Cadastral Plan in Morocco: How to Check Surface Area and Boundaries Before You Pay

In Morocco, the cadastral plan (plan foncier) is the official ANCFCC drawing attached to a titre foncier that shows the property’s limits, shape and registered surface.

Before you pay a deposit, compare it with the title certificate, the listing and the property itself, because when they disagree, the registered title and plan describe what you are legally buying.

I’m based in Marrakech and have bought four properties in Morocco, and the square metre figure in a listing is the number I trust least until I see it on paper.

This article is general information based on Moroccan legislation and ANCFCC documents checked on 21 October 2026, not legal advice. Fees and procedures can change, so confirm them with ANCFCC or your notary before you rely on them.

What is a cadastral plan in Morocco, and how is it different from the title certificate?

When a property is registered, the conservateur opens a titre foncier that must contain a detailed description of the property, with its limits, its neighbouring properties, its nature and its surface (Dahir of 12 August 1913 on land registration, article 52).

The same article adds that the plan stays annexed to the title.

ANCFCC describes the certificat de propriété as a document that certifies the legal and material situation of the property at the date of the request (ANCFCC, products and formalities).

Only the owner can obtain the duplicata with its annexed plan (Dahir of 1913, article 58), which is why a buyer orders a copy of the plan or works through the notary.

Three terms come up again and again: the réquisition is a property still going through registration, bornage is the official placing of boundary markers, and contenance is the registered surface.

If you have never ordered one, start with how to order and read the ANCFCC certificat de propriété, then come back to the plan.

Why do the square metres in a listing so often differ from the title?

Because a buyer usually meets three different numbers for the same property.

• The registered surface: what the title and its plan say.
• The living surface: the interior space you can actually furnish and use.
• The commercial surface: a selling figure that often adds terraces, balconies or shared areas.

The rule of thumb I recommend to buyers comes from a Moroccan valuation method: never multiply the total area on the title by the neighbourhood’s average price per square metre.

The registered area can include parking, terraces, balconies, roof space or areas that have nothing like the value of indoor living space.

So value parking as parking, count an uncovered terrace at roughly half the indoor rate as a rough rule of thumb, and check whether the parking space is inside the title or on a separate one.

My first successful purchase in Marrakech was a ground floor apartment with a rented shop, and I first saw the apartment and the shop from outside while the owner was living in America.

The owner’s brother opened it for us, we called the owner, and I trusted the people around me. Thank God it went well.

Today, before any deposit, I would want the plan for each part being sold, the apartment and the shop, and I would want to know whether they sit on one title or two.

For setting a price on usable space rather than marketing space, see our guide to pricing a property on comparable, usable space.

How do you read the surface on a Moroccan title?

Titles often express the surface in hectares (ha), ares (a) and centiares (ca), where one are is 100 square metres and one centiare is one square metre.

So a surface written as 00 ha 01 a 10 ca means 110 square metres.

For an apartment with its own title, look at the surface of the private part.

Unless the title deeds or the general assembly decide otherwise, each co-owner’s share of the common parts follows the size of their private part compared with all the private parts (Law 18-00, article 6).

Compare that registered number, not the listing, with what you measure on site.

How do you get the cadastral plan from ANCFCC?

You need the property’s references first, and you get them from the seller.

1. Get the references in writing: ask the seller for the title number, or the réquisition number if the property is still being registered, with its index.
2. Fill in the online form: on the ANCFCC cadastral plan request page, choose the cadastre (the local registry), select Titre or Réquisition, enter the number and index, and choose a digital or paper copy.
3. Identify yourself: the form accepts a national identity card, a passport or a residence card, and asks for your other details.
4. Confirm and pay: you confirm by SMS code and pay by bank card.
5. Compare it with the certificate: order a fresh certificat de propriété at the same time, so both documents describe the same date.

The official tariff lists a copy of the plan foncier at a fixed fee of 100 dirhams, the same amount it lists for a certificate (ANCFCC tariff, Decree 2-16-375 as amended).

