Registering Property in Uruguay

This section records the full sequence of procedures, time, and cost involved in registering property in Uruguay. The Doing Business project assumes a standardized case of an entrepreneur who wants to purchase a piece of property in the periurban area of the economy’s largest business city. The property consists of land and a building, is already registered, and is free of title dispute. The process of property registration is complete once the property title has been transferred to the buyer’s name, so that the buyer is able to use the property for expanding business, as collateral for new loans, or, if necessary, to sell it to another business.

The country data appearing on this page was collected as part of the Doing Business project, which measures and compares regulations relevant to the life cycle of a small- to medium-sized domestic business in 183 economies. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2009.

The table below provides a summary of property registration requirements (along with the associated completion time and cost). The table is followed by additional country-specific details for registration requirements.

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Standardized property

Property Value: UYU 9,957,781
City: Montevideo

Registration Requirements Summary:


  Procedure Time to complete: Cost to complete:
*1 Obtain a non-encumbrance certificate from the “Banco de Previsión Social” 15 days (simultaneous with procedures 2, 3, 4, and 5) UYU 3,500
*2 Obtain a non-encumbrance certificate at the Real Estate Office (Registro de la Propiedad Inmueble) 2-4 days (simultaneous with procedures 1, 3, 4, and 5) UYU 507
*3 Obtain a non-encumbrance certificate at the “Registro de Actos Personales” 1 day (simultaneous with procedures 1, 2, 4, and 5) UYU 507
*4 Obtain a non-encumbrance certificate at the Municipality 1 day (simultaneous with procedures 1, 2, 3, and 5) UYU 450
*5 Obtain a “Cédula Catastral” at the Cadastre 1 day (simultaneous with procedures 1, 2, 3, and 4) no cost
*6 Obtain the waiver of preemption rights from the Municipality 1 day (simultaneous with procedures 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5) UYU 200 (stamp)
7 The sale agreement is prepared by a notary 20 days 3% of property price (notary fees)
8 The notary pays the transfer tax 1 day 4% of cadastral value
9 The public deed is delivered to the Real Estate Office for its recording under the name of the buyer 30 days UYU 964 (Stamp Duty)
* Takes place simultaneously with another procedure.

Registration Requirement Details

Procedure 1.
Obtain a non-encumbrance certificate from the “Banco de Previsión Social”
Time to complete:
15 days (simultaneous with procedures 2, 3, 4, and 5)
Cost to complete:
UYU 3,500
Name of Agency:
Social Security Institute (Banco de Previsión Social)
Comment:
The seller must obtain a non-encumbrance certificate at the “Banco de Previsión Social”, showing that he is free of debt of any social security contributions. It is now possible to see online the status of the request.

