First line: a seafront sales label with no legal meaning
"First line" (პირველი ხაზი, also პირველი ზოლი; Russian первая линия) is a sales label for a building or flat on the seafront road with nothing but the promenade and the beach between it and the sea; we found no Georgian statute, Batumi municipal act or Galt & Taggart report that defines it.
The law regulates the land in front. The Law of Georgia No 576 of 27 October 2000, which governs how sea, reservoir and river banks are regulated and protected, in its Georgian text consolidated on 16 September 2026, bans transferring beaches into private ownership except for state and public interests (Art. 6(2)) and bans fencing them with capital or impassable structures (Art. 9(3)). Its full text speaks of strips (ზოლი) measured from the water inland, never of a "line" in the sales sense.
The phrase is Russian-language resort jargon, where "первая линия" and "вторая линия" are ordinary advert words. In Georgia it carries no measured distance and no register entry. Our comparison of first and second line in Batumi tests prices, rents and risks street by street; the point here is the vocabulary: the law measures from the water's edge, the seller from the road.
The vocabulary of Law 576: strips, a zone and one real line
The statute starts at the water and works inland:
| Term (Georgian) | Article | What it covers at sea |
|---|---|---|
| Sea edge line (ზღვის კიდის ხაზი) | 2(ბ) | Land meets water in a calm sea; the only "line" (ხაზი) the law uses |
| Engineering-protection zone (საინჟინრო დაცვის ზონა) | 2(გ) | Water down to the 20 m depth, and a coastal land strip at most 500 m wide |
| Strict-supervision strip (მკაცრი ზედამხედველობის ზოლი) | 2(თ) | From the 20 m isobath to the highest wave run-up on land |
| Constant-monitoring strip (მუდმივი მეთვალყურეობის ზოლი) | 2(ი) | The rest of the zone, up to its landward boundary |
| Beach (პლაჟი) | 2(მ) | Underwater and land strip under constant wave action, of loose material |
The strict-supervision strip may be used for temporary structures (Art. 9(4)), and a project in the zone must budget for compensating expected shore damage (Art. 9(2)).
For a project in the zone, the permit authority must involve the Roads Department of Georgia and send it the documents for a mandatory opinion (Arts. 2(რ), 9(1)), and the Department drafts the zone boundaries, agreed with municipalities, for the Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure to approve by a normative act (Art. 5(2)). We found no current boundary act for the Batumi coast. Minister's Order No 4 of 2002, which barred new building in the strict-supervision strip except state-significance facilities, went out of force on 23 October 2023, and we found no current setback in metres. Government Resolution No 440 of 2013 sets water-protection strips for rivers, lakes, reservoirs and canals, with no width for the sea.
Zoning: what may stand between the building and the water
A first-line position lasts only while nothing is built in front, so check how that land is zoned. Under Government Resolution No 261 of 3 June 2019:
- Beaches are not building land. Art. 27 lists them as "other non-construction territory" (სხვა არასამშენებლო ტერიტორია), under special sector rules.
- Protective zones carry their own rules. Art. 28 lets urban plans set water-object and other protective zones, and building there must follow the relevant legislation and plans.
- The resort sub-zone is for guests. Art. 13 permits hotels, sanatoria, boarding houses and similar rest, tourist, health and sport uses in the resort-recreational sub-zone (შზ-4). Housing is not on its list.
Batumi's own 2012 land-use and development rules (City Council Resolution No 50) were declared to have lost force by Resolution No 19 of 22 August 2019, effective 3 December 2019; we found no city replacement. The land-use master plan of 27 February 2009 remains, its zoning map replaced by amendments. We did not establish which code the current map gives seafront plots, so check each plot.
In central Batumi the strip in front is the boulevard, a heritage monument whose 2022 plan keeps street-to-sea axes free; the exceptions are in our first-or-second-line comparison.
