Documents You Need to Sell Property in the Dominican Republic: 2026 Seller's Checklist

Documents You Need to Sell Property in the Dominican Republic (2026 Guide)

Selling a home, condo, or piece of land in the Dominican Republic is very doable for foreign owners — but it is a paper-driven process. Buyers (and their attorneys) will not move forward, and notaries will not authorize the final deed, until your documentation is clean, current, and consistent. The good news: if you gather everything in advance, you can shave weeks off your closing and avoid the price chips that nervous buyers use when paperwork looks messy.

This 2026 guide walks you through the documents you actually need to sell property in the Dominican Republic, who issues them, common pitfalls, and how the money side fits in. Laws and fees do change, so confirm anything time-sensitive with DGII (the tax authority), the Registro de Títulos under the Jurisdicción Inmobiliaria (Law 108-05), and an independent licensed Dominican attorney — not the buyer's or developer's lawyer.

The Core Document: Your Certificado de Título

The Certificado de Título is the Torrens-system title certificate issued by the Registro de Títulos. It is the single most important document in any Dominican property sale. Without it (or a clear path to it), you do not have a sale — you have a negotiation.

When preparing to sell, you should:

• Locate the original Certificado de Título in your name. If you only have a copy, request a certificación de estado jurídico del inmueble from the Registro de Títulos. This shows the current legal status, the registered owner, and any liens, mortgages, oppositions, or annotations.
• Confirm the property is "deslindado" (individually surveyed and registered with a unique cadastral/designation number). Older titles tied to a parcela madre without an individual deslinde are harder to sell and may need to be regularized first.
• Check the name and civil status on the title. If you got married, divorced, or changed your name since buying, you may need to update or annotate the registry before closing.

If there is a mortgage or any annotation on the title, you'll need a carta de saldo (payoff letter) from the bank and a plan to cancel the inscription at closing.

Personal and Identity Documents

Both Dominican and foreign sellers need to prove who they are and that they have legal capacity to sell.

• Valid passport (for foreigners) or cédula (for Dominicans and residents). Many notaries want both for residents.
• Proof of civil status — marriage certificate, divorce decree, or a sworn declaration of single status. Under Dominican community-property rules, a spouse's consent may be required even if only one name is on the title.
• Power of attorney (Poder Especial) if you will not be in the country for the signing. This must be drafted by a Dominican attorney, signed before a notary, and — if signed abroad — apostilled (or legalized at a Dominican consulate) and translated by a traductor judicial if it is not in Spanish.
• RNC or tax ID if you sell as a company (often an SRL or EIRL). The corporate seller will also need updated bylaws, the shareholders' registry, and a board/shareholder resolution authorizing the sale.

Tax and Municipal Clearance Documents

A buyer's attorney will demand proof that the property is current on all taxes and fees. Expect to produce:

• Certificación de estar al día with DGII, showing no outstanding IPI (the annual property tax — applied at roughly 1% only on value above an inflation-indexed exemption threshold, on the owner's aggregate registered property; check the current-year threshold with DGII rather than relying on an old figure).
• Receipts for IPI payments for the past several years.
• Paz y salvo or up-to-date receipts from the HOA / condominio if the property is in a gated community or condominium regime. Buyers commonly ask for a letter from the administration confirming there are no overdue fees, special assessments, or pending litigation.
• Utility bills paid up to date — electricity (EDE or private provider), water, internet, gas — typically the last one or two bills.
• Municipal clearance from the ayuntamiento where applicable, especially for land or homes outside formal condominium regimes.

