Buying Beachfront in Brazil: Terreno de Marinha and Laudêmio

A house on the sand in Bahia, a beachfront apartment in Rio or Florianópolis, a lot on a lagoon in Ceará: these are the purchases foreign buyers describe with the most enthusiasm and the ones where the legal picture most often differs from what the listing implies. The reason is a rule that predates Brazil’s independence and survived into the 1988 Constitution. A strip of land along the entire coast — and along tidal rivers and lagoons and around islands — belongs to the federal government. A “sale” of beachfront property in that strip transfers something, but it is not full ownership, and it triggers charges that do not exist inland.

The other half of the picture is environmental. Brazil’s Forest Code protects dunes, restingas, mangroves and river margins as permanent-preservation areas, and the coastal-management framework and municipal zoning layer further restrictions on top. A lot can be legally purchased and still be mostly unbuildable.

This guide is educational content prepared by the ZS Advogados Associados real estate team for foreign nationals considering coastal property in Brazil and the advisers helping them. It explains what terreno de marinha is and how to detect it, the aforamento and ocupação regimes and their annual charges, the laudêmio on transfer, the routes to consolidating ownership under Lei 13.240/2015, the environmental easements under the Forest Code, and how all of this appears — or fails to appear — in due diligence. It complements our shorter coastal vs. regular property comparison and our guide on reading the matrícula and pulling the certidões.

What exactly is terreno de marinha?

The definition is in Decreto-Lei 9.760/1946, the statute that still organises the federal government’s real property. Under art. 2, terrenos de marinha are the lands, to a depth of 33 metres measured horizontally inland from the position of the average high-tide line of 1831 (the linha do preamar-médio de 1831, or LPM), that lie (a) on the mainland, along the sea coast and along the margins of rivers and lagoons as far as the influence of the tides is felt, and (b) around islands located in zones where the tide is felt.

Under art. 3, terrenos acrescidos de marinha are lands that have formed, naturally or artificially, on the seaward or river-ward side of the terrenos de marinha — landfill, accretion and reclaimed foreshore. The Constitution lists both categories as property of the Union (art. 20, VII).

Three consequences follow that a buyer needs to absorb early.

The reference line is historical, not the current beach. The 1831 line is fixed by a technical demarcation carried out by the Secretaria do Patrimônio da União (SPU). Where the coast has advanced, the strip may now lie well behind the sand; where it has retreated, it may be under water. The current position of the tide is not the test.

A private title does not defeat federal ownership. The Superior Court of Justice consolidated the point in Súmula 496 (First Section, 8 August 2012): “Os registros de propriedade particular de imóveis situados em terrenos de marinha não são oponíveis à União” — registrations of private ownership of property located on terrenos de marinha are not enforceable against the Union. A matrícula that reads like full ownership can still be describing federal land.

Demarcation is ongoing. The SPU has been demarcating the LPM stretch by stretch for decades, and federal law has repeatedly set deadlines for completing the work (most recently in Lei 13.465/2017). A lot in a stretch not yet demarcated can still be terreno de marinha; the absence of an SPU record is not proof that the land is private.

Legal basis: Decreto-Lei 9.760/1946, arts. 2–3 and 9–14 (definition and demarcation); Constituição Federal art. 20, VII; STJ Súmula 496.

What does a buyer actually acquire on federal coastal land?

If the land belongs to the Union, the private “owner” holds one of two kinds of right, and the difference drives everything else.

Aforamento (enfiteuse)

Under aforamento, the Union keeps the domínio direto (the bare ownership) and grants the domínio útil (the useful ownership) to a foreiro, in perpetuity, in exchange for an annual charge called the foro. The foreiro can sell, mortgage and bequeath the domínio útil; what changes hands in a “sale” is that useful ownership. Decreto-Lei 9.760/1946 governs the grant (art. 64 §2 and arts. 99–124), and the Civil Code of 2002, while prohibiting the creation of new private enfiteuses, expressly preserved the Union’s regime under its special law (art. 2.038 §2).

The foro is 0.6% of the value of the land’s full ownership (domínio pleno), updated annually (art. 101, as amended by Lei 7.450/1985). Non-payment for three consecutive years, or four non-consecutive years, causes the aforamento to lapse (caducidade) — the wording of art. 101’s sole paragraph given by Lei 9.636/1998 — subject to the notice procedure in the following articles.

