Foreign Buyer Rules for Guatemala Real Estate: Articles 122-123, State Reserves and the Border Strip (2026)

Foreigners can own real estate in Guatemala. The Constitution’s limits by location are in two articles, and they are not the rules this page used to describe. Correction (8 October 2026): an earlier version of this page said Article 122 was a 200-meter coast and lake restriction on foreign buyers, and that a Guatemalan sociedad anónima solved it, including in the border zone. The constitutional text says something different, and this page now follows it.

The bottom line: Article 122 reserves strips along oceans, lakes, navigable rivers and springs to the State, for everyone. Foreigners can acquire only the excepted properties inside those strips (urban property, or rights registered before 1 March 1956), and only with authorization from the Executive. Article 123 limits the 15 km border strip to Guatemalans of origin and to companies whose members are. Outside those strips, neither article applies.

What the Constitution says

Text read in the Instituto de la Defensa Pública Penal edition of the Constitución Política on 23 September 2026.

Article 122 opens with “El Estado se reserva el dominio” of those strips. It then excepts two kinds of property:

• property located in urban zones, and
• property with rights registered in the Registro de la Propiedad before 1 March 1956.

The next sentence is the one that matters most to a foreign buyer: “Los extranjeros necesitarán autorización del Ejecutivo” to acquire the excepted properties. The same article adds that, for property declared a national monument or located in a monumental ensemble, “el Estado tendrá derecho preferencial en toda enajenación” (the State has a preferential right in any sale).

Article 123 limits ownership and possession in the 15 km border strip to Guatemalans of origin “o las sociedades cuyos miembros tengan las mismas calidades” (or companies whose members have the same qualities). It excepts urban property and rights registered before 1 March 1956.

What a foreign buyer can do

1. Buy outside the strips. Article 39 states: “Se garantiza la propiedad privada como un derecho” inherent to the human person. Articles 122 and 123 set limits only inside the strips in the table above. A property beyond those distances is not affected by either article.
2. Inside an Article 122 strip, only excepted property can be owned. That means urban property, or property with rights registered before 1 March 1956. A foreigner needs authorization from the Executive to acquire it. The Constitution does not name the office or the procedure, and we have not captured an official page that does. Ask your lawyer to identify both in writing before you sign. The rest of the strip is State land that can only be leased from OCRET (see below).
3. Inside the 15 km border strip, check the exceptions first. Article 123 excepts urban property and rights registered before 1 March 1956. Outside those exceptions, ownership is limited to Guatemalans of origin and companies whose members are.
4. Apartments and condominiums. The Civil Code (Art. 528, CENADOJ annotated edition) allows the separate floors, apartments and rooms of a multi-storey building to belong to different owners, separately or in condominium, provided they have access to a public road or to a common space that leads to one. Articles 122 and 123 make no separate rule for apartments, so check where the building stands the same way you would for a house or a plot.

Reserve land: a lease from OCRET, not a title

Land inside an Article 122 strip that is not excepted belongs to the State. The law that regulates it is Decreto 126-97, the Ley Reguladora de las Áreas de Reservas Territoriales del Estado de Guatemala (text as published in the Diario de Centro América on 30 December 1997, read in the Congress copy on 8 October 2026; the FAOLEX legislation record lists no amendments). Its regulation is Acuerdo Gubernativo 151-2024. What the law says:

• OCRET runs the reserve. The Executive, through the Ministry of Agriculture (MAGA) and its Oficina de Control de Áreas de Reserva del Estado (OCRET), keeps the registers of the reserve areas (Art. 2). Only OCRET can grant a lease there (Art. 3).
• No title. Property inside the reserve cannot be titled through titulación supletoria or granted in usufruct to private parties, except where legally constituted documentation exists, and the prohibition does not affect rights acquired before the law took effect (Art. 4).
• Who can lease. The State may lease to individuals, and to legal entities legally constituted in Guatemala (Art. 5). The 2024 regulation asks an individual applicant for a DPI or, for a foreigner, a passport, plus the DPI of a guarantor (Acuerdo Gubernativo 151-2024, Art. 16).
• Size. For housing and recreation, a lease is capped at 2,000 m², with at most 80 m of frontage on the coast or on the lake or river bank (Art. 6).
• What cannot be leased. The 50 m from the high-tide line, kept as public beach, where that strip was unoccupied when the law was issued; 30 m where it was already occupied; 20 m from lake waters; 10 m along navigable rivers; and the areas around springs that supply towns (Art. 8).
• Term. Up to 30 years for housing and recreation, renewable (Art. 9). A person or company may lease only one plot in the reserve, and subletting is grounds to rescind the lease (Art. 22).
• Selling a lease. A lessee can assign only the whole leased plot and sell the improvements. OCRET registers the transfer once it receives the notary’s notice and deed, a legalized copy of the lease and proof the rent is paid up (Art. 26).
• Losing it. After six months of unpaid rent, OCRET demands payment within 30 days; if it is not paid and no payment plan is offered, OCRET rescinds the lease (Art. 14). If the occupant does not leave, the case goes to the Procuraduría General de la Nación, and the improvements stay with the State (Art. 15).

In practice, a beach or lakeshore house on reserve land that is neither urban nor registered before 1 March 1956 changes hands as an assignment of the OCRET lease plus a sale of the improvements, not as a registered title. Ask to see the lease, its term and the rent receipts before you pay anything.

Is the property inside a strip?

The Constitution gives the reference point for each zone: the high-tide line for the ocean strip, the lake shores, the banks of navigable rivers, the springs, and the dividing line for the border strip. Whether a particular plot falls inside, and whether it counts as urban or has rights registered before 1956, are legal and technical questions. Ask for written answers from a Guatemalan lawyer before you pay anything, and do not rely on a seller’s or agent’s estimate of the distance.

Which body does what

The United States and Guatemala both appear on the Hague Apostille Convention status table. For IUSI rates and the 2026 reform, see property taxes (IUSI). For the transfer taxes, notary fees and registry fees, see the property buying guide.

If someone tells you a foreign buyer needs a special ministry filing, ask which law it rests on. The one authorization the Constitution names is the Executive authorization in Article 122.

What to confirm before you pay a deposit

1. Location against the strips: written confirmation of whether the property lies inside any Article 122 strip or the Article 123 border strip.
2. If it is inside a strip: whether it is urban or has rights registered before 1 March 1956, and, for an Article 122 strip, how the Executive authorization will be obtained. If it is neither, the seller can offer at most an OCRET lease: ask for the lease, its term and the rent receipts.
3. Monument status: whether the property is declared a national monument or sits in a monumental ensemble, which gives the State a preferential right in the sale.
4. Registry status: a current certification from the Registro General de la Propiedad.
5. IUSI: that the property tax is paid up with the municipality.

Related guides

For the full purchase process, see the Guatemala property buying guide. By region:

• Buying in Antigua Guatemala
• Buying at Lake Atitlán
• Buying in Monterrico
• Closing costs and process
• Property taxes (IUSI)

Need help finding a Guatemalan real estate attorney? Email stu@livinginguatemala.com.

Updated 8 October 2026. Sources: Constitución Política de la República de Guatemala, Arts. 39, 122 and 123 (Instituto de la Defensa Pública Penal edition, read 23 September 2026); Código Civil, Arts. 528 and 1576 (CENADOJ annotated edition); Decreto 15-98, Ley del Impuesto Único sobre Inmuebles, Arts. 1, 2 and 43; Decreto 126-97, Ley Reguladora de las Áreas de Reservas Territoriales del Estado (Diario de Centro América, 30 December 1997, Congress copy read 8 October 2026); Acuerdo Gubernativo 151-2024 (FAOLEX copy, read 8 October 2026); Decreto 9-98, Ley de Inversión Extranjera, Arts. 3 and 4 (Congress copy, read 8 October 2026); Registro General de la Propiedad online certification form (read 25 September 2026); Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) authority and status pages. This page is informational and is not legal advice.