There are two registers in Latvia:

• The cadastral information system maintained by the State Land Service (Valsts zemes dienests), which records and updates data on immovable properties, encumbrances, land units, buildings (structures), groups of premises, parts of land units and their characteristic details, and also on their owners, holders, users and lessees;
• The State Unified Computerised Land Register maintained by the Land Register of the Court Administration, which records data on property rights registered with the Land Register and on the encumbrances of immovable property.

The Land Register

What does the State Unified Computerised Land Register offer?

The Court Administration is the manager and holder of the State Unified Computerised Land Register.

Immovable properties are entered in Land Registers, and the rights related thereto are corroborated therein. Land Registers are available to the public, and the entries thereof are publicly reliable. The Land Registers are under the jurisdiction of the district (city) courts (rajona (pilsētas) tiesas).

The State Unified Computerised Land Register is an electronic data base in which Land Registers, corroboration journals and alphabetic indices are stored on a long-term basis without changes in the content thereof, ensuring the representation of these data on a computer screen and in computer printouts.

The State Unified Computerised Land Register contains information on immovable property, including information on:

• easements and encumbrances of immovable property,
• detached land,
• owners,
• the legal basis for title,
• notifications on insolvency,
• creditor claims,
• restrictions,
• appointment of secondary heirs and inheritance contracts,
• rights in rem encumbering property, and pledge rights.

The Land Registers consist of portfolios divided into four parts.

The first part is used to register information on:

• the immovable property in question,
• easements and encumbrances of the immovable property established for the benefit of a property,
• the plots of land attached to the immovable property,
• the area covered by an immovable property and the attached land,
• detached land and its area,
• amendments to easements and encumbrances entered in the first part and their deletions.

The second part is used to register information on

• the owner of the immovable property,
• the basis for the property rights and the amount for which the immovable property was acquired, where this is provided,
• notifications securing claims to property rights and records of these rights,
• restrictions on disposing of the immovable property and encumbering it with rights in rem,
• appointment of secondary heirs,
• inheritance contracts.

The third part is used to register information on

• rights in rem encumbering the immovable property,
• notifications serving to establish the aforementioned rights in rem.

The fourth part is used to register information on

• pledge rights established with respect to the immovable property and the amount of the pledge,
• notifications establishing the aforementioned pledge rights,
• amendments to these records and deletions.

Is the access to the State Unified Computerised Land Register free of charge?

The search function for registered immovable property in the State Unified Computerised Land Register is free. However, there is a charge of EUR 5.00 for viewing a portfolio.

The monthly contractual subscription charge is EUR 55.00, and to view a portfolio the charge is EUR 3.50.

How to execute searches in the State Unified Computerised Land Register?

You can search for information on registered immovable property in the State Unified Computerised Land Register by:

• portfolio number,
• property title,
• cadastral number,
• property address.

Information on immovable property is available from the Court Administration which maintains the State Unified Computerised Land Register, from district (city) courts and on the internet.

The national authorities and officials to whom the Court Administration provides information from the computerised record books, immovable property cases and the index of persons are stipulated by Cabinet Regulation.

History of the State Unified Computerised Land Register

A significant period in the operational development of the Land Registers was the concerted move to the computerised Land Register and creation of the State Unified Computerised Land Register. There was a gradual, targeted transition to a modern electronic Land Register. It took place from the acquisition of the first computers, which were used as typewriters, to the creation of the immovable property registration system, the conversion of all Land Register information from paper to electronic format, and the unification of the data bases of all 27 district (city) court Land Registry Offices into the Unified State Land Register data base, which is the only one to contain legally recognised information.

As for the computerisation process, the year 1998 was significant, with amendments resulting in the addition of a new chapter on the “Computerised Land Register” to the Land Register Law. Following these changes, a substantial amount of work was required until, in the first half of 2001, all branch offices had gradually been incorporated into the State Unified Computerised Land Register. Parallel to the introduction of the Land Register registration system, work was undertaken to develop dissemination and improve the website.

