The Dominican certificado de título, explained: what proves you own it, and how to check it.

What is a certificado de título in the Dominican Republic?

It is the registry document that evidences ownership of an individual cadastral parcel with defined measurements and boundaries. The Registro Inmobiliario issues it, and the owner holds a duplicate. It is the title the seller hands over at a sale, and the registry records the buyer's ownership once the transfer is registered.

The governing law is Law 108-05 on Real Estate Registry, under which rights such as mortgages and liens must be recorded. The U.S. State Department and El Inmobiliario describe it as a Torrens-type register. Dominican law requires all land to be registered, and unregistered land is presumed to belong to the state, according to the State Department.

What is a constancia anotada?

A Constancia Anotada evidences ownership of a portion of a parcel that has no individual cadastral designation. These were issued for rights that predate Law 108-05. It is a real ownership document, but it does not describe your portion with its own measured boundaries the way a Certificado de Título does.

The registry can accept a transferable Constancia Anotada in a sale, but it follows an institutional policy of progressively reducing the number in circulation (Resolución 517-2007). If a seller offers a Constancia Anotada, ask whether a deslinde is planned and who pays for it.

What is a deslinde?

A deslinde is the boundary survey by which the holder of a Constancia Anotada fixes the boundaries of the portion they occupy, registers an individual survey plan through Mensuras Catastrales, and obtains a Certificado de Título. The registry describes it as carried out completely and in a single act.

The rules for parcel regularisation and deslinde sit in Reglamento 790-2022, which the full Supreme Court of Justice modified by Resolución 82-2025. The content of those changes was not reviewed for this page, so ask your surveyor or lawyer which version applies to your file.

What is the Certificación del Estado Jurídico del Inmueble?

A certificate from the Registro de Títulos that states the legal status of a property and confirms the owner's duplicate Certificado de Título is valid. It shows every current entry, including liens, mortgages and annotations, as of the date it is issued. Anyone can request it, which is why buyers order it before paying.

• Fee: RD$1,000 in person. By remote deposit, RD$300 in the Distrito Nacional and Santo Domingo, RD$800 in other localities.
• Time: 45 business days, as listed.
• Channels: in person, remote deposit, the Oficina Virtual and the RI Móvil app.
• ID: foreigners identify with a passport plus a second national ID.

A 45-day listed time means you order it early, not the week before signing.

Why do buyers check the title before paying in the Dominican Republic?

Because the register is still being completed. The U.S. State Department reports that by recent estimates about 60% of land in the Dominican Republic has no title, that the state titling unit issued 58,496 titles in 2024, and that the same right can appear in more than one name while the recording system is improved.

The same report notes that private-sector representatives recommend comprehensive due diligence, and that adverse possession can allow occupiers to acquire rights. In practice that means three checks: the Certificado de Título itself, a current Certificación del Estado Jurídico, and whether the property is on a full title or a Constancia Anotada. The rest of the buying sequence: buying property in the Dominican Republic as a foreigner.

What does the registry need to transfer the title to a buyer?

The deed of sale, either a private deed with notarised signatures or a notarial deed; the seller's duplicate Certificado de Título; a DGII certificate that IPI is paid or exempt; IDs of seller, buyer and spouses; and proof that the 3% transfer tax is paid. Foreign parties use a passport plus a second national ID.

The registry fees on top are small fixed amounts: RD$20 per duplicate title and RD$130 per notarised act, among others. Every cost in one table: Dominican Republic property buying costs.

Header photo: Максим Улитин, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. All credits: image credits.