Colombian law firm
Independent private practice · not a government agency — we are neither the notary office nor the Office of Public Instruments Registration · we do not issue deeds, civil registry records or any other official documentLegal counsel for buying property in Colombia
There is no escrow here and no title insurance. What protects you is the title study, the promise agreement and the deed — and all three happen before the money moves.
A mortgage that was never cancelled, an unsettled estate in the chain of title, an owner on a SARLAFT list: none of that surfaces at the notary. It surfaces afterwards, and by then the deed is signed.
Have your purchase reviewed
Free, and answered by a person, not a bot. Your case is read in-house, by the same legal team that would take it on. If we are not the right firm for it, we tell you that and why — usually within one business day.
What we check before you sign
Four checks, in this order. They are the service, and we publish them because the value of this work is entirely in what it finds.
- Who actually owns it. The apparent owners, and any possessors or holders that create risk or force special terms into the negotiation.
- What is registered against it. Liens, limitations, annotations and anything else that stands in the way of the acquisition.
- Title study and the property’s history. The chain of previous owners, and the current owner against SARLAFT listings and criminal, misdemeanour and disciplinary records.
- The contracts. The promise agreement and the clauses of the public deed, drafted so the conditions protect your legal and financial position.
Once the checks are clear, we are at the closing before the corresponding Notary, we see the subsequent registration through at the Office of Public Instruments Registration, and we accompany the handover of the property. And if what you have is no longer a purchase but a dispute — a promise agreement that was broken, a condominium conflict, a deposit nobody is giving back — we take those on too, but it is a different service: say so on the form and we will assign you to the right team.
And what should stop a purchase
Published for the same reason as the fee: finding out after the deed is expensive, and none of it can be undone.
- A Certificate of Freedom and Tradition showing mortgages, liens or limitations that were never cancelled
- An unsettled estate anywhere in the chain of title
- Any history that raises a risk of asset forfeiture over the property
- Family patrimony or a housing encumbrance still registered against it
- A current owner who appears on SARLAFT listings
- For foreign buyers: funds brought into the country without reporting the investment as foreign direct investment — that registration is what makes repatriation of the money possible later
What it costs, and how long it takes
Published, not quoted on request. Two separate things, and the difference matters: our professional fee, and what the transaction itself costs — charged by the notary, the registry and the department, never by us.
COP 7,446,000
Legal representation for the purchase · approx. USD 2,380 · professional fees for the title study, the contracts, the closing and the handover
If the initial title study comes back unfavourable, or a second study is needed, that is an additional COP 1,708,200.
| Notarial fees, on the total value of the property | 0.29% | — |
| Registration fees, on the total value of the property | 0.98% | — |
| Departmental beneficence tax, on the total value of the property | 0.6% | — |
| Authentication of promise agreements, powers of attorney and certificates | ≈ COP 300,000 | USD 95 |
Three of the four are percentages of the price, so the amount is your purchase price — not a figure we can print. Cancelling a family patrimony, a housing encumbrance or a mortgage carries its own costs on top.
None of this is part of our fee. These amounts are paid to the institutions and third parties that charge them — not to us, unless you ask us to handle the payments for you.
Delivery times
Title study and property background
2 business daysOnce you have handed over all the information and documentation on the property.
Promise of sale drafted
3 business daysOnce the terms of the deal have been settled with the seller.
Execution of the public deed
Set by the notary. It moves with the particulars of each transaction and with the notary’s availability.
These do not run one after the other. Each clock starts when its own input arrives — hand everything over at once and you have the title study and the promise agreement in three business days, not five.
What happens after you send the form
A person reads it
Not a bot and not an autoreply. Someone on our legal team, in our own office in Medellín. Within one business day.
You get a straight answer
What your case actually needs — or that we are not the right firm for it, and why.
Written scope and fee
Only if there is a case. Nothing starts before you have it in writing.
Why people hire us for this
What decides this purchase is settled before anyone signs: what the Certificate of Freedom and Tradition actually says, who has held the title before, and — if you are foreign — how the money entered the country.
There is no escrow here and no title insurance. The review is the protection, and it only works before the deed.
And the promise agreement is not a formality. Its clauses on breach, earnest money and deadlines are the only thing you hold if the other side walks — which is why we draft them instead of signing what is put in front of us.
What we are not
- We are not a real estate agency: we do not sell, list or find property
- We never act for the seller — only for you
- We hold no delegated authority from any government body
- We do not issue deeds, certificates or civil registry records
- We do not guarantee an outcome — this is an obligation of means, not of result
“The title study, the promise of sale and the terms of the deal are your only chance to know that what you are buying is what you were told, and that it will actually end up yours. So we do not read a summary: we read the whole chain of owners, entry by entry, as far back as it takes.”
Find out what you are actually buying
The assessment is free and a person answers it — our legal team, in our own office in Medellín. If the title does not hold up, we will tell you that too.
Have your purchase reviewed