Buying Rural Land in Paraguay: A Due Diligence Guide for Foreign Buyers

With a focus on the environmental checks most buyers miss.

Four questions that decide a rural purchase

Paraguay is one of the more open countries in the region for foreign land buyers, and good rural property is still available at reasonable prices. Most purchases go smoothly. The ones that don’t usually fail on one of four questions:

1. Can you legally own this property? A few restrictions apply to certain nationalities and locations.
2. Is the title clean, and is the land on the ground the land on the paper? Overlapping titles and boundary errors are a known problem in parts of the country.
3. Will the land work for what you plan to do? Water, soil, access and climate decide whether a project is viable.
4. Is the property environmentally in order, and can your project be licensed? This is the question most foreign buyers never ask.

The environmental side deserves special attention because the obligations are attached to the land, not to the owner. If the previous owner cleared forest without authorization, removed the forest along a stream or never licensed the operation, the problem stays with the property and becomes yours. Depending on the case, that can mean fines, mandatory restoration, a license that can’t be obtained, or a project that can’t start.

None of this is a reason to avoid rural Paraguay. It is a reason to check before you sign. Buying well is easy if you check in time.

The agencies and terms you will meet

Escribano público (notary public)

In Paraguay the notary is a legal professional who prepares the purchase deed, checks the registry and is responsible for registering the transfer. Choose your own; don’t simply use the seller’s.

DGRP – Dirección General de los Registros Públicos (Public Registry)

Where property titles are registered. Ownership is only fully secured once the deed is registered here.

SNC – Servicio Nacional de Catastro (National Cadastre)

Keeps the cadastral records and plans of properties.

INDERT – Instituto Nacional de Desarrollo Rural y de la Tierra

The agrarian reform agency. Land that originated from INDERT allotments has special restrictions.

MADES – Ministerio del Ambiente y Desarrollo Sostenible (Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development)

The environmental authority. It runs environmental impact assessments and licenses, water registration, and the environmental services and carbon credit registries. Before 2018 it was the Secretaría del Ambiente (SEAM), so older documents may say “SEAM”.

INFONA – Instituto Forestal Nacional (National Forestry Institute)

The forestry authority. It approves land-use and forest plans, supervises the mandatory forest reserve and is in charge of the riparian forest law.

INDI – Instituto Paraguayo del Indígena

The government body for Indigenous affairs, including community land.

SENACSA – Servicio Nacional de Calidad y Salud Animal

The animal health service. Cattle movements need its transit certificates.

DIA – Declaración de Impacto Ambiental (Environmental Impact Declaration)

The environmental license that MADES issues after an environmental impact assessment (EIA – Evaluación de Impacto Ambiental). It comes with a management plan the owner must follow.

PUT – Plan de Uso de la Tierra (Land-Use Plan)

An approved plan showing which parts of the property can be used for production and which must stay as forest. Essential in the Chaco.

Can foreigners buy rural land in Paraguay?

Yes, as a general rule. Foreign individuals and companies can hold title to rural land in Paraguay in their own name.

The main exception: the border security zone

Law 2532/2005 establishes a 50 km strip along all of Paraguay’s land and river borders. Within it, nationals of neighbouring countries (Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia), and companies owned mostly by them, cannot own, co-own or hold usufruct over rural property, unless authorized by executive decree. Companies holding rural land in this zone must have registered (nominative) shares, and notaries may not execute deeds that break the rule. Even if you are not from a neighbouring country, check whether the property falls within the zone, because it affects who you can resell to and how a holding company must be set up.

Agrarian reform land

Land originally allotted by INDERT (or its predecessor) under the Agrarian Statute is subject to occupation requirements and resale restrictions. Titles transferred in breach of those restrictions have been challenged. If the title history includes an INDERT allotment, have your notary or lawyer review it carefully.

Buying personally or through a company

You can buy in your own name or through a Paraguayan company. The choice affects taxes, succession, financing and resale. Decide it with a lawyer and an accountant before the deed is drafted, not after.

Taxes to expect (overview)

• Property tax (impuesto inmobiliario): 1% of the property’s fiscal value, which for rural land is set per hectare. Fiscal values are updated periodically.
• Business income tax (IRE): since the 2019 tax reform (Law 6380/2019), agricultural and livestock income is taxed under the general business income tax at 10% of net income.
• Dividends: profits distributed to shareholders abroad are subject to a withholding tax (15% under the 2019 reform).
• Transfer costs: notary fees, registry fees and taxes on the transfer. Ask your notary for a written estimate.

Tax rules change and depend on your structure. Treat this as a starting point for a conversation with an accountant.

Pending legislation. Restrictions on foreign land ownership are a recurring topic in the Paraguayan Congress, and bills have been presented to tighten enforcement of the border zone rules. None of this affects a legal purchase made today, but it is worth asking your lawyer about at the time you buy.

