LITHUANIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Evaldas Klimas and Mantas Lideika, WALLESS
an agreement with said previous creditor. In such a case, the registered security that was created first would have to be re-registered to give it pri - ority over a later-created and registered security. 3.8 Lenders’ Liability Under Environmental Laws Only an owner or possessor of real estate who performs an activity would be liable under the relevant environmental laws. A lender holding or enforcing security over real estate will not usually be liable under environmental laws. 3.9 Effects of a Borrower Becoming Insolvent Generally, the commencement of insolvency proceedings does not have an adverse effect on a security interest over property. On the contrary, under Lithuanian insolvency law, secured credi - tors have priority to recover their debts from the value of the insolvent borrower’s property given as security. It should be noted, however, that any security granted by the borrower at the time they had financial difficulties may be subject to claw- back under Lithuanian insolvency law. 3.10 Taxes on Loans Currently there are no existing, pending, or pro - posed rules, regulations, or requirements that lenders or borrowers pay any recording or simi - lar taxes in connection with mortgage loans or mezzanine loans related to real estate. 4. Planning and Zoning 4.1 Legislative and Governmental Controls Applicable to Strategic Planning and Zoning Strategic planning is usually organised by the government and municipalities, and is imple - mented via spatial planning. The Law on Spatial
Planning provides for spatial plans at the nation - al, municipal and local levels. The government and the Ministry of Environment organise and implement the master plan of the Republic of Lithuania. The councils of municipalities approve the mas - ter plans of municipalities, which are organised and implemented by the administrations of municipalities. The administrations of municipalities organise and control the implementation of the detailed plans, which are at the lowest level of the spatial planning hierarchy. There are also special spatial plans, which are used to plan territories for exceptional use (pro - tected areas, projects of state importance, etc). These plans are organised and implemented by various authorities. All real estate owners and developers should adhere to the regulations set by special plans, despite the solutions of the detailed plans. 4.2 Legislative and Governmental Controls Applicable to Design, Appearance and Method of Construction Design and construction processes are gov - erned by the Law on Construction and construc - tion technical regulations. The appearance of future buildings is reviewed by the municipality. The public and municipali - ties may also request a review of the project by regional architecture councils. The so-called “advice” of these councils is mandatory when participants (usually local communities) com - plain during a public hearing at the pre-design stage. In some cases, the design ideas of the
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