About Us Contact Us Site Map

Property purchase

No restrictions

In Chilean law, foreign individuals and companies alike are free to buy and own property and land, though land close to Chile’s borders is covered by certain additional restrictions. Property rights and secured investments in property are well-protected under Chilean law.

Low corruption levels

Foreign buyers are reassured by Chile’s reputation for low levels of corruption, relative to other South American countries. It ranks as having the same level of corruption as Belgium and the US, according to Transparency International. However, as with any overseas property purchase, it remains imperative for a foreign buyer to carefully choose the professionals that will guide them through the process.

Legal checks

Before sales agreements are registered, they must be notarised. This process takes around 31 days, and failure to do this voids the contract. The buyer will normally employ a lawyer to carry out the necessary checks on the property’s legal history, and the lawyer will also obtain copies of the title deeds, ‘Certificado de Vigencia’ and the encumbrance certificate. The search for debts and other legal issues through the title deeds can take the lawyer as little as a day or two, or considerably longer. The search covers the last ten years, so the time taken to check depends on how many times the property has changed hands during that time.

Buyer’s deposit

The buyer will sometimes need to pay a deposit. There is no particular rate for this – it is more of a gesture between the buyer and the seller – and the buyer will leave a cheque with the notary which will not be cashed so long as the process continues as normal.

Registration

The lawyer will secure evidence from the Treasury that land tax has been paid. The public deed is signed once 0.1% of the property value has been paid, and it is registered at the real estate office when stamp taxes have been paid.

Costs and taxes

The costs and taxes associated with the purchase process are likely to total around 3.3 – 4.9% of the price of the property. The following is a guide to these costs:

• Lawyer’s fees – usually between 1 – 2.5%
• Stamp duty – between 0.2 – 0.3% of the property value (the lower rate is applied by the larger cities of Santiago, Valparaiso and Viña el Mar, 0.3% is payable in other cities)
• Transfer tax – 0.1%
• Agent’s fees – 2%

In Chile, the seller of the property shares the agent’s commission with the buyer equally, with each party paying 2%.

Related items

Documents and Reports

	Chile property investment report (339Kb)
Documents and Reports

Other related pages

Bookmark with:	What are these?
DeliciousDiggredditFacebookStumbleUpon