Property
Registro Público title with a substantial expropriation history
Real property transfers are executed by public document and registered in the Registro Público under SAREN, which perfects the right against third parties. Between 2005 and 2015 the state expropriated or occupied a large number of agricultural, industrial and commercial properties, and several resulting claims produced major ICSID arbitration awards against Venezuela.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — National civil law with regional public registries
- Deadline — Acquisitive prescription: 10 years with good faith and title, 20 years otherwise
- Deadline — Registration required before the transfer binds third parties
Governing law
- Código Civil de Venezuela
- Ley de Registro Público y del Notariado
- Ley de Tierras y Desarrollo Agrario
In practice
The Ley de Tierras permits state intervention in land deemed idle or below productive capacity, and rural title is therefore materially less secure than the registry alone suggests. The expropriation wave generated a distinctive body of investment-treaty jurisprudence, with awards in cases brought by international mining, oil, glass and food companies, much of which remains unsatisfied.