The process of purchase and sale in Armenia

The purchase and sale of real estate is a risky process, if you do not have any legal or other related knowledge. In this case, we recommend you contacting real estate agencies or an individual realtor (real estate agent), which will lower the risk of being deceived and mistaken. The realtor takes all the complex and responsible processes of purchase and sale with different activities of documentation and carries out them for the benefit of the parties.

The start of the real estate purchase and sale process

The process of real estate purchase or sale in Armenia, or, more precisely said the process of alienation and acquisition of property (rights) ownership starts from the moment, when the buyer and seller come to a common agreement on the price and additional terms of the property. The process of real estate purchase or sale (the alienation and acquisition of property ownership) consists of two stages: contract validation (ratification) and registration of ownership. The State Committee of Real Estate Cadastre of the Republic of Armenia (SCREC) provides a general reference before the start of the sale and purchase process. It is a document, which contains information about existing bans, restrictions, rights and ownerships related to the property. This is the only document, which presence is mandatory for the notarial office or the relevant branch of the State Committee of Real Estate Cadastre to confirm the transaction. If there are no any restrictions on alienation of the real estate, the validation process begins.

Real Estate validation (certification) Process in Armenia

Validation is the process of certification and confirmation by the state – authorized body (the notary or legal adviser of SCREC), that the contract is concluded within the law and the parties agree to sign it by their will. In our country, the certification process takes place in two variants. If the transaction is simple, or in other words, there is not a power of attorney or a third party (bank, authorized person), and the purchase is paid in cash, then the certification may take place either in a notarial office or in the office of the State Committee of Real Estate Cadastre of the Republic of Armenia. Recently law (they can also be done in the office of cadastre, which is quite common now) enforced the certification process of similar, but not complicated documentary transactions. Its advantage is, that after signing of the contract the state registration is provided at once and additional notary fees are not necessary. Nevertheless, sometimes the parties decide to spend a little more money and carry out the same process in the notarial office. It’s because they want to have the documents in the additional state authority.

The second process of certification, which has a more complex documentation (when one or both parties have power of attorneys or real estate is purchased by a mortgage loan) is done only in the notarial office, while the state registration is only done in the office of Cadastre.

The Registration Process of Real Estate in Armenia

The state registration process follows the certification. This is the registration of all the data in the State Register and only SCREC is authorized to do it. According to the contract, within 30 days after certification, the buyer can apply to the State Committee of Real Estate Cadastre of the Republic of Armenia for the registration of the property rights. Since the moment of applying, there is a procedure, according to which, the 4th day after the application is submitted, the SCREC gives the ownership certificate. On the day of submitting the application, the buyer is given a receipt by which the document of property rights (ownership) can be obtained.

As because the State Committee of Real Estate Cadastre already works on Saturdays and Sundays, it is also possible to submit an application or take the ready-made documents in those days. However, let’s note that in this case, the deadline for receiving the documents is calculated from Monday.

Terms and fees of purchase and sale process in Armenia

The purchase and sale process takes 7 to 10 business days. The general reference will cost 10,300 AMD if you want to get it on the 3rd day after submitting the application. If desired, receiving the reference on the next day will cost 20,300 AMD, and 60,300 AMD if you want to get it on the same day. The certification process is free of charge if it is carried out in the office of SCREC. If it is done in the notarial office, it is paid. State registration of rights in real property is given on the 4th day of submission of application and costs 45,600 AMD. The price increases along with the reduction of duration.

There hasn’t been a significant drop in apartment prices and most likely will not be

The apartment price fluctuations in the regions are very different depending on the city

Decentralization is taking place in the real-estate market