Buying Directly From an Owner in Brazil

How a direct sale works in Brazil

No law makes you use a broker. A sale between an owner and a buyer follows the same legal path as a brokered one: a promise of sale, a public deed at a notary, and registration at the property registry. Nothing about the title, the tax or the notary's work changes. The buying guide sets out that path, and the rest of this page covers what's different when nobody is in the middle.

Brokerage is a contract one party chooses to sign (Civil Code art. 722). If the parties start and finish a deal between themselves, no commission is owed (art. 726), with exceptions covered below.

On Brazil Keys, the for-sale pages mix owner and broker listings, so check the label on each. Owners can list a home for free, and Brazil Keys is neither a broker nor a law firm, so it doesn't stand behind a seller's claims. Treat every listing, including the ownership field explained in the posse guide, as a statement to be checked.

What you lose is a person whose income depends on the deal closing. What you gain is room on the price, and a direct line to the seller. You'll have to do more yourself, or pay others to do it, and this page shows who.

CRECI rules

A CRECI is the registration a real estate broker holds with the regional council for brokers. Law 6.530/1978 reserves paid intermediation in sales, exchanges and rentals to registered brokers and firms (arts. 2 and 3).

• The owner selling their own property doesn't intermediate, so no CRECI is needed. The same goes for a buyer, and for a lawyer advising a client on the contract.
• A friend, caretaker or neighbor who wants a cut is intermediating if paid for bringing you together. Acting without the required registration can be a petty offense (Decree-Law 3.688/1941, art. 47).
• A missing CRECI doesn't always cancel a promised fee. A Paraná state court treated a registration problem as an administrative matter and still ordered a R$ 29,527.53 commission paid. So don't casually promise anyone a percentage.

If you do deal with a broker, the law gives you things to check. A broker's ads must carry the registration number (art. 20, IV), a broker needs a written authorization to advertise a deal (art. 20, III), and a broker must give an account of any money or documents received (art. 20, VII). Ask for the professional card and look the number up with the regional council. CRECI-PB's president put it to the public in July 2026 this way: be suspicious and report. The council's advice was to confirm the registration on its website, ask for a firm's certificate of regularity, and get the owner's written authorization before paying a representative.

A broker's duty to report risks and documents (Civil Code art. 723) is the part you most need to replace. The next chapter shows how. If you decide you want a broker after all, the directory lists firms by market, and a broker can also work for you on a fixed brief.

What a broker normally does and who does it instead

A foreign buyer has one more gap to fill: language. A broker often translates informally. Without one, budget for someone who can read Portuguese contracts and speak to a registrar. Sworn translation is a separate service, needed for foreign documents used in Brazil, and the page on powers of attorney says when you need it.

The commission and who keeps the saving

The CRECI-SP reference table lists 6% to 8% for urban sales and 8% to 10% for rural ones. It dates from 2009 and it is a reference. The fee is whatever the contract says, and if nobody agreed one, a court sets it by custom (art. 724). Custom on used homes puts the fee on the seller.

So a direct sale saves the seller a real sum. Whether any of it reaches you is a matter for negotiation. Here is the arithmetic on R$ 800,000 (about US$ 147,600), at a 6% fee.

At 8% the commission is R$ 64,000. In the split scenario, 3% ITBI falls by R$ 720, from R$ 24,000 to R$ 23,280, as long as the lower figure is the true price.

Costs you take on or can't avoid:

• Your lawyer. Needed either way, though the scope grows. Say R$ 8,000 as an assumption, for a written quote to replace.
• An engineer's inspection. Say R$ 2,500 as an assumption, more for a large house.
• Your time. A foreign buyer may need extra days in Brazil.

In the split scenario you come out R$ 24,720 ahead, counting the ITBI. Take off the assumed inspection and you are R$ 22,220 ahead, because you'd have paid the lawyer anyway. Take off the whole assumed R$ 10,500 and it is R$ 14,220. These are illustrations, and nothing obliges a seller to split anything. A seller may also have priced the home with the saving already in mind, which is why the price check below matters.

Notary and registry fees stay the same with or without a broker. See the closing costs guide.

When a broker can still claim a fee

A direct sale can still produce a commission claim. It usually lands on the party who hired the broker, but it can delay your closing and it may name you.

