In Mexico, escritura (escritura pública) — This is a notarized and registered deed that confirms ownership of real estate. It is formalized exclusively through notaries with subsequent registration in the Public Register of Property (Registro Público de la Propiedad). Escritura — This is the act of certifying a transaction by the state through a notary.
Owning real estate in Mexico — this is not the fact of ownership or even the fact of payment. This is a record certified by a notary and entered into the register. You are allowed to live in the house, have the keys, pay the full amount, sign an agreement, and at the same time not be legally the owner. Because until the escritura is executed and registered, the right of ownership is not considered to have arisen in the full sense.
We have collected some «incorrect» real estate buyers' opinions:
«I have a purchase and sale agreement». A private contract (contrato privado) in itself does not make you an owner. This is only an obligation of the parties.
«I paid for the property in full». Fact of payment — financial, not legal. It does not replace the procedure for obtaining ownership.
«I have a pre-contract (promesa)». This is only an intention to enter into a transaction in the future, and not the transfer of property itself.
«I was given documentation from the developer». In many projects, the buyer first has only the developer’s internal documents. Without escritura, they do not give full rights.
«I have a fideicomiso (trust), which means I am the owner». This is one of the most common illusions among foreigners. The trust agreement itself — not ownership of real estate. The right is secured through an escritura, which reflects that the object has been transferred to a trust, and you are the beneficiary. Without this record, the transaction is legally «not completed».
«I pay predial tax, which means I am the owner». Property tax receipts (predial) confirm occupancy and tax liability, but not ownership.
A notary will always be at the center of a real estate transaction in Mexico. This is a lawyer with state powers, and a registrar, and a tax agent rolled into one. Without it, the transaction does not acquire legal force. He checks the legal purity of the object (history of ownership, encumbrances, land status), ensures the legality of the transaction, calculates taxes and fees for fiscal purposes, prepares and executes the escritura and sends the document for state registration.
Next comes the entry into the Public Register. It is after this that ownership becomes «official» for the state and third parties. Until the escritura is entered into the register, ownership is considered incomplete: it can be challenged and difficult to transfer further. You seem to own it, but you have no right to legally withdraw from the transaction.
In practice, buying real estate in Mexico — This is not one day at the notary, but a sequence of actions where the main time is spent not on signing, but on checks and registration. Sign quickly, register for a long time.
1. Signing of the preliminary agreement (contrato / promesa de compraventa) — from 1 day to 1-2 weeks. The parties agree on the price, criteria and timing of the escritura. A deposit is paid. Delays often occur because the property may have a mortgage, the seller does not have the documentation ready, or there is a spouse, heirs, or co-owners.
If real estate is purchased in a limited area (50 km from the coast and 100 km from the border) and is registered through a bank trust (fideicomiso), the bank becomes the formal owner of the property, and the foreign citizen — the beneficiary who actually controls and uses the property, and all these rights are recorded in the escritura. But the trust agreement itself — This is not a replacement for escritura.
2. Verification of the object by a notary (analogous to due diligence) — on average 2-4 weeks, but it can be 2 months. At this stage, the notary requests data from the Public Register, checks the history of the property, looks for encumbrances, debts, restrictions, checks cadastral data and payment of taxes. Delays may occur due to inconsistencies in data (area, boundaries, names), territory of the ejido, or unsettled status of the land.
3. Calculation of taxes and fees — 3-10 days after inspections are completed. The notary calculates the acquisition tax (ISAI), the cost of his services, his services, registration fees. The buyer is issued a final payment. If it turns out that the parties underestimated the price in the preliminary agreement, they will have to recalculate. Sometimes you have to settle the issue of who pays what expenses.
4. Signing the escritura — usually 1 day in advance, but it is clear that this day may take a long time to be agreed upon. The parties come to the notary, sign the deed, and the final payment is made.
If there is a loan or a trust is used, the bank appears as an additional party in the transaction. The bank checks the object in parallel with the notary, adds its own documentation and approvals, and the deadlines increase. At the same time, the bank protects its interests, the notary — legality of the transaction.
In short, the escritura contains:
- data of the parties,
- object description,
- property history (cadena de titularidad),
- restrictions and encumbrances,
- price of the object.
5. Registration in the Public Register — perhaps the longest stage: from 2-4 weeks to 2-4 months or even longer. After making an entry in the register, ownership becomes fully formalized. Delays may be caused by queues in the registry, errors and rework of documents.
