[BUYING AND SELLING REAL ESTATE IN LATVIA]
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communicate on everyday subjects and professional issues, to clearly phrase and justify his or her opinion, reads and understands texts of different content, is able to write the documents necessary for work (for example, statements, summaries, minutes, reports, deeds), as well as expanded texts regarding everyday life and professional topics, comprehends, and understands naturally paced spoken texts on different topics ). Upon the request of the local government, the person shall make a presentation in Latvian explaining the intended usage of the land in agricultural activity. If the agricultural land is to be acquired by a legal entity – the usage of the land in agricultural activity shall be presented by the individual – the sole shareholder or individual shareholder jointly representing more than one half of the share capital of the company (in case of beneficiaries – presentation shall be made by those beneficiaries). For a person, who meets the criteria, to be able to acquire agricultural land, he or she shall first submit an application to the local government of the territory in which the relevant land is located, and after examination of the application and offering to exercise the rights of first refusal to the registered lessee, if any, of the agricultural land and to the Land Fund of Latvia, the commission of the local government shall decide on giving its consent or refusal to acquisition of the agricultural land. In addition, one private individual or legal entity can acquire up to 2,000 ha of agricultural land. The local government has the right to determine the maximum area of agricultural land one private individual or legal entity can possess within their administrative area, but no more than 2,000 ha. Related parties can acquire up to 4,000 ha of agricultural land.
V. Real estate registries There are two registries related to real estate in Latvia: The Land Registry and the National Real Estate Cadastre Information System (Cadastral Registry). The Land Registry is the main real estate registry and is kept by the respective Regional Court Land Registry Offices, each of them operating within a particular administrative territory. All rights (including ownership rights, all kinds of legal encumbrances, mortgages, restrictions, etc.) regarding real estate shall be registered with the Land Registry. Ownership rights of real estate shall be registered with the Land Registry and only a person, whose ownership rights have been registered with the Land Registry, shall be considered the owner of real estate, except when the ownership rights of the real estate are established by the law. Entries registered with the Land Registry have public credibility. Thus, not only the owner of the real estate is guaranteed credibility of its title registration, but also every third party is provided with valid information on the current status of the real estate. However, this does not mean that transfer of title to real estate or the title itself cannot be challenged (for example, the seller has no rights to sell the respective real estate, or any third party’s rights of first refusal have been violated and thus this person may possibly exercise his or her redemption rights). The Cadastral Registry is kept by the State Land Service. The cadastral value (determined mainly for the real estate tax and Land Registry state duty purposes), detailed information on buildings and structures (area, number of premises, etc.) as well as detailed information on every real estate object, including graphical
ILN Real Estate Group – Buying and Selling Real Estate Series
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