Milei’s proposal revises land, fire and expropriation laws to promote investment

Argentina’s government has sent a bill to Congress that would modify key property regulations, including easing restrictions on foreign land ownership and revising rules governing burned land.

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Presented by President Javier Milei’s administration, the initiative is described as an effort “to organize property rights and promote investment.” The proposed Law on the Inviolability of Private Property aims to “establish a clear and predictable framework for property rights in Argentina,” according to the Executive.

The bill introduces changes to the rural land law, which currently limits foreign ownership to 15 percent of land at the national, provincial, or departmental level and restricts access to strategic areas, including those with water resources or near borders. Existing rules also prevent any single nationality from exceeding 30 percent of the permitted land and cap individual foreign ownership at 1,000 hectares in the country’s most productive agricultural zone.

Text Reads: Manuel Adorni announced that a package of laws aimed at strengthening private property rights in Argentina and amending the Penal Code will be sent to Congress. / “We need to address the national scourge of squatters with an eviction law that expedites legal proceedings, quickly removes offenders, and returns properties to their owners in less than five days,” said the Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers. / He also noted that the reformed Penal Code “is under review” and that work will begin on “toughening penalties and incorporating new criminal offenses for immigration violations, pyramid schemes, street vendors, extortion, robberies of bank customers, drive-by robberies, motorcycle thefts, weapons in prisons, animal cruelty, among others.”

Under the proposal, these restrictions would remain in place for foreign states and state-linked entities. Private foreign individuals, however, would be subject to the same rules as Argentine nationals.

The initiative also revises the Fire Management Law, which since 2020 has prohibited real estate development, intensive agricultural activity, or changes in land use on burned areas to prevent land speculation. According to the government, “the project circumscribes the restriction to native forests and sensitive areas according to each jurisdiction’s land-use planning, and strengthens mechanisms for the prevention and investigation of intentional fires.”

The reform comes amid recurring wildfires affecting Patagonia and other regions, where an estimated 64,000 hectares have burned since mid-December, according to Greenpeace.

Additional provisions include changes to the state expropriation regime to define clearer procedural criteria, measures to accelerate property recovery by owners during judicial processes to discourage irregular occupation, and the modernization of the real estate registry.

The bill now moves to Congress for debate within the government’s broader legislative agenda on property rights and economic policy.

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