Responsible Agency

1. Which agency/government body/authority is responsible for land registration?

The State Enterprise Centre of Registers is responsible for land registration in Lithuania. It is a public entity of limited civil liability incorporated by the Government on the basis of the State-owned property on 8 July 1997.

2. If the responsibility for property registration is dealt with by an agency/authority, to which government department is it responsible to?

The State Enterprise Centre of Registers is responsible to the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania. The Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania is an institution exercising the rights of the owner of the Centre of Registers.

3. How is the organization managed?

Bodies of the State Enterprise Centre of Registers are as follows: the institution exercising rights and obligations of the Enterprise owner – the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania; collegial managing body of the Enterprise – the Board, and the sole managing body – the head of the Enterprise. The Board members (6 members) are appointed for a four-year term and are dismissed by the institution exercising rights and obligations of the Enterprise owner. The Board members must be civil servants and other individuals as well as representatives of employees, including Director General.

The head of the Enterprise – Director General is appointed and dismissed by the Ministry of Justice. He is supported by a senior management team, i.e. Deputy Directors. At the moment, there is no term of appointment for the Director General.

There were no big changes in the senior management team structure since 1997; however changes are expected to take place in future.

4. Describe the organisational framework

The State Enterprise Centre of Registers has a central unit, which administers activities of the registers kept, designs, implements and uses information system of the registers, manages and supervises activities of regional units.

Regional units consist of 10 branch offices and 40 local divisions. Branch offices register real property and rights thereto, legal entities, their documents and data, provide register data, perform cadastral surveys, mass and individual valuation, market research, manage archives and organize activities of local divisions. Local divisions register real property and rights thereto, accept and issue documents of legal entities subject to registration, issue documents proving ownership or use rights, provide information services.

There is one centralized database of the Real Property Register, which stores cadastre and land register data. Cadastre map is a constituent part of the Real Property Register.

5. How is the agency/government body/authority funded?

The State Enterprise Centre of Registers is self-financing. If there is excess of income over expenditure (profit), it shall be distributed as follows: 50% to the state budget and up to 50% to the Centre of Registers pursuant to the established law.

6. Are the staff of the agency/government, department/authority civil servants?

The staff of the State Enterprise Centre of Registers are not civil servants.

The staff of the Centre of Registers are permanent employees. There are a few employees working on temporary basis.

The State Enterprise Centre of Registers directly hires the staff according to demand for services. The Director General employs and dismisses the staff of the Enterprise.

There are no land registration services contracted out.

7. Who is responsible for cadastral/mapping information? Is it the same organisation or a separate agency/department?

The State Enterprise Centre of Registers is responsible for creation and maintaining the cadastre map and cadastre information.

8. What are the principal functions of the registering department/agency/authority?

The primary function of the Centre of Registers is the administration of five main state registers, such as Real Property Register and Cadastre, the Register of Legal Entities, the Address Register, the Population Register, the Mortgage Register, as well as other registers such as the Register of Contracts, the Register of Powers of Attorney, the Register of Property Seizure Acts, the Register of Marriage Settlements, the Register of Legally Incapable Persons and Persons with Limited Legal Capacity and the Register of Wills and their information systems.

With regard to the Real Property Register and Cadastre, the Centre of Registers performs the following main activities: register real property, real rights thereto, and legal facts; provide the Real Property Register data and cartographic data (geo-data); design, implement, develop and administer information systems of the Real Property Register and central databank thereof; establish the structure of the Real Property Register, the procedure for formation and recording of entries; establish the structure of cadastral data of the Real Property Register and the map content; perform cadastral surveys of real properties; organise and conduct real property market research; organise and perform valuation of real property (including valuation for taxation and other public needs), prepare data for taxation of real property; compile and publish maps of the Real Property Cadastre and the real property valuation maps and other functions.

9. What are the key values/principles underpinning registration of title in your system?

Lithuania has developed an integrated multi-purpose real property cadastre and register system, which is:

• Unified: property objects (land and structures) and rights, including value information, are in single organisation and single system; state-owned and private properties are treated on equal basis;
• Centralised: the central databank covers the whole country; only data in the central data bank have legal status;
• Digital: cadastre and legal data (graphical and descriptive) cover the whole country; only digital data have legal force; services for customers are available on-line (e-services implemented); e-conveyance has been implemented;
• Multi-purpose: property guarantee, taxation, valuation and market service;
• Self-financed: full cost recovery from fees paid by the clients;
• Public: data in the central databank of the Real Property Register are public with the exception of cases specified by laws.

10. What registration system of property do you have in your country (title/deed)?

We have a mixed-type registration system of property in Lithuania: title and deed.