Renting Out Your Property in Lithuania

Renting out your property in Lithuania – letting a flat, apartment or house to a long-term tenant – makes the owner a landlord, a nuomotojas, bound by a lease, the nuomos sutartis. This page is for owners who let a property while living abroad, Lithuanians who moved away and kept a flat, and foreign buyers who bought to let. Some older lists and lawyer pages call this service “Property Lease Drafting Service”.

What an owner usually wants settled

• A lease that sets out the rent and its review, the deposit (depozitas), repairs and the end of the contract clearly.
• Checking the tenant and documenting the condition of the flat at the start.
• Who collects the rent, answers the tenant and deals with problems while the owner is away.
• The tax side of the rental income.

How letting works in Lithuania

A long-term lease of a home follows the Civil Code; many points are left to the parties, so the contract carries most of the protection. A lease can be registered in the Real Property Register (Registrų centras), which makes it effective against third parties. Rental income is declared to the State Tax Inspectorate (VMI): owners resident in Lithuania often register the activity, for example with a business certificate (verslo liudijimas), while owners living abroad follow the rules for non-residents. These tax rules have changed more than once, and a lawyer or tax adviser confirms the current ones. Letting to tourists for short stays is a different activity with its own rules.

What a lawyer does

A lawyer drafts or reviews the lease, prepares a bilingual version, arranges registration, and can act for an owner abroad under a power of attorney. Related pages: rental contract review and drafting, non-resident rental income tax, short-term rental rules and, when a tenant will not leave, tenant eviction.

Questions and answers

Can a foreigner who owns a flat in Lithuania let it out?

Yes. Owning and letting do not depend on nationality, but the owner's tax residence decides how the income is declared.

Can the landlord change the locks if the tenant stops paying?

No. Ending a residential lease against the tenant's will and removing the tenant go through the court, and a bailiff carries out the decision.

Is a deposit allowed?

Yes. A deposit is common and is set in the lease, together with the rules for its return.

Can the property be let while the owner lives abroad?

Yes. A local representative or a lawyer with a power of attorney can sign, keep the documents and deal with the tenant.