• Exclusive authorization. If the owner gave a broker written exclusivity, the broker keeps the full fee even when the parties close without them, unless the broker was inactive or idle (art. 726).
• A broker dismissed earlier. If the owner dismisses a broker and the deal later closes because of that broker's work, the fee is still owed. The same goes for a sale after the authorization ended, if it results from the broker's efforts (art. 727).
• A broker who introduced you. If you toured this home with a broker and then found the owner online, expect a claim. Merely bringing people together isn't always enough, under STJ case law, but a Paraná court ordered payment on a prior introduction, and the STJ gave half of the fee to a first broker who made the useful introduction when another closed (REsp 2.165.921/SP).
• A withdrawn deal. The fee can fall due once the broker has achieved the agreed result, even if a party later backs out (art. 725). In REsp 1.783.074 (2019), the STJ applied that to a buyer who skipped the deed. In REsp 1.786.726, it refused a commission where a court block on the matrícula stopped the deed from ever being signed. The parties may also tie payment to a milestone, even registration (REsp 2.000.978/SP, 2023).

So do three things. Ask the owner in writing whether a broker is involved. Put the answer in the contract, with a promise that the owner will bear any commission claim. And if you've already worked with a broker on this property, tell your lawyer before you make an offer.

Proving the seller is the owner

This is the first check in a direct deal, and it is the one most fraud goes after. In Jaboatão dos Guararapes, Pernambuco, a buyer who found an apartment on Facebook paid R$ 30,000 by Pix to a seller who wasn't the owner. She found out a month later, when the real owner came to collect overdue rent. State prosecutors charged the seller in December 2024. In Paraná, registrars reacted to fraud figures of about 98,000 cases a year, of all kinds, by telling buyers to check RI Digital before paying anything. CRECI-PB's July 2026 alert lists invented listings, advance fees that disappear, and one project where double sales hit half the buyers.

Run these in order:

1. Read the matrícula. The owner's name and CPF are on it. A copy the seller hands you isn't the same thing as one you ordered yourself, so order your own through RI Digital.
2. Match the person. See the ID in person or on a video call, and compare name, CPF and date of birth. Ask for the marriage certificate, because a married seller may need the spouse's consent (art. 1.647), and a missing signature leaves the sale open to annulment (art. 1.649).
3. Check the property's use. Who has the keys? Who pays the condominium? Ask the building's manager or a neighbor. Fraud often targets vacant property, as Goiás police described in a 2015 case.
4. Check any representative. If someone acts under a power of attorney, confirm it with the notary that issued it, and reach the owner on details you found independently. The police delegate on the Goiás case gave similar advice: check with the registry, and reach the owner without going through the broker.
5. Check the bank account. It should be in the name on the matrícula. A request to pay a cousin, a company or a broker needs a written explanation from your lawyer's side, and usually a different answer.

The full list of certificates on the seller is in the title guide. A listing with a possession label has no matrícula in the seller's name at all, and that's a different check, covered in the posse guide.

Checking the price without a broker

Nobody will tell you whether a price is fair, so build your own comparison from several sources and treat each with care.

• Market indexes. FipeZAP publishes a figure per square meter for major cities. In September 2026 it showed R$ 8,691 in Salvador and R$ 11,302 in Rio. An 80-square-meter apartment in Salvador at that average comes to R$ 695,280. A neighborhood such as Barra or Itapuã can differ widely from a city average, so treat the figure as a starting point.
• The Brazil Keys index. The market index shows asking prices, which aren't sale prices. Where FipeZAP doesn't cover a market, the samples get thin: Búzios has only 9 listings with an area figure, and Trancoso only 7.
• Local listings for the same building. Compare like with like: floor, view, age, parking.
• ITBI. Ask the city what value it would use. Under STJ Tema 1113 your declared price is presumed correct unless the city opens a proper process, though Complementary Law 227/2026 has reopened the argument. A big gap between the price and the city's figure tells you something either way.
• An appraiser. The brokers' law lets a broker give an opinion on a property sale, without mentioning value (Law 6.530/1978, art. 3), and COFECI, the national brokers' council, runs a register of appraisers (CNAI). A fee for that is separate from a commission and doesn't require a sale.

Don't lower the price on the deed to save tax. A simulated sale is void (Civil Code art. 167), and a low figure raises your gain when you sell.

The contract when no broker is in the middle

A broker's form won't be there to fall back on. Your lawyer writes the promise of sale, and it should cover the following.

