An American client of mine, before he was my client, purchased a condo here in Cuenca from another American and used a popular local lawyer to do all the paperwork related to the sale. The lawyer did not understand that the way he was doing the paperwork would cause there to be a “plusvalia”, which is a type of capital gains tax, to be assessed to the tune of a little under five thousand dollars. The buyer, although technically not liable for the tax, could not get his title because the city would not give it to him until the capital gains tax was paid. The seller left the country and refused to pay the tax. In the end the buyer ended up having to pay an extra $5,000 for his apartment.
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Archive for the ‘old’ Category
A lawyer is not a realtor
Friday, May 14th, 2010Escrow Service now Available in Ecuador
Thursday, May 13th, 2010Normally in Ecuador you and the seller would write up the terms of the sale which would then be taken to a lawyer, stuffed with legalize, and finally put into an official contract called “La Promesa de Compraventa” or simply “La Promesa”. The Promesa de Compraventa would then be read out loud in front of a notary and if necessary translated for non Spanish-speaking persons. After the Promesa is read then you, the notary, and the seller would sign the Promesa and you would turn over your down payment money to the seller. Once you have done the due diligence on the title and the property and you have all the money at hand then you would sign the final purchase agreement or “Compraventa”. At this point you would pay the seller the total purchase price less the amount of the down payment which you gave already would have given them when you signed the Promesa.
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