Investment property: Belarus

Updated 5 October 2026

A foreigner can buy a flat, house, country cottage or commercial premises in Belarus and own them on general terms.

The restriction concerns land: under the Land Code, foreign citizens and stateless persons may not acquire land plots in ownership and receive them only on lease. A foreigner can become the owner of a plot only by inheritance. Demand centres on Minsk and regional capitals, which have the most resale and new-build flats.

What you can buy and what about land

• A flat: no restrictions; title is registered to the foreign buyer.
• A house: the foreigner buys the house itself, and the plot under it is leased to them through the local executive committee. Privately owned plots are sold only together with the buildings on them.
• Commercial property: on general terms, often through a Belarusian company.
• New build: under a contract with the developer; title is registered after the building is commissioned.

How the deal is formalised

A home purchase contract must be in notarial form: it is certified by a notary or a real estate registrar at a territorial agency. The transfer is then registered with the territorial organisation for state registration of real estate, rights and transactions. Registration takes one to seven working days, after which the entry is made in the Unified State Register of Real Estate. Until registration the buyer is not the owner.

If you cannot travel, a representative handles the deal under a power of attorney. A power of attorney issued abroad is apostilled, while documents from Russia and other Commonwealth countries are accepted without an apostille under the Minsk Convention, with a translation if needed.

The foreign buyer's documents

• passport with a notarised translation;
• a residence permit or temporary stay registration in Belarus;
• for a purchase while married, marital status documents if the notary requires them;
• a power of attorney if a representative handles the deal.

Funds for the purchase and sanctions

Some Belarusian banks are under EU, US and UK sanctions, so sending money for a purchase from Western countries and later taking out sale proceeds can be difficult. The payment scheme is worked out before the deposit: from which country and in which currency the money comes, which bank processes it and how you will handle the property later. Settling through an account at a Belarusian bank is most convenient; see our personal account in Belarus page.

How the purchase works

1. Shortlisting a flat or house for your goal: living, letting, preserving savings.
2. Checks in the Unified State Register: owner, encumbrances, seizures, registered occupants.
3. Temporary stay registration for the buyer, if not yet done.
4. The contract with a notary or real estate registrar.
5. State registration of the transfer, one to seven working days.
6. Leasing the plot from the executive committee if buying a house.

Risks

• Registered occupants remain in the flat and are hard to deregister.
• A house whose plot lease is not arranged in time.
• A property mortgaged to a bank that the seller did not disclose.
• A payment scheme that ignores banks' sanctions limits.
• The passport translation and stay documents are not ready on the day, and the deal is postponed.

What we do

We shortlist a property, check it in the register, help with temporary stay registration and document translation, build a payment scheme that accounts for sanctions, and support the contract, state registration and plot lease with locally licensed partners.

What we do

• Property shortlist for your investment goal
• Legal due diligence on the property
• End-to-end transaction support
• Ownership structuring (company, trust)
• Property management and letting

See also

Business account · Personal account · Country taxes · All country programs

FAQ