• Identity and record. Names, CPFs, marriage details, matrícula number and registry office.
• Price and stages. In words and figures, with dates, account details and who holds what.
• The sinal. On a sinal of R$ 80,000, backing out yourself lets the seller keep it. When the seller is the one who backs out, you have a claim to R$ 160,000 in total, plus correction for inflation, interest and legal fees (arts. 418 and 420). A right to withdraw limits the damages to that amount.
• Conditions. A clean title check, a clearance from the condominium, a tenant's waiver, a lien released.
• Costs. The default is that deed and registration costs fall on the buyer (art. 490).
• Broker statement. As described above.
• Debts. Who pays IPTU and condominium up to the handover date. The buyer answers to the building for the old fees anyway (art. 1.345), so hold enough back to cover them.
• Area. A shortfall above 5% on a price set by size can support a claim, if made inside a year (art. 500, art. 501).
• Handover. The date you get the keys, and what stays in the property.
• Registering the promise. On registration you hold a real right to acquire (art. 1.417). Without it you can still sue for the transfer (STJ Súmula 239), but a good-faith outsider relying on the record comes first.

Consumer law probably won't help you. The Consumer Code protects against suppliers who carry on an activity (Law 8.078/1990, art. 3), and an individual selling their own home isn't usually one. A professional flipper may be. So the Civil Code is your protection: a seller answers for hidden defects, with one year to claim on property (arts. 441 and 445), and for a third party's better right (arts. 447 and 450). The contract can limit or remove the second (art. 448), so read those clauses.

How to pay safely

Three rules run through every safe payment. Pay only after the title check. Pay only to the person on the matrícula, or to a notary's account. Pay only by traceable transfer. Everything else below is about timing.

The notary option is recent. Law 14.711/2023 added art. 7-A to Law 8.935/1994. The price can be received or deposited through the notary and passed on when the conditions are met or fail, using a segregated account under an agreement with an accredited financial institution. The notary can also record that the conditions were met and the money moved. It depends on your notary having that agreement in place, so ask early and ask for the fee.

Other points on paying:

• Cash. Avoid it. Notaries and registrars report to Coaf, the financial intelligence unit, on cash payments from a set value. CNJ Provimento 88/2019 set that at R$ 30,000, and Provimento 161/2024 raised it to R$ 100,000. A cross-border cash carry above US$ 10,000 must go through an authorized institution (Law 14.286/2021, art. 14).
• Under-the-table money. If a seller asks for part of the price off the deed, say no. The deed would be a simulation and void (Civil Code art. 167), and your proof of what you paid disappears.
• Money from abroad. It moves only through an authorized bank or FX firm (the FX law, art. 3), and you keep the contract. Sending money to Brazil has the details. Paying a seller in dollars abroad is a bad idea for the reasons in the main purchase page.
• A last-minute change of account. Treat it as fraud until you've confirmed it by phone on a number you already had.

When the owner lives abroad

Foreign owners sell directly too, and that changes your side of the deal. A 2003 statute, Law 10.833 (art. 26), says a buyer resident in Brazil must withhold the income tax on a non-resident seller's gain. If you live abroad as well, the job falls to your procurador, whoever holds your power of attorney. An earlier Revenue text (IN SRF 208 of 2002) instead has the seller's side pay on the date of sale, and your lawyer needs to reconcile the two.

Say an owner abroad paid R$ 500,000 and sells to you for R$ 800,000. The gain is about R$ 300,000. At 15%, the first bracket under Law 13.259/2016, the tax is about R$ 45,000. Settle in the contract who calculates it, who files it, and whether that amount comes out of the money the seller receives. A tax treaty or a seller based in a low-tax country can change the rate, with 25% in the second case under Law 9.779.

A seller abroad will also sign through a procurador. Check that power of attorney the same way you would any other, and check that the seller's CPF is regular: since 2025 foreigners abroad must update theirs yearly (see the CPF page). A São Paulo appellate ruling from 2014 upheld a registrar who refused a deed because the foreign sellers had no CPF. For the seller's view, read selling as a foreigner.

Running the closing yourself

Without a broker, someone has to keep track of dates. Usually your lawyer does it, against this timetable.

