THE TEMPORAL FRAMEWORK IN URBAN LAND REGULARIZATION: LIMITS OF LAND LEGITIMATION AND THE SCOPE OF FEDERAL LAW No. 13,465/2017

Abstract

This article analyzes the existence and scope of the December 22, 2016, time frame within the context of Urban Land Regularization established by Law No. 13,465 of 2017. It begins with an examination of the legislative evolution of urban land regularization in Brazil, highlighting the regulation of urban land subdivision, the 1988 Federal Constitution, the City Statute, Law No. 11,977 of 2009, and the subsequent enactment of Provisional Measure No. 759 of 2016, converted into Law No. 13,465 of 2017. The research examines the legislative change that occurred during the process of converting the provisional measure into law, especially the removal of the time reference from the general concept of a consolidated informal urban nucleus. This analysis also examines the legal nature of the main instruments for urban land regularization, with emphasis on land legitimation, understood as an exceptional instrument for the original acquisition of property, capable of breaking with the previous chain of title and overcoming registration defects. Finally, it argues that the date of December 22, 2016, does not constitute a general temporal impediment to Urban Land Regularization, but rather a restrictive criterion for the application of specific instruments of titling or patrimonial allocation, especially those that produce more intense effects on public or private property, such as land legitimation, direct sale of public areas, special use concessions for housing purposes, authorization of use, and certain hypotheses relating to properties of the Union. It concludes that informal urban settlements consolidated after December 22, 2016, can be subject to REURB (Urban Land Regularization), provided that the legal requirements are observed and legal instruments compatible with the ownership, urban planning, environmental, and social situation of the settlement are used.