Transaction costs are low in Lithuania, except for new buildings

January 09, 2019

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

Transaction Costs
		Who Pays?
Notary Fee	0.45%	buyer
Registration fees	0.03% - 0.50%	buyer
Value Added Tax (VAT)		buyer
Real Estate Agent´s Fee	1.50% - 3.00%	seller
Costs paid by buyer	0.48% - 0.95%
Costs paid by seller	1.82% - 3.63%
ROUNDTRIP TRANSACTION COSTS	2.30% - 4.25%
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.

At the initial stage of a property transaction, the notary republic is required to order verification and revision of cadastral and registration data of the immovable property. This document is necessary for the execution of the sales contract. The process usually takes seven days but the buyer can opt for 1-day expedited processing at increased costs.

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. Notarization of the sales contract usually takes two days.

Registration of sale-purchase agreement is not mandatory. However, to protect the interest of both parties, registration with the Real Estate Register is highly recommended. Registration typically takes 10 days, but it can be expedited by paying a surcharge. 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 12 days to complete the three procedures needed to register a property in Lithuania.

Notarial fees

Notary fees are generally around 0.45% of the property value.

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-purchase agreement is not mandatory. However, to protect the interest of both parties, registration with the Real Estate Register is highly recommended.
Registration typically takes 10 business days, but it can be expedited by paying a surcharge based on the table below; 30% mark-up for fast track procedure that takes 3 business days, 50% mark-up for fast track procedure that takes 2 business days, and 100% mark-up for fast track procedure that takes 1 business day.

A cap of €1,448.10 is applied for registration fee. The cap applies separately to building and land so for a property composed of building and land, a total cap of €2,896.20 will apply.

Registration fees
Market value of Building (in € )	Rate (in €)
Up to €14,481	€37.65
€14,481 - €231,696	0.05% on band over €14,481
€231,696- €868,860	0.055% on band over €231,696
Over €868,860	0.05% on all value over €289,620, - maximum of €1,448.10

Market value of Land Plot( in €)	Rate (in €)
Up to €2,896.20	€23.17
€2,896.20- €28,962	0.30% on band over €2,896.20
€28,962 - €289,620	0.30% on band over €28,962
Over €289,620	0.20% on all value over €7,240.50 -maximum of €1,448.10

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.