This information is for reference only and is not legal advice. Consult a licensed lawyer before any transaction.
Civil and Commercial Code - Superficies
Civil and Commercial Code ss.1410-1416
The information is reviewed and updated monthly against official sources.
In short
The right to legally own a house or structures on land owned by someone else. The key lawful route for a foreigner to own a home without owning the land.
1410: Creation of Superficies
A landowner may grant another person a separate right to own buildings, structures, or plantations located above or below the land surface, without transferring ownership of the land itself. This creates two distinct property interests coexisting on one plot.
1411: Transfer and Inheritance of the Right
Unless the founding document says otherwise, a holder of superficies may sell, assign, or bequeath this right to someone else. The default rule favors free transferability, though the original grant can restrict or forbid such dealings.
1412: Duration of Superficies
The parties may set the right's duration as a fixed term, tied to the landowner's lifetime, or tied to the superficiary's lifetime. Where a fixed term is chosen, the maximum-duration limit applicable to habitation-type rights applies correspondingly.
1413: Termination Without a Fixed Term
When no term was agreed, either side may end the arrangement by giving the other fair advance warning. If payments are due under the agreement, ending it requires either a full year's notice or payment covering one year.
1414: Termination for Breach
The landowner may cancel the superficiary's right if the superficiary disregards material conditions set in the founding agreement, or, where periodic payments are owed, fails to pay them for two years running.
1415: Survival of the Right After Destruction of Structures
Loss or collapse of the buildings, structures, or plantations, even from causes beyond anyone's control, does not automatically cancel the underlying superficies right. The right continues to exist independently of the physical structures it covers.
1416: Removal or Buyout of Structures Upon Termination
Once the right ends, its former holder may dismantle and remove the buildings, structures, or plantations, but must return the land to its earlier state. Alternatively, if the landowner offers to purchase them at market price, the former holder generally must accept unless there is a valid reason to decline.