Lease Agreements Must Now be Registered

Pursuant to section 16 of the new Leasing Law No. 27,551 enacted on June 30, 2020 (see New Lease Law: Modifications Introduced in the Lease Regulation for Residential and Commercial Use), landlords must register all real estate lease agreements before the Argentine Tax Authority (the AFIP, after its acronym in Spanish) —and they must do so when, how, and within the scope stipulated by the Agency or face the sanctions set out in Law No. 11,683 on Fiscal Procedure (i.e. fines).

Through General Resolution (RG) No. 4933/2021 published in the Official Gazette on February 18, 2021, the AFIP implemented the “Regime for the registration of real estate lease agreements” (RELI, after its acronym in Spanish) for the purpose of reporting the celebration and amendment of lease agreements affecting real estate located in Argentina. The Resolution will enter into force on March 1, 2021.

 

Included Agreements

The RELI governs: (a) urban real estate leases and sub-leases; (b) rural real estate leases and subleases; (c) temporary urban or rural real estate leases for tourism, leisure activities or similar purposes; and (d) leases of fixed or mobile spaces or surfaces (whether leased exclusively or not) within a piece of real estate, such as commercial space and/or stands in supermarkets, hypermarkets, shopping malls, centers, promenades or shopping galleries, etc. Shelf space leases are not included in this subsection.

In all cases, lease agreements executed electronically through the use of digital platforms and/or mobile applications are included.

 

Obligated Subjects

Individuals, undivided estates and corporations acting as landlords or sublandlords in the agreements are required to carry out the registration.

When the real estate in question belongs to subjects residing abroad, their representatives will be in charge of the registration, regardless of the type of representation they exercise.

If one out of several condominium owners registers the lease, the remaining owners will be free from the obligation to register, provided that all co-owners are notified of that registration.

If there’s an intervening third-party in the agreement, that third-party may register the agreement on behalf of the lessors. That registration will: (a) exempt landlords from having to register the agreement; and (b) constitute confirmation of the intermediary’s participation in economic operations.

In the event that the registration duty is unmet, contract clauses, conditions and terms of the mandate and representation granted to intermediaries will not be enforceable against the AFIP as exemptions from the responsibility that falls to the landlords.

Obligated subjects, intermediaries, and tenants may consult the registered agreements reporting their involvement.

 

Excluded Subjects

When the parties are exclusively the National, Provincial, Municipal or Buenos Aires City Governments, their respective departments, centralized or decentralized entities, excluding the entities and agencies included in section 1 of Law No. 22,016 and its amendments, landlords and sublandlords will be exempted from the registration obligation. As this provision is phrased, it is not clear whether it applies when both parties to the agreement are a state entity as outlined above or when just one of the two is (be it landlord or tenant).

 

Voluntary Registration of Tenants

Landlords are burdened with the duty to register the agreement; however, tenants may register the agreement on their own accord.

 

Agreements in Foreign Currency

Transactions arranged in foreign currency must be reported in local currency converted on the basis of the Argentine Central Bank’s (Banco de la Nación Argentina) selling rates for the currency in question at the end of the business day immediately prior to the celebration of the agreement.

 

Registration Procedure and Deadlines

Lease agreements must be registered within 15 calendar days of their celebration. The same term applies to their amendments.

The regime will enter into force on March 1, 2021. However, agreements entered into as of July 1, 2020 and that remain in force, as well as those entered into during March 2021, will have an exceptional period for registration up to and including April 15, 2021.

Agreements are registered through the AFIP website (http://www.afip.gob.ar), under the tab that reads: “Registro de Locaciones de Inmuebles - RELI – CONTRIBUYENTE” (available in Spanish).