Which Registro Público records sales in Puerto La Cruz?

The Registro Público del Municipio Juan Antonio Sotillo Estado Anzoátegui, which SAREN's office finder places at Centro Comercial Amana, CC Amaneiro, oficina A-7, planta baja. Lechería and Barcelona use other Registros Públicos.

How do I get the cédula catastral in Puerto La Cruz?

Online, at sotillo.sigat.net: in "Control Urbano" you choose "Solicitar Permiso" and the type "Cédula catastral", upload the documents as PDFs, pay the fee and report the payment. The fee ordinance sets 0.25 UCCD (Unidad de Cuenta de cálculo dinámico Criptoactivo Petro), which is paid in its equivalent in bolívares.

What is the property tax rate in Puerto La Cruz?

The ordinance published on the portal sets 0.10% of the cadastral valuation, which is calculated with a table of values per square meter in petros. The copy carries no Gaceta Municipal number, so ask the alcaldía for the published Gaceta.

Is the buyer liable for the taxes the seller owes?

Yes, according to article 9 of the tax ordinance: the acquirer is jointly and severally liable for what the seller owes of that tax, except in a judicial auction. That is why it is best to require the solvencia before paying.

What rebates does the property tax have in Puerto La Cruz?

The ordinance provides 10% for paying the year in advance in January (if the tax exceeds two petro units), and 10% for a primary residence. The primary residence of an owner over 65 is exempt.

Buying in Puerto La Cruz: procedures, registry

Q: Is El Morro in Puerto La Cruz or in Lechería?

It depends on the sector. Lechería's tax ordinance includes the Complejo Turístico El Morro in its zone 1 and stages I to III of the Urbanización Balneario El Morro de Barcelona in its zone 2. In our reading, those properties pay the tax in Lechería; confirm the municipality in the title document.

The municipality and the offices involved

Puerto La Cruz is the seat of the Municipio Juan Antonio Sotillo, in Anzoátegui: the Concejo Municipal (city council) and the despacho de la alcaldesa (the mayor's office) are based there, according to the fee ordinance published on the tax portal.

Taxes are administered by the Superintendencia de Administración Tributaria del Municipio Juan Antonio Sotillo (SATSOTILLO), Sotillo's municipal tax office, on its portal sotillo.sigat.net. We found no website for the alcaldía (city hall) or for the Concejo.

Procedure	Office	Published address
Solvencia (municipal tax clearance) and tax payment	SATSOTILLO	Av. Municipal, Edif. Torre I, PB, local 3, Barrio Mariño
Cédula catastral (cadastral certificate)	Dirección de Catastro (cadastre office), according to the ordinance; Dirección de Control Urbano (urban control office), according to the portal's guide	Online
Recording the sale	Registro Público del Municipio Juan Antonio Sotillo Estado Anzoátegui	Centro Comercial Amana, CC Amaneiro, oficina A-7, planta baja
Authenticating an option or a power of attorney	Notarías Públicas Primera, Segunda y Tercera de Puerto La Cruz	Primera: Calle El Cementerio, N° 42, Edif. Elio, PB. Segunda: Av. 5 de Julio, Edif. Cupic, local 43, PB. Tercera: C.C. Cristóforo Colombo, piso 1, locales 23 y 24, entre Paseo Colón y calle Bolívar

Registro Público (public registry) and notarías (notary offices): office finder of SAREN (the national registries and notaries service), October 2026 (under "Juan Antonio Sotillo" it shows only the Notaría Primera; under "Puerto la Cruz", all three). Confirm them before you go.

Cédula catastral and solvencia municipal

The alcaldía uses the term cédula catastral. According to the portal's guide, it is requested online:

On sotillo.sigat.net, in the "Control Urbano" section, choose "Solicitar Permiso" and the type "Cédula catastral", which also serves for a change of ownership or for an inheritance.

Upload as PDFs the title document, the plan and photographs "del local" (of the premises; that is how the guide writes it), the cédula catastral and the building permit or the conformidad ocupacional (occupancy approval).

Pay the fee the system shows and report the payment; after the review, pay the tax debt the system calculates.

With no debts, the cédula and the solvencia municipal are printed.

The fees are in the amendment to the fee ordinance, which amends the one in Gaceta Municipal Extraordinaria No. 001 (02-01-2020) and is in force from the "Dos de enero del año Dos mil Veinte y uno" ("January second of the year Two thousand Twenty-one"; in figures, the copy writes "02/01/20201") (article 48). This copy does not carry a Gaceta number either, and it prints the amendment's articles first and then the consolidated text, with different numbering: we give both numbers.

