Obtain an updated tax certificate from the Tax Office
Agency : Tax Office (Repartição Fiscal)
An updated tax certificate is obtained from the relevant Tax Office, detailing the description of the property (Certidão Matricial). An essential piece of information to get from the tax certificate is whether the State has ever confiscated the property upon freedom from Portugal. Sometimes this information will not be included in the tax certificate. In this case, the buyer or his/her lawyer has to search the records of the Official Gazette (Diario da Republica) to confirm that no confiscation dispatches were covering the property.
The time for obtaining the Certidão Matricial could vary from 7 days to 150 days, based on the records of the property kept at the Tax Authority. If the Tax Authority has all the information and description of the property, and only an update of information is needed, to expedite the certificate could take between 1 or 2 weeks. However, for cases where the Tax Authority doesn’t have any records of the property, an inspection must be conducted in order to establish the value of the property and to generate the Certidão Matricial. Given that still many properties have not been registered, the second case scenario applies to most situations in Luanda, which can take up to 150 days.
The Certidão Matricial contains the name of the current owner and an estimated value of the property.
Time and cost: 150 days, AOA 1,500
Obtain an updated ownership certificate from the Registry
Agency : Real Estate Registry (Conservatória do Registo Predial)
An updated certificate of the property (“certidão predial”) is obtained from the relevant Real Estate Registry (“Conservatória do registo predial”). It sets out the full description of the property, including information of its owner and any charges, liens or encumbrances pending over the property.
The total fee for the “certidão predial” includes: (i) Stamp duty (calculated according to the Law on Stamp Duty); (ii) Justice fees (calculated according to the Law on Justice Fees); (iii) Fees to justice officers (according to the set contributions for the Justice budget); (iv) Notary fees and (v) other fees. The total fee is also dependent on the current value of the fiscal unit (UCF), currently at AOA 88, according to Despacho No. 174/11 of March 11, 2011.
Time and cost: 7 days, AOA 4,500
Pay transfer tax (Sisa)
Agency : Tax Authority (Repartição Fiscal)
A statement by the seller setting out the sales value or a copy of the Promissory Agreement of Sale and Purchase signed by both parties has to be presented to the tax authorities. The chief official of the tax administration office has to agree to the value of the transaction. If the tax authorities deem it necessary, an inspector may go to evaluate the property for tax purposes. Once the value of the transaction has been agreed to by the tax authorities, the Sisa tax will be applied to that value. The tax authorities will issue a receipt upon payment of the transfer tax (Sisa), which will be given to the notary public as part of Procedure 5. Typically, the transfer tax is only paid when the parties have agreed between them and with a notary public a fixed date for the execution of the required notary deed.
Time and cost: 7 days, AOA 829,200.96; (2% of property value (transfer tax, Sisa))
Execute the deed of transfer before a notary public
Agency : Notary
A notary public executes the deed of transfer. The 0.3% Stamp Duty is paid to the notary according to the property value stated on the transfer tax (Sisa) receipt, together with the notary fees (which depend on the value of the transaction, but also on the notary office and the number of pages being notarized).
After the signature of the deed, the buyer will be the legal owner of the property. Registration is needed for publicity purposes and protection against third parties.
The documentation shall include:
- Proof of payment of transfer tax (SISA – obtained in Procedure 4)
- Updated registry certificate from Land Registry (obtained in Procedure 2)
- Updated tax certificate from Tax Office (obtained in Procedure 1)
- Personal identification documents of the buyer and seller (passports, identity card, etc.)
- Registry of Companies’ Certificates if seller and buyer are companies, to provide evidence that the officer executing the deed on behalf of the corresponding company has authority to do so.
Time and cost: 7 days, AOA 135,384.54; (Notary fees and stamp duty (0.3% of property value) are paid at the Notary.
Notary fees are calculated according to Joint Executive Decree 52/03 of September 9, 2003:
- For each notarization: 80 UCF
- For each page or fraction: 10 UCF (Approx. 2 pages)
Depending on the value of the property, the following cost will be added:
- 0 – 60 UCF: + 6 UCF
- 61 – 400 UCF: + 9 UCF
- 401 – 4,000 UCF: + 10 UCF
- over 4,001 UCF: + 0.05 UCF
1 UCF is AOA 88 (According to decree n º. 174/11 of March 11, 2011))
Receive definitive registration from the Real Estate Registry
Agency : Real Estate Registry (Conservatória do Registo Predial)
The notarized deed certificate must be presented to apply for registration at the Land Registry Office.
Time and cost: 21 days, AOA 155,449.36; (Cost set by decree 160/11 (1766.47*88 UCF= AOA 155,449.36))
Apply for definitive registration at the Tax Office
Agency : Tax Office (Repartição Fiscal)
At the tax office, there is only final registration. Provisional registration is no longer applicable, as final registration has become considerably faster.
Time and cost: 5 days, AOA 175
