Argentina’s Supreme Court removes obstacles to the sale of land to foreigners

The Argentine Supreme Court on Tuesday cleared the way for foreign individuals and companies to buy as much land as they want in Argentina. The highest court overturned a ruling by a lower instance that had halted the article of the decree of necessity and urgency (DNU) with which Javier Milei's government repealed the Rural Lands Law in 2023, which imposes limits on the sale of land. The decision reinstates the article and, in practice, opens the doors wide open to foreigners less than two months after Congress forced the Government to back down on a second attempt to eliminate the restrictions amid major mobilizations in the streets.

The opposition has already rejected the ruling and is trying to urgently call an extraordinary session. “Argentina is not for sale,” warned Socialist deputy Esteban Paulón, one of the first to react. Constitutional lawyer Andrés Gil Domínguez has accused the Supreme Court of legislating “with its back turned on the Argentine people and the heroes of Malvinas”.

The ruling, signed by the three Supreme Court justices —Horacio Rosatti, Carlos Rosenkrantz and Ricardo Lorenzetti— does not rule on the constitutionality of article 154 of the DNU. It merely points out that the Centro de Excombatientes Islas Malvinas de La Plata (CECIM), which had initiated the lawsuit, lacked standing to bring the case and that there was no judicial controversy that would authorize its intervention.

The Rural Lands Law, enacted in 2011, set a maximum of 15% of the country's rural lands that could be in foreign hands and also established limits by nationality and by owner. Mega DNU 70/2023, issued by Milei just ten days after taking office as President, repealed that law through article 154, but for two years it was stalled in the courts. The Court's decision now changes that scenario.

Congressional rejection

The Government did not sit idle during this time. Convinced that the restrictions were an obstacle to the arrival of investment, it tried to eliminate them through Congress. The bill on the inviolability of private property originally included a chapter intended to amend the Land Law and loosen the limits on foreign ownership.

The Government first proposed eliminating any limit for foreign private individuals and companies. Later, facing political and social resistance, it tried to raise the maximum share of rural land that could be in foreign hands from 15% to 25%. But it also failed to secure the necessary support and ended up withdrawing that chapter to save the rest of the initiative. Now, the Supreme Court reopens the door that had been closed through the legislative route.

According to data from the land observatory, Argentina's rural area in foreign hands already exceeds 13.3 million hectares, an area similar to that of Greece or a quarter of Spain. During Milei's presidency, the Ministry of Justice reported that 111 land purchase operations by foreigners were authorized.

The Argentine far-right government defends the repeal of the law as a way to attract investments and facilitate the arrival of foreign capital in the country. For its critics, however, the elimination of the limits affects a tool designed to preserve national control over a strategic resource such as land, especially in regions where water reserves, forests, minerals, or border areas are found.