The property is irregular. Which route is yours?
Owners who find the property is not in their name know the problem, not the way out. The ways out differ, with different statutes: usucapião, compulsory adjudication, probate, registry rectification, building registration, Reurb, or deed and registration. See which is most likely.
The matrícula is the property's record at the Real Estate Registry — not a tax bill or contract.
Shown only for registered owners.
Almost nobody knows. Three steps settle it:
- An up-to-date registry certificate: the origin of the chain of title shows whether the property came out of a public tract.
- An enquiry to the municipality: the cadastre shows whether the land is public or part of a housing programme or informal settlement.
- Two possibilities that go unnoticed: terras devolutas — vacant public land of the Union (art. 20, II) and the states (art. 26, IV) — and shoreline land and accretions, Union property (art. 20, VII).
This decides the result: art. 183, § 3, and art. 191, sole paragraph, bar usucapião of public property. You can go on without answering — the point is listed to confirm.
The route above still has to be
checked against the record.
An up-to-date registry certificate confirms or defeats any diagnosis built from answers alone. Send your result by WhatsApp for an initial screening; the fee proposal comes in writing after the documents are reviewed.
The rule, the article and the review date.
The blockers come from the Constitution: art. 183, § 3, and art. 191, sole paragraph, bar usucapião of public property. And possession by someone paying rent or occupying by permission does not count: arts. 1,238 to 1,242 of the Civil Code require possession held as one's own.
The periods the tool uses
Extraordinary: fifteen years, regardless of title or good faith, cut to ten with habitual dwelling or productive works — art. 1,238 and sole paragraph. Ordinary: ten years, with just title and good faith — art. 1,242. Special urban: five years, up to 250 m², dwelling and no other property — Constitution, art. 183; Civil Code, art. 1,240; Law 10,257/2001, art. 9. Special rural: five years, up to fifty hectares made productive by personal or family work, with dwelling and no other urban or rural property — Constitution, art. 191; Civil Code, art. 1,239. Family: two years over an urban property of up to 250 m² shared with a former spouse who abandoned the home — art. 1,240-A (Law 12,424/2011). Tacking a predecessor's possession is art. 1,243.
When the route is not usucapião
Articles 1,418 of the Civil Code and 216-B of Law 6,015/1973 provide for assessment of judicial and out-of-court adjudication for an eligible transaction with the consideration fulfilled. The registry route requires a lawyer, notarial record, evidence, notices and tax requirements; the CNJ National Code sets a fifteen-business-day notice and publication after unsuccessful attempts to locate the recipient. The seller’s death does not make completed probate a universal prerequisite: review the lifetime purchase and representation of the estate or successors. For inheritance, identify the distribution or award and registrable instrument. Informal urban settlements may require Reurb; an existing record in the applicant’s name may need rectification (articles 212–213) or a building entry (article 167, II, 4).
For inherited property, identify the partition or adjudication and the instrument fit for registration. Disputes require court proceedings; a minor, an incapable person or a will does not automatically bar a notarial deed, subject to CNJ Resolution 35, articles 12-A and 12-B. If the deceased sold the property while alive, examine the contract and representation of the estate or successors before treating completed probate as indispensable. Adjudication requires a qualifying transaction and fulfilled consideration; usucapião requires its own possession conditions. The seller’s whereabouts alone do not select a procedure.
Regularizing a property in Brazil.
What is the difference between usucapião and compulsory adjudication?
Compulsory adjudication seeks performance of a transaction capable of transferring ownership, with proof of payment and the other requirements; the seller need not be locatable. Usucapião relies on legally qualified possession for the statutory period and its own requirements. A missing seller or an absent registry record does not, alone, select the route. The title chain, notices and documents must be reviewed.
My purchase contract was never registered. Does that bar compulsory adjudication?
No. Precedent 239 of the Superior Court of Justice states that the right to compulsory adjudication is not conditional on registering the purchase commitment at the property registry. Registration under art. 1,417 of the Civil Code creates a right in rem against third parties, but its absence does not remove the buyer's claim to demand the deed.
Do I need a lawyer to regularize a property in Brazil?
It depends on the route. Law 6,015/73 expressly requires the applicant to be represented by a lawyer in out-of-court recognition of usucapião (art. 216-A) and in out-of-court compulsory adjudication (art. 216-B, § 1). Reurb is an administrative procedure of the municipality, and art. 14, II, of Law 13,465/2017 gives standing to the beneficiaries themselves, directly.
How much does it cost to regularize a property?
It varies with the route. There are third-party expenses — notarial minutes, survey plan and memorial signed by a licensed professional, certificates, registry fees, transfer tax and court costs — and legal fees, set case by case and presented in writing after document review.
Do you assist clients outside São Paulo or Brazil?
The statutes used here are federal and apply across Brazil, so the routing works in any state. The firm is on Avenida Paulista and serves clients elsewhere remotely, by videoconference and with digital documents; in-person acts at the registry or before the local court may involve corresponding counsel. Clients abroad are assisted in English, through a power of attorney.