The only analyst use we found: "Coastal Line", 1Q24
Galt & Taggart's regional report for 1Q24, published on 16 May 2024, gave one Batumi zone the name "COASTAL LINE": a thin seafront strip on its map between Old Batumi and the New Boulevard Area.
| Zone | Sales | Average price, USD per m² |
|---|---|---|
| Coastal Line | 223 | 1,994 |
| Old Batumi | 190 | 1,940 |
| New Boulevard Area | 1,315 | 1,265 |
| Inner Areas | 818 | 1,110 |
The zone gave no rent ("N/A"), was left out of the white-frame price chart "due to small size of a sample", and page 3 does not say whether its prices are white frame or turnkey. Reports from 2025 onwards dropped it.
The October 2025 study "Real Estate Trends in Batumi" switched vocabulary: "Investment apartments are located near the sea, while residential apartments are concentrated in the Inner Areas and Peripheries", and "Location and other features account for an average $400 per sq.m. difference". We found no published study that measures a first-over-second-line premium in price, rent or nightly rate.
Where "first line" is printed, and where it never appears
- Registry extract: no line, view or distance field; Order No 487, Art. 6(4)(დ), lists area, purpose, floor, entrance and number. Its cadastral code opens the parcel on the NAPR public map, where you can measure the distance to the water.
- Contract: the address and cadastral code; "first line" at most in a marketing annex. The Civil Code gives no express right to a view, so a promise that nothing will be built in front has to be agreed, for example as a servitude; ask a lawyer.
- Permit file: should hold the Roads Department's opinion and the shore-damage budget. We could not confirm whether published permits show the opinion; see construction permit.
- Listing portals: ss.ge's Batumi search has no field for line, sea view or distance to the sea (its only view options are street and yard); the words sit in seller-written text.
- Developer pages: a Gonio-Kvariati complex is sold as "on the first line of the Black Sea", "just 30 meters from a wide pebble beach" (Realting, updated 4 March 2026); an agency lists New Boulevard towers from 25 m to 590 m from the sea.
Worked example: what the seafront label was worth on paper
Take the 40 m² average flat size in Galt & Taggart's October 2025 study and price it at the analyst's own averages:
| Comparison | USD per m² | 40 m², USD |
|---|---|---|
| Investment flat near the sea, August 2025 | 1,904 | 76,160 |
| Residential flat inland, August 2025 | 1,506 | 60,240 |
| New Boulevard Area, seafront, June 2026 | 1,800 | 72,000 |
| Alley of Heroes, inland, June 2026 | 2,166 | 86,640 |
In August 2025 the investment flat cost USD 398 per m² more, USD 15,920 or 26.4% on 40 m², which the study credits to "location and other features". In the 2Q26 report of 14 August 2026, at June 2026 averages, the inland Alley of Heroes zone cost USD 14,640, or 20.3%, more than the seafront New Boulevard Area for the same 40 m².
The seafront word went with a premium in one comparison and a discount in the other: price follows the building and the zone. Our Batumi areas comparison sets the current zones side by side.
Easily confused: line, view, strip and beachfront
| Term | What it describes | Set by |
|---|---|---|
| First line | The building's place on the street grid, facing the sea | The seller |
| Second or third line | One or two blocks back; a flat about 400 m from the sea has been sold as "second line" | The seller |
| Sea view | What one window sees | Floor, orientation and neighbours |
| Strict-supervision strip | The 20 m isobath to the top of the wave run-up | Law 576, Art. 2(თ) |
| "Private beach" | At most a serviced section of a public beach | Law 576, Arts. 6(2), 9(3) |
A second-line tower can look over a low first-line block (see the sea view guide). A first-line building may sit inside the 500 m zone yet on no statutory strip, so ზოლი is the wrong word for it in a legal text. Beach rights are the same for every owner: Batumi beaches guide.
First line in five languages
| Language | First line | Second line |
|---|---|---|
| Georgian | პირველი ხაზი (also პირველი ზოლი) | მეორე ხაზი |
| English | first line (seafront) | second line |
| Russian | первая линия | вторая линия |
| Hebrew | קו ראשון (קו ראשון לים) | קו שני |
| Arabic | الخط الأول (الخط الأول على البحر) | الخط الثاني |
Neither Georgian form appears in any contract, bank or National Bank document we found; Georgian contracts use the address and cadastral code. Because Law 576 uses ზოლი for its statutory coastal strips, we write პირველი ხაზი, although a machine-translated Orbi City listing on Airbnb says "ზღვის პირველ ზოლში".
