Buying property in Cape Verde as a foreigner: the steps

You live in the UK, Portugal, the Netherlands or the United States and you are thinking of buying a home or a plot in Cape Verde. Whether you are a foreign national or part of the Cape Verdean diaspora, finding a property is rarely the hard part. The real challenge is following a local procedure from thousands of kilometres away while keeping control of both the paperwork and the money.

This guide follows the actual order of a purchase, from the offer to the entry in the land registry, and then looks at what you owe every year as a non-resident owner.

Can foreigners legally buy property in Cape Verde?

None of the rules covered in our guides depends on nationality or residence. The annual property tax is owed by whoever owns the property on 31 December, with no distinction between residents and non-residents, and the sale procedure applies equally to sellers living abroad. That said, this is not a legal opinion on your specific case.

In practice, ask the notary to confirm, before you pay anything, that no specific rule applies to your situation: buying in your own name or through a company, the type of property, agricultural land, or a plan to run tourist accommodation. On that last point, our alojamento complementar guide notes that an applicant of foreign nationality must provide a residence permit, an equivalent document or a copy of the residence application to operate that kind of rental.

What are the steps, from offer to registration?

A purchase runs in six stages: check the title, sign a promissory contract with a deposit (sinal), declare and pay the transfer tax, sign the public deed (escritura pública) before a notary, register the acquisition at the land registry, and update the property's tax record. Skipping or swapping two of these steps nearly always causes a problem later.

• Check the title: obtain a recent certidão predial and confirm the property is definitively registered in the seller's name. Without that, the transfer cannot be formalised (the trato sucessivo principle, art. 14 of the Land Registry Code).
• Sign the promessa de compra e venda: it sets the price, the deadline and the conditions. Money paid at this stage is presumed to be a sinal.
• Settle the ITI: the buyer owes this transfer tax (1% as a rule, 3% where a privileged tax regime applies). It is declared before the deed and paid the same day, or by the third working day at the latest.
• Sign the escritura pública: the notary cannot execute the sale without the ITI declaration extract and proof of payment.
• Register at the registo predial: the application is normally due within three months of the deed, and the entry only becomes definitive once ITI payment is proven.
• Update the matriz: the property must appear in your name for the annual tax.

What can be done remotely, and what needs someone on the ground?

Searching, shortlisting, much of the document checking and preparing the tax can all move forward from abroad. The technical inspection, the signing of the deed and the follow-up at the registry need you in person, or a trusted person who is independent of the seller and acts for you under a written power.

Draft a narrow power of attorney, not a general one

If you cannot travel, the question is not only who represents you but for which acts exactly. Limit the power to the identified property, a maximum price and the acts required. Before signing anything in your home country, ask the Cape Verdean notary which form they will accept: language, translation, authentication. Bear in mind too that the ITI Code expressly covers an irrevocable power of attorney granting authority to sell, so a very broad mandate is not a mere formality.

How should you send the money without weakening your file?

Every payment should be traceable to a document: the promissory contract for the deposit, the declaration for the ITI, the deed for the balance. Use bank transfers to a clearly identified beneficiary, never cash, and align the price schedule with the tax schedule, since the tax must be paid before signing.

For comparisons, the escudo is pegged to the euro at a fixed rate of 1 EUR to 110.265 CVE. Still check your bank's fees and how long the transfer takes to arrive: an international payment that lands after the third working day following the ITI assessment can leave the transfer without effect.

• Paying the deposit before reading a certidão predial in the seller's name.
• Accepting new bank details sent by message, even from someone you know.
• Paying into an intermediary's personal account without the seller's written mandate.
• Letting different spellings of your name appear on the passport, the promissory contract and the deed.
• Relying on a certidão more than a year old: it is valid for one year and can be renewed.
• Not keeping proof of transfers: you will need it when you sell.

What do you owe each year as an owner living abroad?

As an owner you pay the IPI, the annual municipal property tax in force since 1 January 2026, whether or not you live in Cape Verde. Payment is due in April, with the option of two instalments (April and September) when the amount exceeds 2.000$00. Certain changes must also be declared to the matriz and, for a flat, building charges apply.

Set up three things at signing: declare to the matriz, within ninety days, the events listed in the code (completion of works, for instance); budget for the 25% surcharge on vacant urban property; and keep the payment receipts, which can be required for any later act on the property. Someone on site should receive your post and alert you.

How can you prepare for a future sale from day one?

Your future buyer will ask for what you are asking for now: a property definitively registered in your name, an up-to-date matriz and traceable payments. From the start, file the deed, the ITI receipt, the certidão after registration, your IPI receipts and any building permits.

On the tax side, the seller's gain falls under category E of IRPS, with a final 1% withholding calculated on the gross sale value and deducted by the notary or registrar. A complete file mainly prevents a sale from stalling for months because a registration was left provisional.

General information only: have your file reviewed by a notary or lawyer in Cape Verde before making any commitment.