Registering a tenancy agreement in the Land Register: why and how

Updated 05.10.2026.

A tenancy agreement can be registered in the Land Register (zemesgrāmata). This is not compulsory (Dzīvojamo telpu īres likums (Residential Tenancy Law), article 35), and there is no state fee for it (article 37). The entry matters in one situation: if the flat is sold.

What the entry protects

If the flat is sold during the tenancy or passes to another owner in some other way, your agreement binds the new owner only if it is registered in the Land Register (article 28, paragraph 1).

If the agreement is not registered, it ends at the moment the new owner's ownership is entered in the Land Register. If the new owner does not want to sign a new agreement, they give notice that the flat must be vacated within two months (article 28, paragraph 2). This can happen even if your agreement was for three years and only one has passed.

If the agreement is registered, the new owner takes it over with all its terms until the end of the term. Civillikums (Civil Law) calls this a property right that is also valid against third parties (Civil Law, article 2126).

The entry also protects the landlord. If an agreement that is registered in the Land Register or certified by a notary sets out the tenant's obligation to vacate the flat at the end of the term or if rent is not paid, the landlord can ask the court to enforce this obligation in the undisputed procedure (article 8, paragraph 3). So the landlord has their own reason to agree to the entry.

Who can apply for the entry

The entry is applied for by both parties together, or by one party if the other has authorised it (article 39, paragraph 1). The tenant cannot obtain the entry alone without the landlord's consent. It is worth agreeing on the entry while you are discussing the agreement, and writing it into the agreement.

How to do it: two routes

1. Electronically with a secure electronic signature

If you both have a secure electronic signature (for example eParaksts, eParaksts mobile or an eID card):

You both sign the tenancy agreement with a secure electronic signature (an edoc or asice file).
You fill in the application for registration of tenancy or lease rights (nostiprinājuma lūgums). The form is on the zemesgramata.lv portal in the section "Nepieciešamie dokumenti" (Required documents); it is set by the Cabinet of Ministers regulations on Land Register application forms.
You submit the application electronically on zemesgramata.lv and attach the electronically signed agreement (LV portāls, 02.04.2024). The Land Register asks for applications to be submitted electronically; a paper application can only be submitted at a court, with the time agreed in advance (Zemesgrāmata, "Nepieciešamie dokumenti").
In this case the signature on the application does not need to be certified by a notary; the court checks the person's legal capacity in the Population Register (article 38).

2. At a notary

If one of the parties does not have a secure electronic signature, the signature on the application is certified by a sworn notary or a court (article 38). You can also authorise the notary to submit the application electronically (article 39, paragraph 2). No office fee is charged for the entry (article 37), but the notary's service is paid. The notary's fee is set by Cabinet of Ministers Regulation No. 737: certifying the authenticity of a signature costs 16 euros, submitting the documents to the court and collecting them 15 euros per entry of one right, plus VAT (points 5, 15 and 45). The total depends on what the notary does; in 2024 LV portāls gave an average of about 90 euros.

What happens after submission

The judge examines the application within 10 days at the latest; in complex cases within up to a month (Zemesgrāmatu likums (Land Register Law), article 72).
The Land Register office sends notice of the entry to the email addresses given in the agreement (Residential Tenancy Law, article 40). So write both parties' email addresses in the agreement.
Six months after the end of the agreement's term, the judge deletes the entry on their own, without a separate application (article 41). The landlord can also apply for deletion earlier if the agreement has been terminated in the manner set by law (article 39, paragraph 3).
If the agreement is amended (for example the term is extended), the amendment can be registered in the same way, also without a fee (article 37).

Briefly on old agreements

Agreements signed up to 30 April 2021 and not registered in the Land Register bind a new owner after a sale only until 31 December 2026. A court claim for registering such an agreement, if the parties cannot agree, must be brought by the same date (transitional provisions, points 2 and 3). If you have an old agreement like this, act this year.