What is all about Recording Title?

One of the most important thing to do before buying real estate is to check the title records to ensure that the property actually belongs to the person selling it and that it is not subject to any liens or other financial attachments. You can follow the chain of sales and transfers of the property - from the original grant of the land all the way to the current owner. This is call title study ( Estudio de titulos).

This is a procedure to do before signing the purchase agreement. In fact a purchase agreement must contain a clause briefing the property preceding ownership .

When using a mortgage loan, banks makes that for you with its own legal staff.

The cheapest and simple way of doing this is requiring the seller to provide the property’s ownership history and a no-lien certificate (Certificado de tradición y libertad), which should date back not more than one month. This includes the property’s real estate registration number, owner’s name, and the property’s record summary.

The certificate cost is around COP$7.000. to COP$10.000 ( US$4 to US$6) depending on the city.

Requests for the ownership history and no-lien certificate of the property can be made at the local Government’s records office (Oficina de Registro de Instrumentos Publicos) in the area where the property is located.

Additional to this the clearances of all the taxes can be ensured by obtaining an account statement of the property from the treasury office (Oficina de Catastro) of the city or district where the property is located.

After checking the title record, we could have two possible scenarios:

1. If there are no liens against the Title, the sale can proceed.
2. If there are liens against the Title:
1. You can commit the seller to clean up the property’s liens before you sign the purchase agreement.
2. You can settle a clause in the purchase agreement with a time limit committing the seller to clear up the property. Then an initial down payment of 20 to 30 percent of the sale price is used by the seller to clear the liens and other charges such as unpaid municipal taxes, public utilitie, etc.

How can I made the recording of the Title?


When you get the deed from the Notary’s office, you should record it at the local government's records office in the city where the property is located. The purpose of recording the deed is to give "notice to the world" that you now have an ownership interest in that particular piece of real property.

So, You have to register your deed before the Registry office of Public Instruments . Righ there, you have to pay city and state taxes (Boleta fiscal). You left some extra money right?

REMEMBER: Once issued the deed, you have two months to manage your legal validity before the Government’s Registry office

Title will be recorded in the name of the Buyer at the Government’s Records Office. This could take about a week or five business days.

At this time the Buyer can claim the documents showing that title has been legally transferred to the Buyer.

After the deed is released by Registry office, It is recommended to ask for another title certificate updated (the one that cost US$4) to confirm that the process was made properly and the property is finally registered at your name.

We had a case in which the owner realized 20 years after buying the home, that the recording was made wrong and the property was registered at someonelse's name!!. Just because the government’s office changed a single ID number. They never asked for a title certificate, because they did'nt need it before. Yeah that could happen.

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