Ocupação

Where no aforamento was ever granted, the person using the land may hold a registered ocupação — an administrative inscription with the SPU that recognises the occupancy and attaches an annual taxa de ocupação. It is weaker than aforamento: it is not a real right, it can be cancelled in the public interest, and the occupant has no more than a preference to obtain aforamento if the Union decides to grant it.

The taxa de ocupação is 2% of the value of the land’s full ownership, excluding improvements, updated annually by the SPU (Decreto-Lei 2.398/1987, art. 1, in the wording given by Lei 13.240/2015). The 1987 decree originally set two rates, 2% and 5%, depending on when the occupancy was inscribed; both were revoked in 2015 and a single 2% rate now applies. The older 1% rate in Decreto-Lei 9.760/1946, art. 127 §1, was revoked in 1987.

Regime	What the private party holds	Annual federal charge	Real right?	Transferable?
Aforamento	Domínio útil (useful ownership); Union keeps domínio direto	Foro — 0.6% of domínio pleno (DL 9.760 art. 101)	Yes (enfiteuse)	Yes, with laudêmio and SPU certificate
Ocupação	Registered occupancy (inscrição de ocupação)	Taxa de ocupação — 2% of domínio pleno, excl. improvements (DL 2.398 art. 1)	No — administrative	Yes, with laudêmio and SPU certificate
Private land outside the strip	Full ownership (domínio pleno)	None from the Union	Yes	Yes, ITBI only

The practical test at due diligence is simple to state: which of the three rows is this lot in? The answer determines the annual carrying cost, the transfer cost, the buyer’s security and the value.

Legal basis: Decreto-Lei 9.760/1946, arts. 64, 99–105, 118, 127; Decreto-Lei 2.398/1987, art. 1; Lei 9.636/1998, arts. 7–11 (occupancy registration and its limits); Civil Code art. 2.038 §2.

What is the laudêmio and when is it paid?

The laudêmio is the federal charge on transfer. Decreto-Lei 2.398/1987, art. 3, provides that the onerous transfer between living persons of the domínio útil or of the inscription of occupancy of federal land — or the assignment of rights over them — depends on prior payment of the laudêmio by the seller, in an amount equal to 5% of the updated value of the land’s full ownership, excluding improvements. Improvements were removed from the base by Lei 13.240/2015; the current wording, which names the seller as the payer, was given by Lei 13.465/2017. Art. 3 §2 is the provision that stops the transaction at the counter: notaries may not draw, and registries may not register, a deed over Union land without an SPU certificate confirming that the laudêmio has been paid, that the transferor is current on its obligations for the property, and that the transfer is authorised.

Points that matter at closing:

• It is in addition to the ITBI. The municipality charges its transfer tax on the transaction; the Union charges the laudêmio on the transfer of its land. A beachfront closing carries both. Our guide on closing costs by city covers the municipal side.
• The base is the land, not the building. Since 2017 the 5% applies to the updated value of the bare land as assessed by the SPU, not to the apartment or house on it. On a high-rise beachfront unit the laudêmio is calculated on the unit’s ideal fraction of the lot.
• The SPU must clear the transfer. Payment is made through the SPU, which then issues the certificate that authorises the transfer (the Certidão Autorizativa de Transferência, CAT). The Cartório de Registro de Imóveis will not register the deed without it, and the SPU will not issue it while foro, taxa de ocupação or earlier laudêmio remain unpaid.
• The statute names the seller; contracts vary. The law places the payment on the seller. In practice, purchase contracts frequently allocate it commercially, and the buyer should read that clause rather than assume.

Legal basis: Decreto-Lei 2.398/1987, art. 3 (as amended by Lei 13.465/2017); Lei 9.636/1998, art. 3 and related SPU rules on the transfer certificate.

Speak to counsel — confirm the SPU valuation and the debt position. The laudêmio is calculated on the SPU’s updated land value, which the buyer should obtain in writing before pricing the deal, together with a statement of any arrears on the RIP.

Can the buyer consolidate full ownership?

