For partners: referrals and cooperation

Who we cooperate with

Foreigners who want property in Georgia often ask someone they already trust before they ask an agency. This page is for those advisers. It explains how they can send a client to us, how we send clients to them, and the rules both sides follow so that the client is never the thing being traded.

• Lawyers and law firms, in Georgia and abroad, whose clients want to buy, inherit, sell or let property here.
• Accountants and tax advisers whose clients ask about rental income or a move of tax residence.
• Certified translators and translation bureaus who meet buyers while preparing passports and powers of attorney.
• Relocation and immigration consultants helping families, remote workers and retirees settle, often with a residence permit in view.
• Foreign-client desks of banks, as institutions, when a customer asks where to find independent property advice.
• Agencies abroad: estate agents, investment advisers and relocation firms in our clients' home countries that do not operate in Georgia.

Developers and sellers are a different relationship; what they can expect from us is on the page for developers. We name no partner firms here, because a name in a list reads as a recommendation, and we give recommendations in writing, for one task.

Referrals in both directions

A partner sends a client to us. The client needs local work: a search, a viewing, a contract read by a lawyer, a registration, a residence permit. The partner keeps their own role, such as tax advice at home, and we do the Georgian part.

We send a client to a partner. Some tasks are outside our work: a certified translation, an accredited valuation, tax advice in another country, insurance, school places. We may suggest a professional we have worked with, and the client is free to choose someone else.

Some steps are never referrals. A notary in Georgia, when a deal uses one, certifies documents for the legality of the deal and not for either side. The Public Registry records the transfer, and the Public Service Development Agency decides on a residence permit. We pay nothing to these bodies or their staff for clients and accept nothing from them. A notary's client who asks us for help is treated like any other buyer.

How a referral works, step by step

1. The client agrees first. The partner asks whether the client wants an introduction to AVI Estates. Without a clear yes, nothing about that person is sent.
2. The introduction. We need only a name, a way to reach the client, their language and a line on what they want. No passport or bank papers at this stage.
3. The disclosure. Our first written reply to the client says who introduced them and whether anyone is paid for it.
4. The free first consultation. We talk to the client, not the partner, about goal, budget and timing.
5. The written quote. Built on the basis shown on the prices and fees page, agreed in writing before any work starts, with third-party costs shown separately.
6. Identification. Before paid work starts, we run our own client checks, whoever made the introduction.
7. The work. The partner hears about progress only as far as the client allows.
8. Closing the loop. At the end, or if the client decides not to go ahead, the partner gets a one-line outcome, again with the client's consent.

The client always knows who is paid

Our independence statement sets the rule for any payment from a third party: the client learns about it in writing before deciding, and can ask us to decline it. Referral fees follow the same rule in both directions.

• We pay a partner for an introduction: the client is told in writing, with the basis of the payment, before accepting our quote.
• A partner pays us for an introduction: the client is told in writing before engaging that partner, and may ask us to refuse the payment.
• Nobody is paid: we say that too.

The disclosure goes to the client, not only into our contract with the partner. A partner who wants a fee kept from the client cannot work with us. Anything that works like a fee counts: a gift, a discount on the partner's own services, or a share of a commission from a developer or seller. The independence statement still has an open item on commissions from developers and sellers, so this page describes no such arrangement until the owner confirms it.

What we never do with partners

• No paid reviews. No payment either way for reviews, testimonials or ratings, and partners are not invited to review us. See the reviews page.
• No paid rankings or placements. A partner cannot buy a mention in a guide, a place on a shortlist or a link. Where a guide discusses a type of professional, it explains how to choose one, not whom to call.
• No steering to the highest payer. If two partners could do a job, we suggest the one who fits the client's language, timing and budget. Who pays us more, or at all, plays no part.
• No hidden mark-ups. We add no margin to a partner's invoice and never ask a partner to inflate a price to share the difference.
• No pressure to buy. We do not accept a partner who pushes a client towards a signature, and we put in writing when we think a client should not buy, whoever made the introduction.
• No client lists. We do not buy, sell or swap contact lists, or approach a partner's clients who have not asked to hear from us.

How we choose and check partners

We suggest a professional only after we have seen their work. Before a partnership starts, we check:

1. Legal standing. The firm exists in its country's register and any claimed licence is real. An advocate in Georgia must appear in the Georgian Bar Association's members register, as our guide to finding a property lawyer explains; a translator must be one whose work a Georgian notary will certify.
2. Fit. The partner handles the matters our buyers bring, in at least one of their languages.
3. Money. The partner never handles a purchase price outside a bank or a notary's deposit and never asks clients for cash.
4. Data. The partner can explain how client documents are stored and who sees them.
5. Disclosure. The partner accepts our fee disclosure rule in writing.

Checking continues afterwards. Referred clients are asked how the partner treated them, and the lead adviser looks into every complaint. A partner who breaks the disclosure rule, moves client money outside the agreed route or shares data without consent is dropped, whatever business they have brought.

