Do you need a lawyer to buy property in Cape Verde?

Short answer: yes — use a good, reliable lawyer. We say that even though we did our own legal work the first time and it worked out. Here's the honest reasoning behind that, and what the buying process actually involves.

We did it ourselves the first time

When we arrived in Sal in 2003, we decided to handle the purchase ourselves. Both of us had experience of the UK property market and had bought and sold many times at home — though always with solicitors.

The buy/sell process looked fairly straightforward:

Check the seller has an unencumbered right to sell (clear title), with no unexpected surprises lurking post-purchase.
Agree and draw up a buy/sell contract between both sides, setting out who promises what, and when.
Arrange a meeting with a Public Notary, who effects the transfer between the parties and records the contractual details with the authorities.
Pay the property taxes on the purchase and meet any other municipal purchase obligations.

In our case we were buying from a developer, which gave us confidence the title was sound. Everything went through the system fine — even though it took the developer far longer than expected (around four years) to finish the apartment. We drew up the contract in English and had it officially translated.

On reflection, we were lucky

We have since met other owners in the same development who had all sorts of post-purchase legal issues — most of whom had used local lawyers. Doing it ourselves arguably made us more diligent: we checked everything we could think of, precisely because no one else was going to.

But the honest answer to "should you do it yourself?" is best shown by what we did next. Twenty years later, buying our plot of land, we chose to use a lawyer. Caveat emptor very much applies in the Cape Verde property market.

Finding a good lawyer

Instructing our lawyer took a day. Working out who to instruct took fifteen years.

That is the honest version, and it is the part most guides leave out. We bought our first apartment in 2003 without a lawyer and did not buy again until we bought the land. In between we lived on the island, met other owners, and heard what had happened to them. By the time we needed a lawyer, we already knew which firms we would not use.

We got to know several firms before instructing any of them. That mattered more than any question we asked.

What we had heard go wrong

The stories that shaped our shortlist fell into four kinds: title not properly registered after completion; missing funds; plain incompetence; and firms that simply did not bother — a thin job, long delays, no explanation. The first is the one that can cost you the property.

None of these are exotic. They are the ordinary failure modes of a small market where a buyer usually cannot tell good work from bad until years later.

What we chose on

Two things we would apply anywhere:

A lawyer who works fluently in a language you read well. For us that meant English — a firm set up for English-speaking clients, not merely willing to try. Whatever your language, this narrows the field, and we would rather choose from fewer firms who communicate clearly than more where we are guessing at what has been agreed. You are signing contracts in a legal system that is not your own. Understanding them yourself is not optional.
A firm based on Sal, where the land is.

Beyond that it was character assessment formed over years, and what other European buyers told us about their own purchases. We are not going to dress that up as a checklist.

What it cost

€600 in legal fees, plus IVA — Cape Verde's VAT, currently 15%, which put it at around €690.

That was 2022. We have not repriced it since, and legal fees move like everything else, so treat it as an order of magnitude rather than a quote. It is the figure we actually paid, which is more than most sources will give you.

That is the lawyer only. Public notary fees, property taxes and the other purchase costs were paid on top. If you are budgeting, treat it as the legal line item, not the cost of transferring a property.

We are not legally trained, and nothing here is legal advice. You must seek your own advice and reach your own conclusions. If you think we can help, you're welcome to contact us.