Thanks for the comments, Jim. I get the impression that people often don't get in a hurry to get a Catastral in their names, and just pay taxes in the name of the prior owner. I got sensitized to the issue when I began looking at the issue of capital gains, and issues related to deductions for taxes paid when preparing Mexican tax returns. So far, only Windknot has said he got a Catastral in his own name, eventhough he owned the property through a fideicomiso. T.J. may have one too, but hasn't yet clearly said, one way or the other.
We own property through a fideicomiso. I will check when I get home this afternoon, but I am pretty sure the Catastral is in our name. Once all the papers FINALLY got through the notary process, we took a copy of it, along with our passports etc. to the municipality (in Isla Mujeres) and got everything put in our names. I will confirm that and get back to you.
Thanks, MD. I spoke, again, with my lawyer and was told that the Cedula Catastral is required when there is as sale of property, and represents an official statement of the assessed valuation of property on which sales taxes are to be assessed and paid. (Ours was 2% of the purchase price, paid to the municipality, as I recall.) They said the reason people often don´t request one, at our stage, is that they are only valid for two years and that if the property is not sold within that time, a fresh Cedula Catastral is required. In light of these facts, I couldn´t see any point to continuing the quest for a Cedula and will get, instead, the predial put in our name, as contribuyentes, with a notation on it to the effect that the bank is the owner of the property, in trust, which may be similar to what was done in response to T.J.´s trip to the Catastro.
V / MD The $144 that I paid, was PESOS, but I was off a bit on that amount. It was $245, for the basic purpose of having the property tax bill be in my name. In my "closing package" I see the Cedula Catastral which was requied of the Seller, so it is in the name of the Seller. I basically agree with V, if this is what he is saying, in that there is no real need for a Cedula Catastral until and unless you are ready to sell. The Fideicomiso has my name on it, and that of a benificiary, should anything bad happen to me in a road rage incident. The Escritura likewise has my name on it, "por su propio y personal derecho y con el caracter de FIDEICOMISARIO." Presumably the next Predial will be in my name. I guess I will know in a few short months. I think I am good to go for the moment. It will be another adventure to see if the statement for the Fideicomiso shows up or if I just have to go down and have them look it up, as in the past. When asked, I have previously been told by the Scotiabank clerk, "Proximo año señor." Not sure if there has been any direct discussion on RPP but my attorney told me, after I had bugged her for a few months, is that it would not get out of RPP without me paying $500 Mxn. That was the "old TJ." The new one doesn't pay this crap any more. LOL
People are using this term on this thread, but I´m not really sure what they are referring to: the word appears on the front cover of my bound title documents (which must be sixty pages worth), but I have no separate document with this name on it. What´s an escritura, anyway?
Escritura = Title. Like your deed basically. BUT, if you own Ejido land, you typically get a Constancia. All the rights of ownership except that you cannot use the property as collateral for a mortgage, unless with an owner financed sale. The banks won't touch it. But you can buy, sell, rent, etc. The Ejidos have some governmental powers, and even can start issuing title, i.e. escritura - for a price. Isla Holbox started doing this 3 or 4 years ago. The cost was a $psm with Gulf frontage at one price, within a block or two of the Gulf another fee, slightly less psm and all other properties even at a lower cost. If I am not mistaken, the price is based on land only, so you could get title/escritura for a 500m2 vacant lot at the same price of your neighbor who had a 500m2 lot with a mansion on it. It's all about the land. It seems that my closing package was mainly the Escritura, the Fideicomiso and an assortment of supporting documents, like that Cedula Catastral, as one example.
Here's my take on that: deal with things yourself, and you are unlikely to be asked for a bribe, but those same officials when dealing with an "agent" acting on your behalf, including a lawyer, may not move a muscle till they get paid. My lawyer says she has to pay extra to get almost any administrative procedure to move, such as a response from Catastro, but you got one day service there, with no request for a bribe. This has been my consistent experience here, when dealing with matters in person, myself.
Yes, it's an interesting question, all right, Jim. I suspect that, when dealing with foreigners, government employees/officials are never sure the foreigner won't "rat them out". Even if they think there is no way that a complaint filed by a foreigner could cause them any lasting hardship, it may still produce disruptions and questions being asked that the boss won't appreciate and would just as soon avoid. Dealing with locals, especially those with which they have continuing relations is just a lot more predictable, and less risky, making them bolder in either asking for extra- or just delaying things until the offer is made.
Well, I left for 9 days in Isla Mujeres and FORGOT to check, but like mentioned previously, it was the property tax bill (pre-dial?) that we had put in our name. We took a copy of our Fideicomiso to the tax office and paid a small fee (200+ pesos). Took less than an hour. We did this in June of 2010 and the last property tax bill was in our name instead of the name of the property developer.