Yes, in defined situations. Two distinct routes exist, and they are often confused because both were reshaped in the same round of legislation.

Remission of foro (foreiros). A foreiro may redeem the foro — buying out the Union’s domínio direto and consolidating full ownership. The operative provision today is Lei 9.636/1998, art. 16-A, inserted by Lei 13.465/2017: the foreiro pays the value corresponding to the domínio direto of the land, assessed under the criteria of art. 11-C (the valuation is valid for at most twelve months), plus any obligations outstanding with the SPU, including those under an instalment plan, and excluding improvements the foreiro made. Decreto-Lei 9.760/1946, art. 123, in the wording given by Lei 13.240/2015, quantifies that share at 17% of the value of the land’s domínio pleno, excluding improvements. Payment may be made in cash or in instalments and FGTS funds may be used. Persons classified as low-income under Decreto-Lei 1.876/1981 are exempt from the payment. A foreiro who does not redeem simply stays under the enfiteutic regime. Once paid, the SPU issues a certificate for annotation on the matrícula, and the foro and future laudêmio cease.

Sale to occupants. Lei 13.240/2015, art. 4, in the wording given by Lei 13.465/2017, allows the Union to sell lots held under registered occupancy to the inscribed occupant at the property’s market value, assessed under Lei 9.636/1998, art. 11-C, excluding improvements the occupant made. A good-faith occupant has a right of preference (art. 10). The 25% discount in art. 11 is narrower than it is usually described: since Lei 13.813/2019 it applies only to a cash purchase, and only where the buyer files a manifestation of interest within 30 days of being notified that the property has been included in the SPU portaria listing properties for sale, and pays in full within 60 days of that manifestation. No discount is granted on instalment sales.

Where the Law does not reach. Lei 13.240/2015 expressly excludes Union property situated in the faixa de fronteira and in the faixa de segurança — the 30-metre strip measured from the end of the beach (art. 1 §§2–3, referring to ADCT art. 49 §3 and Lei 7.661/1988, art. 10 §3). For the closest-to-the-sand lots, that carve-out matters.

For a buyer, the practical use of these provisions is in valuation and negotiation. A beachfront lot under aforamento where the foro can be redeemed for 17% of land value is worth a different amount from one where it cannot. Whether redemption or purchase is currently available for a given lot is a question to put to the SPU during due diligence, not after closing.

Legal basis: Lei 9.636/1998, arts. 11-C and 16-A (as inserted by Lei 13.465/2017); Decreto-Lei 9.760/1946, art. 123 (wording of Lei 13.240/2015); Lei 13.240/2015, arts. 1, 4, 10 and 11 (art. 11 in the wording of Lei 13.813/2019); Decreto-Lei 1.876/1981, art. 1.

Which environmental easements limit what you can build?

Ownership status is one half of a beachfront file; environmental constraints are the other. They come from four layers.

The Forest Code and Áreas de Preservação Permanente (APP)

Lei 12.651/2012, art. 4, defines APP — areas where native vegetation must be preserved and where intervention is permitted only in the narrow cases of art. 8 (public utility, social interest and low-impact activities, as defined in art. 3). Several APP categories are specifically coastal:

APP category (Lei 12.651/2012, art. 4)	Rule	Why it matters on the coast
Margins of watercourses (inc. I)	Protected band of 30 m to 500 m from the bank, depending on the width of the river	Tidal rivers and estuary lots
Natural lakes and lagoons (inc. II)	100 m band in rural areas; 30 m in urban areas	Lagoon-front lots in Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Rio de Janeiro, Santa Catarina
Restingas (inc. VI)	Protected where they act as dune-fixers or mangrove-stabilisers	The coastal scrub behind many beaches
Mangroves (inc. VII)	Protected in their entire extent	Estuaries and bays across the Northeast and Southeast
Hilltops and steep slopes (incs. V, IX)	Slopes above 45° and defined hilltop areas	Cliff-top and headland lots

Vegetation in APP must be maintained, and where it has been removed the owner (or the successor) is obliged to restore it (art. 7 §§1–2). Environmental liability in Brazil attaches to the property and follows it to the buyer.

