I bought an apartment a while ago and I kept the purchase sale agreement and the original title deed, but still I haven’t made the transfer of the property, what are the consequences of requesting the transfer now?

Your question is very pertinent because, when purchasing a real estate property, people often delay the process of registering the transfer before the corresponding public offices. Pursuant to local law, a real estate property transfer needs to be registered before the Land Registrar’s Office with jurisdiction over the land parcel being transferred.  This process begins by filing the transfer documentation with the authorities, with the original Certificate of Title and the receipts for payment of the corresponding transfer taxes, and ends with the cancellation of the original Certificate and the issuance of a new one in the name of the new owner.

This process is vital for the protection of the property rights that are acquired at the time of the purchase. Until the transfer is duly registered, the purchase will only be enforceable against the contracting parties, not so with respect to third parties. For legal purposes, the owner of the property is the person on whose behalf the property is registered in the Land Registrar’s Office.

At that point, the new owner will not be able to enforce its rights against third parties, specially against those that may have acquired rights over the same land property in good faith. Lack of registering the transfer could also be a drawback if the new owner wishes to use the property as guarantee for a financial transaction or if the property is to be sold. The delay could also result in a greater amount of transfer taxes, depending on the value that is assigned to the real estate property, which will be used as a basis for calculating the transfer tax, as long as the purchase price is greater than the selling price in the contract.