The Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) has approved a significant modification to the Regulation for Parcel Regularization and Demarcation (Deslinde), a move designed to greatly expand the scope of land regularization and streamline the process of obtaining clear property titles.
The Supreme Court ordered the amendments to Regulation No. 790-2022 after a year-long consultation period. The changes, enacted by the SCJ’s full panel, aim to make regularization the general rule for legally establishing and individualizing a specific portion of a larger parcel of land.
Crucially, the new regulation reserves the demarcation process (deslinde) as an exception, applicable only at the judicial stage and specifically for cases that are inherently contradictory or litigious and require court intervention. This marks a strategic shift to prioritize administrative regularization over potentially complex and lengthy judicial demarcation proceedings.
Key benefits of the regulatory update
The SCJ highlights several advantages of the revised regulation:
• Simplified access to titled property: The modifications simplify the conditions and requirements for parcel regularization, fostering greater access to titled, properly individualized, and located real estate.
• Judicial efficiency: By reserving the contentious deslinde process for necessary judicial intervention, the court seeks to reduce litigation and make the real estate system more efficient.
• Strengthened cohesion: The court expects the increased use of parcel regularization to strengthen the social and legal cohesion of the country’s real estate system.
Among the new provisions is the addition of a paragraph to Article 6 of Resolution No. 790-2022, which addresses the timeframe for technical work.
The provision stipulates that the notation placed on an immovable property’s Complementary Registry, indicating that the parcel is undergoing regularization, will have a validity of one year from the date of registration. This notation can be canceled either by the approval or rejection of the technical work by the competent Regional Directorate of Cadastral Surveys or upon the expiration of the one-year term.
The SCJ panel that approved the measure was led by Chief Justice Henry Molina and included Magistrates Manuel Ramon Herrera Carbuccia, Francisco Antonio Jerez Mena, Manuel Alexis Read Ortiz, Fran Euclides Soto Sanchez, Nancy Idelsa Salcedo Fernández, Justiniano Montero Montero, Anselmo Alejandro Bello Ferreras, Rafael Vasquez Goico, Vanessa Elizabeth Acosta Peralta, Maria Garabito Ramírez, Moises Alfredo Ferrer Landron, and Francisco Antonio Ortega Polanco.
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El Dia
13 October 2025