[REVISION HISTORY]

Argentina rural land ownership regulation

Updated 3 times since CLSTR started tracking revisions of this situation.

What changed

2026-09-30 15:16 UTC → 2026-09-30 18:12 UTC · added ~~removed~~

In the province of Santa Fe, Argentina, the enforcement of National Law 26.737 created regulatory bottlenecks in the real estate market. While the province maintained a low overall foreign ownership rate of 1.71%, the law required a 15% ownership cap to be applied strictly on a per-department basis. This led to the Garay Department exceeding the legal limit with a concentration of 15.73%, necessitating Prior Authorization Certificates from the National Registry of Rural Lands for transactions. However, the legal landscape shifted when the Supreme Court of Argentina revoked a previous ruling that had declared the repeal of the Rural Land Law unconstitutional. The Court determined that the plaintiff, Centro de Ex Combatientes Islas Malvinas La Plata (CECIM), lacked the legal standing to bring the collective action. Justices Horacio Rosatti, Carlos Rosenkrantz, and Ricardo Lorenzetti argued that territorial sovereignty is not a collective right that can be defended through such legal mechanisms, meaning no judicial controversy was properly configured. While the Court clarified it did not rule on the actual constitutionality of Article 154 of Decree 70/2023, the practical effect is the reinstatement of the repeal of the Land Law. This removes previous restrictions on foreign land acquisition, including the 15% cap and limits on individual holdings in certain zones, such as the 1,000-hectare limit in the core agricultural zone, allowing foreign individuals and entities to acquire land without those restrictions. The ruling has drawn criticism from CECIM and various political sectors who argue it facilitates the foreign acquisition of Argentine territory. Following the decision, the government is reportedly considering legislative strategies to further protect the decree from future challenges.

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