Portuguese 
Spanish 
Decision of the Court of Justice of Santa Catarina confirms that the delay in the regularization of the deed kept the former owner linked to the property for more than three decades, resulting in IPTU charges, legal actions, and compensation for moral damages.
Selling a property usually represents the definitive end of a patrimonial link. However, for a resident of Porto Belo, on the North Coast of Santa Catarina, the negotiation carried out in 1993 ended up becoming a problem that spanned more than 30 years. Even after completing the sale, he continued to be charged for the Urban Property and Territorial Tax (IPTU), had debts recorded in his name, and had to face tax executions before resorting to the courts.
According to a decision released by the Court of Justice of Santa Catarina (TJSC) on Monday (29), the former owner will be entitled to compensation of R$ 5,000 for moral damages. As published by ND Mais, the maintenance of the property registration in his name occurred because the buyer never provided the definitive registration of the public deed in the notary’s office, a situation that ended up generating a long legal dispute.
Lack of deed registration kept seller as owner before the Tax Authorities
Although the sale was carried out in 1993, the buyer failed to complete one of the most important stages of the negotiation: registering the public deed at the Real Estate Registry Office. Without this formalization, the seller continued to officially appear as the owner of the property before the municipality.
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As a consequence, all IPTU entries remained linked to his name for decades. In addition to administrative charges, the municipality even filed tax executions to collect tax debts, further increasing the troubles faced by the former owner of the property.
Faced with the situation, the case was taken to court. The 2nd Civil Court of the district of Porto Belo ordered the buyer to promote the regularization of the property registration and also sentenced him to pay R$ 5,000 for moral damages to the seller.
Displeased with the amount of the compensation, the former owner appealed to the Court of Justice of Santa Catarina, arguing that the compensation should be higher due to the damages suffered over more than three decades.
Court understands that damage exceeded mere contractual breach
When analyzing the appeal, the reporting judge highlighted that the consolidated understanding of the 3rd Civil Chamber of the TJSC establishes that the mere breach of contractual obligations or delay in regularizing a business, by itself, usually does not give rise to the right to compensation for moral damages.
However, in the specific case, the magistrate emphasized that the situation went beyond a mere documentary irregularity.
The absence of the deed registration improperly kept the seller as the owner before the Tax Authorities, resulting in successive IPTU charges, registration of tax debts in his name, and the filing of tax executions. Furthermore, the former owner remained exposed to the risk of asset seizure and had to resort to the Judiciary to put an end to the effects caused by the buyer’s omission.
In the reporting judge’s assessment, these factors demonstrate that the troubles faced went beyond mere annoyance resulting from an unfulfilled contract.
Compensation is upheld unanimously
Despite recognizing the seriousness of the facts and the damages suffered by the seller for more than 30 years, the Court concluded that the compensation set at R$ 5,000 meets the principles of reasonableness and proportionality.
According to the reporting judge’s vote, the amount has a compensatory and pedagogical nature, being sufficient to repair the moral damages experienced without causing unjust enrichment of the plaintiff.
With this understanding, the 3rd Civil Chamber of the Court of Justice of Santa Catarina unanimously denied the request to increase the compensation and fully upheld the sentence issued by the 2nd Civil Court of the district of Porto Belo.
The decision also reinforces the importance of regularizing the transfer of properties immediately after the sale. Without the registration of the deed in the competent registry office, the seller may remain legally linked to the property before public agencies, assuming tax responsibilities and facing consequences that could be avoided with the proper completion of the registration procedure.
If you spent more than 30 years being charged for a property you already sold, would you consider this compensation sufficient?
