Assignment in a Georgian New Development: What the Buyer Receives

A new-development offer may involve the current buyer's contractual position rather than ownership of a completed apartment. Listings often call this an assignment. Establish not only the future unit number but what rights and commitments are being acquired.

Review the chain: original contract → amendments → actual payments → required approvals → new rights and obligations. Paying the previous buyer alone does not explain what you receive or what remains payable.

🧾 Identify the proposed transaction

Establish whether registered ownership, another recorded interest or only a contractual position exists. The assignment label cannot answer that documentary question.

Request the complete original contract, annexes, plans, amendments and status documents. Compare the developer's legal entity, original buyer and person making the offer.

Assignment of a claim, transfer of a payment obligation and ownership registration serve different purposes. A lawyer should establish the actions and consents required for your structure.

If told it is merely a name change, ask which document achieves that, who participates and what happens to the remaining terms. A convenient description is not evidence of its content.

Read the underlying agreement

Look beyond price. What must the developer deliver, when and in what condition? How are the unit, area, specification and final documentation defined?

Establish agreed changes and any separate correspondence affecting the terms. A manager's oral promise should not automatically be treated as part of the transferable right.

Review transfer conditions, notice, consent, fees and default consequences. Do not assume every assignment is permitted or that every transaction requires the same party's approval.

A representative's authority needs a separate check. Negotiating does not establish the right to sign or receive funds.

Match the unit throughout the chain

Compare building, floor, unit reference, position, area and attached plan. For renumbering, obtain documentary continuity between old and new references.

Check layout changes, treatment of balcony area and the contractual response to final measurement. Current advertising cannot replace this review.

Delivery specification matters too: finishes, services, equipment and separately purchased options. If the previous buyer ordered extra works, establish which related rights and duties transfer.

💰 Reconcile payments with the developer

Request confirmation of charges, received funds and the outstanding balance for the contract on an agreed date. Compare this with the original buyer's evidence.

Separate:

• paid portions of the basic price;
• future instalments and deadlines;
• arrears and disputed amounts;
• fees, additional works and other charges;
• option advances outside the basic price.

A transfer records movement of money, but its purpose and credit to the correct contract must also be clear. Do not add every receipt without establishing the connection.

Resolve differences between seller and developer before payment. A promise to sort the balance later leaves a critical uncertainty.

Separate the seller's price from the developer balance

Request one complete calculation so amounts are neither double-counted nor omitted.

In a hypothetical teaching example, not a market offer, the original price is 100,000 monetary units. The developer confirms 40,000 paid and 60,000 outstanding. The previous buyer asks 55,000 for the position. If that is the entire sum payable to them and excludes settlement of the developer balance, the new buyer's basic commitment is 115,000: 55,000 plus 60,000. Agreed additional costs are separate.

Do not add the already-paid 40,000 again if it is reflected in the position price. Nor is 55,000 the total apartment cost when another 60,000 remains due. Documents must explain the structure.

This illustrates arithmetic, not a universal instruction about recipients or timing.

Establish approvals and documentary confirmation

Have a lawyer identify necessary participants and form. Ask the developer to confirm contract-specific steps and who can approve them.

Where an agreed debtor change or other document is required, correspondence between old and new buyers cannot simply replace it. For a proposed three-party agreement, check its relationship to the original and precisely what it changes.

Establish when the developer recognises the new participant, how payment instructions and notices change, and what documents are issued at completion. Determine separately any applicable registration actions.

An application is not approval, and a draft agreement is not an executed result.

Review deadlines and earlier issues

Check the current handover date and effective amendments. Do not appraise the transaction as though construction restarts or historical issues automatically disappear.

Clarify who holds claims arising from earlier breaches, known complaints and settlements. A lawyer needs the documents, not only the seller's account.

Do not assume all promotional bonuses or individual concessions automatically transfer. Compare every essential benefit with the documented outcome.

📋 Map documents and settlement

Stage	Review	Required clarity
Basis	Original agreement and authority	Who transfers which position
History	Changes, options and complaints	Effective terms identified
Unit	Plan, reference and characteristics	No unresolved mismatch
Payments	Receipts and developer reconciliation	Balance and price components confirmed
Approval	Parties and form	Necessary decisions obtained
Documentation	Final instruments	New rights and obligations established
Settlement	Recipients, amounts and sequence	What counts as performance
Completion	Confirmations and registration where needed	Final file collected

This does not prescribe one payment order. Agree a suitable sequence for the documents, structure and institutions involved.

Resolve payment conditions beforehand

Identify every recipient, allocation and action required before the next stage. Match recipients with the agreement and independently verify changed payment details.

Address failed approval, a participant's withdrawal and inability to complete. Review refunds, costs and deadlines before committing rather than proposing them after a problem appears.

Cash or a third-party account is not a remedy for missing documents. The payment method cannot clarify an unidentified right.

Retain the complete handover file

Collect the original agreement, effective annexes and changes, payment evidence, approvals and final transfer documents. Include the current reconciliation and future payment schedule.

Update contacts and notice arrangements. If important messages still go only to the previous buyer, the information handover remains incomplete operationally.

Ownership registration, when available and required, remains a separate stage. Do not present a completed assignment as registered ownership of a finished apartment without evidence.

Frequently asked questions

Is assignment the same as buying a completed home?

Do not treat the structures as identical. Establish status and the rights and duties being transferred.

Does full prior payment resolve everything?

Payment is one element. Unit identification, terms, claims, approvals and documentation remain relevant.

Is a three-party agreement always mandatory?

A universal answer is inappropriate. Determine participants and form from the agreement and applicable law.

✅ Start with the complete chain

Assess more than an attractive listing price. Establish the original position, remaining obligations, necessary approvals and documentary outcome, then the total budget and settlement sequence.

When searching with BuyHome, tell us whether previous buyers' offers are of interest. We can help organise information requests; have a lawyer review the transferred position and transaction terms.