The 7 documents to demand before you sign anything

Nearly every bad outcome we have seen in a Colombian purchase was visible in a document the buyer never asked for. Request all seven in PDF before you pay a reservation fee. A seller who cannot produce them has told you something.

1. Certificado de tradición y libertad

Issued by the registry office, dated within thirty days. It lists every transfer, mortgage, embargo, lawsuit and easement recorded against the property. Read the annotations in order. Anything unresolved must be cleared before the deed, not after.

2. The building licence

For anything under construction: the licencia de construcción issued by the curaduría urbana, with its number, validity and approved number of floors. A project selling more floors than its licence permits is a project that will be redesigned or delayed.

3. The fiducia agreement

Names the fiduciaria, the trust account and the break-even conditions. Check that the account you are asked to pay into is the trust's, and that the deadline for reaching break-even is a date, not a sentiment.

4. Reglamento de propiedad horizontal

Defines permitted use, whether short stays are allowed, pet rules, and how common expenses are split. This is the document that decides your rental model.

If any of these seven takes more than a week to arrive, that delay is your information. Nothing on this list is difficult to produce for a seller who has it.

5, 6 and 7

• Paz y salvo of property tax and of administration fees — unpaid amounts follow the property, not the seller.
• Minutes of the last two owners' assemblies — where you find pending levies, structural repairs and votes on use.
• The payment plan and the promesa de compraventa in draft — read the penalty and delay clauses before, not after, signing.