How to Verify a Land Project in Panama Before You Put Money In

Field lesson. From Alex's experience before Proper: a beach-development project where the checks below came too late. Details are left out on purpose.

1. The situation

A landowner has several hectares near the coast and wants to turn them into a development. There is a concept, a team, a marketing plan and, soon, qualified buyers asking to reserve. Everything looks ready to sell. The question nobody has answered yet is the boring one: what, legally, is being sold?

2. What can happen

• The land is not titled. It is held under possessory rights (derecho posesorio), which Panamanian lawyers describe as a recognized right to occupy, not registered ownership (RG Law Firm).
• Lots can't be registered. The Public Registry's own manual describes a segregation as separating part of a registered finca, with a survey approved by ANATI and MIVIOT (Registro Público manual). Possessory rights are not a registered finca, so lots sold off such a parcel should make you ask how they will ever be registered. Confirm the answer with your lawyer.
• Part of the coast can never be titled. Law firms point out that the coastal strip measured from the high-tide line is State property (RG Law Firm), and Law 80 of 2009 regulates possession on coastal zones (ANATI).
• Titling takes time. One Panamanian firm estimates 6 to 12 months for converting possessory rights to title when documents are complete and nobody objects (Kraemer & Kraemer). ANATI's requirements include a survey and more than five years of possession.
• Other basics get missed too: access to a public road, services reaching each lot, permits, zoning and environmental status.

3. How to check it, step by step

1. Ask for the finca number. Titled property has one; possessory-rights property does not (PMPanama). If you hear "it's in process," ask what, exactly, is in process.
2. Pull a current Public Registry certificate through your own lawyer: owner, chain of title, liens, easements and pending annotations.
3. Compare the survey with the registry. Area, boundaries and location must match, and the surveyor should be licensed.
4. Check subdivision and permits. Ask which approvals exist for creating lots and which are still pending. Ask for them in writing.
5. Check access and services. Legal access to a public road, and whether water and power actually reach each lot.
6. Check the track record. What has the team delivered before? Ask to speak to people who bought or worked with them.
7. Hire your own lawyer, not one provided by the seller or developer, before you pay or promise anything.

4. How it could have gone

If these checks had been done before sales began, the team would have known in week one that the flagship frontage could not be sold as registered lots. It could then have titled first, redesigned the plan, or paused. This is a scenario, not something that happened.

5. How it actually went

In the real project, the check came after the marketing was already producing qualified leads. I raised the title issue, we saw it differently, and I stepped away from the project. I'm not naming the project or the people, and I'm not judging their intentions here.

6. What I took from it

Whatever the country, before you put money into a project, look at the track record, the title, the pre-design, the subdivision and the permits, and whether the lots will be served. That experience is a big part of why I'm now an advisor who helps people check first and sell nothing.