Construction of a private house is a long process, nervous and much more expensive than buying a ready-made house. Everyone knows that. But the good news is that in Georgia, the procedure for bureaucratic approvals for construction is simple, fast and completely understandable even for foreigners.
In the article „How can a foreigner buy a house in Georgia?“ we have already told that there are no differences between the procedure of acquiring a house by foreigners and citizens of Georgia. The same is the case with the construction of a private house in Georgia: absolutely all citizens of the world can do it without restriction.
Today we will consider in detail all the way that a person needs to go to if he decides to build a private house in Georgia from scratch.
Construction of a private house ib Georgia
1. Selection of land for construction.
For construction, you need to buy any plot that does not fall under the category of agricultural or recreational purposes. These are the reasons why:
- Georgian citizens can build a house on agricultural land, but it will require either a lot of additional approvals with the authorities or a change in the status of the land which is long and problematic.
- It is forbidden to build absolutely everything on recreational land. In theory, this is possible – but in the form of a large exception, by special permission of the Cabinet of Ministers of the country.
- Citizens of foreign states can neither buy nor build on plots with the status of agricultural land.
- The regions of Bakuriani, Borjomi, and Gudauri belong to the so-called zones of special regulation, and in order to get a construction permit from the authorities there, you will have to try very hard.
2. Mechanism of land purchase in Georgia
If the owner of the chosen land plot for purchase is a private person, then no problems will arise. The sale and purchase transaction of property rights gets officially registered in the House of Justice according to the standard scheme.
But if the owner of the land is the state, then everything becomes complicated. To buy such land, you will have to participate in open bidding at auction and go through several additional stages.
- Application for participation in the auction. To do this, you will need a cadastral number of the land plot (it can be obtained in the Public Register). The answer will come in 3 weeks. The application is submitted electronically to the municipality (the City Hall) or regional administration through the website https://tas.ge
Advice from experts of GEOLN.COM – in order not to waste time, apply for several suitable land plots at once, as there is a high probability that you may be denied the opportunity to purchase the selected object. You will not need to buy them all, but if several lots are approved, it will give you the opportunity to navigate through the available options before bidding at the auction.
- Participation in the auction. You will be notified by SMS to your mobile phone about the start of the process, the auction takes place on the portal https://nbe.gov.ge The starting price of the land and the size of the bidding step you can usually find out directly at the beginning of the auction. The basic cost of 1 sq. m. of the land plot is set by a special Commission.
To become a participant of the auction you need to pay a certain percentage of the lot value by Bank transfer. The amount is indicated on the lot page, usually at least 25% of the assigned land value. This amount will be returned to you within 14 days after the auction if you lose it.
You can bet any day, but usually, everyone waits for the last moment to prevent a rapid increase in the price of the lot. Sometimes it turns out to win the auction with the first bid.
Advice from experts of GEOLN.COM - Remember that the auction is an open event, and anyone can participate in it. Therefore, please note that you may have competitors at the last minute.
- Payment of the won lot. If you managed to win the auction, you have 14 days to fully buy the land. Then within 21 working days, you will be given a certificate of purchase of land at auction. Note that in our experience this does not often happen on time due to the heavy workload of public services, sometimes the new owner has to wait up to 3 months.
- Then comes the final stage, the registration of land ownership in the Public Register. It usually takes 1-5 days, depending on the amount of payment. You will be registered as the owner of the land and informed about it by SMS to your mobile phone.
Advice from experts of GEOLN.COM – it is better to appply to a lawyer and a translator of Georgian language. Since all sites and the auction itself is held in the Georgian language. We recommend using professional legal support services.
3. Start of construction of a house in Georgia
When you become the owner of the land, you have to go through the III stage of approvals in the City Hall, if the object is in the city or in the regional architectural service, if the land plot is located outside the city.
Stage I - Obtaining of the Architectural and Planning Assignment.
This document is issued by the state authorities and contains a complete list of requirements for the future house. It lists all design, engineering, construction, environmental, and other norms that must be met for the house, and also specify the destination homes and properties on a specific plot.
The Architectural and Planning Assignment is issued free of charge, within 10 days after the request, its validity is 5 years. If during this period you failed to start the process of construction of the house, you need to receive the Architectural and Planning Assignment again.
Stage II. Project approval.
If the owner plans to build a house on an individual project, you need to contact the architectural Bureau for its development. Next, the finished project is sent to the mayor's office for approval, where within 18 working days a decision will be made on its approval or not.
