Purchasing a property is an important event in a person’s life, whether the property is in your home country or somewhere else in the world. It is a major deal and if the slightest thing goes wrong it can feel like there is no where to turn and nobody who can help. The best way to avoid these pitfalls is to be educated in the art of buying a property, and if you are buying a property abroad, to be educated on that countries legal system and know exactly what needs to be done to ensure the process runs as smoothly as possible.

Currently there are no restrictions on the type or size of property that a foreign national can purchase, however be aware that a lot of old buildings are protected by heritage regulations. This is like listed buildings in the UK, and you will be restricted on any work or amendments you wish to carry out on the property. If you are looking for a renovation project then make sure that you are 100% aware of any restrictions in place before you buy it or you could be facing legal charges for any unauthorised work you carry out.
 
The Baltic States are also the location for some stories of turmoil that buyers have found themselves in having purchased a property without the correct title deeds. If you end up without the correct title deeds for your property, then you will not be able to make any amendments or renovate or change any part of the building. For this reason, it is extremely difficult to sell your property, as nobody wants one without the correct deeds. It can take years for the correct deeds to be made out to your name. This is the type of situation which you can avoid by hiring a solicitor. Much like France, the Baltic States’ property market tends to work on a notary system. Despite this, it is imperative that you hire a solicitor as well as they will be the ones who check the legality of what the notary does. You will also sign any contracts in front of both the notary and the solicitor. To put it plainly, if you hire a solicitor, less can and will go wrong.

It is more than likely that your solicitor will be a Baltic national, and even if they speak comprehendible English, you will be wise to hire the skills of a translator too. They will need to translate all the legal documents for you and you will need to understand it thoroughly before you sign. The documents written in the local language will be the legally binding ones. You will need your solicitor to legally document any financial transactions which take place between yourself and the vendor/developer, so that they are unable to dispute any payments which you make during the buying process. If you are buying a new build then the whole process can take anywhere between a year and 18 months to complete.