The land is the project's first decision — and the hardest one to undo. Land title, buildability, seller, deed: what must be checked, and with whom, before the slightest payment.
General information — no substitute for a notary or a lawyer: every check is carried out with the competent institutions.
Each check is described here in principle only. The precise procedures — documents, processes, conditions — are a matter for the competent institutions and your notary.
This is the document that establishes who owns the land, and what encumbers it. It is verified with the Land Property Registry (Conservation de la propriété foncière): actual owner, charges, registered entries. The rule is simple: without a clear, verified title, there is no purchase — however beautiful the land or insistent the seller.
A plot can legally belong to its seller and still be unbuildable, or crossed by an easement that dooms your project. What the land is allowed to carry is verified with the municipality — before the purchase, never after. A magnificent plot you cannot build on is worth nothing to your project.
Is the seller the owner recorded on the title? Are they selling alone what belongs to several people? Are they signing on someone else's behalf? The identity and capacity of the person selling are verified as seriously as the land itself — that is the notary's job, never a matter of personal trust.
In Tunisia, deeds are executed before a notary: the notary authenticates the sale and secures the transfer of ownership. Anything signed elsewhere — a loose sheet, a family arrangement, an oral promise — exposes you. On PontBat, this step is not optional: see the blocking checkpoint below.
Four risky situations the diaspora knows all too well.
In the full-management journey on PontBat, the legal verification of the land is the very first step — and it is blocking: until the title is verified and the situation clarified, nothing is committed and nothing is paid. The build does not exist before the land does.
PontBat replaces neither the notary nor the lawyer: it makes sure this step has actually taken place, with the right professionals, before letting the project move forward. The checks themselves remain the business of the institutions and legal professionals.
Nothing complicated: documents, institutions, and no advance without proof.
The first question is not “how much?” but “what is the title?”. A seller who is slow to show their land title has already given you their answer.
Land Property Registry for the title, municipality for easements and buildability: the answers that matter come from the institutions — never from the person with an interest in selling.
If you cannot travel, have yourself represented by a legal professional — not just a devoted cousin. Goodwill does not know how to read a land title.
No payment — even “to reserve it”, even a symbolic one — until the title, the buildability and the seller have been verified and the deed is ready to be executed before a notary.
In full management, the legal verification of the land is the first checkpoint — a blocking one — before any commitment and any payment. You build on law, not on promises.