Coastal-zone management

Lei 7.661/1988 created the National Coastal Management Plan and, in art. 10, declared beaches to be public goods for common use, guaranteeing free and open access to them and to the sea in any direction, and prohibiting any construction that blocks that access. Decreto 5.300/2004 regulates the plan, defines the coastal zone and sets minimum criteria for orderly occupation.

Conservation units

Lei 9.985/2000 (SNUC) creates categories of protected areas — environmental protection areas (APA), reserves and parks — with their own management plans. A large share of Brazil’s most attractive coastline sits inside an APA or beside a park, and the management plan can restrict use well beyond the Forest Code.

Municipal zoning

The municipality’s plano diretor and building code fix setbacks, height limits and permitted uses for the coastal strip. Municipal rules can be stricter than federal ones and often are in resort towns.

The buyer’s question is not only “can I buy this lot?” but “what may lawfully be built, kept or extended on it?” — and the answer requires reading the SICAR registration (for rural lots), the municipal zoning map, any conservation-unit plan and, on the ground, the actual vegetation.

Legal basis: Lei 12.651/2012, arts. 3, 4, 7 and 8; Lei 7.661/1988, art. 10; Decreto 5.300/2004; Lei 9.985/2000.

What about islands, border strips and rural coastal lots?

Three further classifications overlap with the beachfront question and are easy to miss.

Coastal islands. The Constitution lists oceanic and coastal islands as Union property (art. 20, IV), excluding those that contain the seat of a municipality — except for areas assigned to federal service and the federal environmental unit — and excluding areas already held by states, municipalities or third parties. After Constitutional Amendment 46/2005, an island such as Florianópolis (a municipal and state seat) is outside the default rule, but smaller islands and archipelagos are not. Island lots need this analysis before any other.

Rural coastal lots. A beachfront lot classified as rural — common outside city limits in the Northeast — brings in Lei 5.709/1971, the statute restricting acquisition of rural land by foreigners. A foreign individual resident in Brazil may buy a single property of up to 3 módulos de exploração indefinida freely, needs INCRA authorisation between 3 and 50 modules, and may not exceed 50. Our rural land ownership page summarises the regime. Our INCRA rural land guide and our guide on faixa de fronteira and rural land authorisation cover this in depth.

The 150 km border strip. Coastal municipalities near the land borders — on the Uruguayan and French Guianese ends of the coast, for example — may fall within the faixa de fronteira under Lei 6.634/1979, where rural transactions by foreigners require the prior assent of the National Defence Council.

Legal basis: Constituição Federal art. 20, IV (as amended by EC 46/2005); Lei 5.709/1971; Lei 6.634/1979.

How does beachfront due diligence differ from the standard check?

The standard Brazilian due diligence — the matrícula plus 30 or more certidões on property and seller — remains the foundation. Beachfront adds a federal and an environmental file on top. The table below shows the additional items and what each one answers.

Additional item	Source	Question it answers
SPU certificate on the lot (RIP, regime, valuation)	Secretaria do Patrimônio da União	Is it terreno de marinha? Aforamento or ocupação? What is the land value?
SPU statement of debts	SPU	Any unpaid foro, taxa de ocupação or laudêmio that would block the CAT?
LPM demarcation status for the stretch	SPU	Has the 1831 line been fixed here? If not, is the lot at risk of later inclusion?
Certidão Autorizativa de Transferência (at closing)	SPU	Has the laudêmio been paid so the registry can register?
Reading of the matrícula for “aforado”, “ocupação”, “RIP”	Cartório de Registro de Imóveis	Does the title itself disclose the federal status?
SICAR / CAR record (rural lots)	SICAR	APP and legal reserve mapped? Any environmental liabilities?
Municipal zoning certificate	Municipality	Setbacks, height, permitted use in the coastal strip
Conservation-unit management plan	ICMBio / state environmental agency	Is the lot inside an APA or park? What does the plan allow?
Environmental infraction records	IBAMA / state agency	Fines or embargoes attached to the lot?
Classification (urban / rural / island / border)	Matrícula, INCRA, municipality	Which further statutes apply to a foreign buyer?

A note on timing: the SPU items should be obtained before the offer, because they set the price. The laudêmio and the annual charges are carrying costs a buyer should capitalise into the valuation, and the availability of remission changes what the lot is worth.

