How to Verify a Property Title Before Buying
Checking the title and its background is what separates a good purchase from a problem. Here's how it's done in Paraguay.
Verifying the title is the step that best protects your money. It's done before handing over any significant sum and always with a notary you trust.
What is checked
- Property title and chain of title: who the current owner is and how they became so.
- Encumbrances: mortgages, liens, usufructs, lawsuits, or any annotation affecting free availability.
- Cadastral data: that the property, cadastral current account, area, and boundaries match what you are buying.
- Debts: municipal property tax and services.
- Seller's marital status and capacity: if married, spousal consent may be required.
Where to request the information
Domain and encumbrance reports are requested from the Dirección General de los Registros Públicos; cadastral data, from the Servicio Nacional de Catastro; municipal debts, from the corresponding municipality. In practice, the notary centralizes all these requests.
Warning signs
Be suspicious of a sale with a price significantly below market without explanation, a seller who refuses to show the title, discrepancies between stated and actual land area, constructions without approved plans, and transactions where you are asked to pay in cash without documentation.
Recommendation
Never hand over a deposit without a signed document that conditions the transaction on the verification results. If the title is not clear, you must be able to recover your money.
See the verified properties in our portfolio: houses for sale and lots.