How much does it cost to prepare an escritura? Consider that these are the costs of registering the purchase of real estate. The total amount always consists of several components, and it can differ even for similar objects.
Basic payment — real estate acquisition tax (ISAI). The rate is set at the state level. In particular, in the state of Quintana Roo the net tax rate reaches 2% of the value of the property, however, it then rises to 3% in some «travel» municipalities, and then has the ability to add approximately 10% on top of the tax itself, and this is called an additional fee for development and tourism.
The tax is calculated either from the price in the contract or from the assessed value (avaluó), whichever is greater.
Notary services — second largest expense item. This is approximately 1% — 1.5% of the cost of the property.
Registration in the register (at Companies House) costs another 0.3% — 1% of the cost of the object. It depends on the cost of the object and the number of pages in the escritura.
In addition, there will be other costs for processes and obtaining documents: real estate valuation (avaluó), certificates of absence of encumbrances and debts, cadastral documentation, procedure for acquiring powers of attorney and others.
On average, the buyer pays about 5% and even up to 8% of the property price on top.
Checking the escritura always comes down to three questions:
- is there an entry in the Public Register?
- Do the notary's details match?
- Does the document match the official copy?
If all three answers are “yes”, the document can be considered reliable. But neither seals nor signatures by themselves guarantee anything.
From the register you need to purchase the entry number (folio real / folio electrónico) and data on the object or owner. This can be done by requesting an extract from the certificado de libertad de gravamen or checking the record through the online system (available in some states). If there is no entry at all in the Public Register, the state does not have ownership of the object, even if you have a paper escritura in your hands. Most often, such a check is sufficient.
Each escritura also contains the notary book number (protocolo), deed number, notary name and notary office number. It is worth checking whether the data in the escritura matches the notary’s archive, and indeed whether such an escritura was actually issued.
Through the notary who executed the transaction, or directly through the registry, it is possible to request a certified copy of the escritura (copia certificada), and then compare it with the escritura provided by the seller. This is especially important in cases where changes have been made to the escritura.
Actually, the notary who formalizes the transaction will check the escritura provided by the seller.
We would like to emphasize once again that a notary plays a key role in registering real estate rights. A common mistake is to trust a realtor rather than a notary. The realtor conducts the transaction, shows the property, facilitates the agreement, and the buyer gets the feeling that he is in control of the process. However, the realtor is not responsible for the legal purity of the transaction. His task — sell. The inspection of the property is done superficially or not at all, problematic issues (debts, encumbrances, land status) are revealed by the notary, and sometimes the buyer is convinced not to complicate things and follow a simplified scheme.
In particular, the draft preliminary contract provided by the realtor states that the apartment is 280 m² and has two parking spaces. After checking the papers from the developer, the notary will indicate in the escritura 195 m² of living space and one parking space, and he doesn’t care what you wrote there in the contract. As a result, the buyer actually acquires an object of smaller size and with different characteristics.
It is a mistake to consider the transfer of keys and the signing of the object acceptance certificate as the completion of the transaction. These actions do not make you the owner, you are just using the object. It is profitable for the developer to «hand over» earlier: he receives the rest of the money and passes on the costs of maintenance and taxes to you. However, before the escritura is issued, these expenses should be borne by him, and not by the buyer. Therefore it is correct — do not accept the object and do not close settlements until the escritura is signed, because the final payment and transfer of real estate should be tied to it.
Saving on inspections is also fraught. Externally «clean» the object may have legal problems that are only visible through the registry and papers. Sometimes old debts surface, discrepancies in area or boundaries are discovered that affect the price, and encumbrances are calculated that the seller forgot to mention. Savings of a few thousand pesos can lead to losses of hundreds of thousands or an inability to complete the transaction.
Sore question — misunderstanding of the status of the land. The buyer does not distinguish between private property, communal lands (ejido), transitional or unsettled statuses. A house, as a physical object, has the right to stand anywhere, but ownership in Mexico is tied to the land underneath it. If the site is placed in ejido or transitional status, you may be able to buy a house, but you will not be able to prepare a full title. You seem to own the building, but you do not legally own the property. This may lead to the fact that in the end it is impossible to obtain a full-fledged escritura or it cannot be registered in the Public Register. When the property is registered with the internal documents of the community, consider that it cannot be officially purchased.
Let's summarize. The right of ownership arises not at the moment of transfer of money, not when signing an agreement and not during actual occupancy, but only when an escritura for the property is issued by a notary and an entry about it is made in the Public Register of Property. Negotiations, advances, contracts, trusts — These are all intermediate stages.