A translation bureau for Sioni - TARGMANEBI's service for a town where one party to a property deal is often abroad. A Georgian emigrant planning to come home after years away buys a dacha in Sioni while still abroad - through a power of attorney given to a relative or an acquaintance - and then manages it from there: rents it out, renovates it, pays the utilities. Every one of these steps requires a document that starts with a foreign notary and ends in the Georgian public registry.
Sioni's second stream is the water: fishing bases, boat and catamaran rentals, summer cottages on booking platforms, foreign guests on a day trip from Tbilisi. The third is the ordinary families of Tianeti municipality whose children are in Europe. For all three the scheme is the same: a photo or a file from Sioni or from abroad, translation and certification in Tbilisi, paper by courier to Sioni or by post abroad.
A dacha from abroad - from power of attorney to the registry
When the buyer or the seller is abroad, the deal rests on a power of attorney - and one wrong word in its translation makes the notary refuse the transaction. From our experience in Sioni, the typical chain looks like this:
From abroad to Sioni
- A power of attorney before a foreign notary or at a Georgian consulate - with the right to buy, sell or manage
- An apostille on the power of attorney, if drawn up before a foreign notary
- Translation of the buyer's passport, if the buyer is a foreigner or acts on a foreign document
- The spouse's consent to acquiring or disposing of the property
- A bank statement on the source of funds, if the bank asks for it
From Sioni to abroad
- Registry extract and cadastral map in a language the buyer understands
- Draft sale and purchase agreement in two languages
- Charter and terms of the dacha cooperative or homeowners' association
- Utility and tax statements for the owner
- Notary's letters and requests, for information
After the purchase
- A management power of attorney for a relative - renting, repairs, utilities
- A bilingual rental agreement, if the tenant is a foreigner
- Reports for the owner's accountant in their country
- Inheritance documents, if the owner died abroad
- Gift or partition agreements between family members
In the translation of a foreign power of attorney, the powers have to be rendered precisely, in the terms of Georgian notarial practice: "buy", "sell", "manage", "lease out", "register in the public registry" - each is a separate right, and if one of them is unclear in the translation, the notary stops the deal and the power of attorney has to be drawn up again abroad. So before you go to a notary abroad, tell us what your representative has to do in Sioni - and we will write out in Georgian the powers that need to go into the text.
Cottages, fishing, boats - the reservoir business
Sioni's cottages fill up through booking platforms in summer, while fishing bases work all year round - for visitors from Tbilisi and for foreign guests alike. For them we translate cottage descriptions and terms for the platforms, bilingual rental agreements, fishing rules, licence and protected species information, boat and catamaran rental terms, water safety rules and liability waivers, and menus. The water safety rules and the liability waiver are the only legal texts here - we prepare them bilingually, with a signature field for the guest; everything else is in tourism style, with no stamp or notary.
An emigrant returns to Sioni
Buying a dacha is often followed by coming home, and the return documents have to be prepared while still abroad: foreign employment record statements for a Georgian pension, foreign pension fund documents, residence papers for a foreign spouse, certificates and school records for children born abroad, a foreign driving licence and vehicle papers. The notarized Georgian translation of these documents is prepared before you arrive - you send us photos from abroad - and it will be waiting for you in Sioni or at the Tbilisi office. One piece of advice: certificates that are easy to get abroad and hard to get from Georgia should be obtained before you leave, with the apostille placed there as well.
Families of Tianeti municipality
Beyond the dachas, Sioni and its villages are ordinary Mtianeti highland country - with families whose children are in Europe and papers that are needed the same way everywhere: for an embassy, a university, a bank, the pension agency. These papers travel there and back with the dacha power of attorney, on the same courier; and for anyone coming to Tbilisi, the office is an hour and a half away.
Languages in orders from Sioni
Because of emigrant dacha buyers, powers of attorney in Italian, German and Greek are the most frequent in Sioni; English is the language of platforms, foreign tenants and general-purpose documents, and Russian and Ukrainian of reservoir visitors and older papers. Polish, Spanish, French and Dutch come up with newer emigration countries; Turkish, Czech, Arabic and Chinese are rare from Sioni.
