Guide to Doing Business
in Saba

Transfer of real estate

The title to real estate property or a long-term lease land, can only be transferred by means of a transfer deed which is to be executed before a civil law notary. Since there is no notary on Saba (or Statia), the notaries in Sint Maarten are empowered to carry out their duties on Saba (and Statia).

To effectuate the transfer, the civil law notary will register a copy of the executed deed of transfer in the public registers. There is no land registry (Kadaster) at the moment on Saba. This will change however, with the implementation of the Land Registry Act Bes (Kadasterwet BES). The date of the registration is the date on which the title to the real estate was actually transferred to the new owner. The transfer tax due in connection with the transfer of the real estate property must be paid to the civil law notary, who is responsible for the payment of the transfer tax to the local tax authorities on Saba.