This important information applies to anyone buying or selling property in Honduras. You heard it first right here... on December 16, 2005 the Honduran Congress enacted a new Notarial Law which
became applicable as of the date of its publication in the official newspaper
“
La Gaceta.” Well, it's now applicable...
The comments below reflect the opinions of C. Felipe Danzilo and may not be the views of the writer.
Of particular importance to all of us are articles 12, numeral
6, 13 numerals 1 and 2, 18, numeral 4, 79, 81, numeral 3, and 91, which
translated from Spanish state the following:
Article 12, No.
6.- The following are obligations of the Notaries: . . . 6.- To sign and seal
all the documents which contain the acts or contracts in which they intervene
with blue ink;
COMMENT
– This changes the disposition of the preceding law which ordered that all acts
or contracts signed before a Notary be effected in BLACK
ink.
Article 13,
numeral 1.- Notaries are
forbidden to:
1.-
Permit that other persons effect acts using their protocol;
COMMENT:
This article makes it illegal
for any person who is not a Notary to use a Notary’s protocol in order to
document acts and sales which are supposed to take place before an actual
Notary.
2.-
Charge less than the fees set out in the Honduran Attorney’s billing
schedule;
COMMENT:
This is a real killer. According to
the billing schedule Notaries MUST now charge 5% of the documented sales price
for the first L.25,000.00 of the value of the act or contract, that is
L.1,250.00 and 3% from then on. OTHERWISE THEY WILL BE INCURRING IN UNFAIR
COMPETITION AND MAY LOSE THEIR LICENSE AS NOTARIES.
Article 18,
numeral 4.- Notwithstanding
any other causes for the annulment of public instruments contained in other
laws, the following public instruments are null: . . . 4) When the document is
authorized without the assistance of an interpreter and the signator does not
speak Spanish, unless the Notary knows the language spoken by the
signator.
Article 79.-
Depending on the
severity of the infraction, the following will be applied to Notaries: 1)
Private reprimand; 2) Suspension; and, 3) Cancellation of the Notary’s license
(exequatur).
COMMENT:
In cases in which a Notary
infringes the dispositions of the new Notarial Law, such as those in which he
“lends” his protocol to a person who is NOT a notary, he may lose is
license.
Article 81,
numeral 3.- The following are
grave violations (of the Notarial Law): . . . 3) The non-personal exercise of
the profession and the obtainment of business via reproachable
means.
COMMENT:
This article contains a double
threat: one if a Notary lends his protocol to another person who is not a Notary
he is in “grave” violation of the Notarial law; and, if the Notary, does not
charge what is stipulated in fee schedule, thus procuring for himself business
by undercutting the fees of his colleagues and therefore incurring in unfair
competition, he is also in grave violation of the dispositions of the new
Notarial Code.
Article 91.-
The persons not
authorized as Notaries cannot, under any concept, offer Notarial
services.
COMMENT:
This article is clear: if you are
not a Notary, you cannot offer your services as such, a practice that has taken
place on Roatán for many years.
I hope that this e-mail serves to
illustrate all the real estate agencies of the legislation that is now in effect
in all of Hondurasand that I have no doubt
will be severely enforced. "
ABOGADO C. FELIPE DANZILO
Casa No. 201, Ave. Rep. de
Colombia
Col. San Carlos, Tegucigalpa
Honduras, C. A.
Tel. (504) 221-0660
Fax (504) 221-1401
