Legal matters

To buy, sell, rent or perform any other significant action with a Latvian property, one is obliged to undergo certain legal procedures and conform to certain standards and laws.

Documents

Depending on your actions, the following documents may be relevant:

• Buying or selling
  • purchase contract
  • ownership registration request
  • fee payment proof
• Renting or leasing
  • rent agreement
  • ID
  • due diligence document for both parties
• Applying for insurance
  • documents indicating the value of the property
  • property ownership certificate
  • technical parameters of the property
• Applying for mortgage
  • documents indicating your income
  • documents indicating the value of the property
  • building project and the associated cost estimates (when building a property)

Please note that this is not a full list, but just an example to provide you with the general knowledge about what kind of documents are expected in each case. Some of them, like a transaction agreement/contract, are always necessary, while others may be optional. Furthermore, relevant institutions, such as banks, may request additional documents. In order to prevent a situation when you are asked for more documentation and are forced to visit relevant agencies multiple times (thus wasting your time), it is advisable to use the services of a property guide company, so that they gather maximum information before starting any procedures.

Laws and regulations

As of 2018, there are approximately 20 most important laws regulating the majority of real estate activities. While you as a property investor, are not obliged to be an expert in this matter, it is useful to generally know, which areas in particular are regulated by the Latvian government. For example, it is useful to know that in the summer of 2017 a regulation classifying buildings by their usage has been repealed, and with it - any restrictions that had stemmed from such a classification. Here is a non-exhaustive list of some of the laws:

• Residence ownership law (Dzīvokļa īpašuma likums)
• On the real estate tax (Par nekustamā īpašuma nodokli)
• On the registration of real estate with a land book (Par nekustamā īpašuma ierakstīšanu zemesgrāmatās)
• On gifting real estate to religious organizations (Par īpašumu atdošanu reliģiskajām organizācijām)
• On gifting real estate to fraternal organizations (Par nekustamo īpašumu atdošanu akadēmiskajām mūža organizācijām)
• Mortgage note law (Hipotekāro ķīlu zīmju likums)
• On the renewal of company ownership or other property ownership (Par īpašuma tiesību atjaunošanu uz uzņēmumiem un citiem īpašuma objektiem)
• Construction law (Būvniecības likums)
• Building construction rules (Ēku būvnoteikumi)
• General construction rules (Vispārīgie būvnoteikumi)
• Property alienation for the purpose of social needs law (Sabiedrības vajadzībām nepieciešamā nekustamā īpašuma atsavināšanas likums)
• Apartment management law (Dzīvojamo māju pārvaldīšanas likums)
• The State Land Service price list and payment procedure (Valsts zemes dienesta maksas pakalpojumu cenrādis un samaksas kārtība)
• Issue of cadastral property information law (Nekustamā īpašuma valsts kadastra informācijas pieprasīšanas un izsniegšanas kārtība)
• Property cadastral registration and update law (Kadastra objekta reģistrācijas un kadastra datu aktualizācijas noteikumi)