How do I verify ownership before I pay anything?

Verification of ownership is the notaire's core job, and in Moroccan practice nearly all meaningful checks happen through them. Trying to verify ownership yourself, as a foreign buyer, is impractical — the relevant records are in French and Arabic, held across multiple agencies, and readable only with professional training.

The sequence that matters: you identify a property, you negotiate a price, you engage a notaire, you sign a compromis. At this point your deposit goes into the notaire's escrow — not to the seller. The notaire then runs the full title search: cadastre records, ANCFCC files, habous check, heirs check, encumbrances check. This typically takes two to eight weeks depending on whether the property is titled (faster) or melkia routed through requisition (slower).

You do not transfer any money directly to the seller at any point. All funds flow through the notaire. The deposit at compromis, the balance at acte de vente — both land in the notaire's escrow account, and the notaire pays the seller only when title has legally transferred. This is the fundamental protection that Moroccan property law provides to buyers, and it is the reason using a notaire is not optional.

If at any stage someone — an agent, a samsar, a family friend, the seller themselves — suggests that a payment should go directly to the seller "to secure the deal" or "because the notaire is slow" or "to save on fees," the answer is no. Every foreign-buyer horror story in Morocco has some version of this moment in it. The notaire route is slower, and sometimes frustrating, but it is the only route that protects the buyer's money.

The one exception worth naming: small deposits (5,000 to 10,000 dirhams, for example) sometimes get paid to agencies as signs of serious intent before the compromis is formally opened. These are legitimate but should be paid to a licensed agency, documented with a receipt, and refundable if the sale doesn't proceed to compromis.