The Land Registry in Estonia

Updated on Saturday 04th March 2023

Estonia has an extensive legislation regarding real estate ownership. Among these there are:

the General Part of the Estonian Civil Code,
the Law of Property Act and the Implementation Act,
the Apartment Ownership Act,
the Law of Obligations,
the Planning and the Building Acts.

Other laws refer to the registration of properties with the Estonian Land Registry. The most important laws regarding real estate registration are the Land Register Act and the Land Cadaster Act.

What is the Estonian Land Register?

The Land Register is Estonia’s national registry that contains information about real estate ownership. The Estonian Land Registry also contains information about property encumbrances that may become very useful when conducting real estate due diligence procedures. According to the Estonian laws, real estate in registered in the Land Register, while buildings are registered in the Building Register. Due to the country’s highly developed informatics system, the Estonian Land Register can also be accessed online. In order to conduct a search in the Estonian Land Register an individual must pay a fee.

If you are interested in buying a property you can rely on our lawyers in Estonia for real estate due diligence procedures.

What information can one find in the Estonian Land Registry?

Anyone wanting to access the Land Register in Estonia must have a legitimate reason to do so. The only ones that are not required to give a reason for searching the Register are property owners, notaries, authorities and Estonian courts of justice. Each property has assigned a unique number, called registered property number.

The Land Register in Estonia has four parts:

the first part contains information about each registered properties, such as the purpose, the location, the size of the land plot and if any restricted rights exist;
the second part of the Register contains information about the owner, if joint ownership exists and the size of the co-owners’ shares;
the third part contains information about encumbrances and restrictions on ownership,
the fourth part contains information about mortgages.

Remaining in Estonia for temporary purposes is easier when you apply with our help. If you need other legal services, our team can also assist during the application process for residency in Estonia. We will guide you while gathering documents, give you information about the current state fees and the payment method, or how to renew the temporary residence permit.

If you need help with property registration in the Land Registry you can contact our Estonian law firm.

Our lawyers can answer other questions that can be of interest to foreign nationals who already live in the country, as well as those who plan on relocating here. Acquiring temporary residence, followed by permanent residence is mandatory for all those who intend on applying for citizenship in Estonia. For those who wish to apply, we remind them that dual citizenship is not permitted.

If you are interested in immigration to Estonia, our team can provide you with detailed information about the conditions for application both in case of temporary residence permits, and in the case of permanent residency. We remind those interested that the minimum number of consecutive years that need to be spent in the country before one can apply for permanent residency is five years.