El Salvador

Registering Property in

El Salvador

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: USD 168,019.7
  • City: San Salvador

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No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
1 Obtain a Literal Certification (LC) and a Non-Lien Certification (NEC) of the property at the Register of Property

The LC may already be in the possession of the seller. Both certifications must be obtained by the seller before starting the transaction formally. The Literal Certification is not necessary if the seller has the property title.

Agency: Property Registry 		3 days Literal Certification: $8.86 + Non-Lien Certification (NEC) 8.86 + $0.35 per page
2 Preparation and notarization of the sale agreement

A notary will prepare and notarize the sale agreement. In El Salvador, only lawyers are notaries.
The parties are responsible for gathering all the documentation to be presented to the notary.
The documentation shall include:
Photocopy of the parties ID’s of the Limited Liability Companies (LLC)
Photocopy of the Tax Identification Numbers (NIT) of the parties
Photocopy of the corporate documents of the LLC’s (Articles of Incorporation, credentials, documents that can duly establish the legal representation and empowerment of the representatives of the LLC, etc)
Photocopy of the Tax Identification Numbers (NIT) of the LLC’s
Copy of the property title or Literal Certification (LC) (obtained in Procedure 1)
Proof of payments of municipal taxes
Proof that parties are tax solvent with Ministry of Finance

Agency: Property Registry 		3 days 0.15 – 1.0% of property price (notary’s fees)
3 Payment of registration fees and transfer tax at a commercial bank



Agency: Commercial Bank 		1 day 0.63% of property price (Registration Fee) + 3% over the excess of $ 28,571.43 of the total price (Transfer of Real Estate Tax)
4 The deed is presented to the Registry office for registration

The public deed is filed at the Register of Property to be recorded under the name of the buyer.
The deed will be registered, if it meets all the legal requirements, in 2 - 4 weeks. The registry has to check with the Ministry of Finance ("Hacienda") if the parties are Tax solvent. In addition to reforms at the registry set out by the Law on Standard Procedures of August 2004, an electronic system is currently being introduced and, once fully functional, is expected to reduce the registration time.

In addition, a special service is available (mainly used by banks, law firms or companies). Upon signing a special agreement with the registry, certain services and documents can be obtained faster (within 2-8 working days) and/or by fax in exchange for a premium payment. The payment is a fixed amount determined according to a cost table. The amount is usually automatically withdrawn from a special running account at the registry. At the time of signing the agreement, the user sets up this account, depositing a certain amount (not more than US$ 100). The agreement has to be renewed on an annual basis. This service is not taken into account here, since it is only one transaction.


Agency: Property Registry 		14-28 days (10-20 working days) Already paid
5 The public deed is filed at the respective Municipality

This is done in order to update the information at the Municipality and for calculation on municipal taxes. The title is already valid even if not filed at the Municipality. The incentive to file the public deed lies on the old owner, who will have to continue paying the taxes on the property if this is not done.
Depending on the municipality, this step can take from 1 to 5 days. In San Salvador, the municipality has offices in each district. If someone goes to district 1 to register a property that is located on district 4, the registry process can take about 5 days, because the documents of the property are in district 4, but if going directly to district 4, the registry process takes about 1 to 2 days.
Total cost is calculated based on a land area of 557.4 square meters, as in the assumptions of this case study.


Agency: Municipality 		1-5 days $ 0.12 per square meter of land area. (The cost is calculated based on a land plot of 557.4 square meters, as in the assumptions for this case study. At $0.12 per square meter, the cost of is $66.89)
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