The notarial act

A flat in Lithuania changes hands in notarial form. However carefully drafted, a contract signed only between the parties transfers no ownership. The notary here is not a witness with a stamp but a public office holder who queries the registers directly, is answerable for the legality of what is certified, and is required to explain the consequences of the deed to both sides.

Why there is no purchase without a notary

The notarial form requirement for a sale of real property comes from the Civil Code; the notary's work is governed by the Law on the Notary Profession. Two consequences follow, and buyers rarely connect them. First, the fee is not negotiable: the rates are approved by the state, so there is nothing to bargain down and no reason to fear being charged more at one office than another. Second, the notary carries liability for what is certified, which gives the office an interest in refusing a transaction with something wrong in it — and that is the strongest protection a buyer has anywhere in the process.

The notary acts for both sides equally. He or she is not the seller's agent, even when the seller suggested the office, and is not the buyer's lawyer either: nobody there will tell you whether the deal is a good one, or comment on the price.

What the notary verifies

Before certifying, the notary queries the registers electronically and works through a list that includes:

• who is registered as owner, and on what basis;
• whether the flat carries a seizure, mortgage, servitude or other restriction;
• the identity and legal capacity of each party, and the authority of anyone signing for a company;
• whether a spouse's consent is needed — joint matrimonial property cannot be disposed of without it;
• whether guardianship or the interests of a minor require a separate authorisation;
• whether co-owners hold a pre-emption right over the share being sold;
• whether the object described in the contract is the object described in the cadastre.

The last point looks like a formality and is in fact the most common reason a signing stops: the area in the contract does not match the cadastral data, or the description sweeps in a room that the register treats as a separate object. That is not the notary being difficult. It is a mismatch that would become the buyer's problem the moment the deed was signed.

How signing day runs

The draft deed is prepared in advance and can be read before you arrive — ask for it, because it is not always sent unprompted. At the office the deed is read out, the notary explains its consequences, the parties sign, and each leaves with a certified copy.

Signing and registration are two separate acts. The transaction data travel from the notary to the Real Property Register, and it is the entry there, not the signature, that makes your ownership good against third parties. A few days later it is worth ordering an extract yourself and confirming that the entry exists and is correct.

Keys, meter readings and physical handover are a third, separate event. They are recorded in a handover document, and signing day is no substitute for it.

Language, interpreter, representative

The deed is drawn up in Lithuanian. A buyer who does not understand Lithuanian is entitled to have the text interpreted, and the interpreter has to be arranged in advance rather than on the morning: without one the notary will not certify. Some offices work with interpreters they know — ask when the draft arrives.

Attending in person is not compulsory. A representative may sign under a notarised power of attorney, but the power has to state expressly the authority to sign a purchase-sale contract for that specific object; a general authority “for all acts” is treated cautiously. A power signed abroad normally needs an apostille or consular legalisation plus a translation, and that pair of steps is what consumes weeks — so set it running in parallel with everything else.

Money: the deposit account and the risky gap

The riskiest moment of any purchase is the gap between the money leaving and the entry appearing in the register. In Lithuania that gap can be closed with the notary's deposit account: the buyer transfers the sum to the notary, who releases it to the seller only once the circumstance named in the contract has occurred. Where the purchase is financed by a mortgage, the bank has a mechanism of its own and usually dictates how the money moves.

Three things to decide early: which mechanism is used, who pays for it, and what event releases the funds. All of it belongs in the preliminary agreement, not in a conversation at the notary's table once everyone is already seated.

This article describes the course of a notarial act in Lithuania in general terms and is not legal or tax advice. The requirements that bind your transaction are the ones your notary states.