The documentation shall include:
Public deed of the purchase by the previous owners for prior 30 years.
Proof of payments of taxes and other services (electricity, telephone, gas, water).
Procedure 2.
Obtain a non-encumbrance certificate at the Real Estate Office (Registro de la Propiedad Inmueble)
Time to complete:
2-4 days (simultaneous with procedures 1, 3, 4, and 5)
Cost to complete:
UYU 507
Name of Agency:
Real Estate Office (Registro de la Propiedad Inmueble)
Comment:
Obtain a non-encumbrance certificate for the past 30 years at the “Registro de la Propiedad Inmueble” (Real Estate Office), so as to check if there is any mortgage, lien or other encumbrance on the property. It is now possible to request and pay online the certificate, but it needs to be picked up afterwards.
Procedure 3.
Obtain a non-encumbrance certificate at the “Registro de Actos Personales”
Time to complete:
1 day (simultaneous with procedures 1, 2, 4, and 5)
Cost to complete:
UYU 507
Name of Agency:
Registro de Actos Personales
Comment:
Obtain a non-encumbrance certificate for the past 30 years at the “Registro de Actos Personales”, so as to know if the prior owner or other prior owners had any encumbrance or lien. The base cost is UYU 433, plus other minor costs for forms.
Procedure 4.
Obtain a non-encumbrance certificate at the Municipality
Time to complete:
1 day (simultaneous with procedures 1, 2, 3, and 5)
Cost to complete:
UYU 450
Name of Agency:
Municipality
Comment:
Obtain a non-encumbrance certificate for the past 10 years at the Municipality. The cost is UYU 323 at the Municipality, plus another stamp of UYU 70 attached.
Procedure 5.
Obtain a “Cédula Catastral” at the Cadastre
Time to complete:
1 day (simultaneous with procedures 1, 2, 3, and 4)
Cost to complete:
no cost
Name of Agency:
Cadastre (Direccion del catastro nacional)
Comment:
Obtain a “cédula catastral” from the Cadastre so as to know the value of the property. The certificate can be obtained online. The decree N° 441/008 of September 17 2008 eliminated all fees charged by the Dirección Nacional de Catastro for issuing catastral certificates. Cost went down from 150 $ to 0.
Procedure 6.
Obtain the waiver of preemption rights from the Municipality
Time to complete:
1 day (simultaneous with procedures 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5)
Cost to complete:
UYU 200 (stamp)
Name of Agency:
Municipality
Comment:
Obtain a certificate from the Municipality which states that the Municipality rejects of its right of pre-emption regarding to the acquisition. The “Ley de Ordenamiento Territorial N° 18.308” from June 30 2008, in its article 66 states that municipalities have the priority to buy properties when transferred. The law states that the executive branch should establish the necessary regulations, which by May 2009 have not been approved. For this reason, all buildings in Montevideo need to obtain a waiver for preemption rights when sold, by submitting a form that includes the “pardon” number.
While most cities in Uruguay have ruled that they will not exercise the preemption right until the implementing regulations are in place, in Montevideo and Maldonado it is necessary obtain this waiver. In Montevideo, the obtaining of the waiver is obtained immediately after submitting the form.
Procedure 7.
The sale agreement is prepared by a notary
Time to complete:
20 days
Cost to complete:
3% of property price (notary fees)
Name of Agency:
Comment:
A public notary prepares the sale agreement. The participation of a notary is mandatory. Without it, the deed will not be valid. The notary fees are regulated by the Asociación de Escribanos del Uruguay, or Uruguayan Notary Association, setting the official fees (sometimes notaries might charge less than the official rate). The seller is responsible for gathering all the documentation to be presented to the public notary. Once the sale agreement is ready it must be signed by the seller and the buyer, and the notary collects the money to pay the transfer tax (4% of the cadastral value, paid half by buyer and half by seller). The documentation shall include:
Public deeds of the purchase by the previous owners for prior 30 years.
Non-encumbrance certificate of the “Banco de Previsión Social” (obtained in Procedure 1),non-encumbrance certificate from Registro de la propiedad inmueble (obtained in Procedure 2), from "Registro de actos personales" ((obtained in Procedure 3), from Municipality (obtained in Procedure 4)
Photocopy of the ID of seller.
All tax receipts concerning the use of the property for prior one year.
The plan of the survey of property and the plan of the constructions.
Procedure 8.
The notary pays the transfer tax
Time to complete:
1 day
Cost to complete:
4% of cadastral value
Name of Agency:
Comment:
The public notary pays the transfer tax or “Impuesto a las Trasmisiones Patrimoniales”. Both the buyer and the seller will pay 2% each. As of law no. 18.064 of November 27, 2006, when transferring rural property (not in this case), the ITP has risen to 7% total.
Procedure 9.
The public deed is delivered to the Real Estate Office for its recording under the name of the buyer
Time to complete:
30 days
Cost to complete:
UYU 964 (Stamp Duty)
Name of Agency:
Real Estate Office (Registro de la Propiedad Inmueble)
Comment:
The public deed is delivered to The Real Estate Office (Registro de la Propiedad Inmueble) for its recording under the name of the buyer. After the process is over, the buyer must communicate to the Public Offices Services the change of owner (water, light, gas, telephone, etc).