Purchasing Property

Before buying a property, the investor should ask the owner about the history of the property registry, which allows them to check for possible conflicts of legitimacy, as well as the document "Freedom of Encumbrance" to determine that the property has no debt whatsoever.

Additionally, depending on the history of title to the property and if necessary, the owner must submit the “Certification of No Objection” given by the Attorney General’s Office, which certifies that there are no irregularities with the property. This document is a requirement to register the property under the buyer’s name, mainly for those properties that were affected by the agrarian reform. It is also important to identify whether the property is under a special regime such as coastal or border line or if it belongs to indigenous communities, in which cases special treatment of land tenure, through the figure of the lease, may be required.

Building permits are required by the municipality and by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MARENA, for its acronym Spanish) before any construction work begins. The city grants the building permit certifying that the plans comply with the requirements established by that authority. On the other hand, the environmental permit, which must be requested to MARENA, is a pre-requisite that can involve the certification of an environmental engineer and health during the planning and design process.

It is recommended to seek legal counsel in the process of buying and developing a property.