Why do foreign buyers make the same mistakes?
Buying property in Georgia is simpler than in many countries: foreigners buy on the same terms as citizens, there is no transfer tax, and registration is quick. That simplicity is also where most mistakes come from. Buyers relax the habits they would keep at home, trust a friendly agent or a glossy project, and assume rules that apply elsewhere apply here. The fifteen mistakes below are the ones that the law and the registry make expensive, grouped by the stage at which they happen. Each one comes with the rule behind it and what to do instead.
None of them requires bad luck. Each is avoidable with a document, a clause or a day of patience, which is why they are worth reading before you start rather than after.
Mistakes made while choosing
1. Buying for a residence permit by the price, or exactly at the line
The permit needs a market value above $150,000 set by an accredited assessor, not a price of $150,000. A purchase at the threshold, or one valued below its price, gives no permit. Aim clearly above the line and get an indicative valuation first; our guide to the $150,000 threshold explains the test.
2. Assuming any house with land can be bought and counted
The Constitution reserves agricultural land for Georgian citizens, and the Organic Law on Agricultural Land Ownership counts homestead land as agricultural. A village house on such a plot may be impossible to own in full and does not count for a residence permit. Check the land category on the extract before anything else.
3. Believing the brochure instead of the permit
A developer's brochure is marketing; the construction permit and the land registration are the facts. A building may not be used before its commissioning act. Ask for the permit and compare it with what you are being sold, as our guide to checking a developer describes.
4. Comparing flats on price alone
VAT on a price that excludes it, an agent's percentage and the fit-out can change the ranking of two apartments completely. Compare totals, using the costs in our page on the hidden costs of buying.
Mistakes made before paying
5. Paying a reservation before reading the extract
The extract shows the owner, the area, the category and every burden, and anyone can obtain it. Paying before reading it means paying for a property you have not identified.
6. Paying someone other than the owner
Money paid to an agent, a manager or a relative of the seller does not bind the owner. Pay the registered owner, or the developer company named in the permit, by bank.
7. Agreeing to earnest money with no exit
Under the Civil Code, a buyer who breaks the deal loses earnest money, while a seller at fault returns double. Without a clause letting you withdraw if the legal check finds a problem, a reasonable exit can be argued to be your breach. Our page on reservations and deposits lists the clauses.
8. Overlooking a co-owner
Where property is owned in common, each co-owner has a pre-emptive right to buy another's share. A sale by one co-owner without the others settled invites a dispute. Every registered owner, or their representative, takes part.
9. Ignoring a mortgage or seizure on the extract
A burden registered against the property survives the sale unless it is removed. If the extract shows a mortgage, the payment has to clear it at the same moment the property becomes yours.
Mistakes made at signing and registration
10. Leaving a gap between signing and filing
Under the Law on the Public Registry, the priority of registered rights follows the time the application is filed. A day between the signature and the application is a day in which another application can come first. File the same day, as our guide to registration in the Public Registry explains.
11. Signing a broad power of attorney
A transaction your representative makes within the authority binds you, and a principal who created the appearance of authority cannot easily deny it. Limit the power to one property, one transaction and an end date, and keep money out of it.
12. Declaring a lower price or paying part in cash
A lower declared price misstates the cost that later tax calculations depend on, and cash leaves no trail for your own protection. Banks and notaries have a duty to identify their clients and may ask about the origin of the money; answer with documents, not with cash.
Mistakes made after the purchase
13. Not checking the extract after registration
The extract proves the result. Check your name, the share, the code, the area and that any mortgage meant to be cleared is gone, on the day you receive it.
14. Assuming a residence permit lets you work
Most foreigners have needed a separate right to work before taking paid work or running a business since 1 March 2026. A property-based permit is about where you live, not whether you can work.
15. Forgetting the tax calendar
Rent from a home you let to someone living in it is taxed at 5% of the amount you receive; a gain from selling within two years is taxed at 5%; and tax residence depends on 183 days in Georgia within a continuous 12-month period, not on a permit. Keep records from day one; our guide to money and taxes sets out the rules.
What do the fifteen have in common?
