Certification of Transactions - When the Notary Stands Behind the Deal, Not Just the Signatures

What full certification adds

In certifying a transaction the notary does what the authentication of signatures leaves out. The notary establishes the identity and legal capacity of every party, and for companies their representatives' authority from the register and the charter; verifies the seller's, mortgagor's or lessor's title from the Public Registry extract or the vehicle record obtained at the time of the act, and checks for registered encumbrances, arrests and prior rights; examines the lawfulness of the terms and refuses provisions contrary to law; drafts the deed or checks the parties' draft, explains its content and legal consequences to each party in a language they understand, and satisfies itself that each consents freely; has the deed signed in the notary's presence, certifies it, and enters it in the electronic register of notarial acts. The result is a notarial deed with the highest evidential value Georgian law gives a private document: its date, its signatures and the notary's verifications are presumed true, it is directly registrable, and for the money obligations it contains the creditor may obtain a writ of execution from the notary and go straight to the National Bureau of Enforcement.

The transactions certified, and why each benefits

Sale and purchase of real estate - apartments, houses, land, commercial premises - and of vehicles: the notary's title check and the deed's direct registrability protect a buyer, and foreign buyers of Batumi and Tbilisi property, who cannot read the extract themselves, gain most. Mortgage and pledge: lenders, private and institutional, certify the security so that it registers at once and enforces without court. Loan agreements and acknowledgments of debt: a certified loan or acknowledgment is Georgia's fastest instrument for recovering money, which is why private lenders, business partners settling accounts and creditors restructuring debts choose it. Rental and lease: long leases, leases with purchase options and leases of commercial premises are certified for registration and certainty. Gift: gifts of property between relatives, including to and from foreigners, are certified so that title passes cleanly and the gift is documented for tax and family purposes. Lifetime maintenance (annuity) agreements, by which property passes in exchange for care and support for life, are certified because the law and the parties' protection require it. Exchange, division of co-owned property, easements and other real rights follow the same route.

Foreign parties: identity, language and the interpreter

A foreign party to a certified transaction is identified by passport, translated and notarized for the notary's file beforehand from a photo, and where the party does not understand Georgian the notary explains the deed through our interpreter, who is recorded in the act and signs it; we draft the deed bilingually, in Georgian with a parallel column in the party's language, so that the party reads what they sign and the Georgian text - which the Registry and any court will read - is the one they have seen explained. Foreign companies act through representatives whose authority the notary verifies in the apostilled and translated extract and resolution we prepare. Foreign buyers of property should know that Georgia registers title quickly and that the deed, not the payment, is what transfers it, so payment is structured to match - through the bank at signing, through the notary's deposit for closings where the parties want a neutral holder, or by staged payments secured by a mortgage the notary certifies in the same act.

Registration and enforcement

A certified deed concerning real estate is submitted to the National Agency of Public Registry, by the parties or by us on their behalf, and registered without further verification of signatures, usually within one to four business days depending on the service chosen; vehicle transactions are registered at the Service Agency; pledges of movables and shares at the Registry's respective registers. For the money obligations in a certified deed - the price payable in installments, the loan, the acknowledged debt, the secured sum under a mortgage - the Law on Enforcement Proceedings lets the creditor, when the debtor defaults, apply to the notary who certified the deed for a writ of execution, which the National Bureau of Enforcement executes against the debtor's property as it would a court judgment, the debtor's remedy being to challenge the writ in court rather than the creditor's burden being to sue; this is the single largest practical advantage of full certification over a simple contract, and it is why lenders insist on it.

What the notary refuses, and the parties' lawyers

The notary must refuse to certify a transaction where a party cannot be identified or lacks capacity or authority, where the seller's title is not established or the property is arrested or otherwise blocked, where the terms are unlawful (an unlawful interest rate, a prohibited object, a term that defeats a mandatory rule), where the transaction is a sham or evidently prejudicial to a party who does not understand it, or where the law requires consents that are missing - the spouse's consent to the disposal of marital property, the guardianship authority's consent for a minor's property, the co-owners' rights of first refusal. The notary's check protects the parties but does not replace their lawyers: the notary certifies lawfulness and title, not commercial wisdom, and a foreign party buying property or lending money in Georgia should have a Georgian lawyer review the deal; we work alongside the parties' lawyers, draft the deed to the notary's requirements and translate the lawyers' comments both ways.

What to bring, fees and timing

Bring valid identity documents for every party; for real estate the current Public Registry extract (the notary obtains a fresh one at the act) and, for the seller, the documents of acquisition; for vehicles the registration certificate; for companies the extract and the resolution; the spouse's consent where the property is marital, or the spouse in person; and the agreed commercial terms - price, payment schedule, completion, any security - from which we draft the bilingual deed. Send the details on WhatsApp, Telegram or email in advance and we draft, verify the title and the parties' authority, and book the appointment at Agmashenebeli 117, where a straightforward sale, loan or gift is certified in about an hour and registered within days. Fees follow the official tariff for the certification of transactions, which for most deeds is calculated with reference to the value of the transaction; the bilingual drafting, translation of foreign documents, interpreter and registration service are quoted separately and in advance, and the parties agree who bears them.

Frequently asked questions

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