How to check a developer and a new build in Armenia before you buy

A new build apartment is paid for before it exists, so the checking happens on paper. Armenian law and the state registers leave a trail of documents that a buyer can read before signing: an entry for the company, entries for the land and the building, a construction permit, and a contract whose required content is set out in the Civil Code. This guide follows that trail in the order a buyer would meet it. It is current as of 15.10.2026; the law editions are listed in the sources [1][3][5][7]. It explains what the sources say; it does not replace a notary or a lawyer for your own purchase.

At a glance: four questions and where each is answered

After construction ends, a fifth set of documents decides when the apartment becomes yours: the completion act, the operation permit and the transfer act. They are covered last.

1. If the seller is a company: what the register shows

Start with the company named in the contract. Register data is public, with one set of exceptions: individuals' passport details, social card numbers, residence and registration addresses and contact details stay closed [1, art. 6 part 1]. What is public is open for general review [1, art. 61 part 1].

The agency's official website shows, free of state fee, the name and legal form, the date and number of registration, the taxpayer registration number, the enterprise code, the location, the beneficial owner (name, citizenship, the date and grounds on which the person became one) and whether the company is being liquidated [1, art. 61 part 2]. Complete data and copies of charters are issued against a state fee whose amount is set by the law on state fees [1, art. 61 part 3].

Each person can search the register on the site, using the company name, the first and last name of a founder or participant, a social card number, a taxpayer number or a registration number [1, art. 61 part 4]. The search page, "Search legal person data", is part of the justice sector's digital services platform and has an English interface [2].

A full extract lists, among other items, the registration number and date, the location, liquidation records, the head of the executive body (or another person with the right to represent the company), the predecessor and the participants with their shares [1, art. 62 part 3].

Compare the name of the seller in your contract with the register entry, then with the developer named in the construction documents (sections 2 and 3). A mismatch is a question for the developer before any further step.

2. What the developer holds: cadastre records

The Cadastre Committee runs the unified state cadastre of real estate [4]. For each unit, the registration log holds three groups of data: identification (cadastral codes of the land plot and buildings, areas, the designated and functional purpose of the land, the address); registered rights with the right holder's details; and restrictions together with preliminary notes [3, art. 13 part 1]. In a multi-apartment building under construction, a preliminary note can attach to a separate unit provided for in the architectural and construction design, an apartment or a non-residential space [3, art. 13 part 1].

Each person has the right to request cadastre data [3, art. 32 part 1]. The written application goes to a consultation centre regardless of where the property stands, or is filed electronically through the system on the real estate register's website [3, art. 32 part 3]. The fee receipt is attached unless the data is provided free of charge [3, art. 32 part 2]. The committee's website menu has "State registration", "Extract from the register", "Provision of information" and "Provision of copies of documents" [4].

Reading the entry for an unfinished building

Before completion, what is registered for the building is not the building itself. The developer's rights are registered on the strength of the design documentation and the construction permit [3, art. 36 part 1], and the additional data and the registration certificate must say that the registered object is the developer's rights and obligations under the urban planning documents [3, art. 36 part 2].

Once the building is registered, the developer may apply to register separate units. Each entry has to show the share of the land plot that matches the unit's area [3, art. 36 part 3]. A purchase right created by a contract is entered with the design number of the future apartment and its design area [3, art. 36 part 4].

Three questions follow for the record in your hands: who is registered as holder of the land and the building; whether restrictions are registered; and whether your apartment exists as a separate unit with a design number and an area. Set the answers beside the contract.

3. The permit, the term, and what ends construction

A construction permit confirms the developer's right to carry out a defined construction activity [5, art. 23]. The head of the community issues it through the online system for urban development permits, coordinated by the authorised urban development body, in the procedure set by the Government [5, art. 23]. Issue follows the agreement of the design documentation by the body that gave the architectural-planning assignment and its approval by the developer [5, art. 23].

Official sites for permits

The platform is the "Digital services platform of the urban development sector", at urban-permits.e-gov.am; the Urban Development Committee's site points to it from its "Building permits" page [6]. On 15.10.2026 the platform's services required sign-in through the national identification platform "Ես եմ" ("Es em") [6]. Ask the developer for the permit number and date. The law names the design documentation and the building permit as the basis for registering rights to a building under construction [3, art. 36 part 1].