“The most common beachfront misunderstanding is not about the fees — buyers accept the fees once explained. It is about what they own. A foreiro owns the useful domain of federal land, in perpetuity, with a 0.6% annual foro and a 5% laudêmio on every sale. That is a perfectly good asset if it is priced as what it is. It is a problem only when it was priced as full ownership.” — Zachariah Zagol, Attorney — OAB/SP 351.356 (educational comment).

What are the costs over the life of a beachfront holding?

Putting the pieces together, a beachfront purchase on terreno de marinha carries the following cost layers beyond the price — none of which is a fee of this firm.

Cost	Rate / basis	Legal source	When
ITBI (municipal)	2–3% of value, by city	Municipal tax code	At transfer
Laudêmio (federal)	5% of updated land value, excl. improvements	DL 2.398/1987 art. 3	Before transfer, for CAT
Foro (aforamento)	0.6% of domínio pleno, annually	DL 9.760/1946 art. 101	Every year
Taxa de ocupação (ocupação)	2% of domínio pleno, annually	DL 2.398/1987 art. 1	Every year
Redemption of foro (optional)	Value of the Union’s domínio direto — 17% of domínio pleno, excl. improvements — plus SPU arrears	Lei 9.636/1998 art. 16-A; DL 9.760/1946 art. 123	When requested by the foreiro
Purchase by occupant (optional)	Market value, excl. the occupant’s improvements; 25% discount on cash purchase only, within the deadlines	Lei 13.240/2015 arts. 4, 10 and 11	If listed in an SPU portaria
Deed and registry fees	State tables	State emolumentos laws	At closing
Environmental restoration (if APP degraded)	Cost of restoration	Lei 12.651/2012 art. 7	On acquisition of liability

On resale, the laudêmio is paid again, and the buyer’s buyer will run the same file. That is why the SPU records and the environmental status are part of the asset, not paperwork around it.

An illustrative scenario

Hypothetical illustration — not a real client.

Consider a fictional, composite example built only to show how the pieces connect. Imagine a couple living abroad who find a beachfront house in a resort town in the Northeast. The listing describes it as a freehold with a “clean matrícula”. The price reflects a full-ownership property, and the sellers want a private contract signed within the week.

Counsel pulls the matrícula and finds, in the description, the words terreno aforado and an RIP number. The SPU certificate confirms the lot is terreno de marinha under aforamento, gives the SPU land value, and shows two years of unpaid foro. The seller cannot obtain the transfer certificate until the arrears are cleared and the 5% laudêmio is paid on the SPU value. Counsel also finds that the rear third of the lot, where the sellers had planned to extend, is mapped as restinga fixing a dune — an APP under the Forest Code — and that the municipal zoning imposes a setback from the beach line that the existing veranda already breaches. The buyers reprice the deal to reflect the aforamento (rather than full ownership), the carrying cost of the foro, the future laudêmio on resale and the fact that the extension cannot be built; the sellers clear the arrears and pay the laudêmio; the SPU issues the certificate; the deed is signed by attorney-in-fact and registered.

Every distinguishing detail here is invented. This example is purely illustrative; every real transaction turns on its own facts and requires individual analysis by a licensed professional. Nothing in this example predicts any outcome.

What are the most common mistakes?

• Reading the matrícula as proof of full ownership. Súmula 496 is explicit: private registrations are not enforceable against the Union on terreno de marinha. Look for aforado, ocupação, RIP, and check with the SPU regardless.
• Pricing the property as freehold. A domínio útil with a perpetual foro and a laudêmio on every transfer is worth less than full ownership of the same lot. The discount is a matter of valuation, not opinion.
• Ignoring the arrears. Unpaid foro or taxa de ocupação blocks the transfer certificate and can, after three years, lead to forfeiture of the aforamento.
• Assuming the laudêmio is the seller’s problem. The statute names the seller; the contract may not. Read the clause.
• Planning an extension into the APP. Restingas, mangroves and river margins are protected by the Forest Code irrespective of who owns the land. Building into them creates an obligation to restore and an infraction record that follows the lot.
• Treating “not demarcated” as “not federal”. A stretch where the SPU has not yet fixed the LPM is a stretch where the status is unresolved, not a stretch that is private.
• Skipping the island and rural checks. Constitution art. 20, IV and Lei 5.709/1971 can each apply to a beachfront lot on top of the terreno de marinha rules.
• Betting on PEC 3/2022. The constitutional amendment proposal to end the regime has not been promulgated. Until it is, the current rules apply.

