Land due diligence: the five areas of review
What a complete due diligence needs to cover, and why experienced investors do not rely on certificates alone.
Many buyers treat land due diligence as a review of certificates. That approach is what, years later, leads to disputes capable of bringing an entire operation to a halt.
Sound due diligence covers five areas. The first is the registry: property records (matrículas), chain of title, liens, and encumbrances. The second covers notary records and the owners themselves: their legal standing, estates in probate, and relevant personal lawsuits.
The third is environmental and regulatory: CAR (the Rural Environmental Registry), Reserva Legal (the native vegetation each property must keep) and APP (permanent preservation areas), fines, embargoes, and overlaps with conservation units, Indigenous lands, and quilombola territories. The fourth is possession: who occupies the land, for how long, under what title, and on what terms.
The fifth, and the most overlooked, is socio-territorial: who the neighboring owners are, what the history of the region is, whether there are active or latent conflicts, and whether collective lawsuits are underway. This is the stage that shows whether the asset can be operated safely or is compliant only on paper.
© Tellus Brasil · Insights
