I bought a property but didn't register it. Is it mine?
No. Under Brazilian law, you only become the owner of a property when the sale is registered on the property record (matrícula), at the Real Estate Registry Office. The Civil Code is direct: "ownership is transferred between living parties through the registration of the transfer title at the Real Estate Registry" (art. 1,245), and "as long as the transfer title is not registered, the seller continues to be regarded as the owner of the property" (art. 1,245, §1). In other words: without registration, whoever sold it is still the owner — even if you have paid, signed the deed and are living in the property. A contract, a receipt and a deed prove that you agreed to the purchase; none of them, on its own, transfers the property.
Why does only registration transfer ownership?
Because the law separates two things: the title (the sale agreement) and the mode (the registration that makes the transfer effective). You can hold a perfect title and still not be the owner, because the mode is missing. It's the difference between agreeing to the purchase and the purchase being valid against everyone.
Registration is what makes the property officially yours in the eyes of everyone: from that point on, ownership holds before the State, the bank, the neighbors and anyone else. Before that, you have at most possession — which is fragile and does not stop the former owner from selling the same property again, offering it as collateral, or having it seized for their own debts.
| Document | What it proves | Does it make you the owner? |
|---|---|---|
| Purchase contract / receipt | That the deal happened | No |
| Public deed | That intent was formalized at the notary's office | No |
| Registration on the property record | That ownership passed to your name | Yes |
Keep in mind that, above 30 minimum wages, the law still requires a public deed before registration (art. 108 of the Civil Code) — below that value, or in financing with a fiduciary lien (alienação fiduciária), a private instrument may have the same force. We explain the step by step and the order of everything in our article Deed, registration and ITBI: what's the difference?.
What happens, in practice, to those who don't register?
The risk is not rhetorical — it's in the courts' rulings. Without registration, the purchase contract is valid only between you and the seller; it does not secure the property for you against anyone else. That is what Brazil's Superior Court of Justice ruled in 2025 (REsp 2,141,417/SC): a buyer closed the deal under a private contract in 2007 and did not register it. Years later, the former owner used the same property as collateral for a debt — and that collateral, because it was registered, outweighed the contract of the person who had bought earlier. For the court, without registration the purchase is just an agreement between the two parties: it does not hold the property against other people (art. 1,245 of the Civil Code).
The same is true of the informal purchase contract (contrato de gaveta). In 2025, the Mato Grosso Court of Justice confirmed that a woman ended up without the apartment she had bought this way: she acquired a financed property without the bank's authorization to transfer it, and the court found that this never gave her a firm right over the property. And when the same property is sold to two people, the Superior Court of Justice has settled the rule: it goes to whoever registers first — not whoever paid or signed earlier (art. 1,245 of the Civil Code and art. 167 of Law 6,015/1973).
The problem also shows up on the other side of the counter. In April 2026, the Minas Gerais Court of Justice ordered a group of developers to compensate a resident who paid off his financing in 2009 and still ended up without the deed. The property remained in the developer's name — which went under and was in judicial reorganization — and was blocked over the company's labor debts, which had nothing to do with the buyer. The companies were ordered to pay for failing to deliver the property clean, with moral damages and a refund of the ITBI transfer tax. Without registration in your name, the property stays tied to the past — and the debts — of whoever sold it.
"But I hold the deed and pay the IPTU property tax. Doesn't that count?"
It counts as proof that you bought and occupy the property — but not as ownership. Paying the IPTU property tax does not make you the owner: the IPTU is levied on possession or beneficial ownership (art. 32 of the National Tax Code) and is charged to whoever occupies the property, owner or not. There are cases of families who paid IPTU for 10, 30 years and, when it was time to obtain the deed, discovered that the property record was still in the name of an estate that had never been probated — and the registry office refused to register it. Occupying, maintaining and paying tax do not replace registration.
The public deed, in turn, is an important but intermediate step: it formalizes the intent at the notary's office and is the document you take in order to register. Until it reaches the property record, the property remains, in the eyes of the law, the seller's.
What to do if you bought and haven't registered yet
If you are in this situation, the path depends on how the purchase was made — but the goal is always the same: take the title to the property record.
- Pull the up-to-date property record certificate from the Real Estate Registry Office. It shows who the current owner is, whether there are debts, liens or other sales noted on it. It's the first diagnosis.
- Gather the title and regularize the missing steps. If the public deed is missing (and the property requires one), schedule the notary's office; if the ITBI is missing, issue and pay the tax slip at city hall — registration won't happen without it.
- If the seller vanished, died or refuses to grant the deed, the path may be compulsory adjudication (adjudicação compulsória) — a lawsuit to obtain the title in court when you hold the contract and have proven payment.
- If there is a defect in the chain of owners (a forged document further back, a pending probate), that must be cleared first — a clean registration today won't survive a rotten origin.
The more time passes, the more expensive and riskier it gets. Every month without registration is a month in which someone else can register first, or in which a debt of the former owner can reach the property.
Where Conecta comes in
Conecta is the digital concierge and real estate despachante (paperwork agent) that handles this journey end to end. We check the property record, handle the deed and the ITBI, and take the deal all the way to registration — which is the only step that makes the property actually the buyer's. For the buyer, it's the assurance of not becoming one more "I paid and lost it" case. For the developer, it's the sale that truly closes: paperwork in order, keys handed over, and after-sales without the complaint about registration that never came through.
"In practice, buyers feel the deal is done once they get the keys. But without registration, the property still isn't theirs — and that is exactly the step that tends to stall. It's the part Conecta takes on, from start to finish," says Vitória Nejm, a real estate law specialist, founding partner of Nejm Lara Resende, and CEO of Conecta.
Bought and haven't registered yet, or want your clients not to stall at the deed? Talk to Conecta.
Frequently asked questions
I paid for the property and hold the signed contract. Am I already the owner?
Not yet. Under art. 1,245 of the Civil Code, ownership is only transferred with registration on the property record, at the Real Estate Registry Office. The contract proves you bought it, but whoever doesn't register remains, in the eyes of the law, not the owner.
I bought through an "informal purchase contract" (contrato de gaveta). Do I risk losing the property?
Yes. Without registration, the seller still appears as the owner and can resell the property, offer it as collateral, or have it seized for debts. In a double sale, the Superior Court of Justice holds that whoever registers first prevails — not whoever paid first.
I've been paying the IPTU property tax for years. Doesn't that make me the owner?
No. The IPTU is charged to whoever occupies the property (art. 32 of the National Tax Code), owner or not. Paying the tax for a long time does not replace registration on the property record.
The seller vanished (or died) and never granted the deed. What do I do?
The path is usually compulsory adjudication: a lawsuit to obtain the title when you hold the contract and can prove payment. It's best to act before the situation gets complicated by probate or new sales.
I hold the public deed. Do I still need to register?
Yes. The deed formalizes the agreement at the notary's office, but it is registration at the Real Estate Registry Office that transfers ownership. A deed without registration leaves the property, legally, in the name of whoever sold it.