On August 16, 2017, the Public Defender of Georgia addressed Tbilisi City Hall’s commission on recognition of the right to ownership of lands owned by physical persons and legal persons of private law with regard to the violation of legal interests of a third person as a result of the transfer of the plots of land to physical persons.

The applicant indicated in its application to the Public Defender that he was unable to register the right to ownership of the property registered in the technical record archive under the name of the decedent who left him the property, as on the basis of the decisions taken by the commission, the main part of the real estate registered under the name of other persons in the National Agency of Public Registry covers the plot of land under his legal ownership and is overlapped.

The Public Defender's Office established that when making a decision on the recognition of property rights on the plots of land that had been arbitrarily occupied, the commission relied only on the court decision on the invalidation of the registration of property ownership rights of S.B., whereas the court had not questioned the authenticity of the documentation confirming the legitimate ownership of the property registered in the technical archive under the name of the decedent who left property to S.B.

According to the Public Defender, when considering the issue of recognition of property rights on land, special attention should be paid to the data of the technical record archive; the commission should use all its powers to determine the difference between the real property registered in the technical record archive under the name of the decedent who left property to the applicant and the property claimed by other persons, as establishment of a legal owner of the land rules out any possibility of recognizing the right to ownership of the arbitrarily occupied property.

Consequently, the Public Defender of Georgia addressed the commission on recognition of the right to ownership with a recommendation to annul the relevant decisions on the recognition of property rights and make new decisions as a result of thorough examination of the circumstances and consideration of S.B.'s legal rights and interests.