Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
Latvia is becoming more and more attractive for financial investments and relocation, due to its beneficial location, rather quiet appeal, and a lot of development opportunities. Foreigners are free to buy almost every type of real estate, yet are limited to purchasing farmlands, forests, lands related to water lines, the Gulf of Riga, and the Baltic Sea.
Let’s follow the procedure to undergo when planning on relocating to Latvia or solely investing money in property.
Latvia is one of three Baltic countries, situated in the north-eastern side of Europe. Latvia is not mentioned in the list of the countries with the strongest economies, yet its gradual and constant growth cannot be left unnoticed – step by step it wins its influence on the European and global scale.
Latvia has a particularly beneficial fusion of characteristics that make its way to growth:
The capital of Latvia, Riga, is a beautiful city that merges the modern lifestyle, and the tranquility of nature, and everything is embraced with historic charm.
Riga Latvia is usually the first place to consider regarding property investments, however, the neighboring towns are also worth the attention, as distances in Latvia are relatively short: Daugavpils, Liepāja, Jelgava, Jūrmala, Ventspils, Rēzekne, Jēkabpils, Valmiera, Ogre – each city offers a well-developed city infrastructure and proximity to the sea or waterways.
A property search can be done through the local real estate agencies, online catalogs, and announcements, or by simply seeing it personally. Foreigners are required to work with real estate agents to ensure the safety and liability of the сontract.
The core things to consider are the budget, the city and its district, and the atmosphere of a place (very individual perception). If you are willing to acquire a residence permit, you ought to spend more than €250,000 on your property. The agent may help with all the legal checks and investment plans.
A real estate agent conducts all the security checks regarding a property in question, including mortgage arrears, tax debts, housing maintenance debts, etc.
Once the agent gets the approval, you may proceed with further steps.
To start the buying process, you need to open a bank account, which costs around €500. Once you become a client of the banking system, you can become eligible for the mortgage program in Latvia.
When signing the preliminary contract, you need to make the first payment, which is 10% of the agreed purchase price.
As long as you buy property as a foreign citizen, there may be a need to apply to the local authorities and get permission to buy the property. The real estate agents will inform you in case it is required.
The property that is about to be bought must be checked in Zemesgrāmata (the local Land Registry). There are 28 offices of the Land Registry, which provide information on request. All the purchase-sale deals must also be registered with the Land Registry.
The final contract is always drawn by a lawyer; the documents are signed by the buyer and seller, with the notary, verifying the deal. The buyer is expected to pay for the notary fees for registration of the ownership rights.
The fees vary – notary charges start from €100 and are 0.5% of a deal; the real estate agent may charge 2-5%; the stamp duty is 2%.
Final registration of the property ownership is conducted by the Land Registry. The procedure takes up to 10-14 days. The documents to provide are – a sales contract, municipality approval (optional), receipts of payments and transactions, and power of attorney (if the deal for conducted by proxy) original or certified copy.
The fee for formalizing the property rights is €15, and the ownership certificate from the Land Registry is €7.
The whole procedure may take two to three weeks if there are no strings attached.
If you are willing to move to a country that manages to preserve the richness of its nature and economic development, Latvia is certainly the best choice to consider.
Latvia is the land of opportunities: due to its beneficial location, there is a multitude of options for starting a business, especially in trade and expanding the cooperation to a huge Asian market. Apart from business-wise prolific ground, Latvia gives a chance to enjoy life and its beauty.
