Renting an apartment in Tbilisi and Batumi: a tenant's checklist

Updated: October 2026

Before you travel: what to define

Write the answers down, so that an intermediary does not set the terms for you.

• A budget in one currency that includes everything outside the rent: utilities, internet, building fees, any agent's commission. Ask for it in writing.
• Term, district and who will live there: adults, children, pets, guests. This goes into the lease.
• How you will pay: from which account, and what your bank will require. Ask it in advance.

How to search

• Listing sites: compare several similar apartments and save the links.
• Agencies: ask in writing whose interests the agent represents, who pays the commission and whether the agent has the owner's written authority.
• Social media groups and chats: useful, but check such a listing as strictly as any other.

Before the viewing: questions to ask

• Who is renting it out: the owner, a representative or an agent?
• Address, floor, lift, and how the building entrance works.
• What is included: furniture, appliances, parking, storage.
• Which payments exist besides rent, and who makes them: water, electricity, gas, heating, internet, building fees.
• How the apartment is heated and what is used for cooking.
• Whether children, pets and guests are allowed.

At the viewing: what to inspect

• Water: run hot and cold in the kitchen and bathroom, judge pressure and drainage. Film as you go.
• Ceilings, walls, corners, cupboards: damp, mould, smell, suspicious fresh paint.
• Windows and doors: do they close, any gaps, how the locks work, how many sets of keys.
• Heating: what kind, how it is switched on, whether it works today.
• Electrics: sockets, fuse board, light in every room, working appliances.
• Water, electricity and gas meters: where they are, what they read, one per apartment or shared.
• Noise: listen with the windows closed; if you can, come at another time of day.
• Internet and mobile signal inside the apartment.
• Entrance and lift: clean, lit, lift working, no cracks on the stairs.

Before you pay: who is the owner

The person you talk to and the owner can be different people. Find out before the first payment.

• Ask in whose name the apartment is. Ask for the ownership document and photo ID of that person.
• Order a fresh Public Registry extract: any person can receive one, and in a transaction in immovable property a person's right is established by the extract (Law on the Public Registry, Art. 10). Have the lawyer explain each line, including mortgages.
• If a representative or agent rents it out, ask for a written power of attorney or the owner's written consent and show it to your lawyer. With several owners, ask if all will sign.
• Ask what happens to your lease if the owner sells. By the Civil Code, whoever acquires a rented apartment takes the landlord's place (Art. 209).
• Ask whether the lease should be registered: the law lists lease among registrable property rights (Art. 11).

The lease: what to put in it

Insist on a written lease in a language you understand, or with a translation you trust. If a point is not in the text, assume it was not agreed. Rental has its own Civil Code chapter (Arts. 531-571): ask the lawyer which rules the contract may change.

1. Parties: the owner's full name as in the registry, your details, any representative's details.
2. Apartment: exact address, floor, number, the cadastral code from the extract.
3. Term: start and end dates, what happens at the end, how the lease is extended.
4. Rent: one amount, one currency, the date and method of payment, the bank account named in the lease.
5. Utilities and building fees: who pays what, on which meter readings. By the law on homeowners' associations the costs of common property fall on apartment owners, so write your arrangement down.
6. Deposit: amount, where held, what may be deducted, when and how returned. The law has rules on tenancy security (Art. 552): ask the lawyer.
7. Move-out settlement: who reimburses what, how wear differs from damage. The law requires return in the condition received, allowing for normal wear, or as the contract states (Art. 564).
8. Termination and notice: who tells whom, and how. Termination must be in writing (Art. 563); ask about periods and grounds.
9. Subletting, guests, pets: who may live there. Passing the apartment to a third person needs the landlord's consent; family members are not third persons (Art. 549).
10. Inventory: furniture and appliances with the condition of each item, signed by both sides and attached.
11. Repairs: the tenant does current repairs as a rule, and may not alter the dwelling without consent (Art. 548). Write down what stays with the owner: boiler, pipes, large appliances. Report defects at once (Art. 543).
12. Disputes and language: which version prevails and where to turn.

Handover: day one

1. Photograph and film every room and appliance. Keep the files with their dates.
2. Record and photograph the readings of all meters.
3. Add to the inventory whatever is missing: scratches, stains, appliances that do not work. Have both sides sign it and take a copy.
4. Take the keys, check they fit, and agree how you will get utility bills.

During the stay

• Pay by bank transfer to the account named in the lease, not in cash, and keep the confirmations.
• Keep utility bills and record the meter readings on the same date every period.
• Report faults and record any change in writing, with photos.

Moving out

1. Notify the owner in writing as the lease describes and keep proof of sending.
2. Inspect together, comparing the apartment with the inventory and day-one photos.
3. Record the meters, pay the final bills and return all sets of keys against a receipt.
4. Get written confirmation that the deposit is returned, or a list of deductions with grounds.

Tbilisi and Batumi: what to ask in each city

• Tbilisi, the building: its condition (entrance, stairs, cracks, lift, roof) and who manages it.
• Tbilisi, the district: how you will get around and how much noise there is at different times of day.
• Batumi, heating: how the apartment is heated outside the main season and who pays.
• Batumi, short-term letting: whether flats in the building are let to tourists, and the effect on noise, lift and entrance.

Red flags

If you meet one of these, stop, pay nothing and take advice.

• Pressure: «pay today or it will be taken», or a deposit asked before the viewing.
• An owner «abroad» while a «friend» collects money and keys without written authority.
• A price far below comparable apartments in the same district.
• A refusal to show the ownership document, photo ID or the extract.
• No written lease, or you cannot read and translate it first.
• A request to pay in cash or to a third person's account.

The one-page checklist

• ☐ Budget, district, term, occupants written down
• ☐ Several options compared, links saved
• ☐ Questions asked before the viewing
• ☐ Apartment inspected: water, damp, windows, heating, electrics, meters
• ☐ Owner established, ownership document and ID shown
• ☐ Fresh Public Registry extract read by the lawyer
• ☐ Lease read, translated, reviewed by the lawyer
• ☐ Deposit, utilities, repairs, move-out written in
• ☐ Inventory attached and signed
• ☐ Day one: photos, video, meter readings saved
• ☐ Payments by transfer, bills and confirmations kept
• ☐ Move-out: written notice, inspection, deposit return in writing

What to ask a lawyer

This is not legal or tax advice. We could not verify these points, so put them to a local lawyer and get answers in writing.

• Which rental terms the contract may change and which it may not.
• What the law and the contract say about the deposit: size, holding, return.
• Which notice periods and grounds for termination apply to me and to the owner.
• Which taxes and declarations are connected with the rental, in Georgia and in Israel.
• Whether a lease is needed for address registration or other procedures, and in what form.
• How to verify the owner's representative and the power of attorney.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources: matsne.gov.ge: Civil Code (Arts. 209, 531-571, including 543, 548, 549, 552, 563, 564) (accessed 2026-11-04) · matsne.gov.ge: Law on the Public Registry (Arts. 10, 11) (accessed 2026-11-04) · matsne.gov.ge: Law on Homeowners' Associations (costs of common property) (accessed 2026-11-04) · napr.gov.ge: Registry services, including preparation of extracts (accessed 2026-11-04) · napr.gov.ge: information services (registry extract) (accessed 2026-11-04) · napr.gov.ge: registration of rights in immovable property (lease is not named among the services on the page) (accessed 2026-11-04) · napr.gov.ge: service centers (branches, Houses of Justice) (accessed 2026-11-04) · rs.ge: Revenue Service of Georgia (no page on rental income confirmed; tax questions go to a lawyer) (accessed 2026-11-04)

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