Buying, inheriting or litigating in Chile as a foreigner

Buying property or land in Chile

Chile requires no visa, no residency and no Chilean nationality to acquire real estate, and sets no cap on how many properties a foreign national may hold. The operational requirement is the RUT, the tax number issued by the Internal Revenue Service, applied for with a passport and without permanent residency. Without a RUT the sale cannot be registered.

The only significant nationality-based restriction is in article 7 of Decree Law 1,939 and affects nationals of neighbouring countries, meaning Argentines, Bolivians and Peruvians, along with companies they control, in respect of property located in declared border zones. Those cases require express presidential authorisation. For nationals of any other country that limitation does not exist, even where the land sits in a border zone.

A second restriction catches many buyers out: indigenous land governed by Law 19,253 cannot be freely transferred and circulates only between members of the same indigenous group. It is a common situation with plots in the south of the country that are offered for sale without any warning.

What to check before signing

Buying in a country where you do not live, under a registry system you do not know, is the scenario where trusting costs the most. Before any payment we run a title study: who is the registered owner, whether the chain of title is complete, whether there are live mortgages, attachments or prohibitions, and whether the area and boundaries in the deed match reality.

Three findings stop purchases more often than any others: the registered owner died and nobody completed probate, so whoever offers to sell has no power to do so; the property is sold as a defined plot when in fact it is shares and rights over a co-ownership; and there are buildings without final approval that block bank financing.

Where the land is rural or the boundaries are old, we add a georeferenced topographic survey. It is the only way to know whether what you are buying on paper matches what is fenced on the ground, and the difference between the two is often considerable.

Buying without travelling to Chile

The whole transaction can be signed through a special power of attorney in favour of a representative in Chile. If you are not Chilean, that power is granted before a notary in your own country and then apostilled, with an official translation into Spanish where the document is in another language. If you also hold Chilean nationality, you can grant it directly at a Chilean consulate, which is simpler.

We prepare the draft of the power with the exact authorities the transaction requires, so that none is missing and none is granted beyond what is needed over assets thousands of kilometres away.

Inheriting from a Chilean relative

Chilean nationality is not required to inherit assets located in Chile. The procedure is the same as for any heir: first probate, which without a will is applied for at the Civil Registry and with a will goes to court, and then the special inheritance registration at the Real Estate Registrar, without which the property cannot be sold.

What changes when the heir lives abroad is the paperwork. Certificates issued outside Chile, such as birth, marriage or death records, must be filed apostilled and officially translated into Spanish. We tell you exactly which ones you need and in what order to obtain them, so you do not carry out steps that turn out to be useless.

Taxes for an owner who does not live in Chile

Being a non-resident owner does not change the land tax: property tax accrues four times a year just as it does for any owner, and is calculated on the fiscal appraisal assigned by the Internal Revenue Service. If that appraisal is inflated because the cadastre records buildings that no longer exist or areas larger than the real ones, you overpay every year.

The specific risk for an owner living abroad is service of notice. Notices and collection steps are directed to the address registered in Chile, usually the same empty property, so the debt grows unnoticed and in some cases the process advances to stages where the room for defence narrows. We cover this in our property tax practice.

If the property is also rented out, income obtained in Chile is subject to Chilean taxation, and the structure is better defined before signing the lease rather than after the first tax return.

Litigating or defending yourself before Chilean courts

A foreigner can sue and be sued in Chile over assets located in the country, and does not need to be present. Your lawyer acts under a judicial power of attorney granted before a notary in your country with apostille and translation, or at a Chilean consulate if you also hold that nationality.

The cases we see most are occupations of properties left closed up, tenants who stop paying and will not give the property back, boundary disputes with neighbours, and sales that were never performed. In all of them the correct procedural route depends on what documents exist, and choosing wrong means the court dismisses the claim with costs after months. That is why we always start by reviewing the titles before suing, as we explain in our civil litigation practice.