The request page itself shows no price or delivery time, so check the amount displayed before you pay, and do not plan around a promised delay.

The simplest route for a foreign buyer is often to ask your own notary to pull the plan together with the certificate, so the same professional reads both.

Keep the reference of your request, because ANCFCC’s website lists online services to track a request and check a document’s authenticity.

ANCFCC also lists a calcul de contenance e-service, so ask your notary whether it is useful for your file.

If the seller will not give you the title number, treat that as information in itself.

Apartments: what exactly are you buying in the building?

What is private and what is common in an apartment building?

Moroccan co-ownership law says each lot is made of a private part and a share of the common parts (Law 18-00 on co-ownership of built properties, article 1).

Private parts belong exclusively to each co-owner (Law 18-00, article 2).

The common parts include the structure, the facade and the roofs, stairs, entrances and basements intended for common use (Law 18-00, articles 3 and 4).

Courtyards and gardens are also common unless the title deeds say otherwise.

Which documents must the seller show you?

The seller must give the buyer a copy of the co-ownership rules, copies of the architectural plans marked ne varietur and the topographic plans of the part being bought, and the sale deed must state that the buyer has seen them (Law 18-00, article 11).

When a building is split into co-ownership titles, ANCFCC’s published list of documents requires topographic co-ownership plans for each private part and each level, including the terrace (ANCFCC formalities leaflet).

So for any apartment with its own title, those plans should exist.

Is the terrace or parking space really yours?

For a terrace, check whether it is inside your private lot, a common part you are only allowed to use, or simply an area the current owner occupies.

For a parking space, check whether it is part of the lot, registered on a separate title, or just a habit in the building.

Exclusive use rights over common parts exist in practice, but how strong they are depends on the co-ownership rules and on what is registered, so ask the notary to confirm in writing.

Shared areas also bring shared costs, so read our guide on syndic charges and the building’s shared costs before you compare prices.

Villas, riads and land: how do you check the boundaries on the ground?

With a house or a plot, take the plan with you and walk the property.

• Compare the shape of the plot and the length of the frontage with the drawing.
• Check the neighbours named on the plan against the buildings around you.
• Look for walls that seem newer than the rest, shared walls and access paths that cross the plot.

If markers are missing on titled land, the ANCFCC tariff lists a fixed fee of 300 dirhams per marker to re-establish them, the procedure called rétablissement des bornes (ANCFCC tariff).

You can also pay a private sworn surveyor (ingénieur géomètre topographe) to compare the plan with the ground, and those fees are separate and not set by the tariff.

There is good news for buyers of titled land: a neighbour cannot gain rights over titled property simply by occupying it for years (Dahir of 1913, article 63).

The title created at registration is final and cannot be challenged, and rights that were not registered do not count against it (Dahir of 1913, article 62).

That protects you from old unregistered claims, but it does not make every later sale or entry beyond dispute, which is why your notary checks the chain of entries on the certificate.

If a seller offers you part of a larger plot, each part must be surveyed by a sworn surveyor, and a separate title and plan are created for each division (Dahir of 1913, article 54).

In the medina, riads can share walls, and a room can sit over a neighbour’s space, so ask the notary to compare the plan with what you see floor by floor.

If the property is untitled or still a réquisition, the boundaries are not yet final, which is a different level of risk explained in our guide to buying melkia or untitled property.

What if there is an extension, an extra room or a rooftop room that is not on the plan?

ANCFCC has a formal procedure to update the plan after construction, called mise en concordance du plan foncier avec l’état des lieux.

After construction or an extension, the tariff sets a 1% ad valorem duty plus a fixed 100 dirhams, with a minimum of 1,000 dirhams (ANCFCC tariff).

As a hypothetical, if the works were valued at 150,000 dirhams, 1% would be 1,500 dirhams plus 100, so 1,600 dirhams in ANCFCC duty before surveyor and permit costs, and you should ask ANCFCC or your notary which value is used as the base.

