Obtain a Real Estate Registry certificate of the property from the Real Estate Registry Office
Agency: Real Estate Registry (Conservatória do Registo Predial)
A Real Estate Registry certificate is obtained at the Conservatória do Registo Predial. This certificate provides information regarding all the owners of the property/ beneficiaries of the use and benefits right and is valid for 90 days. If the owner does not have a copy of the current real property registration, then the DCU (Town Planning Directorate) reference number must be obtained in order for the Registrar to locate the book and page on which the property is registered. As of 2013, the registry has been computerized, and titles have been scanned.
The documents required to obtain the certificate are: Request form (as per the official form), Real Estate Registry certificate of the property copy or registry reference number.
Time and cost: 3 days, MZN 700
Obtain a certificate from the Fiscal Cadastre confirming the property’s registration with the Municipal Tax Office and its tax payment status (certidão matricial)
Agency: Municipal Tax Office (Repartição das Finanças e Conselho Municipal)
A certificate (certidão do registo matricial) with the value of the property is obtained from the Municipal Tax Office (Repartição das Finanças).
The documents required to obtain the certificate are: Request form (as per the official form), property and personal tax payment confirmation documents, Real Estate Registry certificate of the property (90 days), economic activity tax payment proof.
Time and cost: 7 days, no charge
Lawyer prepares the draft sale and purchase agreement
Agency: Lawyer’s office
A lawyer prepares the sale and purchase agreement. It is necessary to have the underlying land and property title, and real property registration in order to have the description of the property, the land plot, and the demarcation details. The form of the description varies from rural areas to municipalities. The actual sales instrument is relatively simple, but the additional administrative/registry detail complicates the preparation. Although not required by law, most companies and individuals hire the services of a lawyer to prepare the sale and purchase agreement.
Time and cost: 10 days, MZN 21,400 (MZN 12,000 – MZN 30,800)
Payment of transfer tax (SISA) at the Municipal Tax Office
Agency: Municipal Tax Office (Secretaria Municipal de Fazenda)
The property must have been registered for real property taxes (municipal and national). All of the real property tax must have been paid (for which a tax clearance must be obtained), and the owner and the purchaser must be registered for tax purposes (NUIT). A SISA tax receipt is obtained and has to be submitted with the sale and purchase agreement to the notary. Then, the name of the buyer is registered with the Tax Office. The SISA tax has been reformed by Decree 46/2004 of October 27, cutting it from previous levels around 10%. In the past, the 10% tax that applied to Maputo was not fully paid since the market value of the property was never quoted. This change unifies the level of the transfer tax with the rest of the country that already had taxes around 2%.
The documents required to pay SISA are: Request form (as per the official form), copy of previous SISA, property tax payment confirmation document, personal tax payment confirmation document (seller and buyer), economic activity tax payment proof (companies), draft sale and purchase agreement.
Time and cost: 7 days, MZN 29,212.73 (2% of property value (SISA-transfer tax))
Submit the draft sale and purchase agreement to the public notary to verify and issue the notarial deed of purchase
Agency: Notary (Cartório Notarial) or BAU (Balcão de Atendimento Único)
The lawyer/parties submit the draft sale and purchase agreement to the public notary, who verifies the documentation and prepares the deed for signature. The Real Estate Registry certificate and the SISA payment certificate must be submitted, together with Companies’ Registry certificates of the parties and copies of the ID’s of their representatives who will execute the notarial deed on their behalf. Copies of quota-holders/directors resolutions and/or powers of attorney may also be required pursuant to the relevant companies’ articles of association. In some cases, it may be possible to notarize the deed faster if the parties, instead of the notary, prepare the deed themselves and give it to the notary on a disk to notarize.
The documents required to sign a notarial deed are: Sale and purchase agreement, seller-buyer identification, certificate with the property value, Real Estate Registry certificate of the property, Registry certificate of Legal entities, SISA payment proof, Companies minutes including the buying-selling resolution.
Time and cost: 2 days, MZN 9,683.82
- 0.2% of property value for stamp duty; plus
- Notarial fees 0.4% of property value up to the first MZN 5 million (0.03% for the amounts exceeding MZN 5 million); plus
- MZN 250 for notarial deed stamp duty; plus
- MZN 150 for each one-act deed and MZN 50 for each page (3 pages); plus
- MZN 100 for the request; plus
- MZN 50 for each notarial deed (2 copies one for the seller and one for the buyer); plus
- MZN 20 for each additional page (3 pages for 2 copies); plus
- MZN 50 for each entry in the notarial registration book.
Apply for registration of the building at the Real Estate Registry Office
Agency: Real Estate Registry (Conservatória do Registo Predial)
The notary deed of sale and purchase is submitted to the Real Estate Registry Office, together with an application requesting the registration of ownership over the property, on the buildings and of the right of use and fruition over the land, in the name of the buyer. Simultaneously with the request for registration (or sequentially depending on the practice), a certificate of the registration is requested, usually an integral certificate which provides the owner with copies of the pages on which the title is recorded. This is a cautionary measure in the event that the registry books are damaged or destroyed (as happened in the 2000 floods) or disappears somehow.
The documents required to register the property are: Request form (as per the official form), seller-buyer identification, Complete certificate of purchase notarial deed.
Time and cost: 7 days, MZN 11,442.55
Registration fees according to the following schedule:
- 0.4% of property value up to the first MZN 5 million (0.03% of property value above MZN 5 million); plus
- MZN 250 for each entry in the Gazette; plus
- MZN 1,500 for each inscription on the Registry; plus
- MZN 700 for registration certificate of a property transfer (3 copies); plus
- MZN 1000 for the pre-registration process study and organization; plus
- MZN 500 for the request; plus
- MZN 250 for property titles verification
Submit the updated Real Estate Registry certificate of the property at the Municipal Urban Office
Agency: Municipal Urban Office (Departamento de Cadastro Legal – Direção de Planeamento Urbano e Ambiente)
The buyer must submit an original copy of the updated Real Estate Registry certificate of the property to the municipal urban office to update the description of the property in the name of the buyer, and right of use and fruition over the land (Título de uso de aproveitamento do solo urbano).
Time and cost: 7 days, no charge
Submit the updated Real Estate Registry certificate of the property at the Municipal Tax Office
Agency: Municipal Tax Office (Departamento de Receitas -Direção Municipal de Finanças)
The buyer must submit an original copy of the updated Real Estate Registry certificate of the property to the municipal tax office to update the description of the property in the name of the buyer (registo matricial) for the purpose of property tax payments (Imposto Predial Autárquico – IPRA).
Time and cost: 1 day, no charge
