Buying off-plan in Georgia: the four risks, and the one registration step that protects you

Legal.ge, whose guide was updated on 21 September 2026 and checked against current law in July, describes two steps. First comes a preliminary contract, which sets out your future right to a specific unit. Ownership itself can only be registered once the building is finished and has the documents confirming it is fit for use. Everything between those two moments is where the risk sits.

The guide names four. The developer may sell the same unit more than once. There may be a mortgage or other charge on the land or building that passes to the buyer. The building may not get the fitness documentation needed to register ownership, for example because of construction defects. And without proper construction permits, ownership cannot be registered at all.

Georgian law allows your future right to be preliminarily registered in the Public Registry on the basis of the contract, the guide explains, and once that entry is made it rules out registering a competing right to the same unit. In plain terms: whoever is registered first wins. That single step deals with the double-sale risk, which is why it is worth insisting on it before, not after, the first payment.

Before signing: pull a current Public Registry extract for the plot and check it for mortgages and other charges; confirm the developer owns the land outright; ask to see the construction permit and check that what is being built matches it. When agreeing payment, the guide suggests linking instalments to construction stages and to checks in the registry, rather than paying most of the price up front. For foreign buyers, an independent lawyer who is not connected to the developer is money well spent.