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, with dwelling — 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
Where a contract exists and the seller refuses, the route is compulsory adjudication: art. 1,418 of the Civil Code allows demanding the deed and, on refusal, asking the court to adjudicate; art. 216-B of Law 6,015/73, added by Law 14,382/2022, allows doing it at the property registry, with a fifteen-day notice, certificates, transfer tax and a lawyer; the order of the two routes follows the reason the deed is missing. Where the owner has died, probate comes first (Civil Code, art. 1,784; Code of Civil Procedure, arts. 610 and 611). In an informal urban settlement the route is Reurb (Law 13,465/2017). For registered owners the fix is registral: rectification under arts. 212 and 213, building registration under art. 167, II, 4.
Regularizing a property in Brazil.
What is the difference between usucapião and compulsory adjudication?
Adjudication starts from a contract: art. 1,418 of the Civil Code lets the buyer demand the definitive deed and, on refusal, ask the court to adjudicate. Usucapião starts from time of possession and needs no contract (arts. 1,238 to 1,244). Adjudication fits where the seller exists and the chain of title is intact; usucapião, where the seller vanished or the property never had a registry record.
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.