Beachfront rules at a glance

Question	Answer	Source
What is terreno de marinha?	33 m inland from the 1831 average high-tide line, on coast, tidal rivers/lagoons and islands	DL 9.760/1946 art. 2
Who owns it?	The Union	CF art. 20, VII; STJ Súmula 496
What can a private party hold?	Domínio útil (aforamento) or a registered occupancy	DL 9.760/1946 arts. 64, 99 ff.; Lei 9.636/1998
Annual charge — aforamento	Foro, 0.6% of domínio pleno	DL 9.760/1946 art. 101
Annual charge — ocupação	Taxa de ocupação, 2% of domínio pleno	DL 2.398/1987 art. 1
Transfer charge	Laudêmio, 5% of updated land value, excl. improvements	DL 2.398/1987 art. 3 (Lei 13.465/2017)
Buying out the Union	Redemption of foro at 17% of land value (foreiros); sale to occupants at market value, 25% discount on cash purchases within the deadlines	Lei 9.636/1998 art. 16-A; DL 9.760/1946 art. 123; Lei 13.240/2015 arts. 4 and 11
Coastal APP	Restingas (dune/mangrove-fixing), mangroves, river and lagoon margins, slopes	Lei 12.651/2012 art. 4
Beach access	Free and open; no construction may block it	Lei 7.661/1988 art. 10
Foreign-buyer overlays	Rural classification (Lei 5.709/1971), border strip (Lei 6.634/1979), islands (CF art. 20, IV)	Respective statutes

Key terms

• Terreno de marinha — federal land within 33 metres of the 1831 average high-tide line; terreno acrescido de marinha is land formed seaward of it.
• LPM (linha do preamar-médio de 1831) — the historical tide line demarcated by the SPU that anchors the 33-metre strip.
• SPU (Secretaria do Patrimônio da União) — the federal agency that administers Union property, keeps the register of aforamentos and occupancies, values the land and issues the transfer certificate.
• RIP (Registro Imobiliário Patrimonial) — the SPU’s identification number for a federal property record.
• Aforamento / enfiteuse — the regime under which the Union keeps the domínio direto and grants the domínio útil to a foreiro in exchange for the foro.
• Foro — the annual charge under aforamento, 0.6% of the land’s domínio pleno.
• Ocupação / taxa de ocupação — a registered occupancy of Union land, and its annual charge of 2% of the land’s full value excluding improvements.
• Laudêmio — the 5% federal charge on the onerous transfer of domínio útil or occupancy, calculated on updated land value excluding improvements.
• CAT (Certidão Autorizativa de Transferência) — the SPU certificate confirming the laudêmio is paid, without which the registry will not register the transfer.
• Remição do foro — the buy-out of the Union’s domínio direto by the foreiro, consolidating full ownership (Lei 9.636/1998, art. 16-A).
• APP (Área de Preservação Permanente) — protected areas under the Forest Code where native vegetation must be kept.
• Restinga — coastal sand-plain vegetation; protected as APP where it fixes dunes or stabilises mangroves.

Key takeaways

• Beachfront within 33 metres of the 1831 tide line is federal land (Decreto-Lei 9.760/1946 art. 2; Constitution art. 20, VII); a private matrícula does not change that (STJ Súmula 496).
• A buyer there acquires the domínio útil (aforamento) or a registered occupancy, not full ownership — priced accordingly.
• Annual charges: foro 0.6% (aforamento) or taxa de ocupação 2% (ocupação) of the land’s full value.
• Every onerous transfer carries the laudêmio of 5% of the updated land value, excluding improvements, plus the SPU transfer certificate — on top of the municipal ITBI.
• A foreiro may redeem the foro under Lei 9.636/1998 art. 16-A for the value of the Union’s domínio direto — 17% of land value under DL 9.760/1946 art. 123 — and Lei 13.240/2015 allows sale to registered occupants, with its 25% discount limited to cash purchases within the statutory deadlines and unavailable in the border strip or the 30-metre safety strip behind the beach.
• The Forest Code protects restingas, mangroves, river and lagoon margins and slopes as APP; coastal-management law guarantees free beach access; conservation units and municipal zoning add further limits.
• Beachfront lots may also be rural, on an island or in the border strip, each adding a foreign-buyer statute.
• PEC 3/2022 would change the regime but has not been promulgated; buy under the rules in force.

