Bahamas, The

Registering Property in

Bahamas, The

Listed below is a detailed summary of the steps, time and cost involved in registering property, assuming a standardized case of an entrepreneur who wants to purchase land and a building that is already registered and free of title dispute.

The information 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 2011.

  • Standard Property Transfer

  • Property Value: BSD 1,090,138.14
  • City: Nassau

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No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
1 Notarization of affidavits of witnesses to signatures of conveyance

This procedure is not necessary for the validity of the conveyance, but it is required in practice by the Registry of Records to register the transfer. Any licensed notary public can do it, and in most cases lawyers have the notary public license and can do it themselves.
1 day BSD 30-BSD 50
* 2 Lawyer or his clerk checks for encumbrances at the Registry of records (regarding any mortgages on the property).

Searches are conducted by search clerks or lawyers. Documents recorded at the Registry of Records are available on microfilm up to 2003. From 2003 onwards documents recorded have been scanned and may be accessed online.

When the parties hire a large law firm, the firm usually does this Documents search, together with the Court Cause List search of Procedure 3 and the Company Search of Procedure 4, in house. The firm does not charge an extra fee for these searches, ie. it is included in the conveyance fee. When an independent party is hired to conduct the searches, the fee is 300-350 USD per lot searched.

The Bahamas Bar Association has a sliding scale of fees for property transactions, which is based on the valued of the property:
2.5% of the value of the property is payable on the first B$500,000
2% of the value of the property is payable for that part which is in excess of B$500,000, but does not exceed B$1,000,000
1% of the value that is in excess of B$1,000,000, but does not exceed B$5,000,000.



Agency: Registry of Records 		1 - 2 months (simultaneous with Procedures 3, 4, and 5) The Bahamas Bar Association has a sliding scale of fees for property transactions, which is based on the value of the property: 2.5% of the value of the property is payable on the first BSD 500,000 2% of the value of the property is payable for that part
* 3 Lawyer checks for judgments against the property at the Supreme Court

This search is conducted to check if there are any judgments affecting the property, since charges imposed by judicial decisions could be levied on the property, regardless of who the owner is.

Agency: Supreme Court 		1 day (simultaneous with Procedures 2, 4 and 5) no cost
* 4 Lawyer checks for other companies using the same property at the Company Registrar.

Searches are done at the Companies Registry only if a company now owns or previously owned the land. Searches are done to ensure that the company was existing and duly incorporated during the period of its ownership of the property and to ensure that any conveyance executed by it was executed in accordance with the Articles of Association.



Agency: Company Registry 		1 day (simultaneous with Procedures 2,3 and 5) no cost
* 5 Real property tax status enquiry with the Valuation office of the Ministry of Finance.

Although not required by law, it is common for the lawyer to also check if real property taxes on the property are current as they are a first charge on the property. If the seller hasn’t paid them in the past, the new owner will inherit the taxes. In addition to this procedure, the buyer's lawyer might also chose to make an inquiry with utility companies (water, electricity and phone/cable). Such inquiry could be conducted within 2 weeks.

Agency: Valuation office of the Ministry of Finance 		1 day (simultaneous with Procedure 2, 3, and 4) no cost
6 Payment of Stamp Duty

Stamp duty is payable as a percent of the value of the property. Paid at the Public Treasury. The rates for stamp duty are as follows: Stamp duty is payable as a percent of the value of the property.
The rates of stamp duty applicable to deeds of conveyance, assignments or transfers of realty, as per the Stamp (Amendment) Act of July 1, 2010, are as follows:

• When the amount or value does not exceed $20,000, the rate is 4%.
• Exceeding $20,000, but not exceeding $50,000, the rate is 6%.
• Exceeding $50,000, but not exceeding $100,000, the rate is 8%.
• Exceeding $100,000, but not exceeding $250,000, the rate is 10%.
• Exceeding $250,000, the rate is 12%.


1 day 12% of property value
7 Lodge the conveyance for recording at registry of records

It generally takes 3 months for the Registry of Records to record a property transfer and return the supporting documentation after it has been filed for recording.

Agency: Registry of Records 		2-3 months BSD 4.5 per page
* Takes place simultaneously with another procedure.
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