Mrs Lilit Muradyan has been elected the President of the Notary Chamber since 2019:  Before that, she worked as a notary for many years. Complex and interesting professional path, workload, problems of the notary community, reforms. The President of the Chamber told about all this in an interview with Iravaban.net, and answered some other important questions as well

– Mrs. Muradyan, you studied at the Faculty of Law of YSU, and you worked as a product expert, senior inspector. How did you choose the path to becoming a notary public?

– First of all, thank you for attaching importance to this meeting. The decision to become a notary was very interesting, because initially I chose the profession of the economist. I graduated from the Yerevan Institute of National Economy, Commodity Department of Non-Food Products. I really like exact sciences. I worked for several years in the RA sports base as a product specialist, then I worked in the financial department of the RA Ministry of Internal Affairs. During that time, I received the 2nd education. I graduated from Faculty of Law of YSU. I wanted to continue my work in the direction of criminal law, because I like the field very much, but there were fears, for example, of seeing blood or murder. I love law very much and I think that the mission of a notary is unique among legal professions. The notary is able to help people. Now you may ask, whether the attorney does not help, the attorney helps, but sometimes h\she can protect the criminal, which I could not do. And the notary has wider opportunities to help people, because the toolset is wide, and the profession is multi-faceted. That was my main motivation to become a notary public.

– You were elected the President of the RA Notary Chamber in 2019, what important changes did you make during your activity and what steps do you still need to take?

– Recently, my friends reminded me my words. In 2019, when there were elections for the President of the Notary Chamber, I did not say what I would do, I just said how I would like to see the Notary Chamber. For example, the Chamber had a very serious problem with the unified notarial archive for many years. Due to the lack of an archive, in many cases, the work was paralyzed. It was difficult to transfer archival files of retired or dismissed notaries to replacement notaries. In order to solve all these problems, we initiated the creation of a unified archive, which is currently underway. The second important reform refers to the creation of a school for notaries, which prepares employees who are aware of notary work and have theoretical and practical knowledge. We have already successfully completed two such courses, and many of the graduates are now working in notary offices. Referring to the legislative changes, I should mention that since 2017, part of the powers of the courts have been entrusted to notaries. I am talking about issuing a writ of execution and establishing facts of legal significance. Thanks to the notaries, the deadlines for these actions were significantly reduced, and the citizen no longer has to wait for 2 or 3 years for the exercise of his/her rights. According to the original version of this reform, the citizen had to apply to the notary, and only in case of the latter’s refusal, apply to the court, but with the legislative change made during my presidency, it was decided to give the citizen the right to choose: to apply either to the notary or to the court. In the case of applying to a notary, after the document collection stage, within a few days, the fact of legal significance is confirmed, which is very important from the point of view of restoring the violated rights of citizens. Issuance of the writ of execution by the notary is also a very important function. To explain it simply, in the case of a loan agreement approved by a notary, if one party fails to fulfill the obligation, for example, does not return the money owed, the other party does not have to go to court, because the notary can issue a writ of execution, if the parties initially came to such an agreement at the notary. This also significantly saves the citizen’s time and frees from court disputes.

– What was the process of becoming the President of the Notary Chamber from a notary? What difficulties did you face?

– Frankly speaking, I did not face any difficulties on the way of becoming the president of the chamber, the difficulties occurred after assuming the responsibility. I imagined how hard the work of the President of the Chamber was, but my friends asked me a lot to ubdertake that responsibility, perhaps seeing in me all the qualities they would like to see in a President. I couldn’t refuse them, but I also consulted my family because the work is really time-consuming and the workload is high. Imagine two or three days a week we finish work at 12 or 1 o’clock in the evening, because we convene sessions after 7 o’clock in the evening, we work with our professional committees. And all this is difficult to combine with the work of a notary, when the citizen is waiting for you, and you also have to attend meetings, for example, in the government, the ministry, the Cadastre Committee and elsewhere.

I also attach much importance and priority to the expansion of international relations, because we really want the notary to be able to uphold the name of our motherland in the professional field, within the framework of work, and to do this, we must frequently participate in international conferences and meetings. I also want to note that my presidency began in a difficult period. I was elected president in December 2019, we were already starting new work in January, and COVID happened. After those restrictions, the war began, but we did not stop working at the same pace.