Almost every mistake on the list is a step taken before the paper was right: money before the extract, a signature before the clause, a reservation before the check, a delay before the filing. Georgian law rewards the buyer who reads the registry and writes things down, and it gives that buyer strong tools: a public register presumed accurate, written-form rules for property contracts, earnest money that works in both directions, penalties that a court can enforce and priority for whoever files first. The mistakes are the moments when a buyer does not use those tools.
| Mistakes | The document that prevents them |
|---|---|
| 1, 2 | A valuation by an accredited assessor and the land category on the extract |
| 3 | The construction permit and the land registration |
| 4 | A full cost estimate |
| 5, 8, 9, 13 | The registry extract, read before paying and after registering |
| 6, 12 | A bank transfer to the owner's own account at the real price |
| 7 | A written reservation agreement with refund conditions |
| 10 | The registration application, filed with the signature |
| 11 | A narrow, dated power of attorney |
| 14, 15 | A right-to-work permit if you will work, and tax records from day one |
A five-question self-check before any payment
Before any money leaves your account, answer five questions in writing. Have I read a registry extract issued today, and does it name the person I am paying? Is the land category one a foreigner can own and, if it matters to me, one that counts for a residence permit? Does the document I am signing say what happens to this money if the deal fails, for every reason it might fail? Is the account in the owner's own name, confirmed by a call to someone I have already spoken to? And will the registration application be filed the same day the contract is signed? Five yes answers do not make a purchase risk-free, but a single no tells you exactly which mistake on this page you are about to make.
Risks and exceptions
- Urgency. "Another buyer is waiting" is a familiar pressure behind mistakes 5 to 7; a day to read the extract rarely loses a good deal.
- Advice from the other side. An agent paid by the seller and a lawyer chosen by the developer work for someone else.
- Home-country assumptions. Escrow by default, title insurance or a mandatory notary may be normal at home and absent here.
- Language. A contract you cannot read is a contract you have not checked; ask for a version in your language with the Georgian alongside.
Frequently asked questions
Which mistake is the most expensive?
Paying before the paper is right, in any form: a reservation before the extract, a price to an intermediary, or a payment not tied to registration.
Do I need a lawyer for a simple resale?
The law does not require one. A lawyer acting only for you is the cheapest protection against mistakes 5 to 11.
Can these mistakes be fixed after registration?
Some can, at a cost; others, such as a burden left on the property or a price paid to the wrong person, may lead to a dispute. Prevention is far cheaper.
Are the rules different for foreigners?
Residential and commercial property is open to foreign buyers on equal terms with citizens. Agricultural land is the main exception, kept for citizens.
Is a property in Batumi riskier than one in Tbilisi?
The legal rules are the same. The market differs, with a large share of new projects and foreign buyers in Batumi, so the checks on developers matter more there.
Where should I start?
With the cadastral code of the property you like, and a fresh extract. Everything else on this page follows from reading it.
The whole purchase in order is in the complete guide to buying property in Georgia; an independent check of a specific property is our legal due diligence service.
Sources
- Civil Code of Georgia (Articles 104, 114, 173, 183, 286 and 421 to 423), consolidated 25 June 2026, Legislative Herald of Georgia (accessed 12 October 2026)
- Law of Georgia on the Public Registry (Articles 5, 10 and 13), consolidated 1 April 2026, Legislative Herald of Georgia (accessed 12 October 2026)
- Constitution of Georgia (Article 19(4)), Legislative Herald of Georgia (accessed 11 October 2026)
- Organic Law of Georgia on Agricultural Land Ownership (Articles 3 and 4), Legislative Herald of Georgia (accessed 12 October 2026)
- Law of Georgia on the Legal Status of Aliens and Stateless Persons (Article 15(j)), consolidated 25 June 2026, Legislative Herald of Georgia (accessed 12 October 2026)
- Tax Code of Georgia (Articles 34, 81 and 82), Legislative Herald of Georgia (accessed 12 October 2026)
- Georgia introduces mandatory work permits for foreign workers, Andersen in Georgia (accessed 11 October 2026)
- 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)
Change log
- - Guide published from the Civil Code, the Law on the Public Registry, the Constitution and the agricultural land law; being reviewed by the partner lawyer.