The public notary drafts the sale agreement
Agency: Notary
The Law expressly states that all legal acts involving real estate transactions should be witnessed and notarized by a public notary. The parties can draft the sale and purchase agreement themselves and only ask the public notary to notarize the agreement. It is, however, common practice to ask the public notary to draft the sale and purchase agreement. The Law imposes on the public notary, before notarizing the agreement, to perform all required investigations and due diligence.
By the terms of article 64 of decree n° 630/PR/MJ/96 of 22/11/1996 regarding the statute on notaries: “the memorandum of association or the transfer of immovable properties are obligatorily notarized. The authentication only concerns agreements under private signatures.
Time and cost: 1 day, XAF 406,629.28
According to the official Notary decreasing and cumulative fee schedule (Decret No. 004/PR/PM/MJ/2010):
- From XAF 200,000 to XAF 500,000: 10% without exceeding the sum of XAF 40,000
- From XAF 500,001 to XAF 1,000,000: 8% without exceeding the sum of XAF 50,000
- From XAF 1,000,001 to XAF 3,000,000: 5% without exceeding the sum of XAF 60,000
- From XAF 3,000,001 to XAF 10,000,000: 2% without exceeding the sum of XAF 150,000
- From XAF 10,000,001 to XAF 50,000,000: 1.5% without exceeding the sum of XAF 500,000
- From XAF 50,000,001 to XAF 100,000,000: 1.25% without exceeding the sum of XAF 625,000
- From XAF 100,000,001 to XAF 500,000,000: 0.5% without exceeding the sum of XAF 1,500,000
- From XAF 500,000,001 to XAF 1,000,000,000: 0.3% without exceeding the sum of XAF 2,500,000)
Check the accuracy of the property’s surface and boundaries with the Cadastre
Agency: Cadastre
The public notary has to check with the cadastral services that the land area and boundaries as defined in the sale and purchase agreement are correct and not overstated (or understated). The public notary can either write to the concerned services or go by himself or send one of his employees.
Time and cost: 5 days, XAF 1,000
Check with the Land Registry that the seller is providing a clear and non-encumbered title
Agency: Land Registry (“Registre de la Conservation Foncière”)
The public notary should check whether the seller of the property is the true owner with the Services des Domaines, the Department from which the Land Registry in Chad depends from. The public notary also should check that the owner’s title is clear of mortgages, liens and other kind of security charge. The notary can either write to the director, or personally go to the land registry for due diligence.
The Direction des Domaines is under the authority of the Ministry of Finance since December 2016. In addition, it is necessary to address a written request to the Registrar of real estate properties to carry out the necessary search of the property title.
Time and cost: 5 days, XAF 1,000
Obtain the final and notarized sale agreement
Agency : Notary
After completing all due diligence checks, the public notary should have fulfilled his legal obligations under the law and can now finalize and notarize the sale and purchase agreement for the parties. The parties will need to pick up the final sale contract to register it with the “Direction des Domaines”.
Time and cost: 2 days, no charge
Register the sale agreement with the “Service des Domaines”
Agency: Service des Domaines
The parties should register the sale agreement at the Direction des Domaines, under the Ministry of Finance. The registration tax is 5% of the property value (Droit d’enregistrement acte de vente) – Loi des Finances 2018. Property transfers are subject to stamp duty at a rate of FCFA 1000 per page and FCFA 50,000 as archiving fees for a property title.
One pays the stamp duty upon the signature of the sale and purchase agreement or the pronouncement of the adjudication.
Time and cost: 1 day, XAF 1,042,764.66 (5% property value (registration tax) + 4,000 FCFA stamp duty (1000FCFA per page, 4 pages) + FCFA 50,000 for archiving fees)
Request the final transfer of property and obtain the updated title from the “Registre de la Conservation Foncière”.
Agency: Land Registry (“Registre de la Conservation Foncière”)
With the transfer deed and the certificate of registration, the parties are now eligible to file an application for the effective transfer of ownership to the buyer. The request is filed at the “Registre de la Conservation Foncière” where Land records are kept. The employee of the Registry conducts a final due diligence before registering the mutation.
Cost involves the following:
- 4‰ of the property value (Salary of the “Conservateur”)
- the ‘taxe de bornage’ is due according to adjudication or over the counter agreement based on the following rates according to the surface of the property:
- Less than 299 m²: 50.000 FCFA
- from 300 to 499 m²: 60.000 FCFA
- from 500 to 799 m²: 70.000 FCFA
- from 800 to 999 m²: 80.000 FCFA
- from 1000 to 1199 m²: 90.000 FCFA
- from 1200 to 1500 m²: 100.000 FCFA
- above up to 1800 m²: 100.000 FCFA plus an additional 200 FCFA/m²
Additional observations:
Article 2 of Decree n° 211/PR/MFM/86, mentioning distribution of revenues from transfers, transcriptions, registrations and entry of mortgages, fixes the fees for transfers and transcriptions at 4 per thousand of the value of the immovable.
Time and cost: 15 days, XAF 149,101.17 (4 for a thousand (4 o/oo) of the property value (property transfer) + 70,000 (taxe de bornage))