Related guides on this site

• Coastal property (terreno de marinha) vs. regular property — the short comparison this guide expands on
• Brazil real estate due diligence: matrícula guide — the foundation check for any purchase
• Brazil property closing costs by city — ITBI, deed and registry fees that stack with the laudêmio
• INCRA rural land guide for foreigners — when a coastal lot is classified as rural
• Faixa de fronteira and rural land: foreigner authorisation — the border-strip overlay
• Land regularization in Brazil — informal possession and how it is regularised
• Hidden defects and buyer rights in Brazilian property — what happens when a defect surfaces after closing

How ZS Advogados can help

Coastal property is where three bodies of Brazilian law — federal property, environmental and municipal — meet a buyer who has usually been told none of them apply. The work is to classify the lot before the offer: pull the matrícula, obtain the SPU certificate and debt statement, confirm the demarcation status, map the APP and zoning constraints, and price the asset as what it is. Our real estate team runs that file for foreign buyers, coordinates the laudêmio and transfer certificate with the SPU, and can sign the deed by power of attorney. Our buying property in Brazil page explains the buy-side review, including the section on land classification.

A buyer signing from abroad should also line up the CPF and the power of attorney before the SPU and notary steps, because both are prerequisites to the acts described above. Every coastal lot is different, and no general guide replaces individual analysis of the specific property, its SPU record and its environmental map.

• Real estate law — beachfront due diligence, SPU procedures, closing and registration
• International law — Central Bank capital registration and cross-border transfers
• Civil litigation — disputes over undisclosed federal status, APP encroachment and hidden defects

Book a consultation before making an offer on coastal property.

Technical review by the ZS Advogados Associados real estate team, including co-founding partner Karina Peres Silvério (OAB/SP 331.050) and founding partner Zachariah Zagol (OAB/SP 351.356).

Sources and legal basis

• Decreto-Lei 9.760/1946 — Bens imóveis da União (Planalto)
• Decreto-Lei 2.398/1987 — Foros, laudêmios e taxas de ocupação (Planalto)
• Lei 9.636/1998 — Regularização, administração, aforamento e alienação de bens imóveis da União (Planalto)
• Lei 13.240/2015 — Remição de foro e alienação de imóveis da União (Planalto)
• Lei 13.465/2017 — Regularização fundiária; alterações ao laudêmio (Planalto)
• Lei 12.651/2012 — Código Florestal, art. 4 (APP) (Planalto)
• Lei 7.661/1988 — Plano Nacional de Gerenciamento Costeiro (Planalto)
• Decreto 5.300/2004 — Regulamento do Gerenciamento Costeiro (Planalto)
• Lei 9.985/2000 — Sistema Nacional de Unidades de Conservação (Planalto)
• Constituição Federal, art. 20 (Planalto)
• Lei 5.709/1971 — Aquisição de imóvel rural por estrangeiro (Planalto)
• Lei 6.634/1979 — Faixa de Fronteira (Planalto)
• Secretaria do Patrimônio da União — gov.br
• PEC 3/2022 — Senado Federal (tramitação)
• Decreto-Lei 1.876/1981 — Dispensa de pagamento por pessoas carentes ou de baixa renda (Planalto)
• Lei 13.813/2019 — Alteração do art. 11 da Lei 13.240/2015 (Planalto)
• STJ — Súmula 496 (compêndio oficial de súmulas do STJ)

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This guide is for informational and educational purposes only, in line with Provimento No. 205/2021 of the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB). It is not legal advice, an opinion, or an offer of services, does not refer to any specific case, and does not guarantee any result. Federal charges, SPU programs, environmental rules and municipal zoning change; figures are for orientation as of August 2026 and must be confirmed against official and current sources. Each real estate situation requires individual analysis by a licensed professional. Last updated August 2026.