Lithuania: Guide to Buying Costs and Procedures

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Last Updated: Dec 03, 2007

Transaction costs are low in Lithuania, except for new buildings

How high are realtors’ and lawyers’ fees in Lithuania? What about other property purchase costs?

Transaction Costs
		Who Pays?
Notarial fees	0.5% - 1%	buyer
Registration fees	0.03% - 0.5%	buyer
Broker's fee	1.5% - 3% (+ 18% VAT)	seller
Costs paid by buyer	0.53% - 1.50%
Costs paid by seller	1.77% - 3.54%
ROUNDTRIP TRANSACTION COSTS	2.30% - 5.04%
See Footnotes Source: Global Property Guide

How difficult is the property purchase process in Lithuania?

Except for agricultural lands, there are virtually no restrictions in foreign ownership of land in Lithuania.Every sale agreement of any real estate must be certified by a notary. Failure to notarize an agreement makes it null and void. Transfer of real property is documented by an act of transfer-acceptance signed by both seller and buyer. It is worthwhile to note, however, that the registration of the agreement on the Real Estate Register is not a precondition to its validity.

It takes an average of three days to complete the three procedures needed to register a property in Lithuania.

Notarial fees

Failure to notarize the sale - purchase agreement makes the transaction null and void by law.

Notarial fees
Value of property (in €)	Fee (in €)
up to € 8,688.60	1% of the value, but not less than € 14.48
from € 8,688.61 to € 28,962	€ 86.89 + 0.7% of the amount exceeding € 8,688.60
above € 28,962	€ 228.80 +0.5% of amount exceeding € 28,962

Registration fees

Registration of sale-puchase agreement is not mandatory. However, to protect the interest of both parties, registration with the Real Estate Register is highly recommended. Registration typically takes 14 days, but it can be expedited by paying a surcharge based on the table below, 3 day registartion - 30% mark-up; 2 day - 50%, 1 day - 100% mark-up.

Registration fees
Market value of Building (in € )	Fee (in €)
Up to 14,481	28.96
From 14,481 to 28,962	28.96 + (0.05% of market value in excess of € 14,481)
From 28,962 to 57,924	36.2 + (0.045% of market value in excess of € 28,962)
From 57,924 to 144,810	49.24 + (0.04% of market value in excess of € 57,924)
From 144,810 to 289,620	83.99 + (0.035% of market value in excess of € 144,810)
More than 289,620	134.67 + (0.03% of market value in excess of € 289,620) , but no more than € 2,896.20

Market value of Land Plot( in €)	Fee (in €)
Up to 579.24	5.79
From 579.24 to 1,737.72	7.24 + (0.5%of market value in excess of € 579.24)
From 1,737.72 to 3,185.82	13.03 + (0.45% of market value in excess of € 1,737.72)
From 3,185.82 to 4,344.30	20.27 + (0.4% of market value in excess of € 3,185.82)
From 4,344.3 to 7,240.5	26.06 + (0.35% of market value in excess of € 4,344.3)
More than 7,240.50	36.2 + (0.3% of market value in excess of € 7,240.5), but no more than € 2,896.20

Footnotes to transaction costs table

The round trip transaction costs include all costs of buying and then re-selling a property – lawyers’ fees, notaries’ fees, registration fees, taxes, agents’ fees, etc.