St. Lucia

Registering Property in

St. Lucia

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: XCD 665,517.24
  • City: Castries

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No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
* 1 The purchaser’s lawyer conducts searches on the title at the Land Registry

The title search is conducted at the Land Registry under the authority of the Ministry of Physical Planning, Housing, Urban Renewal and Local Government. It is common practice for a lawyer to conduct these searches.

Agency: Ministry of Physical Planning, Housing, Urban Renewal and Local Government 		1-2 days (simultaneous with procedures 2, 3 and 4) EC$ 5 per parcel (property)
* 2 Search for encumbrances at the Registry of the High Court

This search is necessary to ascertain whether or not there are any judgments against the purchaser. Unless all judgments are settled, the transaction cannot proceed.

Agency: Registry of the High Court 		1 day (simultaneous with procedures 1 and 3) EC$ 5 + EC$ 1 for each page copied
* 3 Obtain tax clearance certificate from the Inland Revenue Authority

In order for the execution of the deed to proceed, both the seller and purchaser must have paid all outstanding income taxes and property taxes. Therefore, clearance from the Inland Revenue Authority must be granted. This usually takes a few days because the Revenue Authority scans all documents and then must send the clearance certificate to the land registry.
For non-nationals, the Vendor’s Tax is 10%.


Agency: Inland Revenue Authority 		1-3 days (simultaneous with procedures 1 and 2 no cost
* 4 Obtain compliance certificate from the National Insurance Corporation (NIC)

According to the National Insurance Corporation Act of Saint Lucia it is mandatory for employers to deduct from the wages of employees/insured persons a statutory contribution and to remit this sum together with the employer’s contribution to the National Insurance Corporation (NIC). An unpaid contribution to NIC ranks as a privileged debt on the same level as state taxes without the necessity for registration and therefore takes priority over the rights of other secured creditors such as registered mortgagees. Therefore if an employer has not remitted contributions to NIC and that employer’s property is sold for example by a secured creditor who has put the property into receivership, NIC’s claim will rank above that of the secured creditor.

Agency: National Insurance Corporation (NIC) 		1-3 days (simulaneous with procedure 3) no cost
* 5 Lawyer prepares and executes deed of sale

Ideally, the lawyer can prepare and execute the deed in one day. However, this is dependent upon receiving the “Radiation” document of discharge of the seller’s mortgage from the bank. If there are no mortgages attached to the property, execution of the deed can be done in one or two days at the most. The purchaser pays stamp duty to the Inland Revenue Authority, in addition to EC$ 20, which represents stamp duty on two additional copies at EC$ 10 per copy.
The scale of lawyers’ fees is set by the Bar Association of St. Lucia, and is used as a basis for the fees. A minimum flat fee of EC$ 100 is charged in addition to a percentage of property value.
At the same time, the buyer and seller will pay for the stamp duty and the Vendor's Tax

Agency: Lawyer 		1-2 days Lawyer’s fees + Vendor’s tax + EC$ 20 Lawyer’s fees: flat fee of EC$ 100 + % of property value, according to the following scale: Property value: Fee: Up to 50,000
* 6 Register title deed with Land Registry

The registration fee is EC$20 for copies of the deed (one to the purchaser and one for the Registry to keep). Registration time depends on whether or not all documentation is complete and all fees and taxes have been paid.
Stamp duty is paid to the Inland Revenue Authority.

Documentation required:
- Deed of sale


Agency: Land Registry 		7-10 days EC$ 20 registration fee
7 Register new owner with the Inland Revenue Authority

A property  owner is required to declare the property to the Inland Revenue Department within thirty (30) days of becoming the owner. This declaration must be a true statement of:
1. The description, Block and Parcel number, area  and value of the land and in the case of a house it’s  rental value;
2. The mailing address and a contact number of the owner or representative.

Agency: Inland Revenue Authority 		1 day No cost
* Takes place simultaneously with another procedure.
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