ITBI · the city's property transfer tax
ITBI — Imposto sobre Transmissão de Bens Imóveis — is a one-off tax the buyer pays to the CITY (not the state, not the federal government) so that ownership may legally change hands. In the city of Rio de Janeiro the rate is 3%, charged on whichever is higher: the price written into the contract, or the city's own reference value for that property (valor venal de referência), which the municipal tax authority updates on its own schedule and which can be higher than what you actually paid. Without proof of payment, the property registry will not record the transfer, and until it is recorded the property is not yours.
ITBI has no first-purchase discount: it is always the full 3%. The 50% reduction people mention belongs to the notary and registry fees, never to the tax, and applies only to a first residential purchase financed under the SFH (Sistema Financeiro de Habitação, Brazil's regulated housing finance system — a route few international buyers take). It is granted by "Nota 7ª", the footnote in the official fee schedule of the Rio de Janeiro state court. Confusing the two is the most common mistake made about closing costs here.
Escritura pública · the notarized deed
The escritura pública is drawn up and witnessed at a notary office (cartório de notas) and is the formal instrument passing ownership from seller to buyer. Notary fees are not a percentage: they are fixed in value bands by a published schedule of the Rio de Janeiro state court (Portaria CGJ nº 516/2026), and are identical at every notary office in the state — there is nothing to shop around for. At the 17º Ofício de Notas, our partner office, the base band is about R$ 2,907 for a R$ 500,000 property, about R$ 3,422 at R$ 800,000 and about R$ 4,452 at R$ 1.5 million, before the statutory funds and levies that the calculator adds on top.
On purchases financed under SFH or secured by a fiduciary lien (Law 9.514/97 — the standard Brazilian mortgage instrument), the notary fee is cut by 25%. On a first residential purchase financed under SFH the cut reaches 50%, under Nota 7ª of schedules 05.1 and 07.
Registro de imóvel · recording the deed
Done at the property registry office (Cartório de Registro de Imóveis) that covers the address — registries in Brazil are territorial, so exactly one office can record any given property. Fees are banded here too: about R$ 2,874 at R$ 500,000, R$ 3,389 at R$ 800,000 and R$ 4,418 at R$ 1.5 million. This is the act that enters the deed (or the bank's mortgage contract) onto the property's registry record, the matrícula — and it is the act that actually transfers ownership. Signing the escritura on its own does not make you the owner.
On a first residential purchase financed under SFH, registry fees are also cut by 50% (Nota 7ª of schedule 05.1).
Bank appraisal
Only when the purchase is financed under SFH: the lender commissions its own independent valuation before releasing the loan, and charges the buyer for it. At Caixa Econômica Federal — the state-owned bank behind most Brazilian mortgages — this runs around R$ 3,700, varying slightly by region. It does not apply to a cash purchase.
What does all of this add up to?
The tax dominates. ITBI at 3% is always charged in full, while notary and registry fees are banded and barely move as the price rises. For an R$ 800,000 apartment bought in cash in Rio, expect roughly R$ 35,000 all in — about 4.4% of the price — of which R$ 24,000 is ITBI alone.
A first purchase financed under SFH cuts notary and registry fees by 50% (Nota 7ª), but ITBI stays whole. On the same R$ 800,000 property the closing-office fees fall from about R$ 11,000 to about R$ 5,800; add the Caixa appraisal (about R$ 3,700) and the total lands near R$ 33,500. The saving comes entirely out of the fees — the R$ 24,000 of tax does not move.
Set this money aside BEFORE you commit, not after. The ITBI has to be paid in full before the transfer can be registered, and a buyer who has spent everything on the price cannot complete the purchase. At Lopes Enjoy we run these numbers with you at closing and introduce the bank correspondents who handle the paperwork.
