Discussion on the Further Development of the Land Register System Continues
Published: 26.08.2026
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Discussion on the Further Development of the Land Register System Continues
On Wednesday, 26 August, Minister of Justice Edvards Smiltēns met with judges
specialising in land register matters to discuss the assessment of the further development
of the land register system initiated by the Ministry of Justice and to hear
the judges’ views on possible solutions.
During the meeting, the judges proposed assessing one more possible solution, namely, integrating some of
the land register duties currently performed by judges into the responsibilities of the emerging
court lawyer position. The Ministry of Justice and the judges agreed to assess this proposal
alongside other possible models for the development of the land register system
in the course of further research.
Land register matters continue to account for a significant part of judges’ work. Although since 2019
land register judges have been fully integrated into courts of general jurisdiction at district (city)
level and are also expected to hear other categories of cases, approximately 74% of their workload
still consists of land register matters.
The Ministry of Justice stresses that the assessment of options for developing the land register system
is currently at the research stage, and no decisions have been made on transferring land register functions
to other entities.
“Given the existing human resources challenges in the court system, the question is not whether
the land register function will be reformed, but rather how this can be done in the most appropriate, efficient and
secure manner. When assessing various models for developing the land register function, it is important
to hear from the parties involved. Today, we agreed that we will assess the option proposed by the judges
alongside other possible models. The discussion is open, and only after assessing all
solutions, benefits and risks will we be able to discuss the way forward,” emphasises
Minister of Justice Edvards Smiltēns.
The need to assess the further development of the land register system is determined by
the human resources situation in the courts. At the beginning of 2026, there were 68 judicial positions
specialising in land register matters, 13 of which were vacant, and land register matters were
actually being heard by 55 judges. A further decline in the number of specialised judges
is expected in the coming years. Assessments conducted to date
indicate that, without changing the current work organisation model, increasingly
greater difficulties may arise in maintaining the land register functions at their current scale in the future.
The Ministry of Justice’s initial research assessed several models for the
future implementation of the land register function. They will be compared by assessing their legal certainty,
costs, service quality and impact on the operation of the court system.
