Mortgage Release Deed Chile (Alzamiento de Hipoteca)

Mortgage Release Deed Chile (Alzamiento de Hipoteca) is a unilateral or bilateral public instrument governed by Código Civil de Chile (CC) Article 2434 and the Reglamento del Registro Conservatorio de Bienes Raíces (D.S. N°1.939/1992) by which the acreedor hipotecario (mortgagee/secured creditor) formally declares the extinction of a hipoteca (mortgage) registered in the Conservador de Bienes Raíces (CBR) of a Chilean commune, following the full satisfaction (pago total) or other extinction of the principal obligation secured by the hipoteca. The alzamiento does not itself extinguish the hipoteca — under CC Article 2434, the hipoteca extinguishes when the secured obligation is extinguished by payment, novation (novación), compensation, or any other mode of extinction under CC Title XX. The alzamiento is the formal procedure required to cancel the CBR inscription so that the immovable property appears unencumbered (libre de gravámenes) in public records.

CC Article 2434 establishes the five modes of extinction of hipoteca in Chilean law: (1) the extinction of the principal obligation (extinción de la obligación principal) — the most common, occurring upon full payment of the mutuo hipotecario or other secured debt; (2) the resolution of the grantor's ownership rights (resolución del derecho del constituyente) — e.g., if the deudor hipotecario held conditional title that is subsequently resolved; (3) expiry of the term for which the hipoteca was constituted (vencimiento del plazo) when a term hipoteca was agreed; (4) the occurrence of a resolutory condition (condición resolutoria) expressed in the escritura de hipoteca; and (5) the cancellation (cancelación) by the acreedor — i.e., the voluntary alzamiento deed. In practice, mode (5) — voluntary cancellation through an alzamiento escritura — is the mechanism used in over 95% of Chilean mortgage releases.

The Código Orgánico de Tribunales (COT) Articles 446–518 govern the institutional framework of Notarías Públicas that execute the alzamiento escritura. The Notario Público of the commune where the original hipoteca was inscribed (or of the commune where either party domiciles, by agreement) executes the alzamiento as a public deed (escritura pública). The escritura must identify the original hipoteca by its CBR Foja, Número, and Año of inscription; the amount of the secured obligation that has been paid; and the acreedor's declaration of release. It is then submitted to the CBR for inscription as a marginación (marginal annotation) in the Registro de Hipotecas y Gravámenes, immediately adjacent to the original hipoteca entry.

The CMF-regulated lenders — including BancoEstado, Banco de Chile, Banco Santander Chile, Banco BCI, and Scotiabank Chile — are contractually and regulatorily obligated to provide the alzamiento within 30 to 60 days of full loan repayment. CMF Circular N°3.577 establishes minimum standards for mortgage product documentation, including the obligation to deliver the alzamiento escritura free of charge to the borrower upon request after full payment. For mortgages executed under the SERVIU (Servicio de Vivienda y Urbanización) social housing programmes of the Ministerio de Vivienda y Urbanismo (MINVU), the alzamiento of the Fisco de Chile hipoteca requires a separate administrative process through the SERVIU regional office before notarial execution.

A properly executed and inscribed alzamiento eliminates the hipoteca from the Certificado de Hipotecas y Gravámenes issued by the CBR, enabling the property owner to sell, refinance, or otherwise deal with the property free of the encumbrance. Until the alzamiento marginación appears in the CBR records, any Certificado de Hipotecas y Gravámenes will continue to show the original hipoteca as an active encumbrance, creating a cloud on title (nube sobre el título) that will be flagged by any competent Chilean real estate attorney conducting due diligence.

The practical significance of the alzamiento cannot be overstated in Chilean real estate transactions. Any Certificado de Hipotecas y Gravamenes issued by the CBR before the marginacion is inscribed will continue to show the original hipoteca as an active encumbrance, creating a cloud on title (nube sobre el titulo) that will be flagged by every competent Chilean real estate attorney conducting title due diligence for a compraventa. Santiago's active real estate market, where tens of thousands of properties change hands annually with financing from Banco de Chile, BancoEstado, Banco BCI, and Scotiabank Chile, requires the efficient processing of alzamientos as a precondition to completing transactions. The Superintendencia de Notariado y Conservaduria (SNC) has issued Circular N.87/2019 streamlining the notarial alzamiento process, allowing electronic submission of alzamiento requests to Notarios Publicos through the SNC's online platform. The CMF's Norma de Caracter General N.461 requires CMF-regulated mortgage lenders to maintain an internal procedure (procedimiento interno de alzamiento) with documented timelines and responsible parties for each stage of the alzamiento process from loan payoff to CBR marginacion inscription, subject to CMF inspection. Foreign financial institutions that have registered hipotecas over Chilean properties through the Banco Central de Chile's Chapter XIV CNCI foreign credit registration system must follow the same alzamiento procedure before the CBR, with a notarially authenticated poder de representacion issued in their home country and legalised through the Apostilla de La Haya or Chilean consular legalisation.