Title, boundaries and possession

Overlapping titles (two or more titles covering the same land) are a known problem in Paraguay, including in the Chaco. A good notary will catch most title issues, but only if the right checks are done. The essentials:

• The seller is the registered owner, confirmed by a current certificate of title condition (certificado de condiciones de dominio) from the Public Registry. By law the notary must have this certificate before signing a deed; it is valid for 30 days.
• The certificate shows no mortgages, liens, seizures or other restrictions, or you know exactly how they will be cleared at closing.
• The property has been surveyed with GPS, and the georeferenced boundaries have been compared against neighbouring titles and the cadastre to rule out overlaps.
• The area on the title matches the area on the ground. In large properties, differences of several percent are common and change the price.
• Nobody else is living on, farming or claiming any part of the land, and the property has legal access to a public road.

A note on occupations. Land occupations by landless farmers have occurred in some areas of the Eastern Region, particularly where titles are disputed or land appears unused. Clean title, clear boundaries, visible use of the property and good relations with neighbours all reduce this risk.

Eastern Region vs. the Chaco

The Paraguay River divides the country into two very different regions. Almost everything about a rural purchase changes from one side to the other.

In plain terms: in the Eastern Region, don’t buy forest expecting to clear it. In the Chaco, development is possible, but the usable area is much smaller than the total area. Price the property on the hectares you can actually use.

The environmental checks most buyers miss

Most buyers check the title and the price. Very few check the environmental file, even though the obligations travel with the land. These are the six areas we review in every purchase:

1. Licenses and land-use plan

Does the current operation have a valid DIA from MADES, in the seller’s name, covering the activity actually carried out today? Is there a land-use plan or forest management plan approved by INFONA, and does what you see on the ground and in satellite images match it?

2. Forest reserve and past clearing

If the property is over 20 ha, does it keep at least 25% of its area as natural forest? If not, has the deficit been formally compensated? Has forest been cleared in the past, and was each clearing authorized with a permit you can see?

3. Rivers, streams and riparian forest

Is there a river, stream, spring or wetland on or along the property, and is the riparian forest strip in place with the width required? If it was removed, who is responsible for restoring it?

4. Protected areas and Indigenous communities

Does the property overlap or border a protected wildlife area or its buffer zone? Is there an Indigenous community living on, claiming or using part of the land, or any claim before INDI or the courts?

5. Water use, wells and effluents

Are wells, dams, ponds or river pumping registered with MADES in the National Water Resources Registry? If the operation produces effluents (dairy, slaughter, processing, feedlot, agro-chemical washing), are they treated and permitted?

6. Your planned activity

Does what you plan to do require an environmental impact assessment and a DIA? Will you need to clear land, and is that legally possible here? How much water will you need, and is it available? Have you budgeted the time and cost of licensing before you start operating?

Red flags during the deal

• “The clearing is already sorted.” Ask for the permit. If there isn’t one, it isn’t sorted.
• No DIA, but “nobody ever asked for one.” Past lack of enforcement says nothing about the future, your bank, your buyer or your export customer.
• The DIA or land-use plan is in someone else’s name, belongs to a larger property that was subdivided, or covers a different activity.
• The price is well below other properties in the area, especially when “good pasture” is offered in a zone that used to be forest.
• The seller wants you to use their notary, or pressures you to sign a private agreement and pay a large deposit before title checks are complete.
• Title area and real area don’t match, or there’s no recent survey.
• The title history includes an INDERT allotment that was resold quickly.
• Recent fire scars or felled trees in satellite images or on site.
• Pasture or cropland running right up to the riverbank.
• People living on the land who aren’t part of the seller’s operation, or signs of Indigenous use.
• The seller won’t allow a visit, a survey or a technical inspection, or pushes to close quickly.
• Documents only as photos or partial copies, with no reference numbers you can verify.

A seller whose property is in order will usually provide documents quickly. Missing documents aren’t always a deal-breaker, but they should be reflected in the price, the contract terms or the timeline.

Licensing or regularizing a project: steps and timelines

How licensing works

Under Law 294/93 on Environmental Impact Assessment and its regulation, Decree 453/13 (amended by Decree 954/13), agricultural, livestock, forestry and many other activities above certain thresholds need a DIA before they start. The general steps are:

1. Define the project: what will be done, where, and at what scale.
2. Hire a registered environmental consultant (listed in the MADES CTCA register) to prepare the environmental study.
3. Gather supporting documents: title, maps, land-use plan approved by INFONA where forest is involved, water availability where relevant.
4. Submit to MADES and respond to technical observations.
5. Receive the DIA and its environmental management plan.
6. Comply and report: follow the plan and submit compliance audits when required.

