Selling a property in Venezuela: documents, taxes and steps

• The registered title deed (documento de propiedad), with a certified copy.
• The seller’s current ID card (cédula) and RIF, with the correct tax address and marital status.
• A current cadastral certificate, issued by the municipality.
• The municipal tax clearance for the urban property tax.
• The paid ISLR advance form, or SENIAT’s Main Home Registration (Registro de Vivienda Principal) if you are exempt.
• The sale deed, drawn up by a lawyer.
• The sworn declaration on the source and use of funds the registry requires.

If the property comes from an inheritance, before any of the above you need the inheritance tax return: article 51 of the Inheritance Tax Law forbids the registrar from recording the sale without SENIAT’s clearance certificate.

1. 1If you inherited, file the inheritance tax return and obtain the clearance certificate.
2. 2Update the cadastral certificate to your name or the estate’s.
3. 3Pay the urban property tax and ask for the municipal tax clearance.
4. 4Negotiate the price and sign a purchase option agreement with the buyer.
5. 5Declare and pay the ISLR advance on the SENIAT portal, or apply for the Main Home Registration if it applies.
6. 6Book the registry appointment and sign with the buyer.

The ISLR advance has another exemption for transactions below 3,000 tax units. With the tax unit at 43 bolívares since June 2025, that comes to about 129,000 bolívares, so in practice no property sale falls below it. The exemption that matters is the main home one.

If the contract was signed on or after 7 August 2026, a tenant of two years or more who is up to date with payments has a right of first refusal to buy (article 20 of the rental law). If it was signed earlier, it remains under the 2011 law, with its own pre-emption rules. Either way, the buyer will ask about the tenant before the price. Details in the guide to the rental law.

Someone you trust signs the sale at the registry with a special power of attorney, granted at a Venezuelan consulate or before a notary in your country with an apostille. With the consulates closed in the United States, Chile and Canada, the apostille is now the most used route. Step by step in the guide to the special power of attorney.

Purchases close in cash. The exception is people affected by the earthquakes of June 2026, who can buy homes of up to 100,000 dollars with the subsidised Venezuela Renace loan, and the seller is paid in dollars. If your property falls in that range, it is a buyer worth looking for: we explain it in the guide to mortgages.