Lithuanians do not favor changing the current mortgage system - opinion poll

The majority of Lithuanian respondents do not support the intentions by some members of Parliament to reorganize the mortgage procedure by abolishing the mandatory notarial approval and transferring this function to commercial banks and the state register operator, a representative sociological survey shows.

The opinion poll was conducted by the Public Opinion and Market Research Center Vilmorus in November 2021 and commissioned by the Lithuanian Chamber of Notaries.

Asked about their opinion regarding the proposals that the services of a notary would be waived in he real estate mortgage procedures, and the approval of the mortgage would be performed by commercial banks, 56.7% of respondents expressed disagreement. 14.4% supported the proposed amendments, 28.9% did not have an opinion on this issue.

Regarding the proposal that the state enterprise Center of Registers would register the mortgage, 41.3% of respondents disagreed, 26.3 agreed, 32.5% did not have an opinion.

More than a third of respondents (35.3%) are convinced that if the approval and registration of a mortgage were transferred to commercial banks and a state-owned enterprise, the Center of Registers would fail to ensure the legality of the mortgage, protection against counterfeiting, identity theft and other threats. Ask how the price of the service would change if the mortgage approval and registration were transferred to commercial banks and a state-owned company, the Center of Registers, 39.5 percent of the respondents thought that the service would become more expensive, 11.6 percent considered that the price would remain unchanged at only 9.7%. believed the service will become cheaper.

On November 18-27, 2021, Vilmorus interviewed one thousand residents aged 18 and older throughout Lithuania - in 28 cities and 50 villages - in a combined - face-to-face and telephone interview.

The current mortgage procedure, which came into force in July 2012, stipulates that a mortgage transaction is approved by a notary, who also performs electronic registration of the transaction in the state register on a “one-stop-shop” basis. The notary ensures the legality of the transaction, the prevention of money laundering. In addition, the notary's professional civil liability and its insurance cover damages if the transaction is declared invalid through due to  notary's fault.