By Wiuller Leite

Urban Land Regularization, known by its Portuguese acronym REURB (Regularização Fundiária Urbana), is a procedure designed to integrate informal urban settlements into the territorial planning framework and to establish or recognize property rights in favor of their occupants. Beyond granting property titles, REURB provides a coordinated approach to addressing ownership, urban planning, environmental, and social irregularities.

Primarily established by Federal Law No. 13,465/2017 and regulated by Federal Decree No. 9,310/2018, REURB provides legal mechanisms to regularize established situations that, although existing in practice, have not yet been properly incorporated into municipal cadastral records or the Real Estate Registry.

The lack of regularization may prevent access to financing, complicate property sales, donations, and inheritance proceedings, restrict access to public services, and generate disputes over possession, property boundaries, and other issues arising from informal land occupation. Therefore, regularization should be understood as a process aimed at ensuring legal certainty and organizing property assets, rather than merely fulfilling documentary requirements.

When Can REURB Be Used?

REURB may be used to regularize areas that are already occupied and established in practice, with homes, streets, access roads, and often public services, but that still present legal or registration-related irregularities. These areas may be located in urban zones or on land originally classified as rural, provided they exhibit characteristics of urban occupation.

Regularization may cover, for example, unregistered subdivisions, developments occupied in ways that differ from their approved plans, or properties that physically exist but do not yet have individual registration records.

REURB may apply to an entire occupied area or only part of it. However, it is intended to regularize existing and consolidated situations and cannot be used to establish or approve new developments or to regularize only one or two isolated properties.

Types of REURB

Article 13 of Federal Law No. 13,465/2017 establishes two categories:

REURB-S (Urban Land Regularization of Social Interest): Applies to informal urban settlements predominantly occupied by low-income populations, as designated by the municipality. For classification purposes, the Municipality or Federal District may establish the household income threshold considered low-income, taking into account local and regional circumstances. However, this threshold may not exceed five (5) minimum wages, pursuant to Article 6 and its sole paragraph of Federal Decree No. 9,310/2018.

REURB-E (Urban Land Regularization of Specific Interest): Applies to settlements that do not qualify under the social interest category. Under this modality, the costs of studies, projects, infrastructure works, compensation measures, and registration procedures may be allocated to beneficiaries, parties responsible for the development, or other interested parties, according to municipal decisions and formally established commitments.

Classification is the responsibility of the Municipality or Federal District and has practical implications for costs, responsibilities, exemptions from fees, and property titling mechanisms. It is therefore not merely a formal choice made by the applicant.

How Does the Procedure Work?

Although each case has its own particularities, REURB generally follows these stages:

Initial Assessment: Identification of the area, the properties involved, their occupants, and the main urban planning, environmental, and registration-related issues.

Application Submission: Filing of the application and determination by the Municipality of the applicable REURB category.

Project Preparation: Preparation of plans, technical descriptions, surveys, and studies required for regularization.

Notifications: Notification of property owners, neighboring landowners, and other interested parties, including the assessment of any objections.

Municipal Approval: Review and approval of the project, including the determination of necessary measures and the appropriate mechanisms for granting property titles to occupants.

Issuance of the CRF: Issuance by the Municipality of the Land Regularization Certificate (Certidão de Regularização Fundiária – CRF), formally confirming approval of the regularization process.

Registration with the Real Estate Registry: Registration of the CRF, opening of individual property registration records, and formal recognition of occupants’ property rights.

The Municipality oversees and approves the regularization process, while the Real Estate Registry formalizes its legal effects. Coordination among technical professionals, the Municipality, and the Registry helps prevent additional requirements and unnecessary rework throughout the procedure.

Can Environmentally Protected or High-Risk Areas Be Regularized?

The presence of permanent preservation areas, sustainable-use conservation units, water source protection areas, or high-risk zones does not necessarily prevent regularization in all cases.

Regularization depends on the technical studies required by law, evidence that environmental conditions will improve compared to the previous situation, and the implementation of appropriate prevention, mitigation, compensation, or relocation measures.

In areas subject to flooding or other legally specified risks, the affected portion may only be regularized if technical studies demonstrate that the risks can be eliminated, corrected, or adequately managed. When this is not technically feasible, relocating occupants may be necessary, particularly under REURB-S.

Main Benefits of Regularization

Regularization provides greater legal certainty for properties and their occupants. With the creation of individual property registration records, ownership and the boundaries of each unit become clearer, helping reduce disputes and facilitating transactions such as property sales, donations, inheritance proceedings, and the establishment of collateral.

Furthermore, regularization may contribute to property appreciation, expand access to credit, and promote better integration of the area into urban planning, infrastructure, and public services.

It also supports the updating of cadastral records and a more precise definition of the responsibilities of property owners and public authorities.

Conclusion

REURB can be a highly effective mechanism for regularizing properties and established urban areas that remain legally or administratively irregular. However, the success of the procedure depends on proper planning from the outset.

Many problems arise when important issues, such as discrepancies in property registration records, missing documentation, notification failures, high-risk areas, or uncertainties regarding property titling mechanisms, are identified only in the final stages.

For this reason, specialized legal counsel is essential from the initial assessment. A lawyer specializing in this field assists in analyzing property registration records, defining the regularization strategy, organizing documentation, monitoring notifications and objections, and coordinating with the Municipality and the Real Estate Registry, always working alongside professionals responsible for technical, urban planning, and environmental matters.

This integrated approach helps anticipate risks, avoid unnecessary rework, and clearly establish what will be regularized, who will benefit, and which measures will be required to complete the procedure.

Because each urban settlement has its own characteristics, there is no single solution applicable to every case. A well-structured technical and legal assessment is therefore essential to selecting the appropriate REURB category, organizing the project, and ensuring greater legal certainty and predictability through to final registration.