Chile Forum

sorry, have not been following this thread.

We have lawyers in Valpo and Santiago. We do most title work out of our office in Temuco. We have a well established system for handling purchases anywhere in the country. If the situation is sufficiently complicated however, we have attorneys in the neighborhood to handle things like going in to court. Most of the time it is not needed.

If you don't hire us, hire some attorney to help you. If you buy land without a title search in Chile and a proper contract, you are at best kissing your money good buy and at worse going to spend the next 10 years (statute of limitations) wondering if you really own the property or in court trying to clear the title. Don't be a cheap skate, unless you are so rich you can afford to be one. If you are going to spend a bunch of money to buy something, buy it the right way.

As for the squatter issue. Not typically a problem in Chile, unless you got in to some formal rental contract and need to boot a renter out. That can be tricky. For the most part, call the cops.

As for crime, the central region has serious crime problems. It is not all of Chile, but the bigger cities definitely have problems. We have clients houses in the Patagonia I know have been sitting unlocked for going on 6 years now, with lots of valuable stuff, and no one has touched it. Just a good safe place. On the other hand the central region if it is not nailed down, assume it will be stolen.

If you are going to leave a piece of property unattended, hire a caretaker. Often just the word of mouth that there is a caretaker is sufficient to get others to leave the place alone. Chilean criminals are not grand masterminds. They tend to be opportunist. If they have to work at it, they will move on to something a bit easier. Again, depends on area to area.

Scroll down to the very bottom of the web site for our phone numbers, or there is a contact form on http://www.spencerglobal.com .

If you are just buying a 5,000 square meter lot, and there is nothing on it, what is there to destroy/steel? Once you build something it might be an issue, but an empty lot is an empty lot. A lot of times you can find lots that already have the fence. They cost more, because fences cost money, but that might also be a possibility. Again much depends on where you buy.