Venezuela, RB

Registering Property in

Venezuela, RB

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: VEF 1,737,706.23
  • City: Caracas

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No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
* 1 Obtain the Municipal Solvency Certificate at the Municipality

The Municipal Solvency Certificate (“Certificado de Solvencia Municipal”), showing the tax solvency on urban immovables, must be obtained at the pertinent cadastre of the municipality where the immovable is located. For this, the seller must request the statement of account of the immovable that he wishes to dispose of, and proceed to the pertinent payment. The tax unit was increased on February 5th 2010 from VEF 55 to VEF 65 (Official Gazette number 39.361).

Agency: Municipality 		3 days (simultaneous with procedures 2 and 3) VEF 83.6 (VEF 76 or 1 Tax Unit for administrative fees + VEF 7.6 or 0,1 Tax Units)
* 2 Obtain a certificate of solvency from the water company

The seller presents his latest water bill that he has paid in order to obtain a certificate of solvency (solvencia de servicio) from the water company, Hidrocapital.

Agency: Water Company 		3 days (simultaneous with procedures 1 and 3) VEF 10
* 3 Obtain a non-encumbrance certificate for the last 10 years from Registry

The certificate of encumbrances is not legally required, but it is usually obtained in practice (and requested by the purchaser). This example is a case of a title that covers the last ten years of the property.

Agency: Registry 		3 days (simultaneous with procedures 1 and 2) VEF 500-700 for administrative fee. The fee is calculated following article 84.2 of the Registry and Notary Law. Pre-calculations on applicable fees available at http://www.saren.gob.ve/
4 Sales agreement is drafted by lawyer

According to the “Ley de Abogados”, all documents that are presented to the Registry have to be approved by a lawyer. In practice, the lawyer also drafts the sales agreement. The lawyer’s fees were estimated based on the “Reglamento de Honorario Mínimo”, but are not binding on lawyers in Caracas.
2 days Lawyer’s fees according to the following cumulative schedule included in article 4 a) Up to Bs. 100.000,oo: Bs. 30.000,oo b) From Bs. 100.001,oo to Bs. 2.000.000,oo: 2.5% c) From Bs. 2.000.001,oo to Bs. 5.000.000,oo: 2% d) From Bs. 5.000.001,oo onwar
5 The sale agreement is presented to the Registry Office for its revision and taxes and fees are liquidated

The sale agreement is presented to the local office of SAREN (Servicio Autónomo de Registros y Notarías) for the calculation of the following taxes and fees:
a) SAREN's fees, which amount to 0.4%-0.5% of the property value. These fees include the 0.4% registration fee plus extra costs such as photocopies and witnesses. The payment to SAREN is legally based in the Law of Public Registry Offices and Notaries of 2006, and must be paid within 60 days of assessment.
b) Municipal tax, which amounts to 5 Tax Units. This means that the municipal tax amounts to VEF380, given the current value of the UT (VEF76) since February 4, 2011.

An internal order of SAREN of 2008 established a "Previous Revision" procedure at the time of the assessment of the SAREN fees. This procedure was established to review the substance of the property transaction before the parties paid the applicable taxes and proceeded to present all documents for registration. Previous Revision procedures can add up to 5 days to the property transfer process, but do not guarantee that the registration application will be approved after the payment of taxes. Not all SAREN offices have taken up this procedure, since ultimately it is not established by law, and seems to contradict the legally established celerity principle that governs registration procedures in Venezuela.


Agency: Registry 		1 day no cost
6 Payment of taxes at a private commercial bank

After the presentation of the sale agreement to the Registry Office, the taxes due to SAREN are paid in a private bank. The Income Tax must also be paid at the same private bank (0.5% of purchase price), and as a tax of VEF 380 (equivalent to VEB 230,000.00 or 5 Tax Unit) is due to the Hacienda Publica Municipal and paid to its account at the bank.

Agency: Commercial Bank 		1 day 0.45% of purchase price (SAREN fee) + 0.5% of purchase price (advance payment of Income Tax) + VEF 380 (5 Tax Unit for Municipal Tax)
7 Present all the documents to the Registry

The user must go to the “Departamento de Presentaciones” in the Registry’s office and present the sale document, the payments receipts and the Municipal Solvency Certificate obtained at the Municipality. The document is reviewed carefully by the Revision Department, verifying the identity of the owners, boundaries, the fulfillment of judicial decisions related to the property, and other information. The date for the signature by the registrar is set and parties must come back on that day for the final step. Since 2005, staff at the Registry is inclined to use discretion (jurisprudencia) in dealing with cases and may ask the clients two times for extra documents, thus delaying this procedure. The documentation shall include:
Certificado de Solvencia Municipal (obtained in Procedure 1)
Tax payment receipts (obtained in Procedure 5)
Copy of RIF (Registro de Información Fiscal or Fiscal Information Register) of both buyer and seller
If there is any authorization by the meetings of the pertinent companies, copies of those authorizing the sale of the immovable.
If acting through an attorney-in-fact, a copy of his/her identity card and a copy of the power-of-attorney.

Agency: Registry 		20-40 days no cost
8 The sale document is signed by the registrar

The sale document is signed by the Registrar under the presence of the parties and two witnesses.

Agency: Registry 		1 day no cost
* Takes place simultaneously with another procedure.
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