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The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on notaries is more severe than the 2009 crisis

2020.04.24

The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in a more severe decline in the workload of notaries than the economic crisis of 2009, with the number of notarial deeds halved on average.

This is shown by the data provided by the state enterprise Centre of Registers for the months of March and April 2020 at the request of the Lithuanian Chamber of Notaries.

"Notaries working in the usual manner are receiving on average half as many clients, and some notarial acts have even decreased several times" says Marius Stračkaitis, President of the Lithuanian Chamber of Notaries and Klaipėda City Notary.

According to the statistics of the Centre of Registers, in the first ten days of April, 2,122 real estate transfer transactions were carried out in Lithuania, whereas in the second ten days of April – only 1,150, i.e. the number of real estate transactions was almost halved.

"We have been watching the 'roller coaster' phenomenon for several weeks now. Before the pandemic, on 1-10 March, everything continued as usual, notaries approved 2,955 real estate transfer transactions. On 10-20 March, with the entry into force of quarantine and a four-day ban on notarial activities, the number of real estate transactions dropped to 859; in the last ten days of March, when notary activities were resumed, those involved in the real estate market sought to complete the planned transactions, and the total number of approved transactions was 1,730. By mid-April, we are already seeing a real drop in the number of transactions, which reflects the crisis in the economy,” says Marius Stračkaitis.

According to him, there are other threatening signs. Statistics show that mortgage transactions are not in decline, and this was a feature of the economic crisis of a decade ago.

"In the wake of the crisis, mortgagors were in constant consultation with banks, asking for an extension of the repayment period, an increase in the amount of debt, or a change in the terms of the mortgage due to reduced solvency" said the President of the Chamber of Notaries.

Other notarial acts have also been rapidly declining. The statistics show that no lifetime maintenance contracts were registered in April. Comparing the first twenty days of March and April, the number of certificates of succession inherited by will and by law fell one and a half and two-fold, respectively. The number of donation contracts halved. The number of notarised power-of-attorneys halved, and the number of wills declined more than two-fold. Compared to the first twenty days of March, the number of marriage contracts concluded in April also declined two-fold.

 


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