When construction runs late

If development is not finished within the term set in the permit (rural settlements and individual houses are excepted), the issuing body gives the developer a written warning to extend the term and finish, or to alienate the object the developer owns [5, art. 23]. An extension cannot exceed the period calculated under construction duration norms for the work still to be done [5, art. 23]. Failing to comply exposes the developer to administrative liability [5, art. 23].

Completion and commissioning

Finishing construction is documented in a completion act (Armenian: ավարտական ակտ). The head of the community issues it through the same system, and it is the basis for registering rights to the completed object and to the units separated within it [5, art. 25 part 1]. The object is then put into operation by an operation permit (շահագործման թույլտվություն), also issued by the head of the community; a completed object may be operated only after that permit is issued [5, art. 25 part 2].

4. Which contract you are signing

The Civil Code does not treat every purchase of unfinished housing the same way. The title of the contract sets the form, the registration and the mandatory content.

Preliminary contract

Its subject is a promise to conclude the main contract later on the terms laid down in it [7, art. 445 part 1]. It takes the form required for the main contract, and non-compliance with that form voids it [7, art. 445 part 2]. It has to contain terms from which the subject and other essential terms of the main contract can be determined [7, art. 445 part 3] and a deadline for the main contract; without a stated deadline, the main contract must be concluded within one year of the preliminary one [7, art. 445 part 4]. When the deadline passes without the main contract and without an offer from either side, the obligations lapse [7, art. 445 part 6].

A protocol of intentions that does not directly state the parties' will to give it preliminary-contract force produces no civil-law consequences [7, art. 445 part 7].

Right-to-buy contract for a unit in a building under construction

For an apartment in a multi-apartment building that is still going up, the Civil Code provides its own contract, the contract on the right to buy real estate from a building under construction (articles 224.1 and 570.1) [7]. A notary must certify it, and the purchase right it creates is registered by the state [7, art. 224.1 part 2]. The purchase right can be created once the developer's right to the apartment has been registered [7, art. 224.1 part 1], and it reaches the matching share of the land plot and of the common areas [7, art. 224.1 part 3].

The contract must carry:

• identifying data of the future apartment, taken from the floor plan in the architectural and construction design, and a description of the interior finishing at the moment of transfer [7, art. 570.1 part 1];
• the price of the apartment to be transferred; with no price term, the contract is treated as not concluded [7, art. 570.1 part 2];
• optionally, a mechanism for indexing the price to market price movements [7, art. 570.1 part 2].

Where the price is fixed per unit of area, the transfer act sets the final price from the area registered on the basis of post-completion measurement [7, art. 570.1 part 3].

Under this contract, the buyer's advance payments must be made only to the developer's special account, which is opened in a bank operating in the Republic of Armenia, in the treasury or in a notary's deposit account as a sub-account [7, art. 570.1 part 4]. When the transfer act drawn up after completion settles whether the price has been paid, payments evidenced by a receipt, a cash-desk receipt document, witness testimony or set-off of a counter-obligation (including a penalty calculated in the buyer's favour), and payments made to the seller's creditors or participants, are disregarded [7, art. 570.1 part 4]. For multi-apartment or subdivided real estate, until the buyer's ownership of the apartment is registered and the ownership certificate (the transfer act) is handed over, the developer may use, regardless of the building's degree of construction, no more than 70 % of the special-account funds from 1 July 2024 and no more than 50 % from 1 January 2025; above 50 %, use is proportional to the building's degree of construction, up to 95 % [7, art. 570.1 part 5]. The developer may use the remaining 5 % within one year after that registration and handover, if no defects have appeared while the building is in use or the developer has remedied those that did [7, art. 570.1 part 5].

Sale of a finished apartment

A single document signed by both parties, in writing, certified by a notary [7, art. 562]. The transfer of ownership to the buyer is registered by the state [7, art. 563 part 1]. The contract gives data that identify the apartment, and without them it is treated as not concluded [7, art. 566]; it also provides for the price [7, art. 567 part 1].

