Property
Registration by notarial deed with state land and grondhuur tenure
Property transfers require a notarial deed registered with the Glis (Grondregistratie en Land Informatie Systeem). Much land is state-owned and held under grondhuur, a long-term leasehold, rather than freehold. Indigenous and tribal collective land rights have been the subject of binding Inter-American Court judgments against Suriname.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — National civil law with state land administration
- Deadline — Acquisitive prescription: 20 years, or 10 with good faith and title
- Deadline — Grondhuur granted for terms commonly of 40 years, renewable
Governing law
- Burgerlijk Wetboek van Suriname
- Decreet Beginselen GrondbeleidL-Decreten
- Wet Grondregistratie en Land Informatie Systeem
In practice
Grondhuur is the practically dominant tenure and is granted by the state by resolution, so the security of a Surinamese land interest often depends on administrative allocation rather than a private purchase chain. The Inter-American Court's judgments in Moiwana, Saramaka and Kaliña and Lokono require Suriname to recognise and demarcate collective indigenous and tribal territory, an obligation that remains substantially unimplemented in domestic legislation.