Client data moves only with consent

A referral passes personal data between two firms, so it follows our privacy policy and the Law of Georgia on Personal Data Protection.

• From a partner to us. We accept an introduction only with the client's agreement. Details sent without it are deleted, and we do not contact the person.
• From us to a partner. Only on the client's instruction and only what the task needs. A translator receives the documents to translate; a valuer receives the property data; neither sees the budget or the rest of the file.
• Updates. The referring partner has no right to follow the case. We report progress only if the client agrees, and that agreement can be withdrawn at any time.
• No marketing use. Neither side may use data from a referral to sell the client anything else. Developers never receive client data for marketing.

For clients in the EU or EEA the GDPR also applies, as the privacy policy explains. A partner abroad who sends us such a client answers for their own side of the transfer, including telling the client that the data is going to Georgia.

Why a referred client is still identified by us

Our anti-money-laundering policy explains why even a long-standing client of a partner shows us a passport. Under the AML law (Law No 5226-Is of 30 October 2019), estate agents are not on the list of obliged entities, but banks and the Public Registry are, and so are notaries and lawyers working on a real estate deal. We run our own know-your-customer checks on every client so that a purchase does not stall later at one of those institutions. An introduction does not replace them:

• Each firm answers for its own file. A partner may have identified the client under another country's rules, for another purpose, years ago.
• The questions concern this deal. Who pays, from which account, with money from where: only the client can answer.
• Trust is not evidence. A warm introduction is exactly what someone moving money quietly would look for.

The situations in which our policy says we decline or stop a matter apply whoever made the introduction. A partner who asks us to skip a check, accept money from an unexplained third party or record a lower price loses the partnership. We do not tell a partner why we declined a client; that belongs to the client alone.

Referral terms and the written agreement

Every partnership is agreed in writing before the first introduction, covering:

• whether a fee is paid at all, and in which direction;
• its basis, worded so that it can be repeated exactly to the client;
• the event that triggers payment, and when payment is made;
• the disclosure rule on this page;
• how client data is passed, kept and deleted on each side;
• how complaints about either firm are handled;
• how either side ends the agreement, and what happens to fees for earlier introductions.

For buyers: questions to ask about any recommendation

A referral fee is not wrong in itself; what matters is whether you know about it. Whether you were sent to us or to another agency in Georgia, these questions show who gains from the advice:

• "Who introduced me, and is anyone paid for it?" Ask in writing and keep the answer. "We have a relationship" is itself an answer.
• "Would my price be lower without the introduction?" If the fee is added to your bill, you pay for a recommendation without being told.
• "Why this lawyer, translator or developer?" Good reasons relate to your case: language, experience with the property type, availability. "We always use them" is not one.
• "Can I use someone else?" You always should be able to. Be careful if the deal only works with the agency's own notary, lawyer or valuer.
• "Is the lawyer acting for me or for the seller?" A lawyer chosen and paid by a developer cannot check that developer's contract for you, and our guide to the notary's role explains why a notary does not fill that gap.

An intermediary who avoids these questions, or answers only by phone, is a reason to slow down. Our guide to real estate scams in Georgia shows how fake intermediaries borrow trusted introductions.

How to apply as a partner

If you advise foreigners interested in property in Georgia and these rules suit you, write to info@avi.ge or message +995 501 113 200, Monday to Saturday, 10:00 to 19:00 Tbilisi time. Please include:

1. your firm's name, country of registration and a link to its register entry or website;
2. what you do for clients, and which of our services they are likely to need;
3. your working languages;
4. any licence, bar membership or professional body that applies to you;
5. whether you would send clients, receive them, or both;
6. whether you expect a referral fee, so we can say at once whether our terms fit.

Send no client's personal data with an application. We reply in writing; if both sides want to proceed, a short call follows, then the written agreement, and no introductions happen before it is signed.

Frequently asked questions

Is a referred client told if someone is paid for the introduction?

Yes. The client is told in writing, before deciding, whether anyone receives a fee for the introduction in either direction, and can ask us to decline a payment made to us.

How is a referred client's fee set?

In a written quote agreed before any work starts, on the basis shown on our prices page, with third-party costs shown separately and no margin added to them.

Can a partner pay to be recommended in your guides?

No. Partners cannot buy a mention in a guide, a place on a shortlist, a review or a ranking, and we never steer a client to the partner who pays more.

Why do you identify a client that a partner already knows?

Because a partner's checks do not replace ours. We apply our own know-your-customer checks to every client so the purchase does not stall later at the bank, the notary or the Public Registry.

How do I apply to become a partner?

Write to info@avi.ge or message +995 501 113 200 with your firm, country, services, languages and whether you expect a fee. Do not send client data with an application.

Change log

• 2 November 2026 - Published with the referral rules; partner terms, application form and contact person to be added by the owner.