Property-Specific Documents

Depending on what you're selling, add:

• Building plans (planos) approved by the relevant ministry, and the construction permit if you built the home.
• Use-and-occupancy permits for newer construction.
• Condominium declaration (Declaración de Condominio) and reglamento for condos, plus the most recent HOA financial statements and minutes.
• CONFOTUR resolution if your unit sits in a project certified under Law 158-01. Be honest with buyers: the ITI (3% transfer tax) exemption under CONFOTUR realistically benefits the first buyer from the developer. On a resale, the buyer typically pays the full ITI even though the project itself remains certified. The IPI exemption window (a number of years from CONFOTUR approval) may still have time left and does transfer with the unit — verify the remaining term with MITUR/CONFOTUR.
• Original purchase contract and prior Acto de Venta — useful for showing chain of title and for calculating your gain.
• Survey plan (plano catastral) with the Dirección General de Mensuras Catastrales seal.

Selling a Pre-Construction or Assignment

If you're flipping a pre-construction contract before the title has been issued in your name, you are not selling a property — you are assigning a contract (cesión de derechos). You'll need the developer's written consent, the original contrato de promesa de venta, proof of all payments made, and a properly drafted assignment agreement. Developers often charge a transfer fee and may restrict assignments until a certain percentage is paid.

The Closing Documents

At closing, your attorney and the buyer's attorney will produce:

• Contrato de Venta (Acto de Venta Definitivo) — the deed of sale, signed before a Dominican notary public. Signatures are notarized (legalización de firmas).
• Cancellation of mortgage (if any) to be filed alongside the new deed.
• Tax filings with DGII: the buyer files for the 3% ITI transfer tax, which is calculated on the higher of the contract price or the DGII appraisal value — not simply the price you wrote on the contract. The buyer pays this tax, but a low contract price will not reduce it if DGII's appraisal is higher.
• Registration package filed at the Registro de Títulos to issue the new Certificado de Título in the buyer's name.

What the Sale Will Cost You

Sellers' costs in the Dominican Republic are generally lower than buyers' costs, but budget for:

• Real estate commission — typically negotiated between seller and agent; market practice ranges, and there is no fixed legal rate. Get it in writing in an exclusivity agreement with a clear term.
• Your own attorney's fees — usually a percentage of the sale price or a flat fee. Hire your own lawyer; do not share the buyer's.
• Capital gains tax. This is one of the most misunderstood items. Gains are taxed as ordinary income — for individuals on a progressive scale of roughly 0–25% applied to the inflation-adjusted gain (acquisition cost is indexed). The 27% rate is the corporate income tax rate, not a flat individual capital gains rate. Bring your original purchase deed, improvement invoices, and closing costs to a contador to compute the actual taxable gain, and confirm current brackets and indexing factors directly with DGII.
• Mortgage cancellation registry fees, if applicable.

Common Pitfalls That Delay or Kill Sales

• Undivided title (no deslinde) — fix before listing if possible.
• Spouse not on title but legally entitled — get the consent document early.
• Heirs in the chain of title — if you inherited the property, ensure the determinación de herederos and tax declarations were properly filed.
• Stale survey or discrepancies between the physical property and the registered plan.
• Unpaid HOA fees or special assessments surfacing during due diligence.
• Cash deals without a paper trail — Dominican banks and notaries apply anti-money-laundering rules; buyers wiring funds from abroad will need source-of-funds documentation, and so will you when the proceeds land.

Short FAQ

Do I have to be in the country to sell? No. A properly drafted, apostilled Poder Especial lets your attorney sign for you.

Can I be paid in US dollars? Yes, payment currency is negotiated. Most cross-border closings use USD wires through escrow.

How long does closing take once we sign? Signing the deed is one day. Getting the new Certificado de Título issued at the Registro de Títulos commonly takes several weeks to a few months depending on the jurisdiction.

Do foreigners face extra restrictions when selling? No. Foreign owners sell on the same terms as Dominicans — equal treatment flows from the Constitution (Articles 25 and 221). There is no Haiti-border ownership ban; the only true coastal restriction is the 60-meter maritime zone (Law 305 of 1968), which is public land and applies to everyone equally.

Laws, tax brackets, exemption thresholds, and registry procedures change. Before signing anything, confirm current rules with DGII, the Registro de Títulos, and an independent licensed Dominican attorney.