Good morning,
We are French and live in France. We went in early March to Las Terrenas in the Dominican Republic. We fell in love with a house and decided to invest.
The real estate agent set up an appointment with his notary first, then, after consultation with the owner of the house, he finally gave us an appointment in a law firm.
To our surprise, the accountant of the firm, friend of the owner, tells us that it is the company, owner of the house that is for sale.
Caught off guard, we accepted, initially and then refused the next morning. The owner finally agreed to sell us the house alone. So we went back to the law firm to sign, in the presence of a notary, a signing power knowing that we were going back that same day in France.
We received, a few days later, a text message from the owner asking us to officially declare only a smaller amount on the bill of sale to limit the capital gain of the sale of the house on his company. Not wishing us even not to be confronted, in case of sale of the house in a few years to a possible surplus value, we refused.
The accountant of the law firm wrote a draft bill of sale which she sent us by email specifying in the body of the email that we had to make the transfers quickly on the two accounts of the owner (RIB attached).
We sent him an email stating that our bank needed a signed official document to make the money transfers in settlement of the sale amount.
So the accountant wrote the final bill of sale that she signed following our agreement. She had the saleswoman sign it and mail it back to us.
We therefore sent it to our bank, which warned us on two points:
On the one hand, the bill of sale only stipulates the sale and purchase of a portion of land. It doesn't say anything about a house on the parcel. Do we have to worry and have the act of sale corrected?
On the other hand, the deed is not signed by the notary? It seems to us that legally the deed is not legalized?
After reading many articles about buying in the Dominican Republic and the security points, it seems to us not very prudent, as it stands, to ask our bank to make the transfers.
What do you think?
Thank you for your response
