Argentina’s Senate Strips the Foreign Land Chapter — the 15% Cap Stays

Argentina · Property

Key Facts

What passed.The private-property inviolability bill cleared the Senate 37–33 in the early hours of 7 August, after a session that ran nearly twelve hours.
What was cut.Two chapters were removed before the vote: foreign purchases of rural land, and amendments to the fire-management law.
The land cap.The plan to lift the foreign ownership ceiling from 15 to 25 percent is gone from this text. Ley 26.737 stands unchanged.
Who killed it.Allied governors withdrew support at the last minute. The government pulled the chapter on 5 August to save the session.
Next stop.The Chamber of Deputies. It is not law.
Outside.Police cleared a protest at the Congress with tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets on the evening of 6 August.

Argentina’s Senate passed the private-property bill 37–33 after the government cut the chapter that would have raised the foreign land cap to 25 percent. The 15 percent ceiling stands.

The Argentina foreign land cap is not moving. The government withdrew the chapter that would have raised the ceiling from 15 percent to 25 before the Senate voted in the early hours of Friday, and the remaining private-property bill passed 37 to 33. Ley 26.737 is unchanged, and every restriction a foreign buyer faced last month still applies.

What the Argentina foreign land cap vote actually decided

The bill the Senate approved is the Ley de Inviolabilidad de la Propiedad Privada, filed by the executive in March and promoted by Deregulation Minister Federico Sturzenegger. It amends the Civil and Commercial Code on evictions and expropriations. It passed 37 votes to 33 and now goes to the Chamber of Deputies.

What it no longer contains is the part most foreign buyers were watching. Chapter III, on purchases of rural land by foreigners — the chapter that would have raised the national ceiling from 15 percent to 25 — was stripped out before the vote. So was Chapter IV, on the fire-management law, pulled during the debate itself.

The government withdrew the land chapter on 5 August, after allied governors pulled their support. That detail matters more than the vote count: the measure was not defeated by the opposition. It was abandoned because Milei’s own coalition would not carry it.

What still applies if you want to buy Argentine land

Ley 26.737, in force since December 2011, is untouched. Every limit in it still binds.

Foreigners may not hold more than 15 percent of rural land nationally, and the same 15 percent ceiling applies province by province and municipality by municipality. No single foreign nationality may hold more than 30 percent of that 15 percent. There is a 1,000-hectare cap in the núcleo zone.

Two other restrictions catch people out. You cannot title or possess rural land that contains or borders a large permanent body of water — which rules out a good deal of what buyers picture when they picture Patagonia. And rural property inside a border security zone requires prior consent from the Interior Ministry.

If you were told this was about to loosen, it was, and then it was not.

The night outside Congress

The march went ahead on 6 August even after the government announced it was dropping the land chapter. Unions, teachers’ organisations and social groups gathered at Plaza del Congreso under the slogan “the land is not for sale, not for burning, not for eviction”.

It was peaceful for around six hours. From about 5 p.m. the Federal Police cleared the area using tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets, with Gendarmería also deployed. Some protesters threw stones. The clashes ran more than two hours and spread through central Buenos Aires.

The counts do not agree. Outlets have reported between eight and more than twelve detentions, two people hit by rubber bullets, three officers injured and an unspecified number affected by gas. No official tally from the Security Ministry has been published.

What it means if you are buying or invested in Argentina

The practical answer is that nothing changed, and you should plan on that. If you are looking at farmland, a vineyard or an estancia, run the same checks you would have run last month: the national, provincial and municipal 15 percent ceilings, the nationality sub-limit, the water-frontage prohibition and the border-zone consent.

The political read is more useful than the legal one. Milei’s government has spent much of its term deregulating by decree and by omnibus bill, and it could not get a modest loosening of foreign land rules past its own allies. Rural land is a sovereignty question in Argentina in a way it is not in Uruguay or Paraguay, and that is unlikely to shift in this Congress.

For anyone weighing Argentine farmland against a neighbour, that is the datapoint. The rules are stable because they cannot be moved, not because anyone has decided they are right. This is general information, not legal or investment advice.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did Argentina raise the foreign land cap to 25 percent?

No. The chapter was withdrawn from the bill before the Senate voted on 7 August. The 15 percent ceiling under Ley 26.737 is unchanged.

What did the Senate actually approve?

The private-property inviolability bill, by 37 votes to 33, with the foreign-land and fire-management chapters removed. It now goes to the Chamber of Deputies and is not law.

Why was the land chapter dropped?

Allied governors withdrew their support, and the government pulled it on 5 August rather than lose the whole session.

What are the current limits on foreign land ownership?

Fifteen percent of rural land nationally, provincially and municipally; no single nationality above 30 percent of that; a 1,000-hectare cap in the núcleo zone; a ban on land containing or bordering large permanent water bodies; and Interior Ministry consent in border security zones.

What happened at the protest?

Police cleared Plaza del Congreso on the evening of 6 August with tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets after about six peaceful hours. Reported detentions range from eight to more than twelve.

Sources: Senado de la Nación Argentina; Ley 26.737 (InfoLeg); Infobae; La Nación; Ámbito.

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