The Computerised Land Register is maintained with the objective of storing all Land Register in a single central data base, known under the law as the State Unified Computerised Land Register. Only data contained in this unified data base have legal force, and only staff of the Land Registry Offices have access to these data. The principles by which Land Registers are organised have remained unaltered during computerisation – territorial jurisdiction has been retained and, as before, the Land Registry Offices accept requests to enter records and adopt decisions on the registration of property and on the recording of related property rights in the Land Register.

The launch date of the Computerised Land Register was 5 July 2001. It was on this day that the State Unified Computerised Land Register entered into operation and the website https://www.zemesgramata.lv/ was made available to the general public. The website gives access to information on the statistics of the Land Registry Offices, news and publications regarding Land Registry work, the opening hours and addresses of the Offices, fees, the most important documents required when visiting the Land Registry Office, and most importantly of all, information on each property entered in the Land Register, its owner, encumbrances and mortgages.

The Court Administration has been fully responsible for the organisational and technical maintenance of the State Unified Computerised Land Register since 1 April 2004.

As of 2022, the number of immovable property portfolios opened in in the Land Registers was more than 1.3 million. In 2021 there were 216 000 electronic requests for access to the State Unified Computerised Land Register database per month on average .

The cadastral information system

What does the Latvian cadastral information system offer?

The cadastral information system is a unified accounting system that provides, maintains and applies official up‑to‑date textual and spatial data on immovable properties located in the Republic of Latvia, their constituent cadastral components – land units, buildings (structures), groups of premises, parts of land units and their characteristic details, as well as on their owners, holders, users and lessees.

It is maintained by the State Land Service.

Property in Latvia is composed of the following four types:

• immovable property composed of land;
• immovable property composed of land and structures;
• immovable property composed of only a structure;
• apartments, composed of groups of premises and notional parts of the buildings and land.

As a category of immovable property land covers immovable property in the broadest sense, i.e. land together with the structures belonging to the , as well as property consisting only of undeveloped land. Property in the form of a structure is immovable properties incorporating only a structure situated on land belonging to a different owner. Property in the form of an apartment in a building consisting of a number of dwellings belonging to several owners is the property of each owner individually, together with a notional part of the respective common property.

Cadastral information consists of:

• textual data – information on immovable properties, land units, buildings (structures), groups of premises, parts of land units and their characteristic details, and also on their owner, holder, user and lessee;
• spatial data – a cadastral map and spatial data for cadastral survey of a cadastral component.
• cadastral map – in Latvia created as a digital overview map, using digital data in vector form obtained from the cadastral survey of immovable property. It covers the entire territory of the Republic of Latvia and serves as an overview of the relative position of the items displayed within the territory. The right-angle coordinate grid of the cadastral map corresponds with the Latvian geodesic coordinate system LKS-92 TM (1992). The cadastral map is maintained accurately corresponding to the cadastral survey data. The cadastral map data is stored in the file system.

It indicates the cadastral designation of the cadastral component and displays the following spatial data:

• the boundaries of a land unit and part thereof;
• the boundary points of a land unit and part thereof;
• the structure’s outer contours and position on a land unit;
• the boundary and identifier of the road servitude area.

Cadastral data is used for the following purposes:

• recording immovable property rights;
• establishing immovable property transactions;
• immovable property use and planning for its development;
• cadastral valuation;
• administration of immovable property tax;
• national, regional and municipal economic development and territorial planning;
• land use operations and environmental protection plans;
• preparing national statistical information;
• drawing up the book value of land;
• creating and maintaining geographical information systems;
• providing for the interests of the owners of other registers and information systems;
• other purposes.

Is access to the Latvian cadastral information system free of charge?

The Public Part and the Authorised Part are available on the SLS portal for data publication and e-services https://www.kadastrs.lv/.