An Alzamiento de Hipoteca is needed in Chile in every situation where a property owner has fully satisfied a secured mortgage and wishes to obtain a clean title free of all registered encumbrances. The most common triggering events are: full repayment of a residential mutuo hipotecario obtained from a CMF-regulated bank (BancoEstado, Banco de Chile, Banco BCI, Scotiabank Chile, Itaú Chile) — the alzamiento is necessary to remove the bank's hipoteca from the CBR records; refinancing of an existing mortgage with a different lender — the existing lender must grant the alzamiento of the first hipoteca as a condition of the new lender's disbursement (the new lender simultaneously registers its own Constitución de Hipoteca); sale of the mortgaged property free of encumbrances — buyers and their attorneys will require a Certificado de Hipotecas y Gravámenes from the CBR confirming the property is libre de gravámenes before completing the compraventa escritura before the Notario Público.

Alzamientos are also required when partial prepayments reduce the secured amount and the parties agree to a partial release (alzamiento parcial) of the hipoteca or a reduction of the guaranteed amount (reducción del monto garantizado), requiring an escritura de modificación de hipoteca rather than a full alzamiento. For SERVIU social housing programme mortgages (DS 49, DS 1, DS 255 of the Ministerio de Vivienda), the SERVIU regional office issues a Certificado de Deuda Pagada (paid debt certificate) which is a prerequisite to requesting the alzamiento from the Fisco de Chile. Foreign nationals who have repaid Chilean mortgage loans must also complete the alzamiento through a Chilean Notario Público before repatriating proceeds from a future property sale through the Mercado Cambiario Formal regulated by the Banco Central de Chile.

Real estate attorneys conducting due diligence for compraventa transactions in Chile routinely check for outstanding hipotecas through the CBR's online Certificado de Hipotecas y Gravámenes and will require that all encumbrances be alzadas (released) as a condition precedent to completing the purchase — this is standard practice in Chile's real estate market across Santiago, Valparaíso, Concepción, and all CBR jurisdictions.

Alzamientos are also required when a deudor hipotecario exercises the dacion en pago (payment in kind) mechanism under CC Article 1569, delivering the mortgaged property itself to the acreedor in satisfaction of the debt. In this case, the acreedor simultaneously accepts title through a compraventa escritura and executes the alzamiento escritura as part of the same notarial session, with both documents submitted to the CBR simultaneously. Corporate restructurings involving Chilean real estate also trigger alzamiento requirements when a hipoteca constituted by a predecessor entity is transferred or released following a merger (fusion), division (division de sociedades), or business transfer under Ley 18.046 (Ley de Sociedades Anonimas) or Ley 3.918 on sociedades de responsabilidad limitada. The SII requires that any corporate restructuring involving the release of real estate security be reflected in updated CBR certificates for purposes of the income tax and stamp duty implications of the underlying debt extinguishment. The Corporacion de Arbitraje y Mediacion de Chile (CAM Santiago) has handled disputes over the timing and obligation to execute alzamientos in complex corporate refinancing transactions.

A valid Alzamiento de Hipoteca under Chilean law requires the following key elements to achieve full cancellation of the CBR inscription:

**1. Escritura Pública.** The alzamiento must be executed before a Notario Público as a public deed (escritura pública) under the Código Orgánico de Tribunales (COT) Articles 446–518 governing notarial functions. An alzamiento in a private instrument (instrumento privado) has no effect on the CBR inscription and will be rejected by the Conservador.

**2. Identification of the Releasing Party (Acreedor Hipotecario).** Full legal name, RUT, representation authority (poder de representación), and domicile of the acreedor hipotecario — the entity granting the release. For CMF-regulated banks (BancoEstado, Banco de Chile, Banco BCI), the executing official must present a vigente poder notarial confirming authority to sign alzamientos on behalf of the institution. The Conservador de Bienes Raíces will reject alzamientos where the releasing party's representative lacks sufficient documented authority.

