Selling Property in Morocco: How Foreigners Get Their Money Back Out

The question buyers from Marbella, London and the Gulf ask me before they commit is not about the view. It is: when I sell, can I take my money home? The answer is yes — Morocco guarantees it — but only if the purchase was paid for the right way. The rule is decided on the day you buy, years before you sell, and most people only discover it at the exit.

The rule in one sentence

Morocco controls foreign exchange through the Office des Changes, and its general instruction — the 2026 edition has applied since 1 January — lists the purchase of property among the forms of foreign investment. When that investment is financed in foreign currency, it benefits from a convertibility regime that guarantees the investor complete freedom to transfer the income it produces and the proceeds of its sale. No special authorisation is needed: your bank makes the transfer once it has the paperwork.

Everything else in this article follows from the phrase financed in foreign currency.

What counts as "financed in foreign currency"

The money has to reach the seller through a channel the bank can see and certify:

• A transfer received from abroad — the simplest route: wire the money from your bank at home.
• A payment from a foreign-currency account or a convertible-dirham account held in your name at a Moroccan bank. Foreigners, resident or not, are allowed to open both. What goes into them from abroad stays convertible.
• Foreign banknotes, only in narrow conditions: to pay them into such an account you must hand the bank the customs declaration you made when bringing the cash into Morocco, and it must be recent.

For every payment the bank issues a justificatif de règlement — a certificate that foreign currency was converted or a convertible account debited for your investment. Keep every one of them. They are the documents that will unlock the exit, possibly ten or twenty years later.

What the bank asks for when you sell

To transfer the proceeds abroad, the rules require the bank to be given:

• The financing proofs — the justificatifs de règlement from when you bought;
• A copy of the deed of sale and a copy of the deed of purchase;
• Proof that the taxes due on the sale have been paid.

That is the whole list. It is short, but every item on it has to exist. The weak point is almost never the sale. It is the first item, which had to be created on the day you bought.

If the purchase was not financed in foreign currency

Suppose part of the price was paid in dirhams from a local source, or in cash that never passed through a bank. That investment does not benefit from the convertibility regime. The money is not confiscated, but it cannot leave in one go.

After tax, the proceeds are paid into a special account in your name called a compte convertible à terme. From it, the money can be transferred abroad in four equal instalments of 25%: the first as soon as the funds arrive, the other three once a year on the anniversary. Three years to get your own money home — the price of a purchase that was not documented properly.

And a word on the oldest bad idea in Moroccan property: paying part of the price "outside the deed". Beyond being illegal, it means that part of your money never entered through a channel the bank can see, so it cannot come back out freely either. Since 2026, any part of the price paid in a way that cannot be traced also costs an extra 2% at purchase. There is no version of the under-the-table deal that works in the buyer's favour.

Selling to another foreigner

One useful exception: when a foreigner sells to another foreigner, or to a Moroccan living abroad, the price can be paid directly outside Morocco. The buyer then takes over the seller's position — if the property was convertible for you, it stays convertible for them. It is worth knowing when you negotiate, and worth checking when you buy from a foreign owner.

The tax on the sale

The tax on real estate profits is 20% of the net gain, with a minimum of 3% of the sale price — whichever is higher. The 2026 finance law did not change it.

• The net gain is the sale price minus the purchase price. The purchase price is first revalued with official inflation coefficients, then purchase costs and documented works are deducted. If you cannot document your purchase costs, a flat 15% is allowed.
• The 3% floor means a sale at no profit, or at a loss, still pays 3% of the price. Factor it into any short-hold plan.
• The notary handling the sale normally collects the tax and pays it over, and the return is due within 30 days of the sale.
• The main-residence exemption applies to a home you have actually lived in as your main residence for years. A holiday home owned from abroad rarely qualifies — plan without it.

Ask the notary for the exact figure on your property before you agree a sale price. It depends on your purchase deed, your works and how long you have held it — especially for bare land.

Rental income: the easier half

If you let the property while you own it, the rules are more generous. A non-resident foreigner can have rental income transferred abroad without limit, however the property was financed, once the tax on that income has been paid. The bank asks for the certificat de propriété, the lease and proof of the tax. If you hold a foreign-currency or convertible-dirham account, the rent can be paid straight into it.

What to do when you buy, so that selling is simple

1. Open a convertible-dirham or foreign-currency account in your own name before you pay anything.
2. Bring every euro, pound or dirham of the price in from abroad, by bank transfer, and pay from that account.
3. Pay the full price through the notary and the banks — no cash, no "outside the deed".
4. Collect the bank's justificatif for every payment and file it with the purchase deed. Scan it too.
5. Buy clean in the first place. A property that cannot be sold cannot be repatriated either. Check the title before you pay — see how to read a certificat de propriété and, for plots, buying land in Morocco as a foreigner.

Done this way, the exit is paperwork, not a problem. Skipped, it can mean waiting three years for your own money.

Buying in Tangier with the exit planned

When we sell land or property to a foreign buyer, we set the payment route up with the notary before the first deposit, so that the documents needed to leave exist from day one. Our Atlantic-coast parcels west of Tangier are zoned for tourism — details on the coastal land page.

If you already own in Morocco and are not sure how your purchase was financed on paper, message me on WhatsApp — in English, French or Arabic — before you agree a sale. It is far easier to sort out before the buyer is at the table.

This article summarises the Office des Changes' general instruction (2026 edition) and the Moroccan tax code as they apply to individuals. It is general information, not legal or tax advice: confirm your own case with your notary and your bank before you act.

Written by

Abdelali El Amrani

Founder, MorAsset

Handles land and property transactions in Tangier for foreign buyers — the title checks, the notaire, the surveyor and the permit path — in English, French and Arabic.

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