The process - between two countries
Powers first, notary second
Before you draw up a power of attorney abroad, write to us about what your representative has to do - we will write out the Georgian wording for you. Then send a photo of the executed power of attorney by WhatsApp or by email to info@targmanebi.ge.
Registry, notary or bank
Who the document is for and when the deal takes place - that decides the certification and the order of work. If the original is still on its way, we prepare the translation from the photo and certify it as soon as it arrives.
Legal translation, name checks
The power of attorney and the contract are translated by a legal translator, names and cadastral codes are checked against the passport and the registry, and the translation is notarized.
Paper to the representative, file to the owner
The courier hands the certified power of attorney to the representative in Sioni or Tbilisi, and the owner receives the file abroad. Documents going the other way are sent by post.
Price and deadlines
Orders from Sioni are at Tbilisi prices, the final amount is agreed after we see the document, and the courier comes here weekly. A power of attorney or a contract falls into the legal category and is priced higher per page than a certificate, but it rarely runs to more than a page or two; registry extracts and certificates are in the simple category; platform texts and fishing rules need no certification and are priced lower still. A power of attorney translation with a notary takes two to three days, a bilingual contract three to four, cottage materials in three languages a week - before the season starts. The person buying the dacha pays - even if they are in Milan - and the invoice is made out in their name. The bureau is headed by a lawyer - Mariam Zumadze, sole trader, ID 30601010853 - who reads the powers in such a text herself before it is signed off; for her this is everyday work, not a dictionary exercise. A confirmed inaccuracy is corrected free of charge, before the notary has a chance to stop the deal.
One practical tip for a dacha buyer: before drawing up the power of attorney abroad, look at the registry extract and the seller's papers - we translate the extract into a language you understand in one day, and the power of attorney then states the cadastral code of exactly the plot you are buying. A power of attorney for "any property" makes a notary suspicious; one for a specific code does not.
Buying, renting out or coming back to a dacha in Sioni from Italy or Germany? First tell us what your representative needs to do - we will write out the Georgian wording for the power of attorney before you go to the notary. We will handle the rest between the two countries.
Call: 501 113 200Frequently asked questions - dachas and documents in Sioni
I am in Germany and need to give my brother a power of attorney to buy a dacha in Sioni. Where and how?
There are two routes: a Georgian consulate (drawn up in Georgian, no apostille needed) or a German notary (in German, with an apostille and our notarized translation). Either way, the right to "buy" and to "register in the public registry" has to be written into the text explicitly - we will give you the wording in advance so the notary does not stop the deal.
I am selling a dacha to a foreigner who is not in Georgia. What gets translated?
The buyer's power of attorney for a representative, with an apostille and a Georgian translation, the passport in Georgian and, if needed, the spouse's consent; on your side - the registry extract and the draft contract in a language the buyer understands. If the buyer's representative is also a foreigner, they will attend the deal together with our interpreter.
I rent out a cottage through a platform; my mother owns it and I am in Italy. Which documents do we need?
Your mother's management power of attorney for you or a local manager, the cottage description and terms for the platform in three languages, a bilingual guest agreement and, if you declare the income in Italy, reports in Italian. We keep all three as templates and update them each season.
A foreign guest at our fishing base fell out of a boat. I have a liability waiver in English - is that enough?
If the form was bilingual and the guest signed it - yes, this is exactly the situation it exists for. If it is only in English, a Georgian version now has to be prepared for the dispute. For the future we will prepare the form bilingually, in legal wording.
My father, who owned the dacha, died in Greece. How do I handle the inheritance?
The Greek death certificate with an apostille and a Georgian translation, certificates proving kinship, and the other heirs' renunciations or powers of attorney before a Greek notary - in Georgian, as one package, with one transliteration. The Georgian notary will give you the exact list; send us their requirements.
Does the courier come to Sioni, or do I have to go to Tianeti?
The courier comes to Sioni weekly, on an agreed day - even to the entrance of the dacha cooperative. Dacha owners driving from Tbilisi to Sioni often collect the documents at the office themselves on the way, given the hour-and-a-half drive.
Translation bureau in the other cities of Mtskheta-Mtianeti
Sioni is part of Tianeti municipality; Dusheti, Zhinvali, Pasanauri, Stepantsminda and Mtskheta are other corners of the region, each with its own focus. Choose your city.