Buying property in Nicaragua as a foreigner: law, steps, costs and risks

Where you cannot buy

• Sea coast (Law 690). The strip from low tide to 50 m inland of the average high-tide mark is for public use and belongs exclusively to the State. The next 200 m are restricted-use. In both, sales and transfers are prohibited; only concessions are granted (20 years renewable, up to 59 for large tourism projects), and only nationals or resident foreigners can apply. Rights legally acquired before the law and existing urban centres are respected.
• Lakes and crater lagoons. A 5 m public strip from the average high-water mark.
• Border (Law 1258, August 2025). The 15 km from the border line belong to the State. The law says nothing about existing private titles in that strip.
• Caribbean communal lands (Law 445). They cannot be sold, seized or mortgaged.

Steps of a purchase

1. Registry check: lien certificate (libertad de gravamen, C$100 per entry) and registry history (C$150).
2. Cadastral certificate from INETER or the municipal cadastral record; the law gives 10 business days to issue it.
3. Promise of sale (optional), which can be registered as a preventive notice to block other sales.
4. Public deed (escritura pública) before a lawyer and notary, who must see the municipal tax clearance and the cadastral certificate.
5. Payment of the seller’s withholding tax and the registry fee.
6. Registration, which records the property’s cadastral number.

Taxes and closing costs

• Registry fee: 1% of value, minimum C$150 and maximum C$30,000 (about US$819).
• Seller’s withholding (capital-gains income tax): 1% to 7% depending on value, the same for residents and non-residents, calculated on the higher of the deed price and the cadastral valuation.
• Property transfers are VAT-exempt.
• By custom (secondary source), the buyer pays the registry and notary fees (1.5% to 2%) and the seller pays the agent’s commission (5% to 10%).
• We found no title insurance currently available for Nicaraguan property.

Buying through a company

Foreign Investment Law 1240 (February 2025) requires foreign investments made by setting up or acquiring a company in Nicaragua to be registered with MIFIC. The text does not say whether it applies to an individual buying a home directly.

Property security in 2025–2026

• The 2025 Constitution guarantees the right to property and prohibits confiscation (Art. 40).
• In August 2025 the US Embassy told its citizens that property rights in Nicaragua are unstable and that the government confiscates property without notice or due process, as reported by Confidencial.
• La Gaceta in April 2026 authorizes donations to the INSS of properties described as State-owned; media such as Confidencial count more than 370 confiscated properties transferred to the INSS between 2024 and 2026, which the government describes as lawful recoveries.
• In 2026, according to Confidencial, nine US retirees’ homes at Playa Gavilán (Tola), built on coastal land leased from the municipality, were taken over after the lease was cancelled; keys began to be returned in October.