MEXICO Law and Practice Contributed by: Roberto Cannizzo, Carlo Cannizzo, Stefano Amato and Mauricio Moreno-Rey, Cannizzo
2.2 Laws Applicable to Transfer of Title The law applicable to transfer of title, if the trans - fer is considered a commercial act by the Com - mercial Code, is the Civil Code of the relevant state where the real estate is located. If at least one of the parties is a merchant (including real estate for industrial purposes, offices, retail and hotels), the applicable law would be the Com - mercial Code and the Civil Code of the relevant state where the real estate is located. In combinations involving corporations (ie, merg - ers, the purchase of shares) or trusts, the Com - mercial Code, General Law of Commercial Com - panies, the Stock Market Law and the General Law of Securities and Credit Transactions will apply. For the transfer of title to Ejido property, the applicable law is the Agrarian Law. 2.3 Effecting Lawful and Proper Transfer of Title In Mexico, the legal methods for acquiring prop - erty are usucapion, accession, succession by reason of death and by transfer, whether oner- ous (such as a sale and purchase agreement) or gratuitous (such as a donation agreement). The most common way to acquire property is by entering one of the following agreements: • a purchase agreement, as defined in Article 2248 of the Civil Code for Mexico City, where - by one party agrees to transfer ownership of goods or a right, and the other party agrees to pay a specific price for it; • a trust agreement, as defined in Article 381 of the General Law of Securities and Credit Transactions, whereby a trustor, by virtue of a trust, transfers the ownership of one or more goods or rights to a trust institution (trustee) for lawful and specified purposes, with the
informality and irregularities in property transac - tions. The provisions within the regulation are mandatory for suppliers such as builders, devel - opers, and intermediaries involved in advising or selling real estate. It is also applicable to any individual or legal entity engaged in marketing residential property to the general public. Further, the regulation outlines obligations for sellers concerning warranties. Coverage must be no less than five years for structural failures, three years for water leakage issues, and at least one year for all other problems. During the war - ranty period, defects must be repaired at the supplier’s expense, and the supplier must pro - vide documentation detailing how the warranty will be fulfilled. Mexican Civil Codes provide for several catego - ries of property rights: full ownership, usufruct (the real and temporary right to enjoy the prop - erty of others, which includes the right to receive all the fruits/benefits, whether natural, industrial or civil, produced by the property) and other minor rights, such as use or certain easements. In infrastructure projects, rights of way or other types of easements are used for the construction of roads, gas and oil pipelines. Another type of property is “Ejido property”, which accounts for over 50% of the land in Mex - ico. Ejido property is a landholding in Mexico that is owned collectively by a community and is typically used for agriculture or other similar purposes. It is subject to a special regime, regu - lated by Article 27 of the Constitution and the Agrarian Law. 2. Sale and Purchase 2.1 Categories of Property Rights
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