• Choose the notary. You and the seller are free to pick a notary anywhere in Brazil, regardless of where the property is (art. 8 of the notaries' law). A notary acts within its own municipality (art. 9). Compare the offices on availability, English and whether they run a segregated account. Fees are set by state law. In São Paulo city in 2026, a deed in the R$ 768,400 to R$ 1,152,600 band costs R$ 6,026.36.
• Time the certificates. Registry certificates must be under 30 days old for the deed (Decree 93.240/1986). Order them once the date is fixed.
• Pay ITBI. São Paulo charges 3%. The form and the rate differ by city, and proof of payment goes into the deed. See the property tax guide.
• Sign. In person or through a power of attorney. Check the draft line by line beforehand, particularly names, area and price.
• File the deed. Only the registry for the property's area can register it (art. 169 of the registers law). Registration counts from the day you present it (Civil Code art. 1.246), so don't wait.
• Follow up. The deadline is 10 business days, or 5 if the deed is a simple sale (art. 188). If you get a list of defects, deal with it inside 20 days to keep your priority (art. 205).
• Close out. Order the new matrícula, then transfer the IPTU, the condominium and utilities to your name. In a building in Barra da Tijuca or Itaim Bibi, the manager will want the registered deed.

If you are the owner selling

You don't need a CRECI to sell your own home, and you can list it on Brazil Keys for free. A careful buyer will ask for this file, so have it ready:

• A current matrícula, and your marital status updated on it.
• IPTU and condominium statements, and a lease if you have a tenant. A tenant has 30 days to match the offer, or can claim damages, and sometimes the property itself (Tenancy Law, arts. 27, 28 and 33).
• Any exclusive authorization you gave a broker, and whether it has ended (Civil Code arts. 726 and 727).
• A statement of how you hold the property. Be precise in the ownership field.
• Your own tax position. Brazilian residents and non-residents are taxed differently on the gain, and the selling guide explains the non-resident rules.

A reform note. The new consumption taxes under Complementary Law 214/2025 reach an individual seller only above set limits on the number of properties sold (art. 251), explained in the buying guide. A one-off sale of your own home stays outside them. If you sell often, have an accountant read the current text, since Complementary Law 227/2026 amended the articles right after it, which refer back to it.

Questions

Sources

1. Planalto, Civil Code, Law 10.406/2002 (arts. 167, 418, 420, 441, 445, 447, 448, 450, 490, 500, 501, 722 to 727, 1.246, 1.345, 1.417, 1.647, 1.649)
2. Planalto, Law 6.530/1978 (brokers)
3. Planalto, Decree-Law 3.688/1941, art. 47
4. CRECI-SP, Reference fee table (Tabela Referencial de Honorários), 2009
5. AdmDireito, TJPR, commission owed despite CRECI registration issue
6. Paraíba Business, CRECI-PB warns of recurring scams, July 2026
7. Planalto, Law 8.906/1994 (lawyers), arts. 1 and 22
8. Planalto, Law 8.935/1994, arts. 7-A, 8 and 9
9. Migalhas, STJ, REsp 1.783.074, broker commission when a party withdraws
10. Jus, STJ, REsp 1.783.074, dates and reasoning
11. Conjur, STJ, REsp 1.786.726, deal undone by a block on the matrícula, 2021
12. VLF Advogados, STJ, REsp 2.000.978/SP, commission tied to registration, 2023
13. RKL Advocacia, Broker commission and STJ case law (REsp 2.165.921/SP)
14. SíndicoNet, Fake owner charged in Pernambuco, December 2024
15. Bem Paraná, Paraná fraud figures and registrars' advice, June 2026
16. Polícia Civil de Goiás, Illegal property sales, 2015
17. RI Digital (ONR), Registry certificates and CPF search
18. COFECI, CNAI appraisers' register
19. Planalto, Consumer Code, Law 8.078/1990, art. 3
20. STJ, Súmula 239 and others (official list)
21. STJ, Base of ITBI is market value, Tema 1113, 2022
22. Registro de Imóveis do Brasil, Provimento CNJ 161/2024 on Coaf reporting
23. Contábeis, CNJ Provimento 88/2019
24. Planalto, FX Law 14.286/2021, arts. 3 and 14
25. Planalto, Law 10.833/2003, art. 26
26. Receita Federal, IN SRF 208/2002 (text at Contábeis)
27. Planalto, Law 13.259/2016
28. Planalto, Law 9.779/1999, art. 8
29. IRIB, CSM-SP on CPF for foreign non-resident sellers, 2014
30. Planalto, Public Registers Law, Law 6.015/1973, arts. 169, 188, 205
31. Planalto, Decree 93.240/1986
32. Planalto, Tenancy Law, Law 8.245/1991
33. CNB/SP, Notary fee table for São Paulo capital, 2026
34. 26º Tabelionato de Notas de São Paulo, Fees and 3% ITBI, 2026
35. AdmDireito, Complementary Law 214/2025, art. 251