Does the document have to be drafted by a lawyer, or can a family member hold it?

Those are two different roles. The document itself must be drawn up by a notary, two adoul, or a lawyer accredited before the Court of Cassation, whichever of the three your Moroccan notary accepts. The person who then holds and uses that power of attorney, your mandataire, can be a family member, a friend, or a lawyer you pay separately. Choosing a professional as the mandataire adds a second layer of accountability on top of the drafting requirement, which is worth it for anything beyond a very small, well-understood transaction.

How long should I allow to get a power of attorney ready before a signing date?

Longer than feels necessary. Between drafting the document correctly, getting an apostille if you are signing outside Morocco, and clearing the registration step that only started in June 2026, several separate offices each have their own queue. Start the process as soon as you have a completion date in mind, and confirm directly with the notary handling your file how long their own backlog is running, rather than assuming a fixed number of weeks.

Can one power of attorney cover more than one property?

It can be written that way, but most notaries and adoul prefer a power of attorney limited to one named property and one transaction, because that is also what the 2026 registration rules were designed around. A broad or open-ended grant is more likely to be queried or refused outright, so narrow is safer even if it means signing a second document for a second property.

Power of Attorney for a Property Purchase in Morocco

2 October 2026 · 7 min read · Legal · Process

A power of attorney lets someone else sign for you on a property purchase in Morocco, and it works, but only if it takes the right legal form. Morocco has required an authentic power of attorney for any real estate transaction since 2017, and since June 2026 that document also has to be registered with a court before it carries any legal weight at all. Get either step wrong and the signing goes ahead for nothing: the notary refuses the file, or the document simply cannot be used.

We see this most with Moroccans living abroad buying back home, and with foreign buyers who agreed a price on a trip and then had to fly back to Paris, Brussels, Montreal or Dubai before the paperwork finished. A power of attorney, a procuration, is how you give someone else, a lawyer, a notary, or someone you trust, the right to sign the preliminary contract or the final deed in your place.

Two reforms in the last decade changed what that document has to look like. Here is what both actually require, what to check before you sign anything over to someone else, and the rest of what changes when you are buying without flying in for every signature.

What a power of attorney actually lets your agent do

A power of attorney does not transfer ownership itself. It authorises a named person, your mandataire, to sign specific documents on your behalf: the compromis de vente, the final deed in front of the notary or adoul, sometimes the bank paperwork that releases the purchase price. The document names what it covers and for how long, and only those acts are valid when your representative signs.

That is also where most problems start. A power of attorney written in broad terms, covering "all my affairs in Morocco" rather than one named property and one transaction, hands over far more authority than a single purchase needs. Name the property specifically, including which of the two forms of title it currently holds, name the exact acts your representative can sign, and set an end date rather than leaving it open-ended.

It has to be an authentic document, not a signed letter

Since Law 69-16 took effect on 14 September 2017, Article 4 of Morocco's Code of Real Rights has required any power of attorney covering a property transaction to be drawn up as an authentic act: by a modern notary, by two adoul, or by a lawyer accredited before the Court of Cassation. A power of attorney signed as an ordinary private letter, even if witnessed or stamped, is not recognised for a real estate deal after that date. The reform followed a run of cases where forged or loosely worded private powers of attorney were used to sell property out from under its actual owner, which is also why the rule carries no exceptions for family or convenience.

In practice, this rules out the version a lot of buyers still expect: signing a one-page letter in front of a local official or a friend who happens to be a lawyer back home, then posting it to Morocco. The document has to come from one of the three authorised routes, and the Moroccan notary or adoul who will eventually use it is the person to confirm the exact format with before you sign anything.

Since June 2026, it also has to be registered

A second reform changed what happens after the document is signed. Law 31-18, which adds articles 889-1 and 889-2 to Morocco's Code of Obligations and Contracts, created a national register for powers of attorney affecting real rights: sales, purchases, mortgages, donations and similar transactions. The implementing decree, No. 2.23.101 of 22 October 2024, and a Ministry of Justice order setting the practical forms, No. 381.25, brought the register into operation on 1 June 2026 at the clerk's office of the tribunal of first instance covering where the document was signed, or where the property sits if it was signed abroad.

The change that matters most for a buyer: a power of attorney on a real right now produces no legal effect until the date it is actually registered. That is not a formality sitting alongside the authentic-act requirement, it is a separate condition the document has to clear before your representative can use it at all. Build the registration step into your timeline the same way you would the apostille or the notary's own availability, rather than assuming a signed and authenticated document is automatically ready to use.

Signing from abroad: apostille, or the consulate

If you sign the power of attorney in front of a notary where you live rather than in Morocco, it needs to be made valid for use in Morocco before anyone there can rely on it. Morocco has been a party to the Hague Apostille Convention since 14 August 2016, so a document signed in a country that has also joined, which covers France, Belgium, Spain and most of the countries our buyers come from, needs a single apostille certificate from the competent authority in that country rather than the older chain of consular legalisation. Adoul working through a Moroccan consulate abroad are treated differently and sit outside the apostille requirement, which is one more reason to ask your notary which of the two routes they expect before you book an appointment anywhere.

Whichever route you use, build in real time. An apostille adds a step with its own processing queue, separate from the notary who drafted the document, and the registration step above only starts once the authenticated, apostilled document actually reaches Morocco.

What happens if you skip a step

A notary or adoul who is handed a power of attorney in the wrong form, or one that has not been through the registration step, will not proceed. That is the most common outcome: a stalled signing, not a completed sale that unwinds later. The land registry, the ANCFCC, will not record a transfer built on a power of attorney that does not meet both requirements, so a defective document tends to surface before money changes hands rather than after.

The person doing the most checking on your behalf should not be the mandataire alone. A lawyer working only for you, separate from the notary who must stay neutral between both sides of the sale, is the right person to confirm the power of attorney is drafted, authenticated and registered correctly before you rely on it for something as final as a property transfer. If you are Moroccan and based abroad, the wider guide to buying back home covers the rest of what differs for you specifically, from funding the purchase to who the law treats differently at the border.

Frequently Asked Questions

Only if you write it that way. The same authentic-form and registration rules cover sales, mortgages and donations as well as purchases, so a power of attorney limited to buying a specific property does not extend to selling it later. If you want someone able to do both, say so explicitly and separately rather than assuming a broader grant is implied.

About to hand someone else the right to sign for you?

A power of attorney for a Moroccan property now has no legal effect until it is drafted correctly, apostilled if needed, and registered. Get a Moroccan property lawyer to draft it and confirm with the notary that every step is covered before you rely on it.

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