Paraguay

Registering Property in

Paraguay

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: PYG 692,980,879.62
  • City: Asuncion

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No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
* 1 Obtain a non-encumbrance certificate ("Certificado de libre gravamen o condiciones de dominio") and a Certificate on Free Disposability of Assets ("Certificado de anotaciones personales")

The notary obtains a certificate of conditions of ownership (non-encumbrance certificate) and a certificate stating that the selling company has no inhibitions to sell the property (Certificate on Free Disposability of Assets) at the General Direction of Public Registries. According to law 879/1981, it is mandatory for notaries to obtain a non encumbrance certificate.

Agency: Public Registry ("Direccion general de registros publicos") 		8-12 days (simultaneous with procedures 2 and 3) Gs 115,960 (2 "jornales") each certificate (x 2)
* 2 Obtain tax clearance from the Municipality

Parties obtain a certificate of tax clearance regarding the payment of Property Taxes and Special Urban Taxes at the Municipality.

Agency: Municipality 		20 days (simultaneous with procedures 1 and 3) Gs 115,960 (2 "jornales")
* 3 Obtain a cadastre certificate

According to the Ley de catastro, it is mandatory for the notary to obtain a Certificate of Cadastre (or Zoning Certificate) from the National Service of Cadastre. Each parcel will require one certificate ("cuenta corriente").
The notary fees include the cadastral certificate fees of Gs. 5.000 and the certification to Gs. 25.000, which have been increased by Decree 3.645, December 17th, 2009.
In 2009-2010, this procedure got delayed; a resolution from March 3, 2010 from the Ministerio de Hacienda states that it should be completed in 8 working days, counting from the day after the request is submitted.

Agency: National Service of Cadastre ("Servicio nacional de catastro") 		8 working days (simultaneous with procedures 1 and 2) Gs 115,960 (2 "jornales") as notary fees for each certificate (x 1)
4 Preparation and notarization of the transfer deed by a public notary

Once all the previous documents have been collected, a notary public prepares and notarizes the transfer deed. According to law 2421 of 2006, he will also collect 1.5% of the sale price from the seller as a value-added tax on the sale ("IVA a la enajenacion del inmueble"), then turn this amount over to the Ministry of Finance (la Hacienda) at the end of the year.

The documentation shall include:
Company’s tax declarations of the previous year on VAT and corporate income
Certificate of conditions of ownership
Certificate of inhibition of seller
Municipal tax clearance certificate (obtained in Procedure 1)
Certificate of property tax payments (obtained in Procedure 2)
Cadastre Certificate (obtained in Procedure 3)
Certificate of payment of water and electricity services
Photocopy of buyer and seller’s ID
Property title

 10 days Notary fees according to the following schedule, (plus 10% VAT): Value of property (in Gs) Notary fees (% of property value) Below 50,000,000 2.00% From 50,000,000 to 75,000,000
5 Payment of the Municipal Tax on transfers

The Municipal Tax on transfers is paid (usually by the notary) at the Municipality after the contract has been notarized. In Asuncion, the tax is 0.3% of the property value. In other cities of the country it is 0.2%. The amount of the tax will be estimated according to the same principles applied to the Judiciary Fee.

Agency: Municipality of Asuncion 		1 day 0.3% of property price
6 Registration of the notarized documents at the Public Registry

The notarized document is registered at the Public Registry, usually by the notary public. The registration fee (0.74% of the highest of the price of the transaction or the fiscal valuation) is paid at the Public Registry when submitting the application.

The documentation shall include:
Notarized document (obtained in Procedure 4)
Proof of payment of Municipal Tax (paid annually)


Agency: Public Registry ("Direccion general de registros publicos") 		15 days Gs 289,800 (charge for administrative expenses, 5 jornales) + 0.74% of property value (registration fee)
* Takes place simultaneously with another procedure.
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