Notarial form

Where the law requires a notary, skipping the notarial form makes the transaction void [7, art. 300 part 1].

5. After completion: the documents that move ownership to you

The route for an apartment bought under a right-to-buy contract runs through a transfer act. The developer hands the buyer the act and a settlement document (or a tax invoice where the law calls for one) within the contractual period, and at the latest six months after state registration of the ownership right to the apartment [7, art. 224.1 part 4].

The act names:

• the property, with the data required by article 566 of the Civil Code;
• the price, the advance payments made and, for any unpaid balance, the payment terms;
• the period for putting the building into operation at the developer's expense [7, art. 224.1 part 5].

A notary certifies the act and the right arising from it is registered by the state; the apartment counts as transferred into the buyer's ownership from the moment the act is registered [7, art. 224.1 part 6]. The property rights registration law ties this to the completion act: ownership of persons with a registered purchase right is registered after the completion act is issued, on the basis of the ownership transfer act [3, art. 36 part 5].

Measure against the contract. If the price is per unit of area, the act fixes the final price from the registered, measured area [7, art. 570.1 part 3]. Compare that area with the one in the contract and the design.

If the act does not appear. Where six months pass after registration of the completion of construction without the transfer act, the buyer may demand its forced conclusion, or recognition of ownership, in the manner the law sets, provided the buyer's contractual obligations are fully performed [7, art. 570.1 part 8]. Whether that route fits a given case is a question for a lawyer.

A finished apartment bought under a sale contract follows the rule of article 563: the transfer of ownership is registered by the state [7, art. 563 part 1].

How Akcern checks a property

Akcern's methodology has 13 property checks, described on the page /verified. Four are close to this guide's subject.

• Title verified. Cadastre certificate pulled by Akcern Legal, ownership chain confirmed, no encumbrances.
• Permits in order. Construction permit, change-of-use certificate, and operation permit are on file with Akcern.
• Area re-measured. Floor area is supported by a physical re-measurement by Akcern, not just the developer's brochure.
• Legal walk-through ready. Akcern Legal has prepared the buyer-side document pack for the first meeting.

All 13 checks are on the /verified page. Akcern: «Ակցեռն» ՍՊԸ, 17 Davit Anhaght St, Yerevan 0069, +374-10-277662.

Checklist before signing

• The developer company is in the register of legal entities and its name matches the contract [1][2].
• Cadastre records are in hand: holder of the land and the building, restrictions, and the apartment as a separate unit with design number and area [3, arts. 13, 36].
• The developer has supplied the permit number and date, and the permit term is known [5, art. 23].
• The contract type matches the law: preliminary contract, right-to-buy contract for a building under construction, or sale of a finished apartment [7, arts. 445, 224.1, 562].
• A right-to-buy contract identifies the apartment from the design plan, describes the finishing and states the price [7, art. 570.1 parts 1-2].
• A notary certifies the contract; without that the transaction is void [7, art. 224.1 part 2, art. 562, art. 300].
• It is clear how the final area and price will be set when the price is per unit of area [7, art. 570.1 part 3].
• The contract states the period for transfer, and the buyer knows that ownership passes when the transfer act is registered [7, art. 224.1 parts 4 and 6].

Limits of this guide

The guide leaves out seismic norms, taxes, the amounts of state fees and charges, registration deadlines, mortgages and the terms developers add to their own contracts. A law of 26.03.2026 added part 9 to article 224.1 of the Civil Code; for that amendment the article stays in force until 31.12.2027 [7]. Part 9 deals with court cases over land: when a state or local self-government body disputes in court the ownership of a land plot or part of it, the case does not prevent concluding a right-to-buy contract in a multi-apartment building or signing the transfer act. The contract and the act then record that the buyer knows of the case and that the subject is the apartment and the matching share of common areas: without the land plot if the case concerns the whole plot and no plot scheme (coordinates) exists, and with the plot shown in the scheme if one exists [7, art. 224.1 part 9]. The text of the article does not say what applies after 31.12.2027. A notary reads the contract before signing; a lawyer is the person to consult on a specific case.