Dominican Republic: payments and remote closing

A buyer who lives abroad needs three things from you: a clear order of steps, an honest timetable and a safe way to move money. This briefing sets out how closings are described in Dominican agency and law-firm guides, where those guides disagree, and what to tell a remote buyer.

The steps, as agencies describe them

Two agency guides describe the same skeleton:

• a promise of sale, the promesa de venta, setting the price, the payment schedule and the conditions, with a reservation deposit of 5 to 10 percent held by the buyer's attorney in escrow
• title verification by a licensed notary at the Title Registry, looking for liens, boundary problems and disputes
• the sale contract, the contrato de compraventa, signed before a notary, with the balance paid at or before signing
• payment of the 3 percent transfer tax to the tax authority and filing at the Title Registry
• a new certificate of title in the buyer's name, which one guide says can take a few weeks after filing

Until the registry issues that certificate, the buyer is not the legal owner. Do not use the word "completed" before it exists.

How long it takes

The two guides disagree. One gives 30 to 60 days for a prepared file, the other 60 to 120 days end to end. One adds that a clean title and a prepared buyer can close in about 30 days, while a single undocumented inheritance or a power of attorney problem can stretch the same deal to about 90. Give buyers a range, name the three causes of delay below, and update them each week.

Moving money from abroad

Prices and settlement are described as commonly in US dollars. Buyers normally send an international wire to the attorney's escrow account. Practical points from the guides:

• tell the buyer to warn the sending bank, because compliance checks at the sending bank are reported to add two to five business days
• the sender should be the buyer; a payment from a third party needs a written explanation before you accept it
• keep every payment on a bank record, because the money laundering law is described as restricting large cash payments for real estate
• agree on one account, confirmed by phone with the attorney, before the buyer sends anything, because payment-redirection fraud targets remote buyers everywhere

Buyer costs are quoted by one agency at roughly 4.5 to 5.5 percent in total: the 3 percent transfer tax, attorney fees of around 1 to 1.5 percent plus the 18 percent sales tax on those fees, and notary and registration costs of around half a percent each. Treat the percentages as indicative and ask your lawyer for the current schedule.

Remote closing

Foreign buyers who cannot attend are described as routinely closing with a notarised power of attorney. The reported steps are: sign before a notary in the buyer's country, obtain the apostille, send the document to the Dominican Republic, and allow one to two weeks. We did not verify whether a sworn Spanish translation is needed or whether a Dominican consulate route is available, so ask the notary and the attorney before you set a date.

Remote closings fail in a few predictable ways:

• the power of attorney names the wrong attorney, or is too broad or too narrow for the act
• the apostille is missing or the document is not in a form the notary accepts
• the buyer is travelling and cannot be reached for the last signature
• the funds arrive after the signing date

Off-plan purchases

Off-plan sales need more care. Law 189-11 creates the trust, the fideicomiso, and an agency summary says that in a project with a trust the buyer's payments go to a trustee who releases funds as the work progresses and keeps them separate from the developer's assets. That is the main structural protection. It does not follow that every project uses one. Before you present an off-plan unit, ask for the trust agreement, the trustee's identity, the permits, the payment schedule and the refund terms in writing, and tell the buyer what is missing.

Where files stall

• seller documents: inheritance, missing permits or boundary inconsistencies
• buyer documents: passport copies, apostilles, the RNC
• wire timing: compliance checks and cut-off times at the sending bank

What to tell a remote buyer

• who the attorney is, what the attorney does and what is paid to whom
• the order of payments and the amount of each
• a timetable as a range, with the reasons it can change
• that ownership starts when the registry issues the certificate
• that no one at your agency will ever ask for a payment to a new account by email

What to do with this

• prepare a standard closing sheet for remote buyers and keep it dated
• agree the escrow account by telephone with the attorney before the first payment
• ask the notary now which foreign documents need an apostille or translation
• for off-plan units, hold a written file on the trust and the permits before you promote them

Working with D.H. Realting

D.H. Realting is a trilingual (Russian, English, Polish) overseas-property platform. We introduce buyers, including expats and cross-border buyers, and support the process. Agencies that handle the deal locally and want to be introduced to such buyers can contact us through our partners page.

This briefing is informational only and is not legal, tax or investment advice. Facts were checked on 12 October 2026 from the sources named in the text; rules change, so confirm with a local lawyer before relying on any point.