfer from your home bank can be enough for the purchase itself.

One shortcut that does not exist for foreigners: the Public Registry's Smart Contract service, which lets parties register a purchase remotely and electronically, is available only to Georgian citizens with a Georgian identity card or passport. A foreign buyer abroad therefore buys through a representative, not through the registry's online contract.

What happens after the purchase, from abroad?

The extract in your name is the proof of ownership, and you should hold a copy of it before the last payment is final. After that, someone in Georgia has to receive the keys, move the utility accounts and the building's charges into your name and, if you are letting the property, find and manage tenants. When the power of attorney has done its job, ask for the original back: under Article 110 the representative must return the instrument when the authority ends. If you revoke a power early, notify the notary and the people your representative was dealing with, because under Article 108 a revocation that third parties did not know about does not bind them.

Risks and exceptions

• A broad power of attorney. A power to "buy and sell property in Georgia" is a power over your money and your name. Keep it to one property and one transaction.
• A representative who handles the money. The single most avoidable loss in remote purchases. Keep payment bank to bank.
• A representative chosen by the seller. Your representative must act only for you; Article 114 restricts acting on both sides.
• Viewing only edited videos. Ask for a live call and decide nothing from marketing material.
• A power with no end date. Authority that never expires can be misused long after the purchase.

Frequently asked questions

Can I sign the contract online myself?

The registry's online Smart Contract is available only to Georgian citizens. A foreign buyer abroad signs through a representative under a power of attorney.

Can the seller's agent be my representative?

It is not advisable. Your representative should act only for you, and the Civil Code restricts an agent from acting on both sides without consent.

Do I need to come to Georgia at all?

Not for the purchase itself. If you later want a residence permit, the first application is made by a person in Georgia.

Can I give the power of attorney at a Georgian consulate?

Consular legalisation through a Georgian consulate is the route for countries that are not parties to the Apostille Convention. Ask the consulate which notarial services it offers.

How do I know the registration really happened?

Ask for the updated registry extract naming you as owner. It is the document every later step relies on.

Can I cancel the power of attorney?

Yes. Revocation is one of the grounds on which authority ends, but notify the notary and anyone your representative deals with.

How the remote stages fit into the whole purchase is shown in the purchase timeline, week by week.

Sources

1. Civil Code of Georgia (Articles 103 to 114 and 183), consolidated 25 June 2026, Legislative Herald of Georgia (accessed 12 October 2026)
2. New notary requirements for transactions subject to public registration in Georgia, Revera Legal (accessed 12 October 2026)
3. Answers to hot topics: notarial acts via the internet, Notary Chamber of Georgia (accessed 12 October 2026)
4. Smart Contract: frequently asked questions, National Agency of Public Registry (accessed 11 October 2026)
5. Immovable property registration: fees and terms, National Agency of Public Registry (accessed 11 October 2026)
6. Law of Georgia on Facilitating the Prevention of Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism, consolidated 1 April 2026, Legislative Herald of Georgia (accessed 11 October 2026)
7. Apostille Convention status table, Hague Conference on Private International Law (accessed 11 October 2026)

Change log

• 12 October 2026 - Guide published from the Civil Code's rules on representation, the Notary Chamber and the registry; being reviewed by the partner lawyer.