Buying · Puerto Morelos
What the paper says
Before you pay, confirm which title exists: a registered deed is not an ejido certificate or a private contract.
Last reviewed: Oct 14, 2026 · General information, not legal advice: check it with a notary.
The public deed
Registered, or it doesn’t protect you
A deed signed before a notary and recorded at the Public Property Registry: recording is what makes it hold against everyone.[1]
Ask for the folio
With it, the notary orders the lien certificate: owner, mortgages, liens. The person signing must be the one on record.[1][2]
Registry alert
For 10 UMA a year (about 1,200 pesos in 2026) the registry warns you if someone tries to record anything on your folio.[2]
Ejido land
What can’t be sold
Common-use land and the village settlement area can’t be sold: such a sale is void. A plot can only be sold to members or residents of the same ejido.[3]
A plot certificate is not a deed
It proves an agrarian right. To sell to anyone, the plot needs full ownership (dominio pleno): assembly approval, removal from the RAN and a title recorded at the Public Registry.[3]
Check with the RAN
Request a certificate of current rights from the National Agrarian Registry (195 pesos, 2025 fee). If the plot is still listed there, it isn’t private property.[4][5]
No full ownership, no trust
A bank can’t take ejido land, so a foreigner has no legal way to buy it.[3][6]
Assignment of rights
What you’re buying
A right (in a pre-sale, a trust, an ejido plot), not a deeded property. It pays acquisition tax, even when only part of a trust changes hands, and income tax like a sale.[7][8]
The risk
A private contract isn’t recorded, so the same land can be sold several times. Some buyers received shares in a company instead of a condo.[9][10]
From a pre-sale
Get the developer’s written consent and confirm the land is deeded in its name and free of mortgages.[11]
Documented scams
121 irregular developments
In July 2026 the state counted at least 121 in Tulum, Isla Mujeres, Playa del Carmen and Cancún; the president spoke of plots sold “six or eight times”.[9]
SÚUT, Playa del Carmen
Over 50 buyers paid more than 200 million pesos for pre-sale condos they never received. The developer was arrested in 2024.[12]
Oceana, Playa del Carmen
Pre-sale money didn’t pay off the construction loan: the land stayed mortgaged and the units couldn’t be deeded.[11]
Tulum
Land the seller didn’t own, projects sold without permits, ejido land sold to foreigners: cases from 2024 to 2026.[10][13][14]
Frequently asked questions
- Can a foreigner buy ejido land?
- Not while it’s ejido land. Only with full ownership and a title recorded at the Public Registry does it become private property that can go into a trust.
- How do I know a property has no debts?
- With the lien certificate from the Public Registry, which the notary orders, plus paid-up property tax and water clearances.
- What is an assignment of rights (cesión de derechos)?
- The sale of a right, for example in a pre-sale condo or a trust. It isn’t a deed: check which right exists and who holds it.
Sources
- 1.Congreso del Estado de Quintana Roo. Código Civil para el Estado de Quintana Roo, arts. 3177 a 3181 (texto vigente, 7 sep. 2026)
- 2.Congreso del Estado de Quintana Roo. Ley de Derechos del Estado de Quintana Roo, art. 29: Registro Público (reforma 16 dic. 2025)
- 3.Cámara de Diputados. Ley Agraria, arts. 64 a 86 (reforma 14 nov. 2025)
- 4.SEDATU, Registro Agrario Nacional. Constancia de vigencia de derechos (SEDATU-04-051)
- 5.Cámara de Diputados. Ley Federal de Derechos, arts. 25 y 187 (reforma 7 nov. 2025)
- 6.Cámara de Diputados. Ley de Inversión Extranjera, arts. 10 a 14 (reforma 27 may. 2024)
- 7.Congreso del Estado de Quintana Roo. Ley de Hacienda del Municipio de Puerto Morelos, arts. 5, 18, 24 a 29, 74, 92 Bis y 136 a 138 (reforma 9 dic. 2024)
- 8.Cámara de Diputados. Ley del Impuesto sobre la Renta, arts. 93, 126, 127, 158 y 160
- 9.Por Esto. Quintana Roo suma 121 desarrollos inmobiliarios irregulares (29 jul. 2026)
- 10.24 Horas Quintana Roo. Fraudes inmobiliarios en Tulum, alerta la Anade (10 oct. 2024)
- 11.Ruptura 360. Fraude inmobiliario en Playa del Carmen: condominio Oceana (12 jun. 2026)
- 12.Por Esto. Más de 50 personas pagaron más de 200 mdp por departamentos que nunca recibieron en SÚUT (19 abr. 2026)
- 13.El Financiero (Bloomberg). El lado oscuro del boom inmobiliario en Tulum (6 abr. 2025)
- 14.Riviera Maya News. Authorities warn buyers away from Ocean Tulum over missing permits (8 ago. 2026)