Selling a Property in Argentina as a UK Owner: Steps, Tax and Paperwork

Selling a flat or house in Argentina from the UK follows one sequence: list the property, accept an offer against a reserva and a seña, sign the boleto de compraventa, clear the title and debt certificates, and complete the escritura (the deed) in front of the buyer's escribano. The tax side is lighter than most British owners expect. Argentina no longer applies the old 1.5% transfer tax, and a property sale falling under Income Tax Law article 99 by an individual or estate, resident or abroad, is exempt from the 15% cedular regime if completed from 1 January 2026. What remains is stamp duty on the deed, the agent's commission if you use one and, if you are UK tax resident, Capital Gains Tax in Britain.

Choose how to sell, and price from evidence

There are two routes. An inmobiliaria (estate agency) takes a written mandate and does the viewings; you can also list the property yourself. Owners can publish a listing directly on PlataPlace, and brokerages list there too, so an owner's flat appears in the same search as agents' listings, each showing its source and when it was last seen. If you want a route that does not depend on one agent, list your property on PlataPlace, then add an agent later if the phone stays quiet.

If you use an agent, get the mandate in writing: whether it is exclusive, how long it lasts, the commission and whether IVA is added on top, and what happens if you find the buyer yourself. An exclusive mandate with no end date is the clause to avoid.

Price from what similar flats are asking, not from what you paid. Flats in Argentina are usually advertised in US dollars, and the advertised figure is the start of a negotiation. For Buenos Aires, compare homes for sale in Palermo and homes for sale in Belgrano against your own floor area, floor level, expensas (building service charges) and condition. You can also describe the flat in plain English in PlataPlace's natural-language search and read what comes back. An asking price is not a sale price: your agent or the escribano can tell you what comparable flats actually closed at.

Get the paperwork in order before you list

Missing documents are a common cause of delay at the deed. Have these ready before the first viewing:

• The title deed (escritura de adquisición) and the tax ID under which you hold the property. If you bought as a non-resident, that is your CDI; the tax ID guide explains the identifiers.
• Your passport or DNI, and a way to sign. Either you attend, or you grant a poder especial (specific power of attorney) to someone who does. From the UK that means an apostille and usually a sworn translation: see the power of attorney guide, the apostille guide and the sworn translation guide.
• Debt statements for the city property tax (ABL in Buenos Aires), utilities and the building's expensas. The building administrator issues the expensas statement; the escribano orders the registry certificates on ownership and on any restrictions such as a mortgage or an embargo.
• If you inherited the property, the succession has to be registered in your name before you can sell. The foreign will guide covers how a UK will meets Argentine succession.

Sort out anything unusual early: a co-owner who lives abroad, a mortgage still to be cancelled, or a floor plan that no longer matches the flat. Each of those can hold up a closing.

Reserva, seña and boleto: what binds you

The order is offer, boleto, escritura. A reserva is the first step: a buyer's offer with a small payment while the parties agree terms. The boleto de compraventa is a private contract that fixes price, currency, date and conditions. The sale itself is completed by public deed, because the Código Civil y Comercial (art. 1017) requires a deed for contracts that transfer real rights over property.

The seña is money paid to confirm the deal. Under art. 1059 of the Código Civil y Comercial it is read as confirming the contract unless the parties have agreed a right to withdraw. If they have, a buyer who withdraws loses the seña and a seller who withdraws returns it doubled. Read that clause before you take a deposit, because a right to withdraw cuts both ways.

Article 1170 gives a buyer in good faith priority over creditors who attach the property later if the buyer contracted with the registered owner, paid at least 25% of the price, holds a boleto with a certain date and has registry or possession publicity. The practical point for a seller is simple: once a boleto is signed and a quarter of the price is paid, that buyer is protected, so do not sign a second boleto for the same flat.

Put these into the boleto: the price and currency, the seña, the date and place of the escritura, the escribano, who pays stamp duty and any commission, the handover date, and what happens if either side is late.

Argentine tax on the sale in 2026

Old advice is the main hazard here. Guides written before 2026 describe a 15% tax on the gain for properties bought since 2018. That has changed.

Ley 27.802, published on 6 March 2026, exempts gains from property disposals or transfers of rights covered by article 99 of the Income Tax Law for transactions from 1 January 2026. Decreto 406/2026, published on 1 June 2026, confirms that this exemption covers individuals and estates, whether resident in Argentina or abroad, for property in Argentina. The article 99 condition matters: the cedular regime generally concerned property acquired from 2018; earlier acquisitions had instead fallen under the ITI, repealed in 2024. A company sale or a transaction outside article 99 requires a separate tax assessment.

Stamp duty is a provincial tax, so a property outside the city follows its own province's rate. In Buenos Aires city the rate applies to the deed value, the fiscal value or the city's reference value, whichever is highest. It is commonly split equally between buyer and seller, but the split is negotiated, so write it into the boleto. The buying costs guide works through the rate for the buyer's side.

UK tax if you are UK resident

Argentina's exemption does not settle your position in Britain. HMRC charges Capital Gains Tax when a UK-resident person disposes of overseas property. For gains from 6 April 2026 the rates are 18% for the part of your gain that falls within the basic-rate band and 24% above it, after an annual tax-free allowance of £3,000 for 2026 to 2027.

The gain is worked out in sterling, converting the cost and the sale price at the exchange rates on the dates of purchase and sale. If Argentina charged tax on the same gain you can claim relief for double taxation; with the 2026 exemption there may be nothing to claim, but keep the deed and the payment evidence anyway. If the flat was your home while you were UK resident, private residence relief may apply, so check the GOV.UK rules on selling your home. The 60-day return that applies to UK residential property does not apply to an Argentine flat: you report the gain on your Self Assessment return.

If you have left the UK, HMRC says non-residents may still owe UK tax on overseas property if they return within five years of leaving. Your residence status decides all of this, so start with the Statutory Residence Test guide, and read the UK-Argentina double taxation treaty guide for how the two systems fit together.

Completing the escritura and getting paid

The buyer normally chooses the escribano, so your job is to make your documents available on time and to check the draft deed against the boleto: names, price, currency, property description and how the price is recorded as paid.

Agree how and where the price is paid before the day. Ask the escribano and your bank how a payment from an Argentine buyer reaches a UK account and what evidence the bank will want; keep the deed and the payment receipts as proof of where the money came from. Individual currency controls were lifted in April 2025, but bank compliance checks remain. The guide to sending money from the UK to Argentina covers the transfer routes and their costs.

After the deed, close the utility accounts, settle the last expensas with the administrator and hand over keys against a signed inventory.

Letting instead of selling

If you keep the property, Ley 27.802 and Decreto 406/2026 also exempt rent earned by an individual or estate from a property used exclusively as the tenant's sole, family, permanent home, for rent accrued from 1 January 2026. Ask an Argentine accountant how that applies to an owner who lives abroad. UK tax on the rent still applies if you are UK resident. The guide to property management for UK landlords covers managers, mandates and the UK side.

Mistakes that cost sellers money

• Signing an exclusive mandate with no end date and no carve-out for a buyer you find yourself.
• Granting a broad power of attorney to an agent or a friend instead of a specific one for this property.
• Accepting a payment route the escribano has not seen.
• Letting expensas or utility debts surface at the deed.
• Following pre-2026 tax advice on the 15% cedular tax.