Creating

REGISTERING PROPERTY 29
In Latin America, Honduras and the Dominican
Republic adopted new property laws. The new Honduran
law takes registration out of the courts and places it
under a new agency that reports to the executive branch.
Honduras also cut the cost of registration by a fifth
by reducing the transfer tax and registration fee and
eliminating the stamp duty. The Dominican Republic’s
law sets time limits on registration and guarantees that
the property is not transferred during the time that the
registrar takes to transfer the title. A separate reform
in 2004 reduced taxes from 4% of the property value
to 3%. Elsewhere in the region, Ecuador abolished the
registration tax and tax payments to the defense board
and water company, cutting 2 procedures and reducing
the cost by 13%. Other countries have also started efforts
to streamline registration. Argentina is digitizing records
and regularizing informal titles. And in Mexico a new
property registration law in Baja California may bring
future improvements in efficiency.
The Middle East saw 2 reforms. In Saudi Arabia a
new law was adopted, establishing the country’s first
property registry. Until the law takes effect in late 2005,
registration will continue to take place before a notary at
no cost—an efficient but less secure titling system. Egypt
cut the property registration fee by a third, from 4.5% of
the property value to 3%.
Reforms in South Asia and Africa also targeted
costs. The Indian state of Maharashtra halved the stamp
duty from 10% of the property value to 5%. Pakistan
reduced its duty from 3% to 2%. In Africa only Mozambique
made improvements. But progress was significant,
with the transfer tax cut from 10% of the property value
to 2.4%, the largest cost reduction by any country.
Not all news was good. For every 4 countries that
made registering property easier, another made it
harder. Kenya imposed an official valuation of property
before transfer. That added a step and sharply increased
delays—from 39 days to 73. The biggest backslide took
place in Bhutan, which added a new procedure at the
court and lengthened existing ones, extending the
time to register property by 28 days. Other countries
increased fees. Cambodia raised its cadastral transfer
fee from 20,000 riels to 350,000, increasing the total
cost by 12%. Guatemala increased costs by 20%. Chad
increased notary fees, transfer taxes and registration
taxes, raising the total cost from an already steep 17%
of the property value to 21%.
TABLE 5.2
Who regulates property registration the least—and who
the most?
Procedures (number)
Fewest
Most
Norway 1 Ukraine 10
Sweden 1 Afghanistan 11
Nepal 2 Bangladesh 11
Netherlands 2 Greece 12
New Zealand 2 Tanzania 12
Thailand 2 Uzbekistan 12
United Kingdom 2 Brazil 15
Finland 3 Ethiopia 15
Iceland 3 Algeria 16
Singapore 3 Nigeria 21
Time (days)
Least
Most
Norway 1 Nigeria 274
Nepal 2 Bosnia and Herzegovina 331
Netherlands 2 Angola 334
New Zealand 2 Bangladesh 363
Sweden 2 Côte d’Ivoire 369
Thailand 2 Rwanda 371
Lithuania 3 Ghana 382
Iceland 4 Slovenia 391
Saudi Arabia 4 Haiti 683
Australia 5 Croatia 956
Cost (% of property value)
Least
Most
Saudi Arabia 0.0 Central African Republic 17.3
Slovakia 0.1 Senegal 18.0
New Zealand 0.1 Burundi 18.9
Belarus 0.1 Cameroon 19.0
Switzerland 0.4 Mali 20.0
Azerbaijan 0.4 Chad 21.3
Russia 0.4 Congo, Rep. 22.1
United States 0.5 Zimbabwe 22.6
Estonia 0.5 Nigeria 27.1
Armenia 0.5 Syria 30.4
Source: Doing Business database.