Tony van der Heijden

According the DR's Property Registry Law a property purchase cannot be recorded at the Property Registry without a clear Certificate of Title (with deslinde).

Prior to this law, transfers ownership of a property from the seller to the buyer did not necessarily guarantee the buyer the seller owned the property free and clear. Therefore, previous to this amendment, properties could be bought and sold, but the responsibility of obtaining a Clear Title Certificate was left to the buyer after the purchase. With the new law, a property must have a clear Certificate of Title prior to its sale, just as it is done in the United States, Canada or Europe.

A "deslinde" refers to a clear title which has been issued after the property has received the final judge's approval certifying it has been properly surveyed and that its property lines and boundaries have been clearly defined and established from the original title dating prior to the new registry law or a new title altogether. No purchase should be carried out without a clear Certificate of Title.

Choose a lawyer which at least speaks your language. From a reputable lawyer office. One of the lawyers is Cesar Calderon from Guzman Ariza. Also notary.

Basic procedure to buy a house in the Dominican Republic:

1. A “Contract of Sale” or “Purchase Agreement” is made and signed by the parties of interest and the required deposit, usually 10% is placed in the Escrow account. This will reserve the property for you and, in essence, take it off the market.
2. Most properties are held in Dominican Corporate names, which give you two major advantages. One is, not having to pay any transfer taxes. You simply transfer the Corporation which contains the only asset, the property you are buying. The second is the avoidance of any inheritance issues.
3. If a property is not held in a Dominican corporation, then you will need to pay a transfer tax. Currently, the tax approximately is 3% of the appraised value. This value is a government calculation and does not necessarily reflect the true value of your purchase (usually far less that the actual cost). At this point, it is highly recommended that you have your Attorney form a Corporation for you to avoid this tax in the future if you decide to sell and to provide you with the inheritance benefit. The costs today to form a Dominican corporation are approximate $1,200.00.
4. Closings are normally within 30-60 days depending on the agreement of buyer and seller. All buyers’ funds should be in the Escrow account 3 days prior to closing. On the closing date, both buyer and seller will sign the appropriate documents, or someone you appoint can act on your “Power of Attorney” to handle the closing for you.
5. Your Attorney will record the sale with the Registrar of Titles, and typically it will be in the new owner’s names within 30-45 days. Legal fees are 1% of the actual sales price.

Further information about taxation, permanent legal residency, inheritance taxes, incorporation of a Dominican company and other legal matter you find at Guzman Ariza, Attorneys.

Las Terrenas and its surroundings has building zones. Every zone has its specific requirements and limits. Most important is the building density, which is counted in bedrooms per hectare / ha / 10,000 m2.

Example on a 2,000 m2 lot in Playa Coson:

the building density is there 30 bedrooms per ha. 2,000 m2 is 1/5 from a ha. So the density number is 30/5=6. That means you can make a total from 6 bedrooms. In whatever configuration.

You can make 3 villas with each 2 bedrooms or 6 villas with each 1 bedroom or apartment building or hotel with a max. from 6 bedrooms. Permit is not talking about salons or kitchens.

Creative architects can assist you in converting your idea's in what you want.

Here under 3 links to maps from the new zone law.  This is part from the building permit. The area you can view is from El Catey to Playa el Valle. The maps are from the Ministry of Turism Dominican Republic, april 26, 2012.

• map 1: zone from El Catey to Playa el Valle
• map 2: zone from Coson to El Portillo
• map 3: zone from Playa Las Ballenas to el Portillo

The LEGENDA is on map 1.

The tax on property transfer, which is 3,1% of the registered value from the property at the DGII (DR tax-office).

If the property is owned/registered on a company, this company pays an annual 1% tax on company assets. However, the amount of tax on assets paid by a company can be applied as a credit toward its income tax obligations.

Property(s) owned by an individual and assessed by the DGII (DR tax-office) below DOP 7,019,383 (around 150,000 usd) will be exempt of yearly property taxes and any excess will pay 1% per year over that difference. All properties owned by a company will pay 1% per year of the assessed value with no exemptions. The following properties are exempt from paying real estate tax: farm/rural properties, homes whose owner is 65 years old or older (and has no other property in his or her name) and properties owned by companies, which pay a separate tax on their company assets.

In Las Terrenas we have several good architects.

In and around Las Terrenas you will find many churches. Here a link to Google Map from Las Terrenas and here a link from Google Map to churches in Samana.

There are many churches more and of course in varias religions.

Las has Terrenas has a variety of schools to offer. Local and international schools.

• The international Las Terrenas School: from 3-8 years old. Divided over several groups. Bilingual english and spanish.
• Ecole Francais: this larger school uses the French education system.

You will find several banks and atm machines in Las Terrenas. Atm's give funds in pesos in general with a max. from 10,000 pesos per day. In general open at 9am and close at 4pm. Saturdays 12pm.