– What reforms have taken place in the notary community and what new reforms still need to be implemented?

– As I already mentioned, in 2017, the function of confirming facts of legal importance was transferred to us from the courts. Initially, the notary was unable to perform this function due to the incompleteness of the documents necessary to confirm the fact. Later, during my presidency, due to legislative changes, the notary was also given the opportunity to listen to the witness within the scope of this function, after which the notary is able to successfully establish the facts of legal importance even in the absence of documents. Last year, thanks to the notaries, the workload of the courts was alleviated by about 80%. Notaries were entrusted with the issuing of orders on confiscation of an amount not exceeding 2 million drams. This is a very complicated process, because the study of the legal norms underlying the obligation must be done, and the notaries, fortunately for all of us, are professionals in their work and study the applications in excessive detail. I can say that we have started this process with honor.

Extensive work is being done now in the direction of digitization. The need for digitization is increasing day by day, and the notary community cannot be left behind. Of course, we must keep up with the times, but let’s not forget the main mission of the notary, that is, when a citizen comes for a transaction, the notary must find out whether the latter had come of his/her own free will, whether he/she was well informed, and whether he/she really needs that transaction. The mission of a notary is also to prevent possible disputes between citizens. And in the case of digitization, the notary must have tools to identify citizens. A citizen will be able to apply electronically from anywhere for validation of unilateral or bilateral transactions. Due to digitalization, in fact, the work of a notary public will be carried out entirely on the principle of one window. As a result of the interaction of the systems, the process of collecting documents will be simplified, for example, the citizen will not have to deliver the contract personally to the Cadastre Committee, thanks to which it will be possible to avoid a number of frauds. References from state bodies, local self-government bodies must be received electronically. Now we are actively working towards these reforms. If we shall manage to implement them, the citizens’ burden will be relieved and their rights will be more protected. I should also mention that notaries have a great role in the fight against money laundering and terrorism. They report suspicious transactions to the appropriate authorities. As part of the fight against money laundering, last year the validation of all donation transactions was transferred from the Cadastre Committee to the notaries, because the notary is able to identify and prevent fake transactions with its tools.

I think real estate transactions should return to the notary’s toolbox again, because, in fact, there are very delicate issues that can be clarified only within the scope of the notary’s functions.

You are asking me questions about the recent reforms, but I definitely want to mention in a few words that there are a number of important functions in the notary’s toolkit, which citizens do not even know about. Such are, for example, the provision of evidence, the acceptance of a deposit, the oral statement of a citizen, the transfer of documents from one person to another. Unfortunately, citizens often do not take advantage of these rights due to ignorance, and we need to do even more active awareness work.

– Mrs. Muradyan, does the electronic platform somewhat alleviate the workload of the notary system workers?

– The E-notary system is for informing citizens, it helps a lot to citizens who are able to use the system. And the work of notaries is facilitated by the Electronic Notary System, AENIS. If previously all data were collected manually, today the personal database is digitally transferred from the “EKENG” system immediately. AENIS reduces the possibility of errors because the human factor is reduced. Notaries communicate with each other about work issues through this system. They send notifications, requests, and receive answers. By means of the system, the notary community exchanges data with state bodies, the scope of which is expanding, and we plan to expand it further. As I mentioned, notaries submit reports to the Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia within the framework of the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Law, which was very time-consuming. That process has also been digitized, and now is in the testing phase, and in the near future all those reports will be transferred to the Central Bank automatically. Notaries will also be able to electronically make inquiries to the Central Depository regarding citizens’ accumulated pensions, share ownership and receive answers automatically. This feature is also in the testing stage and will be fully implemented by notaries in the near future. We are also working on expanding electronic cooperation with the Cadastre Committee, trying to increase the amount of information exchanged. Thanks to all these reforms, the citizen, coming to the notary, is able to use a one-window service, for example, to receive the unified information on property restrictions, the ownership certificate, to receive information on whether there are obligations regarding property tax according to the Tax Code or not, whether the notary can ratify that contract or not? After the completion of the transaction, by writing an application to the notary, the citizen has the opportunity to carry out the state registration of real estate rights at the Cadastre Committee, again on a one-window basis, from the notary’s office.

– The fee set for notary services has not changed for years. What is the position of the Notary Chamber regarding this matter, isn’t it time to review them?

