There is a single public database that decides who owns every square meter of Georgia, what debts are attached to it, and whether the person selling you an apartment has any right to do so. It is called NAPR, the National Agency of Public Registry, and learning to read it is the one skill that separates protected buyers from lucky ones.
This is the practical guide: what NAPR is, what its records actually show, how to check a property yourself, and what each red flag means.
What NAPR is and why you can trust it
NAPR is Georgia's state registry for immovable property, rebuilt in the 2000s as part of the country's anti-corruption overhaul. Every apartment, house, and land parcel has a cadastral code, a unique identifier, and a registry record listing the current owner, the legal basis of their ownership, and every registered encumbrance: mortgages, liens, court injunctions, tax seizures.
Two properties of the system matter enormously for buyers. First, registration is what creates ownership in Georgia; a sale is legally complete when NAPR says so, not when money moves. Second, the register is public. Anyone can look up any property. There is no privileged access that a seller has and you lack.
What the record shows you
Pull the extract for a property and you are reading five things:
- The registered owner. A name (or company) that must match the person selling. Not their cousin, not "the developer's partner", not someone with a story. If the names differ, either there is a power of attorney you need to verify, or you walk away.
- The legal basis. How the owner acquired the property: purchase, inheritance, privatization, court decision. Recent transfers in quick succession deserve extra attention.
- Mortgages. A registered mortgage means a bank or lender has a claim. It does not necessarily kill the deal, mortgages are routinely repaid at closing, but it must be handled explicitly in the contract, never discovered afterwards.
- Liens and injunctions. Court orders, tax authority seizures, and litigation flags. Any of these freezes a safe purchase until resolved. No exceptions worth making.
- The property's physical registration. Area, address, and boundaries. The apartment you are shown should match the apartment on record, including that terrace or attic room the seller mentions casually.
How to run the check yourself
The registry is accessible online, and extracts can be ordered for a small fee, though the interface assumes Georgian. In person, any Public Service Hall will produce an extract quickly. Most foreign buyers route the check through a lawyer, which works but adds days and cost per property, painful when you are comparing five listings.
This friction is exactly why we built SafeBuy. You can run the same check right now in your browser, free: enter a cadastral code and the official registry picture comes back in seconds, registered owner, title status, mortgages, liens, with the official extract documents and an English translation available on the same page. Every listing on our verified properties page has already been through the check before going live, and each property page shows a legal transparency panel with what was checked and when. For a property you found anywhere else, the checker and the app handle it just the same, free.
Reading the red flags like a professional
Seller does not match the registry. The most common and most serious finding. Legitimate explanations exist, a spouse selling under power of attorney, an heir mid-registration, but each requires documents you can verify, not assurances.
Fresh mortgage on an off-plan project. Developers financing construction against the land is common, but it means the bank stands ahead of you. Understand precisely how your unit gets released from that pledge at handover, in writing.
A chain of rapid transfers. A property that changed hands three times in a year is sometimes innocent and sometimes laundering a defect in an earlier transfer. Slow down and have a lawyer trace the chain.
Unregistered "extras". The parking space, storage room, or rooftop extension that exists physically but not legally. If it is not in the registry, you are not buying it, whatever the contract implies.
Utility debts. Not part of title, but they follow the property in practice. Check and settle at closing.
Where the check fits in the purchase
The registry check belongs at the very start, before deposits, before emotional attachment to a particular kitchen. Then, because records can change, it is worth re-checking immediately before signing and structuring payment so it completes at registration. The full sequence, from shortlist through NAPR registration, is laid out in our step-by-step buyer guide, and the taxes that follow ownership are summarized in the Georgian property tax overview.
The mindset
Georgia's registry gives buyers something rare: the ability to know, rather than trust. Most property losses by foreigners here were preventable with a five-minute check that the buyer skipped because the seller seemed nice and the view was excellent. Verify first. Then enjoy the view from an apartment that is legally, unambiguously yours, whether that is in Tbilisi or Batumi.
General information as of 2026, not legal advice. For complex title questions, engage a licensed Georgian lawyer.