In the Public Part, the following information from the cadastral information system is available free of charge to any interested party:

• Textual data
  • Immovable property
  • Composition of immovable property
    • Structures
    • Land units
    • Groups of premises (showing only groups of premises belonging to apartment properties)
• Spatial data
  • On the base map of a 1:50 000 scale, an icon marks an approximate location of the cadastral component
• Textual data from the national address register
  • Address
  • Historical address
• E-services
  • Apply for a legal entity’s account on kadastrs.lv;
  • My data in the cadaster;
  • Thematic maps.

More detailed browsing of cadastral data in the Public Part of the SLS portal for data publication and e-services https://www.kadastrs.lv/ is a paid-for service, whereas the use of the authorised version requires credentials obtainable through cooperation agreements with the SLS. More detailed cadastral textual data, geospatial cadastral data, National Address Register geospatial data and highly detailed topographic information are accessible in the Authorised Part.

On the kadastrs.lv portal, it is possible to access online the data on the historical cadastral value of immovable property, select and print basic textual data on cadastral components and use several available map layers and thematic maps created by the SLS. On the portal, it is possible to apply for the SLS e-services and make use of the “My Account” section, i.e. manage all on-site and electronic orders, pay invoices and receive service materials without having to visit the customer service centre in person.

Paid-for e-services on the portal:

• one-hour browsing of geospatial data (with no contractual obligations);
• detailed cadastral textual data (with no contractual obligations);
• historical cadastral value;
• standard information on the immovable property value;
• standard information on the prohibitions on alienation registered for immovable property;
• standard information on the cadastral value of a land unit;
• standard information on part of a land unit;
• standard information on the cadastral value of a structure;
• standard information on a structure (basic data);
• standard information on a group of premises;
• updates to cadastral data;
• registration of part of a land unit;
• changes in the composition of immovable property;
• data selection;
• downloading geospatial data;
• archive material;
• applying for receipt of building floor plans and plans of group of premises.

Other paid services:

• cadastral field surveying of buildings and groups of premises;
• obtaining data on the characteristic details of structures and groups of premises without field surveying;
• determination of the obsolescence of a structure or civil engineering item.
• recording data on a new cadastral component, or refusal thereof;
• updating data on a cadastral component, or refusal thereof;
• deletion of a cadastral component's data;
• provision of standardised volume and type of data from the cadastral information system;
• provision of non-standardised volume and type of data from the cadastral information system;
• standard cadastral information;
• provision of information from the national address register;
• provision of information from the central database of highly detailed topographic information;
• provision of information from the Information System of Encumbered Territories;
• provision of information from the SLS archives;
• calculation of the cadastral value of cadastral components;
• determination of special values;
• decision-making within the framework of land reform in the cases provided for in legislation;
• provision of an opinion in the cases provided for by the legislation;
• drawing up of certificates and statements.

How to search the Latvian cadastral information system?

The cadastral information system can be used to find property, land units, structures and groups of premises. Further information on using the search function is available here.

The Kadastrs.lv mobile application

Information on any immovable property, land unit, structure or apartment can be obtained via the mobile application; search for an existing or former address; browse free cadastral textual and spatial data, use e-services to access more data upon payment.

In addition to browsing the cadastral information, the application allows users to log in and access the virtual customer service centre via “My Account”, to browse own properties, as well as to save, send and share the PDF files received within provided services. It also allows users to determine their location and browse through its cadastral and address details.

The mobile application is available for free on smart devices with Android, Windows Phone and iOS operating systems.

History of the Latvian cadastral information system

The recent history of Latvia's cadastral information systems dates back to 1992, following the restoration of Latvia’s independence in 1992, along with the land reform and transition to a market economy. The rights of individuals to own land were officially restored in 1993. The Latvian cadastral information system has been added to in various stages. In its first four years only land units, land holdings and land use were registered, from 1996 data on structures also began to be registered and, from 2000, the registration of apartments began.

The content of the Latvian cadastral information system has gradually increased: If only land units, land holdings and land use were registered in the first four years following its re-establishment in the early 1990s, data on structures also began to be registered in 1996 and from 2000 the full-scale registration of apartments began.

100% of national territory is registered in the cadastral information system and registrations are managed in digital form.