Renting in Bolivia: alquiler or anticrético, and what the law gives you as a tenant
The Bolivian Civil Code strongly protects the tenant of a home in town: the contract only ends if you leave, on your death or after a court judgment. Besides ordinary renting there is the anticrético: you pay the owner a large sum, live without paying rent and get the sum back. That contract may last five years at most.
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If you rent a home in town in Bolivia, the law is on your side. Under article 713 of the Código Civil, the Civil Code, such a lease only ends if you hand the home back, on your death or after a court judgment (article 720). Those rules cannot be set aside by contract (article 722). Besides ordinary renting, the alquiler, Bolivia has the anticrético: you lend the owner a large sum, live there without paying rent and get the sum back at the end.
| Rule | What the law says | Article |
|---|---|---|
| End of the lease of a town home | only if you leave, on death or after a judgment | 713 and 720 |
| On your death | the lease continues for your partner and minor children living there | 720 |
| Highest rent on a review | per year no more than 10 % of the new cadastral value | 715 |
| Longest lease term in general | 10 years | 688 |
| Notice without a fixed term (business premises, villa) | 90 days in advance | 709 |
| Subletting | prohibited, unless the contract allows it | 719 |
| Anticrético | at most 5 years, only by notarial deed | 1430 and 1435 |
| Registering an anticrético | 3 working days at Derechos Reales | manual DD.RR. |
What does that protection mean in practice?
That a landlord cannot simply make you leave at the end of the contract. For a home the law names only three ways the lease ends, and the landlord can only use one of them: the desahucio procedure in court, on the grounds named in the code of civil procedure. A new owner must also respect your lease (article 714).
There is one exception. Homes that the authorities have expressly classified as a mansión or similar fall under the ordinary rules (article 713, second paragraph). There the lease does end on the end date.
Who pays for repairs?
The landlord takes care of the repairs needed to keep the home usable; minor maintenance is for the tenant (article 690). Report a defect as soon as possible. If work takes long or is drastic, you are entitled to a lower rent, and in case of serious disruption you can have the contract dissolved (article 691).
Draw up a record of the state of the home at the key handover. Without such an acta de entrega the law assumes you received the home in good condition (article 705), and you must return it that way.
How does the anticrético work?
You pay the owner a sum in one go and get the use of the home in return. You pay no rent. At the end the owner returns the sum and you return the home. As long as you have not got your money back, you may stay in the home: the code calls that the derecho de retención (article 1435).
Three rules from the law:
- The contract must be in a notarial deed, and only takes effect against others from its registration in the register (article 1430).
- It may last five years at most. A longer term automatically becomes five years (article 1435).
- A home may not be rented out and given in anticrético at the same time. If that happens anyway, the anticrético is void and the owner must repay the sum with interest (article 716).
Before you pay, ask to see the home's folio real at Derechos Reales: it lists the mortgages and earlier anticréticos. And register your own contract. Without registration a bank or a buyer can ignore your right to stay.
According to the Derechos Reales manual, for registration you hand in the notarial deed, the identity documents of both parties and proof of payment of the RC-IVA (form 610), each in the original and two copies. After three working days you get the folio real with the registration back. For that tax the law counts 10 percent of the sum per year as income in an anticrético (article 27 of Ley 843). Agree in the contract who makes that payment.
What if you rent out property yourself?
If you later rent out your own Bolivian home, the rent is taxed. The RC-IVA, the income tax for natural persons, charges 13 % on rental income (articles 19 and 30 of Ley 843) and you need a NIT; see registration and numbers.
What do you arrange before you sign?
How renting fits into the order after arrival is in the first weeks. Agree in which currency you pay and what happens if the exchange rate changes, and have an anticrético contract drawn up by a Bolivian notary. If you would rather buy, read buying a house in Bolivia: the 50-kilometre border zone plays a part there.
In Vertrekklaar this is phase 5 of 5 of the journey, step 5.6: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Bolivia or go straight to step 5.6 in the open plan.
What this rests on
The facts in this article come from these official pages. Rules change. When in doubt, go by the source, not this article.
- Código Civil (DL 12760, a law since Ley 1071 of 2018): renting, articles 685 to 722, and anticresis, articles 1429 to 1435 — obs.organojudicial.gob.bo
- Consejo de la Magistratura — registering an anticresis with Derechos Reales, with RC-IVA and a period of three working days — cm.organojudicial.gob.bo
- Servicio de Impuestos Nacionales — Ley 843, the 13 % RC-IVA on rental income (articles 19, 27 and 30), updated to 30 September 2026 — impuestos.gob.bo
- Servicio de Impuestos Nacionales — DS 21531, article 7 on the taxable income in an anticrético — impuestos.gob.bo
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