A real state professional has the knowledge and experience to give you the complete and necessary advice in the realization of real state operations. Nobody else has the experience to advise you regarding the legal implications.

Recommendations to buy a house

There are legal implications when acquiring a property that we cannot leave aside and that must be known for our own security to avoid being victims of frauds, deceits or simply to be in front of a situation in which we do not know how to act. Next we offer a guide with the purpose of advising you regarding some legal concepts that you should have present when buying properties.

The Civil Code is the one that regulates this type of operations although each state of the Mexican Republic has its own code, so we should appealed that of the state in which the property is, to know the limits that will govern the purchase. In the public law instrument of purchase will be mentioned the characteristics of the acquisition of the property, however, it is very important to have knowledge of such situations in order to give pursuit to the operation and to watch over our interests.

It is indispensable not to sign any document if we don't know the legal situation of the property of which we will be owners for that which is necessary:

To revise the situation of the property in the Public Registration of the Property. This step allows us to know who the current owner is and if this property is entitled obligations or real rights. If you will buy through a real state company this process can be advised by the salesperson. For that reason this is the most advisable thing. If you buy for DIRECT RELATION you have the risk of not having knowledge on this and to be involved in a legal problem.

It is the salesperson's obligation to let you know the obligations or charges that there are in our possible purchase to give us the opportunity to decide if we acquire or not the property and to be clear about all the circumstances in those that our right of property would be. Nevertheless, cases are given in those that this information is omitted generating a problem and expossing to loss sale and purchase.

How can I carry out this step?

The buyer can make by himself/herself or requesting the services of a notary. The Public Registration of the Property is an institution that gives publicity to the acts that the law demands, as the inscription of the obligations or charges with the purpose of granting the necessary security to the holders of the property and third parts, in this case the buyer.

Frequently, to carry out a step means to face an entire bureaucracy and to lose our time due to the complexity and lack of knowledge of the norms, however the realization of this procedure is simple and it is worthwhile to wait some days to have the certificate of no obligations in our hands to know that our property has no charges.

Verify that fiscal debts don't exist on the property

Each state of the Republic will state the fiscal taxes. To verify that fiscal debts do not exist on the property a certificate it should be requested that credits that debts of water do not exist and of use of the land, the first one is requested to the Commission of the Water and the second to the treasury of the state where the property is located. The above-mentioned do not prevent that other receipts can be requested like that of light and the telephone, with the purpose of knowing if the property has these services and if pending debts do not exist.

Sale and purchase contract

The sale and purchase contract is a conventional agreement of wills between the buyer and the salesperson in which they settle down the conditions of the operation and its characteristics in writing, and it also includes the precise definition of other elements that are considered important to avoid that when establishing the Title of Property, in front of the notary, the sale conditions would be changed. The sale and purchase contract will also be good as a means of protection so what is established could be achieved. The sale and purchase contract will be given to the notary and it will be the base so the Title of Property of sale and purchase is elaborated. This document will not be attached to the Title of Property as all the terms will be on it.

The visit to the notary

We must go to a public notary of the city where the property is located so he/she proceeds to the realization of all the steps and prepare the Title of Property in which the sale and purchase terms will be established. He will take charge of gathering all the necessary elements for the celebration of this operation.

It is important that an evaluation of the property exists, with this it will be determined the real price of the property that is sought to buy as well as the quantity to pay for concept of taxes, this one corresponds to a percentage of the total value of the property.

Once the requirements are processed, the Title of Property is elaborated and the taxes are paid, the salesperson and the buyer will sign of common agreement the document and the property will have been given the buyer.

Later on the notary will send a copy of the document so that it will be registered in the Public Registration of the Property and the annotation of proprietor's change is made.

The taxes and the expenses

Who pays what?

The buyer's will pay the expenses that are generated by the transmission of the property and the notary's honorarium, the tax of acquisition (this tax is known in different ways, for example, in some states it is called tax of acquisition, or of domain transfer).

The salesperson will pay the taxes On the Rent (ISR) that are applied if the property will be used a commercial place. If it is a property with residence use and the salesperson credits that he has lived in her during two years minimum it will be exempt of payment. This can be checked on the telephone receipts, bills of credit cards, receipts of light, etc..