Bolivia

Registering Property in

Bolivia

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: BOB 661,978.99
  • City: La Paz

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No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
* 1 Obtain a non-encumbrance certificate (“Folio real”) that includes the “Certificado Alodial” and a 10-year certificate of the property (“Certificado Decenal”) at the Real Estate Office

Both certificates must be obtained by the seller before starting the transaction formally. The 10-year certificate shows all the owners of the property in the last 10 years.



Agency: Real Estate Office (Registro de derechos reales) 		7 days (simultaneous with procedures 2 and 3) 58 BOB for the Land Registry certificate (Folio Real) and 68 BOB for the 10 year certificate (Certificado Decenal)
* 2 An architect of the Municipality inspects the property and prepares the cadastral plan

An architect of the Municipality must go and verify the property to determine its cadastral value and prepare a cadastral plan. This plan is required to obtain the Cadastral Unified Form in the Municipality.

Agency: Municipality 		60 days (simultaneous with procedures 1 and 3) BOB 800 (architect’s fees)
* 3 The seller must obtain the Cadastral Unified Form at the Municipality including the cadastral value of the property

The seller picks up the map prepared by the architect at the Municipality, and at the same time obtains Cadastral Unified Form, including the cadastral value of the property.
This form is usually not in possession of the seller or it is not up to date due to modifications on the property.

The documentation to complete this procedure shall include:
• Public Deed of the purchase of the property
• Public Deed of the purchase by the previous owner
• Property Title issued by the Real Estate Office
• Yearly property taxes for the last 5 years
• ID of the seller
• Proof of payments of electricity services
• Cadastral map/plan of the property prepared by an architect (obtained in Procedure 2)

Agency: Municipality 		1 day (simultaneous with procedures 1 and 2) 45.00 BOB
4 Lawyer prepares the sale agreement (“minuta”)

The seller is responsible for gathering all the documentation, which includes:
• Property title issued by the Real Estate Office
• Non-encumbrance and 10 years certificate of the property (obtained in Procedure 1)
• Yearly property taxes proof of payment for the last 5 years
• Public deed of the purchase of the property
• Legal representative power
• Cadastral Unified Form issued by the Municipality (obtained in Procedure 3)
2 days BOB 300 + 1% of the price of the transaction
5 The “minuta” is delivered to the Municipality for payment of transfer taxes and the name of buyer is recorded

A sales tax certificate is obtained, and the name of the buyer is registered at the Municipality. The documentation shall include the sale agreement or “minuta.” The payment is made at a commercial bank and the payment receipt will have to be shown to the notary later.

Agency: Municipality 		2 days 3% transfer tax levied on the cadastral value of the property or purchase price, whichever is higher
6 The notary notarizes the “minuta” and prepares the public deed

The “minuta” is executed by a Public Notary, who prepares the public deed. The number of pages of the “minuta” or sale agreement depends on the lawyer and the clauses in the contract between the buyer and the seller.
The documentation shall include:
• Sales tax certificate (obtained in Procedure 5); and
• Certificate that the buyer is registered at the Municipality (obtained in Procedure 5).
2 days BOB 30 for each page of the “minuta” (assuming 4 pages)
7 The public deed is delivered to the Real Estate Office for its recording under the name of the buyer

Even though the Real Estate Office has been computerized recently (http://ddrr.poderjudicial.gov.bo/), most of the information on previous titles is not in the system and thus time is needed to search physically for old titles. This step will require a considerable less amount of time when all the information is included on the system.
The documentation needed to lodge for registration includes:
• The notarized “minuta”; and
• Public deed.

Agency: Real Estate Office (Registro de derechos reales) 		25 days BOB 400 + 0.5% on the cadastral value of the property or purchase price, whichever is higher (registration fee)
* Takes place simultaneously with another procedure.
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