EXTRAJUDICIAL ADVERSE POSSESSION IN BRAZIL: REGULATORY ADVANCEMENTS, OPERATIONAL CHALLENGES, AND IMPACTS ON THE DEJUDICIALIZATION OF REAL ESTATE PROPERTY RIGHTS

Abstract

The implementation of extrajudicial usucapion in the Brazilian legal system represented a milestone in the national policy of dejudicialization and rationalization of property protection. Established by art. 1.071 of the 2015 Code of Civil Procedure, subsequently refined by Law No. 13.465/2017 and regulated by Provision No. 65/2017 of the National Council of Justice, this procedural modality assigned to notarial and registry services the competence to recognize, on an administrative basis, the original acquisition of real property. This article analyzes, from a theoretical-analytical perspective, the normative evolution of the institute, its advances in consolidating the right to housing and the social function of property, as well as the challenges faced by notaries and registrars in the practical application of the norm. The research is based on a qualitative, documentary, and bibliographic approach, drawing on a theoretical framework composed by Gagliano and Pamplona Filho, Rosa, Pinto, and technical studies on land regularization. The results demonstrate that, although the extrajudicial route has expanded the efficiency and speed of property regularization, significant obstacles persist, related to insufficient evidence, interpretive divergences, notification difficulties, and asymmetry in the performance of notarial offices. It is also found that the gains in speed mainly benefit possessors able to advance the procedure's costs, which qualifies the institute's reach as a tool for equitable access to regularized property. It is concluded that extrajudicial usucapion constitutes a consolidated, yet evolving, mechanism whose effectiveness depends on continued normative improvement, standardization of practices, and technical strengthening of the delegations.