Registering Property in Argentina

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Standardized property

Registration Requirements Summary:

Registration Requirement Details

Procedure 1.

Seller must obtain a certificate of ownership ("dominio") and a certificate of good standing ("inhibiciones") from the Real Property Registry

Time to complete:

7 days (regular procedure for domain certificate and personal annotation certificate), 1 day (urgent procedure) (simultaneous with procedures 2 and 3)

Cost to complete:

Domain Certificate: ARS 114 (urgent) or ARS 63 (regular)
Personal Annotation Certificate: ARS 101 (urgent) or ARS 50 (regular)

Name of Agency:

Real Property Registry (Registro de la propiedad inmueble de la Capital Federal)

Comment:

The certificate of ownership ("Certificado de dominio") proves that the property is free and clear of liens and or encumbrances. The certificate of good standing ("Certificado de inhibiciones") proves that there is no judicial order restraining the seller from encumbering or disposing of his assets. The domain certificate and a personal annotation are valid for 15 days, and they are both requested with a unified form.
When a notary from the Capital Federal requests a domain certificate, the property is “reserved” for 60 days. If a new Domain certificate is requested during this period, it will state that a transaction is in process.

Pursuant to Technical Resolution N°5/2008 of the Registry of Property dated September 5, 2008, the certificate of good standing can be obtained online at the Registry website www.dnrpi.jus.gov.ar, with a cost of AR$ 46. Only interested parties pursuant to sections 6,7 and 22, Law No. 17,801 can obtain the certificate online, and they also need to be registered in the website.

Procedure 2.

Obtain a cadastral certificate ("certificado catastral")

Time to complete:

1 day (simultaneous with procedures 1 and 3)

Cost to complete:

ARS 31

Name of Agency:

City of Buenos Aires government (“Oficina catastral”)

Comment:

The notary requests the cadastral certificate (with measures, boundaries and fiscal valuation) at the Cadastral office (“Oficina catastral”). The certificate is valid for one year. In the Capital Federal, there is no need of a surveyor measuring the property.
Note: for some type of properties, it is possible to obtain the certificate on-line in the Province of Buenos Aires.

Procedure 3.

Obtain a certificate stating that no local taxes related to the property are due (ABL)

Time to complete:

3 days (simultaneous with procedures 1 and 2)

Cost to complete:

ARS 50

Name of Agency:

Notaries’ association ("Colegio de Escribanos")

Comment:

This certificate ("Certificado de libre deuda de impuestos municipales-ABL") is obtained at the Notaries’ association ("Colegio de Escribanos"). Local taxes related to the property being sold are known as ABL (“alumbrado, barrido y limpieza”, street light and cleaning). The certificate is valid for 30 days (or the current month), according to the 2009 “Código Fiscal” of the city of Buenos Aires, which shortened the original 1 year validity.

Procedure 4.

Obtain "Code of Offer of Transfer of a Property" (COTI) at tax agency AFIP

Time to complete:

1 day

Cost to complete:

no cost

Name of Agency:

Tax Agency (AFIP)

Comment:

For every transfer of a property made for properties over AR$ 300.000, the seller shall declare it before the tax authorities in the City (AFIP). In order to declare such transaction the Seller shall get the "Code of Offer of Transfer of a Property" (COTI) from AFIP, by informing the names of buyer and seller, the property and the value of the transaction. The procedure can be done though AFIP’s website, by phone or text message.
The COTI has a validity of 24 months (extendable 12 months if a construction will be made), and started to be implemented since March 1st 2008 through the Resolución General N° 2371 Año 2007 from 14/12/2007 in order to fight tax evasion.

Procedure 5.

The public deed is executed by the parties with the intervention of a notary public

Time to complete:

14-28 days

Cost to complete:

Notary public fees: 1-1.5% of the purchase price (usually paid by buyer)
Stamp Tax: 2.5 % of the purchase price (usually paid jointly)
Transfer Tax: 3% of the purchase price (paid by seller)

Name of Agency:

Comment:

The public deed is the only document which is mandatory by law to transfer a property's ownership.
Transactions subject to Capital Gains Tax are not subject to Transfer Tax (this is the case when companies are parties to the transaction). Capital Gains Tax is paid by the seller. However, this tax is not applicable if the money collected by seller for the transfer of property is used to buy another property within a year of the sale or for the construction of a new property. In this last case, for the tax waiver to apply, the construction has to start a year after or a year before the transaction and it has to be completed 4 years after the date of the transaction.
The notary will retain the 3% for the transfer tax, but if the transaction is subject to Capital Gains Tax (CGT), he will use this amount to pay the CGT. If the transaction has been arranged through a broker, his fees will be about 3% of the purchase price

Procedure 6.

The notary public files the property transfer for registration with the Real Property Register

Time to complete:

28 days

Cost to complete:

ARS 83 (regular) or ARS 196 (urgent) + 0.2% property price additional stamp tax

Name of Agency:

Real Property Registry (Registro de la propiedad inmueble de la Capital Federal)

Comment:

Upon registration, the buyer will have perfect and complete title to the property, opposable to third parties. The registration fees are usually paid by the buyer. The notary has 45 days to register the property transfer. At this stage, the property title can be used as a collateral for a loan, or the property can be resold.

The majority of operations are made through the regular procedure.