On June 27, 2022, Law 14.382/22, originated from Provisional Measure 1.085 of December 2021, was sanctioned by the President of the Republic.

The law modernizes the current public records system in the country and creates the Electronic Public Records System – SERP. With it, it will be possible to interconnect with all the databases of all the registries existing in the country, making it possible to carry out and consult practically all acts, via digital means.

With this, the expectation is that public registry services will be faster, in addition to reducing costs with fees, and not having the need to travel to different offices to obtain documents and certificates, since the reception and sending of documents and titles, issuance of certificates and the provision of information will be done through this single electronic platform, which must be implemented by January 31, 2023.

Precisely for this reason, the SERP will significantly impact the Brazilian real estate market, as one of the segments directly affected and which will suffer the most changes will be the Property Registry.

With the system, the request for real estate certificates will be facilitated, the certificates of the entire content of the properties, for example, are expected to be issued within four hours, the updated legal situation certificate of the property, has a deadline of one day, and the other certificates, a maximum of five working days.

The new law directly affects Law 6.015/73, known as the Public Records Law, which governs the Brazilian registration system, bringing innovation and transparency to legal acts.

One of the important changes for the real estate market, perhaps the most impactful, is the dematerialization of real estate certificates.

The innovation is brought by Art. 19, paragraph 5 of the new Law, which provides that the issuance of certificates by public records will be done electronically:
Art. 19 § 5: “The certificates extracted from public records must, in compliance with the provisions of § 1 of this article, be provided electronically, using technology that allows the user to print them and securely identify their authenticity, according to criteria established by the Internal Affairs Department National Council of Justice of the National Council of Justice, waived the materialization of certificates by the registration officer.”.

Always emphasizing that certificates issued electronically will have public faith and, therefore, the same legal validity as printed certificates.

Another important innovation is the possibility of Compulsory Extrajudicial Adjudication (new article 216-B of Law 14.383/22):

Art. 216-B: “Without prejudice to the jurisdictional route, the compulsory adjudication of property subject to a promise of sale or assignment may be carried out extrajudicially in the real estate registry service of the situation of the property, under the terms of this article”.

The article creates the possibility for the promissory buyer, as well as the promissory seller, represented by a lawyer, to proceed with the adjudication of the property extrajudicially, provided that the documents that the article lists in its items are analyzed, such as: default (here read the lack of registration transferring full ownership of the property), analysis of certificates, proof of payment of ITBI, among others.

A controversial point, which will also affect real estate purchase and sale relationships, is the wording of paragraphs 1 of Art. 54 of Law 13.097/15, which deals with the concentration of acts in the registration of the property, also known as the Principle of Concentration, now enshrined in the new law.

In plain terms, the principle establishes that legal situations that are not included in the registration of the property cannot be opposed to the third party buyer in good faith, including for eviction purposes.

The law provides in paragraph 2, the need for prior obtaining any documents or certificates, including the presentation of forensic certificates or judicial distributors, however maintaining those required under the terms of paragraph 2 of art. 1 of Law No. 7,433/85.

The controversial fact is that, nothing was said about the already enshrined devices that put acquisitions at risk, namely article 792, item IV of the CPC and article 185 of the CTN, it is certain that until now in real estate relations it was considered essential to carry out of due diligence involving the parties and the property, in order to identify notes included in the aforementioned provisions that could constitute an eventual loss of property, or the occurrence of fraud in execution and any existence of debts that could compromise the validity or effectiveness of the transaction , which is why such part of the celebrated law should be interpreted with caution.

Several other modifications were made, as for example in Art. 32 and 33 of Law 4.591/64, known as the Real Estate Incorporation Law, in which the developer can only ALIEN or ONERAR, (and no longer just negotiate) the ideal fractions of land and accessions that will correspond to future autonomous units after registration , in the competent real estate registry, of the memorial of incorporation. And after 180 days from the date of registration of the incorporation, if it has not yet materialized, the incorporator will only be able to negotiate units, after annotating the update of the certificates and any documents with an expired validity period.

The law also provides for the use of a digital signature to use the electronic system, waiving the need for notarization of signatures, so that titles and documents can be registered, reducing costs and facilitating procedures.

There are several changes brought about by the new law, whose main objective is to reduce bureaucracy in registration acts and improve the legal business environment. Therefore, we will await the effects of these changes in practice.

By Gabriel Bdine, Maria Beatriz and Wilson Beltrame.