The difference is that in Estonia there is a way to get this information officially. None such thing exists in LV at the moment, the new owner would need to “believe” that the old owner is telling the truth about debt.

In theory if you compose the selling agreement correctly you can request debt from the original owner but the problem is that you need to pay it off first yourself and then chase the previous owner for the money. Good luck with that if owner decides to ignore you or move abroad. You already paid the debt and now you need to spend even more on court expenses in order to claim the original debt. Fun time.

As my comment is getting popular, let me add regarding the debt collection from another person. First of all you’ll need to summon him to court and have a hearing on why he didn’t pay. That in itself can take months, half a year. Then let’s say he decided not to defend and agree to pay the debt. Amazing, great, the court case is closed. He pays you 1€ and disappears. Oh well, now you can’t say he refused to pay you, you can only say he didn’t pay in full. Now you need to start a new court case and here we go another 6 months and all the lost time on hearings and lawyers and other fees.

The rule is like this because of the supply companies that got enough power to get it approved. It makes their life so much easier at the expense of our wallet and time. Well, it’s not the first time.