Buying property in El Salvador, step by step.

Get a Salvadoran tax number (NIT)

Every foreign buyer needs a NIT before anything else. You apply in person at a branch of the Ministry of Finance with your original passport or Salvadoran resident card, plus a copy. An officer prepares the form. It takes about thirty minutes and costs $2.00 the first time — you leave with the number in hand.

Buying through someone else? They need a certified copy of your passport, a letter of authorisation naming you and them with document numbers, and form F-210V4 signed by them. A power of attorney issued in English must be translated into Spanish and certified or apostilled; if it was issued at a Salvadoran consulate, the consul's signature must be authenticated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Check the title is clean

Before money moves, confirm the property is free of encumbrances — mortgages, liens, attachments or restrictions — and that the seller genuinely owns it. Request an extracted certification from the Property and Mortgages Registry at the National Registration Center (CNR), or a copy of the title deed as registered there.

Agree the terms

Buyer and seller settle price, payment method and conditions. Nothing here is binding until it is in the deed.

Have a Salvadoran notary draft the deed

The notary verifies both parties' identity and the legality of the transaction. The sale deed must identify the parties, describe the property by location, area and boundaries, state the price and payment method, and declare the property free of encumbrances. As a foreign buyer you present your passport or resident card and your NIT — or, through an agent, a certified copy of the power of attorney.

Sign

Both parties sign before the notary, who then issues you the official transcript of the deed — a notarised copy. Keep it; the registry will ask for it.

Pay the transfer tax and registration fees

Transfer tax is 3% on the amount of the sale price exceeding $28,571.43. Registration fees are $0.63 for every $100 of sale price, or fraction thereof. Both can be paid online — the Ministry of Finance at mh.gob.sv/servicios-en-linea and the CNR at e.cnr.gob.sv.

Register the purchase

Registration at the Property Registry formalises the change of ownership and makes it public. You submit the official transcript of the deed, proof of registration fee payment, a duplicate transfer-tax receipt if the price exceeded $28,571.43, a tax clearance certificate for both parties if it exceeded $30,000.00 (or a non-taxpayer certificate, as applicable), and municipal property clearance from the local city hall. The process concludes when the property is registered in your name.

Verify ownership

Confirm the landlord actually owns the property, by extracted certification from the Property Registry at the CNR or a copy of the registered title deed.

Agree the terms

Monthly rent, lease duration, permitted use (residential, commercial), who pays municipal taxes and maintenance, and any deposits or guarantees.

Have a notary draft the agreement

The lease identifies the parties, describes the property and its authorised use, sets the rent, payment frequency and method, defines the term — typically six months to a year, with the possibility of automatic extension — assigns obligations for maintenance, utilities and repairs, and states the grounds for early termination. Foreign tenants present a passport or resident card and a NIT.

Sign, and take the deposit seriously

The notary issues each party an authenticated private document of the agreement. A security deposit of roughly one month's rent is customary, held against damage or default.

Inspect at handover

The landlord delivers the property in the agreed condition. Walk it first and record its state, so that pre-existing damage is not yours to answer for at the end of the term. The lease ends on expiry or by mutual agreement; early termination follows the notice conditions and any penalties written into the contract.