How long it takes

Timelines depend on the type and size of the project, the region, the completeness of the file and the authorities’ workload. A straightforward process often takes several months. Projects that first need an INFONA land-use plan or water permits take longer.

Regularizing an existing property

If the property is already operating without a DIA, or doesn’t match its approved plan, the usual route is to regularize: study the existing operation, correct what is out of line and obtain the license. Many situations can be fixed this way. Some can’t simply be paid off:

• In the Eastern Region, forest converted in breach of the Zero Deforestation law may have to be restored.
• Riparian forest that was removed must be restored with native species.
• A shortfall in the 25% forest reserve has to be made up, by restoring forest or through the compensation options in the regulations.

You want to know the cost and time of regularizing before you agree on a price, not after.

The upside: environmental services certificates and carbon credits

Forest on your property is not only an obligation. Two systems can turn well-kept forest into income.

Environmental services certificates (Law 3001/2006)

Owners who conserve natural ecosystems can have that area certified by MADES. The resulting Environmental Services Certificates can be sold to companies and individuals who must compensate their own environmental impacts, such as high-impact projects or landowners who are short of their forest reserve. Forest beyond what you are legally required to keep can become a sellable asset, and if a property you want is short of its forest reserve, buying certificates may be one way to compensate the deficit, subject to the rules in force. Certification requires its own assessment process through MADES.

Carbon credits (Law 7190/2023)

Paraguay’s carbon credits law, Law 7190/2023, was regulated by Decree 3369/2025. MADES is the authority, a national Carbon Credit Registry has been set up, and forestry and land use are among the eligible sectors. Projects must show that their emission reductions are additional, measurable and verifiable. Transfers of carbon credits are exempt from VAT. Carbon projects need scale, technical work and time, so they aren’t for every property. For larger holdings with standing forest or reforestation potential, it is worth assessing before you buy, because it can change what the property is worth to you.

How APDS can help: the Land Compliance Check

The Land Compliance Check is a written review of a specific property or project, done before you buy. It focuses on the environmental and technical side of the purchase and is designed to work alongside your notary and lawyer, who handle the title and contract. It includes:

• Review of the environmental documents provided by the seller (DIA, management plan, land-use plan, permits).
• Satellite image analysis of forest cover and clearing history.
• Check of the forest reserve, forest strips and riparian forest against legal requirements.
• Georeferenced check of the property’s boundaries and area against the documents provided, carried out by a MADES-certified cartographer.
• Check for overlap with protected areas, the border security zone and known Indigenous community land.
• Review of water uses and permits, and of water availability for your plan.
• A clear list of what is in order, what needs to be fixed and what cannot be fixed, and a permit roadmap for your planned activity.

You receive a written report in English, German or Spanish. It is paid in advance.

Who is behind this guide

APDS is registered as an environmental consultancy with MADES (CTCA No. E-127). We work regularly with foreign investors and Mennonite communities, in Spanish, English and German.

Sonia Servin, Executive Director. Over 20 years of experience in environmental management, including senior positions at MADES and at the Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MIC). M.Sc. in Environmental Sciences, University of Chicago.

Bruno Vargas Servin, President. Lead auditor and MADES-certified cartographer.

Sources

Ownership, title and taxes

• Law 2532/2005, Border Security Zone.
• Law 1863/2002, Agrarian Statute.
• Law 879/1981, Code of Judicial Organization, art. 280 (as amended by Laws 1838 and 2903): registry certificate required for deeds.
• Law 6380/2019, Modernization and Simplification of the National Tax System.
• Law 2576/2005, Re-registration of cattle brands and marks.

Environment

• Law 294/1993, Environmental Impact Assessment, and Law 345/1994.
• Decree 453/2013 and Decree 954/2013, regulating Law 294/93.
• Law 422/1973, Forestry Law (art. 42), and Decree 7702/2017.
• Law 2524/2004 (Zero Deforestation, Eastern Region) and extensions, most recently Law 6676/2020.
• Decree 18831/1986 and INFONA Resolutions 1242/2012 and 1001/2019 (forest strips in the Chaco).
• Law 4241/2010, Riparian Forests, and Decree 9824/2012.
• Law 3239/2007, Water Resources, and Resolution 2194/2007 (National Water Resources Registry).
• Law 3001/2006, Environmental Services, and Decree 10247/2007.
• Law 7190/2023, Carbon Credits, and Decree 3369/2025.
• Law 352/1994, Protected Wildlife Areas.
• Law 6123/2018 (MADES) and Law 3464/2008 (INFONA).

Official texts: Biblioteca y Archivo Central del Congreso (bacn.gov.py), MADES (mades.gov.py), INFONA (infona.gov.py), FAOLEX (faolex.fao.org).