Here a link from Google Maps with several bank and atm locations .

If you want to open a bank account here, in general banks are asking for id, letter of recommendation from your own bank. Sometimes more. You can have accounts in pesos, dollars and euro's. All banks offer online services, credit and debit cards.

Always difficult to explain... crime. Yes there is crime. Like everywhere in the world. Feeling safe is something else. I feel safe. Safer then in my original country. Is there discrimination or any tension between Dominican and foreigners: NO. They are warm and helpful people. They respect us as residents and tourists.

Always use common sense: do not leave valuable things alone or out of sight on the beach or in whatever other place.

The Police force: we have tourist police, national police and traffic police in Las Terrenas. All with different tasks and uniforms. The police station is in center town and has english speaking assistance.

Las Terrenas has a wide variety of restaurants, local and international. In all price ranges. The fun starts at around 100 pesos, which is a bit more then 2 us dollars. A decent 3 course meal in a nice beachfront restaurant would do around 50 usd for 2 persons.

There is no specific dress code in Las Terrenas. Its a beachfront village with lots of sand.. Do what you like and wear what you like! Of course also here common sense...

• restaurants on Google Maps
• nightlife on Google Maps

Employees are compared to the USA or Europe extremely cheap here. Below a small overview.

• gardener who in general can do your garden, pool cleaning and some small things around the house 8000-9000 pesos per month. Around 170-190 usd per month. Full time is 6 days a week from monday till saturday 8-5 with 1,5 hr lunch time.
• a cleaning lady has the same. They often do cooking as well and watch over children. If you use them only half days or 1 day per week then it would be around 800 pesos per day, around 17 usd.
• Evening watchman are a bit more expensive. Think around 230-240 usd per month, 7 nights a week.

The Dominican Republic has labor law. At the end of the year the 13th month and when one stops you need to pay a so called "liquidacion". Las Terrenas has a labor office.

Here the prices from gasoil in the Dominican Republic.

Forget about the national post service. Does not work! There are several services in Las Terrenas which handle packages. You can order in fact everything you want for example per ebay and ship it to Las Terrenas. CPS Las Terrenas is one from these offices. Mailbox in the Plaza rosada is another and similar office.

There are 2 companies managing electricity in and around Las Terrenas: Luz y Fuerza and Progreso de Limon. Both have same prices per kw, around 15 pesos / 0,32 usd per kwh.

Few blackouts and good quality compared to the rest from the country. To give you an indication: a 3 bedroom home with a pool does around 6000 pesos / 130 usd and a 2 bedroom apartment for around 2000 pesos / 45 usd per month.

Water in Samana and Las Terrenas: still not potable. Safe to use for shower, teeth and cook. For drinking only use the 5 gallon bottles at 1 usd each. There is a city water system but not everybody is connected. Sometimes owners are connected to the project water or have a private well.

Going through town Las Terrenas you will notice that there are many places where they rent scooters, atv's (quads), buggies and cars. Even since a short while mountainbikes (at Luis in de Calle Carmen). When you rent something, whatever, good advice is take pictures how it looks when you start. So you never have any discussion.

Rental prices for a car around 50-60 usd per day, atv's and buggies bit the same. Scooters around 25 usd per day.

Of course ask about the insurance!

Buying or importing a car: cars older then 5 years is not allowed to import. Also, importing a car can give headaches if you do not know how to handle this. There are many very good car dealers in the DR. Take a look at the largest car and motor website in the DR at SuperCarros. Remember, everything is negotiable.

National health care in the Dominican Republic is socialized and government hospitals are free or almost free. Most expats who live in the country in general take private health insurance and so they can use private hospitals and/or clinics. There are several insurance companies in Las Terrenas.

Local health insurance is available and comes in various types. Some plans reimburse for expenses, including certain medications, after-the-fact and require that services be paid in cash at the time they are provided. Others are a co-payment style system where patients pay a certain amount out-of-pocket and the physician or clinic will bill insurance for the remainder. Many of the policies available through employers are available on an individual basis at virtually the same cost, but the premium is usually paid a year in advance instead of monthly.

Foreign insurance carriers (mainly U.S.) are also available to residents of the Dominican Republic.

Insurance companies Las Terrenas:

• AS Asesores: tel. 809-240-6445
• Monumental, Plaza Rosada local 19

There are no restrictions on foreigners inheriting title to real property in the Dominican Republic. Inheritance taxes is 3% of the appraised value of the DGII. If the beneficiary resides outside the Dominican Republic, inheritance taxes are subject to a 4.5% of the appraised value of the estate.

Hospitals and doctors:

• International hospital: 809-240-6701, Calle Fabio Abreu, Las Terrenas
• Doctor Polanco:  809-240-6028, Main Street 12, Las Terrenas

Dentists:

• Dental clinic Don Cesar: 809-240-9447

Pharmacies:

• 24 hrs open and in every shopping mall or corner