In El Salvador, a constitutional reform has been proposed to eliminate the limit of 245 hectares of rustic land that currently, at most, a natural or legal person can possess.
Deputies from the ARENA, GANA and PDC parties presented to the Legislative Assembly a draft agreement to amend Article 105 of the Political Constitution, which prevents natural or legal persons from possessing more than 245 hectares of rustic land.
A new law passed by the Assembly compiles all regulations concerning foreign and local investment in real estate, in order to provide legal certainty to investors.
From a statement from the National Assembly of Nicaragua:
The National Assembly has unanimously adopted in its entirety, this March 9, the Law on Nicaraguan Legal Digest of Property Matters, which will guarantee legal certainty to Nicaraguans and foreigners wishing to invest in the country, said Deputy Edwin Castro, Vice President of the Commission of Justice and Legal Affairs.
In three years only 27,000 out of 350,000 properties have been registered and titled due to the excessive bureaucracy processes which need to be carried out in municipal entities.
The Lotificadores Association of El Salvador (Alles) has revealed that are approximately 15 articles of the Special Act on Subdivisions which must be modified in order to reduce the number of procedures to be carried out to legalize land parcels.
For 50% of the properties that make up the country there are no exact measurements and boundaries are not validated by the national cadastre system.
Out of 478 districts in the country, only 32 have catastral plans and 35 are still being published, ie around 800,000 properties do not have validation of their boundaries. Among the missing cadastral areas are urban areas and land sea areas.
A tender worth about $2.6 million for a new vehicle identification system is being launched in Guatemala, which includes the use of barcodes and QR codes.
The new measures are aimed at improving the security of processes including changes in ownership certificates, road tax and identification stickers.
"The documents will begin to change in 2014. The first two systems have improved security with the use of barcodes and quick response or QR codes which can be used with a smartphone to confirm the owner's public data such as name, model and chassis numbers.
The United States Government has granted Nicaragua the so-called "property waiver".
Expressing its concern at the deterioration of the rule of law in Nicaragua, and the 337 cases of claims by American citizens that their property had been confiscated, the United States today approved a so called property waiver, which in practice means that it will support international agencies which the Nicaraguan government seeks loans from.
Starting May 1st, the National Registry of Costa Rica will offer a property alert service which will give owners greater control of their assets.
The service is called Alert Registry and will be available to owners of personal property (vehicles) and real estate (land). The annual fee to receive notices is $15 per year (7700 ¢) for each of the properties you want to put under surveillance.
Nicaragua's government is trying to calm fears among businesses after the release of a report covering the pending property claims of U.S. citizens, without which bilateral and multilateral U.S aid may be jeopardized.
From June 2011 to date, the government has been attending to about 64 claims by U.S. citizens who had their property seized in the 80s, having already solved about 25 cases, according to a report from the Attorney General's Office (PGR) released to Members of the Council of Private Enterprise, COSEP.
The Costa Rican National Registry has started using a modern cadastral map for certifying property deeds which will provide greater security for people buying land.
Deeds will include two aerial views of the property or land, reports The Costa Rica News website.
The new maps include names, plot numbers, and district or cantons divisions, among other features.
The number of reported frauds when purchasing properties increased from 101 in 2007 to 251 in 2009.
Among the various forms of cheating, the most common is the legal form called "material and ideological falsehood," which occurs by performing a public document partially or completely false. In these operations attorneys as well as civilians participate.
Owners holding possession rights for coastal lands and islands in Panama would be forced to get titles for them.
Panama's National Assembly recently passed a first version of Law 71, which would force titling all coastal and island properties acquired through possession rights.
PropertyInvestPanama.com explained that "the difference between rights of possession and legal title is that with the former you do not own the land, but actually lease it from the government". By titling more lands, the Government can tax them.