Can foreigners buy property in Morocco?

Yes. A foreigner can buy and own urban property in Morocco outright, in their own name, with the same registered title as a Moroccan citizen. You do not need residency, a visa, a Moroccan company or a local partner.

There is one exception, and it matters: agricultural land. Foreigners cannot buy it directly. Some developers get round this by changing the land’s designation before selling, which is legitimate if it has actually been done and documented. If a plot is described as “agricultural” or “rural” and the seller tells you not to worry, worry.

The two kinds of title

Moroccan property exists under two systems, and the difference decides how safe your purchase is.

Titre foncier (registered title). The property is entered in the land registry, the Conservation Foncière, with a title number, a plan and a record of every owner and every mortgage. The register is authoritative: whoever is recorded as owner is the owner. This is what you want.

Moulkia (traditional deed). A notarised statement, witnessed by twelve people, that someone has possessed the property for a long time. It is not a registration. Several people can hold competing moulkias on the same plot, and heirs can surface years after a sale. Many riads in old medinas and many rural plots are still held this way. Prices are lower for a reason.

Our rule is simple: we present registered properties, or properties where the registration is complete before you pay. If a seller cannot show a title number, the conversation ends there.

What to ask for first

Before a viewing, before a reservation fee, ask for two documents:

1. Certificat de propriété, a current extract from the land registry. It shows the owner, the surface, and any mortgages, seizures or objections. It costs a few hundred dirhams and takes a few days. A seller who will not provide it is telling you something.
2. For new-build: the building permit and the developer’s VEFA authorisation. Off-plan sales in Morocco are regulated under the vente en l’état futur d’achèvement law. A compliant developer sells under a notarised preliminary contract with a bank guarantee on your staged payments. One who asks for cash against a private receipt does not.

Residency and tax

Owning property does not give you residency, but it supports an application for a residence card (carte de séjour) if you want to spend more than ninety days at a time in the country.

For tax, Morocco taxes rental income earned in Morocco and gains on sale, with rates and exemptions that depend on how long you have held the property and whether it was your main residence. Your home country will usually also want to know. Double-taxation treaties exist with Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France and most of Europe. This is where a tax advisor from our network earns their fee; it is not something to improvise.

What we do with this

Every property we present comes with its land-registry extract. For new-build, we check the permit and the VEFA status with the notary before you see it. You still make your own decision, but you make it on documents, not on a seller’s word.