– Yes, ars no price change has taken place in relation to tariffs for many ye, the last change was in 2002 in the form of a reduction of tariffs. Over the past 22 years, the prices of all services have increased, while notary fees have remained unchanged. I am not so concerned about the low rates as much as their inadequacy to the amount of responsibility assumed by the notary. For example, in the Kadastre Committee, only the authenticity of the signature is certified, and the notary examines, clarifies the essence of the transaction, the grounds, and in case of a mistake, takes responsibility with his/her own property. Therefore, as I mentioned, the amount of the notary’s responsibility is not equivalent to the amount of the notary’s fee. According to the international experience, the notary fee is formed from the value of the property to be sold, according to the relevant percentage ratio, and in our case, as I mentioned, the tariffs are fixed. It should also be taken into account that the notary is one of the major taxpayer today. The turnover tax does not reduce the notary’s tax liability, and according to the legislative initiative, the notary must be taxed with VAT, as a result of which there are fears that regional notaries may not be able to work because they will not have an income. Value added tax is a difficult field. It is not for a notary public. Therefore, the notary’s tax burden and obligations increase more and more without reviewing the tariff field. If this legislative initiative becomes law, I think it will be really necessary, after studying the international experience, to revise the tariffs for notary activities, making them consistent with the work performed by the notary and the amount of responsibility assumed.

– What should be the first prerequisite for a notary in order to see citizens satisfied and solve their problems?

– First of all, it is necessary to be able to orientate the citizen correctly that if the given action is not within the authority of the notary, then where can he turn to get answers to the questions of concern. In that case, even if the transaction is not within the operational domain of the notary, the citizen leaves the office satisfied. Our notaries are professionals because they have multi-layered and multi-professional knowledge. The prerequisites for seeing the citizen satisfied are probably the notary’s knowledge and patience. The notary must be a psychologist to understand the citizen. To this end, we also involve psychologists in our mandatory annual training courses, who teach us good tricks to properly study and understand a citizen, including sign language.

I think the most important prerequisite is to listen to the citizen in order to guide him properly.

– Mrs. Muradyan, do you consider yourself strict in your work as the President of the Notary Chamber,?

– I am demanding. So that the work does not suffer, the manager must be strict. Strictness should never be confused with indifference, inhumanity. I am in favor of maintaining the working regime and discipline. Perhaps you should ask my staff whether I am strict or not, but I myself find that strictness is necessary, because discipline is the key to success; if you are not disciplined, your staff is not disciplined and organized as well, asnd only the work will suffer.

– What control is being exercised over the notary system, what kind of cooperation are you in with the Ministry of Justice?

– According to the law, the supervision is carried out by the Ministry of Justice. Cooperation with the latter is very constructive, because currently the coordinator of work with the notary community in the ministry is Ms Sirvard Gevorgyan, who is a former notary. Working with her is easy because she is well aware of the problems of the notary system. I can say that the changes we proposed have been implemented to as much extent as possible. The implementation of legislative changes was very important for the work of a notary, because legislation should also change with time and not become outdated. The approach of the Ministry is very professional and accessible. They are ready to implement good ideas. Our international partners, when they host us, always appreciate the level of cooperation between us and the Ministry.

Today, no one can have any influence on the work of a notary, I am certainly not talking about control. The notary bears responsibility for each of the actions, but within this independence, the notary also remembers that he/she acts on behalf of the state and upholds the name of the state.

– Mrs. Muradya, is it easy for a woman to fulfill her work duties and to be active in everyday life, in the family? How does it all fit together in your life?

– It is very difficult, because you have to do everything: communicate with friends, family, participate in organized events, discussions. Everything should be done in the family as well. Your family members come for dinner in the evening, and even if you are participating in an online session, the dinner table should be ready, everyone’s clothes should be washed and ironed. Yes, I do all that and I manage to do. If there is a desire and you love it, you do everything with love.

It is said that the happy person is the person who is happy at home. Everything should be in the golden mean, all you need is to be able to help people, be next to your family and friends. I love my friends and my job very much. For me, happy is the person who wants to go to work in the morning and looks forward in the evening to finish work and go home to his family. This is my formula for happiness and I am happy.

Interview: Mariam Shahnazaryan

Photos by Lusine Hakobyan