**3. Identification of the Property and Original Hipoteca.** Precise identification of the inmueble (address, SII Rol de Avalúo, commune) and the original hipoteca being released by its CBR inscription details: Foja, Número, and Año in the Registro de Hipotecas y Gravámenes of the corresponding CBR. Any discrepancy between the alzamiento and the original inscription data will cause the CBR to reject the marginación.

**4. Declaration of Debt Extinction.** A clear declaration by the acreedor hipotecario that the obligation secured by the hipoteca has been fully paid (pagada íntegramente) or otherwise extinguished under CC Article 2434 — specifying the mode of extinction (pago, novación, dación en pago, etc.) and the date of extinction.

**5. Amount Released.** The original secured amount (monto garantizado original) as stated in the CBR inscription, and confirmation that the entire amount has been satisfied. For a partial alzamiento, the amount being released and the remaining secured balance must both be stated.

**6. Release Clause (Cláusula de Alzamiento).** An express clause stating that the acreedor hipotecario releases (alza y cancela) the hipoteca and consents to the inscription of the alzamiento as a marginación in the CBR Registro de Hipotecas y Gravámenes, authorising the Conservador to proceed with the cancellation inscription.

**7. CBR Marginación.** Submission of the alzamiento escritura to the CBR of the commune where the property is located, with payment of the applicable arancel CBR for marginación inscription. The CBR inscribes the alzamiento as a marginal note on the original hipoteca entry, referencing the alzamiento escritura Foja, Número, Año, and date. The marginación renders the property libre de hipotecas for purposes of future CBR certificates.

**8. SERVIU-Specific Requirements.** For hipotecas constituted in favour of the Fisco de Chile under SERVIU social housing programmes (DS 49, DS 1), the alzamiento requires: the SERVIU Certificado de Deuda Pagada; a resolution (resolución) from the Ministerio de Vivienda y Urbanismo authorising the alzamiento; and execution by an authorised SERVIU official before the Notario Público.

**9. Complementary CBR Certificates.** After inscription of the alzamiento, the property owner should obtain a new Certificado de Hipotecas y Gravámenes from the CBR to confirm that the hipoteca no longer appears as an active encumbrance — confirming the property is libre de gravámenes for transaction purposes.

**10. Forms-legal.com Compliance.** Forms-legal.com provides a complete Alzamiento de Hipoteca template aligned with CC Article 2434, COT Articles 446–518, D.S. N°1.939/1992 Reglamento del Registro Conservatorio, and CMF Circular N°3.577 obligations for regulated lenders.

**9. Post-Alzamiento Verification.** After CBR marginacion inscription, the property owner should obtain an updated Certificado de Hipotecas y Gravamenes from the CBR to confirm clean title. The Certificado de Dominio Vigente should also be updated to reflect the current encumbrance-free status. These updated CBR certificates are required by any future Notario Publico handling a compraventa, nueva hipoteca, or donation (donacion) involving the released property.

**10. Electronic Alzamiento.** The SNC's Circular N.87/2019 enables Notarios Publicos to process alzamiento requests submitted electronically by CMF-regulated lenders through the SNC's secure online platform, reducing processing times. The Ley 19.799 on electronic documents and digital signatures applies to electronically executed alzamiento escrituras, provided the electronic signature meets advanced electronic signature (firma electronica avanzada) standards certified by a Ministerio de Economia-accredited provider. The SNC's oversight of Notarios Publicos includes periodic audits of alzamiento procedures to verify that Notarios are not processing alzamientos without adequate authorisation documentation from the acreedor hipotecario. The Registro de Notarios maintained by the SNC lists all active Notarios Publicos in Chile's 16 Regiones and their designated communes, enabling parties to locate the appropriate Notario for their alzamiento. For high-volume alzamientos such as those processed by major banks under Ley 21.236 portability procedures, the SNC allows Notarios Publicos to process batches of alzamiento escrituras signed by a single authorised bank representative under a standing poder notarial, significantly reducing transaction costs and processing times for consumer mortgage clients. The Ministerio de Justicia y Derechos Humanos updates the notarial and CBR fee schedule (arancel) annually through a resolution published in the Diario Oficial. Parties should consult the current arancel before execution to budget correctly for formalisation costs. The Superintendencia de Notariado y Conservaduria (SNC) operates a public transparency portal where any person can verify the inscription status of documents at all CBR offices across Chile, reinforcing the legal certainty of Chile's property registration system. Los usuarios de forms-legal.com pueden descargar este documento de forma gratuita en formato PDF o DOCX, completar los campos del formulario guiado y obtener un documento listo para firma.