Procedure	Fee
Cadastral registration: cédula catastral and certificación de empadronamiento, or enrollment certificate (article 19 of the consolidated text; 17 in the amendment)	0.25 UCCD (a petro-based unit of account); 0.19 in barrios and urbanizaciones populares (low-income neighborhoods)
Certificación de solvencia municipal única, or single municipal tax clearance certificate (article 17 of the consolidated text; 15 in the amendment)	0.015 UCCD

UCCD is the "Unidad de Cuenta de cálculo dinámico Criptoactivo Petro", which is paid in its equivalent in bolívares (article 6 of the consolidated text; 4 in the amendment). The portal shows the exchange rate of the BCV's (Central Bank of Venezuela) highest-value currency, but does not say how it converts those amounts today: ask before paying.

According to the tax ordinance, the solvencia is issued within no more than 3 business days (article 31) and only with all the tax paid, or with a payment agreement that the buyer commits to follow (article 32). Validity: Not published. Without the solvencia the Registro does not record the sale (article 97 of the Ley de Registros y Notarías, the Registries and Notaries Law). More in solvencia municipal and cédula catastral.

The Impuesto sobre Inmuebles Urbanos (urban property tax)

The ordinance the portal publishes was enacted in 2020, has been in force since January 1, 2021 and repeals the one in Gaceta Municipal Extraordinaria No. 087 (31-12-2019) (article 61). The copy carries no Gaceta Municipal number and leaves the enactment and promulgation dates blank: ask the alcaldía for the published Gaceta.

Rate: 0.10% of the cadastral valuation (article 25), calculated with a value per m² in petros (articles 22 and 59); in propiedad horizontal (condominium property) the built square meters count (article 23).

Sale price: if the value in the document exceeds the one in the table, the document's value is used (article 21, sole paragraph).

Rebates: 10% for paying the year in advance in January, if the taxpayer is solvente (has no outstanding debts) and the tax exceeds two petro units (article 36); 10% for a primary residence declared to the national tax administration and lived in by its owner (article 37). They apply one after the other (article 45) and require a solvencia for all municipal taxes (article 46).

Exemption: the primary residence of an owner over 65; it ends when the property is transferred (article 47, literal h).

We do not cite the construction value tables: in several of them, column A is inconsistent with the others. There is no automatic increase clause, but the amounts follow the value of the unit of account on the day of payment (article 25).

What is specific to Puerto La Cruz

The debt passes to the buyer: the acquirer is jointly and severally liable for what the seller owes of this tax, except in a judicial auction (article 9 of the ordinance).

30 days to register: the buyer registers the property with SATSOTILLO within the 30 calendar days following the purchase (article 15), under penalty of a fine of 0.03 to 0.05 UCCD (article 54, numeral 1).

It is not Lechería or Barcelona: those are the municipios Diego Bautista Urbaneja and Simón Bolívar, each with its own Registro Público according to SAREN. Lechería's tax ordinance (Gaceta Municipal Extraordinaria No. 064/2023) includes the "Complejo Turístico El Morro" in its zone 1 and stages I, II and III of the "Urbanización Balneario El Morro de Barcelona" in its zone 2 (article 43). In our reading, those properties pay the tax in Lechería; the ordinance does not say so in those words. Confirm the municipality in the title document. See the Lechería and Barcelona guides.

On the waterfront: the Ley de Zonas Costeras (Coastal Zones Law; Gaceta Oficial 37.319, 2001) declares the strip from the highest tide line to no less than 80 meters inland to be in the public domain of the Republic, "in the case of marine coasts" (article 9); the Provea copy adds "without prejudice to the rights legally acquired by private parties" and the FAOLEX copy does not. There the law restricts "the construction of facilities and infrastructure that diminish the scenic value of the area" (article 19, numeral 1). If the property faces the sea, consult a lawyer.

The general steps of the purchase

Check title and liens at the Registro Público del Municipio Juan Antonio Sotillo.

Ask the seller for the cédula catastral and the solvencia from sotillo.sigat.net.

Calculate the closing costs.

Sign and record the sale.

Within the following 30 days, register the property in your name with SATSOTILLO; the portal offers the change of ownership of the cédula catastral.

Buying a property in Puerto La Cruz: procedures, city hall, registry

The municipality and the offices involved

Cédula catastral and solvencia municipal

The Impuesto sobre Inmuebles Urbanos (urban property tax)

What is specific to Puerto La Cruz

The general steps of the purchase

Frequently asked questions

Sources