The overall procedure to obtain the full registration and Green Contract for a Real Estate property in Egypt is a long procedure (7 different administrative and legal steps must be completed).

1. Request for registration presented by the buyer

After signature of the sale contract and payment of the price, the purchaser presents to the Real Estate Registry a request for registration. This request is then internally transferred to the real estate registry within the Egyptian Surveying Authority (ESA) offices depending from the Ministry of Water Resources & Irrigation.

2. Site inspection by the measurement department

After payment of the inspection, the Egyptian Surveying Authority (ESA), sets a date for inspection. During such inspection (ESA) takes the necessary measurements and specifications and prepares a report. Only after visiting the site the report is submitted to the Real Estate Registry.

3. Payment and issuance of the inspection’s report (Maqbul)

Then the report will be approved or refused by the measurement department of the Real Estate Registry. The approval is called “Kashf Tahdeed”. The approved request is then transferred back to the Real Estate Registry. The Registry will examine the report and issue a final approval called “Maqbul”.

4. Final contract is drafted and approved at the Lawyers Syndicate

A (final) sale agreement is drafted by the parties on a special form at the Lawyers’ Syndicate. A lawyer must ratify the form. The Lawyers’ Syndicate reviews the final contract and shall approve the contract, called “Mashrua”. At this stage some stamp duties needs to be paid amounting to 0.5 % of the property value with a limit of 5 000 LE.

5.The buyer obtains the contract from the Real Estate Registry

The buyer obtains this final contract from the Real Estate Registry against the payment of 2000 EGP.

6. Seller and buyer sign the contract in front of the Real Estate Registry

Seller and buyer and/or their legal representatives, must sign the contract in front of the Real Estate Registry. The Real Estate Registry reviews the contract once again, making sure that payments have been made and details are correct. Furthermore a registration number is issued to the contract.

7. The buyer picks-up the new contract/title at the Registry

After the Registry has issued this registration number to the contract, it is ready to be picked-up by the buyer or his legal representative.

IMPORTANT NOTE

99% of foreign owners will register their property through the Signature Court Validity since it is the easiest, quickest and cheapest way to do so and it imposes fewer restrictions on the ownership than the Green Contract. Such restrictions being the limitation of the number of properties which can be owned in Egypt, and the legal steps to be taken in case of resale or rent of the property within the first five years of ownership.

For those willing to register their property through the Official Green Contract; the potential delay in obtaining the necessary documents for the registration from the previous owner and all the delay imposed by the procedure itself (more or less a year), it is HIGHLY ADVISABLE TO START MAKING THE SIGNATURE COURT VALIDITY. By doing this; they will obtain the FIRST TYPE OF RECOGNITION OF OWNERSHIP, before conducting the Green Contract.