Currently, significantly tightened requirements for the safety of buildings and structures, especially to comply with fire regulations. If the project is fully consistent with the previously obtained Architectural and Planning Assignment, there will be no problems. But at the slightest deviation from the construction standards, the project will be returned to you for revision.
The project will be agreed very quickly if you choose a ready-made option that can be taken on the portal https://tas.ge
III stage. Obtaining a construction permit.
At this stage, there are no difficulties, the application is submitted to the mayor's office and is issued for 5 working days. Its validity for single-level houses is 1 year, for multi-level - 2-3 years. It will be necessary to pay a state fee of 1.00 Gel per 1 sq. m. of construction area. In areas of special regulation, this amount is 5.00 Gel per sq. m.
If during this period you can‘t complete the construction, you will need to contact the mayor's office again and get a document on the extension of the construction period. In this case, the permit will be extended for no more than the initially agreed period, and the fee will have to be paid again in full.
A piece of advice from GEOLN.COM – If you do not doubt your project (or take a ready-made project), the law gives the right to immediately apply for approval of the project and to obtain a construction permit, it will significantly save your time.
Be sure to wait for the full approval of the documents. You can start work only from the moment of issuance of a construction permit, and not a day earlier. For violation of this provision, the developer will be fined a serious amount and may be forced to demolish the uncoordinated object. The amount of the fine can reach 10 000 Gel, which is equivalent to about $ 3 500.
4. Completion of construction.
It is critically important that the finished house was built in full accordance with the approved project. It will be carefully and carefully checked by experts from the City Hall or district administration.
Order of activities:
- You need to write an application for the commissioning of the object to the Architectural Committee, as well as to the supervision service.
- Within 5 working days the finished house will be checked by the relevant authorized bodies.
- Issuance of the decision. If all is well, the house will be approved. If there are discrepancies with the project, a fine will be charged and an order will be issued to correct the shortcomings, up to the demolition of the house.
Experts say that there are almost no cases when it is possible to do without fines and corrections. The most important thing is that there are no violations in the structural elements of the building. You will be required to correct the inconsistencies, and in this case, it means the demolition of the house and its reconstruction.
It is possible to avoid payment of the issued penalty if all defects are corrected within 1 month. Otherwise, you will need to make corrections to the project and re-legalize them in the City Hall. The approval takes 5 working days.
Advice from GEOLN.COM - Adjustments to the project can be made at any stage of construction before putting the house into operation. Therefore, if during construction you decide to make changes to the project, coordinate them immediately. Then you do not have to pay fines.
If the municipal architects have recognized that the built house corresponds to the project, the documents are submitted for consideration to the supervision service. In 30 working days, the last formalities will be completed, and the owner will be issued a Certificate of acceptance of the object in operation.
At the final stage, the owner of the house with the received Act applies to the Public Register and registers the ownership of the already built property.
Pitfalls of house sales in Georgia
We would like to warn our readers about the dangers that can lie in wait for the construction of a house in Georgia. Even if you do everything in strict accordance with the Statutory rules and regulations, you can expect a few unpleasant "surprises".
One of the most global problems in Georgia is the confusion with the arrangement of underground communications. City services do not know very often schemes of distributing pipes of water supply, electricity, gas, etc.
We have encountered in our practice cases when the buyer after the acquisition of land learned that under it is the central pipeline or other engineering networks, questioning the possibility of construction on this site.
According to the current regulations, key communications must take place at a distance of at least 10 m from the house.
Advice from GEOLN.COM – Before starting construction, we recommend to send requests to the relevant companies for gas supply (Kaztransgaz, SOCAR), electricity (Energo-pro, Telasi), water supply (GWP, Batumi Tskhali, etc.) with a request to provide information about the pipes and wires laid on or near the plot.
But even in this case, "blunders" can happen. The information may be incorrect, and when digging a pit you will encounter engineering networks under your plot. Please note, the transfer of these communications you will have to spend at your own expense!
Another serious point-be sure to take into account the local geodetic features. There are many underground rivers in the depths of Georgia, and often these areas are not suitable for construction because of the specific characteristics of the soil.
Be very careful with the land on which construction is not allowed! Usually, the problem area is cheaper than the rest, and the seller is ready to make serious concessions to quickly sell it to you.
Recommendation from experts of GEOLN.COM. In order not to waste time, immediately after obtaining ownership of the plot, please apply to all relevant companies to make the calculation of the project of engineering communications to the house. Within 10 working days you will receive a response, and up to 30 days will be required for summing up communications to the plot.