Warning signs in a first-line advert
- "Private beach". Beaches cannot be privatised or fenced; expect loungers on a public beach at most.
- No distance in metres. One agency's New Boulevard list runs from 25 m to 590 m.
- A buildable plot in front. Unless the land in front is beach or boulevard, first line can become second.
- A view promised only in the brochure. Without a servitude in the contract, a neighbour may build higher.
- A premium "proven by data". We found no published study that measures one; ask which report and which zone.
- Stretched labels. In Gonio a tower has been sold as "zero beach line".
To be added by the team: images to add: a NAPR public map screenshot of a seafront parcel with the distance to the water measured; a photo from the beach back towards a first-line tower; and a redacted brochure page with a "first line" claim.
How to check a first-line claim
Get the cadastral code
From the seller or the extract.
Measure on the public map
From the parcel edge to the water, in metres.
Identify the land in front
Beach, boulevard, road or a buildable plot.
Ask for the permit file
Look for the Roads Department's opinion.
Compare with the zone average
Use the latest Galt & Taggart Batumi zones.
Put the facts in the contract
Distance and view in writing, not the label.
Frequently asked questions
Is "first line" a legal term in Georgia?
No. We found no statute or municipal act that defines it.
Can a first-line flat come with its own beach?
No. Beaches cannot be privatised or fenced off (Law 576, Arts. 6(2), 9(3)).
How far does the coastal protection zone reach?
It covers the sea out to a depth of 20 m and a land strip up to 500 m wide (Law 576, Art. 2(გ)).
Who gives an opinion on building near the sea?
The Roads Department of Georgia gives a mandatory opinion on permits in the zone (Law 576, Art. 9(1)).
Is there a fixed setback from the sea?
We found none since Order No 4 of 2002 lapsed on 23 October 2023.
How much more does a first-line flat cost?
We found no published study that measures it; Galt & Taggart's $400 per m² investment-versus-residential gap covers "location and other features".
Does the registry extract say whether a flat is first line?
No, but its cadastral code lets you measure the distance on the public map.
Can housing be built in a resort-recreational zone?
Housing is not among its listed uses (Resolution No 261, Art. 13).
Sources
- Law of Georgia No 576 on sea, reservoir and river banks, consolidated 16 September 2026, Matsne (accessed 2 November 2026)
- Minister's Order No 4 of 18 January 2002, Matsne (accessed 27 October 2026)
- Government Resolution No 440 of 31 December 2013, Matsne (accessed 2 November 2026)
- Government Resolution No 261 of 3 June 2019, Matsne (accessed 2 November 2026)
- Batumi City Council Resolution No 19 of 22 August 2019, amendments to Resolution No 50: first, second, Matsne (accessed 2 November 2026)
- Amendments to the 2009 Batumi master plan: first, second, Matsne (accessed 2 November 2026)
- Regional residential real estate, 1Q24, Galt & Taggart, 16 May 2024 (accessed 2 November 2026)
- Real Estate Trends in Batumi, Galt & Taggart, October 2025 (accessed 2 November 2026)
- Batumi residential real estate, 2Q26, Galt & Taggart, 14 August 2026 (accessed 12 October 2026)
- Residential complex Gonio - Kvariati, Realting (accessed 2 November 2026)
- Khimshiashvili district, Batumi, GEOLN (accessed 27 October 2026)
- Batumi flat search and filters, ss.ge (accessed 27 October 2026)
- Orbi City apartment listing, Airbnb, Georgian interface (accessed 2 November 2026)
Change log
- - Glossary entry published from Law of Georgia No 576, Minister's Order No 4 of 2002, Government Resolutions No 440 of 2013 and No 261 of 2019, Batumi City Council resolutions, Galt & Taggart reports, Realting, GEOLN, ss.ge and Airbnb.