More important than the fee is the file: ANCFCC’s list of documents for this procedure includes a certified copy of the building authorisation and of the approved ne varietur architectural plan (ANCFCC formalities leaflet).

So an extension built without a permit cannot simply be added to the plan by paying a fee.

Here is a hypothetical example: an apartment is advertised at 110 square metres, the title shows 98 square metres, and the plan shows the 12 square metre balcony as open, although it has since been closed in and turned into a room.

At an assumed 12,000 dirhams per square metre, pricing those 12 square metres as living space adds 144,000 dirhams to the price for space that is not registered as such.

The extra room may be pleasant, but it may need regularisation you cannot obtain, and a future buyer’s notary may raise the same question when you sell.

Before you pay for it, ask whether a permit and a habitation permit exist for the work, and read our guide on checking the habitation permit.

What should you do when the plan and the property don’t match?

What should you ask the seller and the notary?

• To the seller: what is the title number and index, and can you send it in writing?
• To the seller: is the parking space or terrace inside the lot, on a separate title, or a common part?
• To the seller: was the extension or closed balcony built with a permit, and is it on the plan?
• To the seller: are all the boundary markers in place?
• To the notary: does the plan match the certificate and what I saw, and will the deed state the registered surface?
• To the notary: will you hold my deposit until these checks are done?

Whatever you find, write the protection into the preliminary contract: the exact title number, the registered surface, everything included such as parking, storage or terrace, and what happens to your money if the checks fail.

I learned why that list matters on a secure residence apartment priced around €54,000, where the owner kept changing what was included, first the television and then other things, until the deal fell apart.

Our guide to the clauses that belong in the compromis de vente shows how to write those conditions down.

Cadastral plan checklist before you pay a deposit

• Title or réquisition number received from the seller in writing.
• Fresh certificat de propriété and plan ordered on the same date.
• Your notary has confirmed the result in writing before any money moves.
• Registered surface compared with the listing and the agent’s figure.
• For an apartment, the co-ownership rules and the ne varietur and topographic plans required by Law 18-00.
• Parking, storage and terrace located in the lot, on a separate title or confirmed as common parts.
• Every extension or closed balcony matched against a building permit.
• Boundaries walked with the plan, and a surveyor called if markers are missing.
• All of the above written into the preliminary contract, with refund conditions.

Frequently asked questions

Can I get the cadastral plan without the owner’s permission?

The online request asks for the title or réquisition number and your identity, not the owner’s consent. You still need the seller to give you the references, and the safest route is to let your notary order the plan and the certificate together.

Is the cadastral plan the same as the titre foncier?

No. The plan is annexed to the title and shows the physical side: limits, shape and registered surface. The title and the certificate show ownership and the rights and charges registered on the property, so a buyer needs both.

Which surface counts legally, the listing or the title?

The registered surface on the title and its plan is the legal reference. A listing may add terraces, balconies or shared areas to reach a bigger number, so negotiate on the registered surface and write it into the contract.

Is my rooftop terrace or parking space included?

Only if it is inside your private lot, on a separate title, or covered by a properly registered right. Under Law 18-00, roofs intended for common use are common parts, and courtyards and gardens are common unless the title deeds say otherwise, so check the co-ownership plans with your notary.

What if the house has an extension that is not on the plan?

Updating the plan after construction requires a building authorisation and approved plans, so unpermitted work cannot simply be registered for a fee. Treat it as a price and resale risk, and get your notary’s view before any deposit.

What is the safest next step before you make an offer?

1. Get the title number and index from the seller in writing.
2. Send it to your own notary.
3. Order the certificate and the plan on the same day.
4. Compare them on site, and for an apartment ask for the Law 18-00 documents.
5. Write the registered surface and everything included into the preliminary contract.
6. Pay the deposit only through the notary, once the notary has confirmed the checks in writing.

If anything does not match, slow down: the right time to fix a surface, a terrace or a boundary is before your money moves, not after.