Parliament considers the Ministry of Justice’s proposals to freeze cadastral values

On Tuesday, 9 March, the Saeima Legal Affairs Committee reviewed the Ministry of Justice’s proposals for amendments to the Cadastral Law, which provide for postponing the entry into force of the new cadastral value base to 1 January 2025. In the meantime, the cadastral values currently in force will be applied at least until 31 December 2024. 

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice Jānis Bordāns: “The new cadastral value bases must not enter into force until the Ministry of Finance has implemented a reform of the real estate tax with the aim of preventing an increase in the tax burden.”

The Ministry of Justice also proposes stipulating that, going forward, new cadastral value bases may not be published later than one and a half years before their entry into force. This means that the public will be able to learn about the new values at least one and a half years before they are applied. Accordingly, the cadastral value base would be developed in line with the situation on the real estate market as it was two and a half years before the cadastral value base is applied to calculate cadastral values.

It is envisaged that, to ensure public information, the State Land Service will, until the new cadastral value base for 2025–2028 is approved by the Cabinet of Ministers, maintain on its website the cadastral value base developed in accordance with the situation on the real estate market as at 1 July 2019, as well as the projected cadastral values calculated on that basis. The said projected cadastral values will be updated by the State Land Service at least once every 12 months, and the projected cadastral value base will be published before it is submitted to the government for approval.

Taking into account fluctuations in the real estate market and their certain cyclical nature, it is also envisaged that greater flexibility will be ensured in aligning newly calculated cadastral values with the amount of real estate tax. To achieve this, in cases where a significant increase in cadastral values is possible, the Ministry of Justice proposes providing in the law that the Cabinet of Ministers may decide not to apply the approved cadastral value base when calculating cadastral values for real estate tax purposes (retaining the cadastral value base approved for the previous period), thereby limiting a possible increase in real estate tax. 

Information prepared by:

Ministry of Justice