Instructions for the permit to acquire property outside the restricted zone in México

Este artículo es en ingles, porque me imagino que la mayoria de las personas extranjeras que se encuentran en esta situación, de necesitar un permiso para comprar una propiedad como extranjero probablamente hablan Ingles.

So, it can be a huge pain in the butt,

figuring out how to get a permit to buy a property in México. It seems like, at least here in Puebla, most of the asesores don’t even know how to do this. So, here is the complete guide for getting a permit to buy a property outside of the restricted zone in México – valid as of February, 2024.

This is the most poorly documented process I have found, among all processes involving the government here in México! Also, the people that work on this transaction are some of the bitterest and most awful of any agency I’ve had the pleasure of dealing with.

These instructions are for regular people (not companies) who are foreign and want to acquire property for personal use. If you have some other situation, your mileage may vary.

*Note – Please do not copy, paste and reuse the information I have compiled here. If you would like to share the information, please link to it to be fair to the effort I have put in.

Update – February 26 2024: After getting nowhere, no response with this process, I ended up calling dirección de asuntos jurídicos at 5536865232. After 3-4 transfers, I got to speak to a person that is very stern who told me that they don’t acknowledge receipt and that they don’t have to respond until they want, be it 2 weeks, 4 weeks or however long they want. She told me that it was impossible for them to take 15 seconds to respond and let people know their transaction is in progress. She also told me that, no, going to CDMX will not get me any help as the tramite is only by e-mail. So you can pay your $4840 and throw it to the wind and cross your fingers that maybe they received your e-mail. So, that’s the sad state of affairs. FYI.

Here is an overview of the steps:

Gather documents & info

• Your CURP
• Your RFC
• Your document indicating the location of the property with your signature (see appendix for example) – you can probably just copy this out of the deed and sign it.
• The existing deed for the property you want to buy. You’ll need information from it.

*If you don’t have a CURP or an RFC, I’m not sure how to help you. Complete the immigration process.

Visit the page Convenio de renuncia para la adquisición de inmuebles fuera de la zona restringida

https://portales.sre.gob.mx/tramites-dgaj/art-27-constitucional/convenio-de-renuncia-para-la-adquisicion-de-inmuebles-fuera-de-la-zona-restringida
You should read through this page (even though there may be similar, conflicting pages with different information. Here you will learn about the instructions and requirements and get the form you need)..

Fill out the FF-SRE-006 form

*(FF-SRE-007 is for when someone is doing this on your behalf). Last I checked, the document is downloadable here:
https://portales.sre.gob.mx/tramites-dgaj/art-27-constitucional/convenio-de-renuncia-para-la-adquisicion-de-inmuebles-fuera-de-la-zona-restringida

Pay

Visit the page Pago de derechos a través de medios electrónicos for instructions.

• Download the Hoja de Ayuda
• Fill it out (see appendix with example)
• Go to the bank and pay it (follow the instructions in the above website to find an appropriate bank – BBVA would be a good choice).
  • Save and get scans of all the payment receipts. You will send this with your solicitud.

Send your documents to request your approval

*They have 5 business days by law to turn this around – if they don’t, COMPLAIN! You can send mail to these two addresses: atencionciudadanasre@sre.gob.mx cinquejas@sre.gob.mx

Update 3/21/2024: Maybe I read this wrong, or maybe they just do whatever they want, but I can confirm that they have told me directly that they will take as much time as they want with no limit, and there’s nothing that you can do about it. HOWEVER, if they complain about any aspect of your solicitud, they will give you 5 days to fix whatever, or you will start over. From experience I can tell you, they will look for any reason. They are petty, petty people. Don’t ask them to follow up or do their jobs or complain, because they are petty, petty people.

• Address an e-mail to articulo27@sre.gob.mx (see appendix for sample e-mail)
  • Subject: Adquisiciones por Extranjeros – Solicitud de renuncia para adquisición de bienes inmuebles fuera de zona restringida
    Include documents (see appendix for samples)
    • FF-SRE-006 form (signed)
    • Document – a clip out of the escritura or deed showing the boundaries of the property. SIGN IT (I don’t know why)
    • Your ID card
    • Your payment documents from the payment you made in previous steps
    • What the heck – include a copy of the entire current escritura for good fun (this is not listed as a requirement).
  • Send your e-mail

Receive approval (or denial)

Here is where you can see what is included in your approval:

https://portales.sre.gob.mx/tramites-dgaj/art-27-constitucional/convenio-de-renuncia-para-la-adquisicion-de-inmuebles-fuera-de-la-zona-restringida

Send your original documents

SRE will give you instructions (probably in their e-mail reply) about where to send your original documents. In my case, they told me to send the original payment voucher and the original solicitud (ff-sre-006 form) here:

Dirección General de Asuntos Jurídicos
Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores
Avenida Juárez número 20, Planta Baja
(Entrada por Avenida Independencia 82).
Colonia Centro, Demarcación Territorial Cuauhtémoc
Ciudad de México C.P. 06010.

Appendix – Document Examples

Appendix: Government website links

(many broken or wrong with conflicting information and subject to change)

Convenio de renuncia para la adquisición de inmuebles fuera de la zona restringida

The main page for this transaction – here is where the requirements are. Don’t bother calling any of the phone numbers in this document. nobody will ever answer.

What the costs supposedly are.

Between all of the conflicting pages with various links to pages of varying quality, this seems to be the most correct.

Another page with costs

A page where they have decided to duplicate the information (but not completely) on the previous page – above – one or both of this page may be missing the information or have the wrong amount.

Yet another page with costs

What the costs definitely are not. Another conflicting page where the SRE keeps wrong costs. LOL. As of 1/2024, this page is wrong. Ignore it.

What the costs really are.

2024 official publication showing the current rates for these services which used to be free. Search for article 25 part xv for the current amount ($4840 for 2024)

LEY DE INVERSIÓN EXTRANJERA

In article 10 A, you will see that they are only allowed 5 days for this transaction. Insist on that turnaround (since you probably already had to spend 15 days going around in circles with the terrible documentation for this transaction

This is where you complain.

Ignore all the phone numbers – I don’t believe these folks ever answer phones. It must be against policy.

You can complain all you want, but nobody will respond or listen from any e-mail address or phone number. Actually, one time, I kept round robin calling all the numbers on their page and hit the jackpot, but she was unhelpful and told me to just call Dirección de Asuntos Jurídicos 5536865232, which are also unhelpful. The bottom line, there is no timeframe nor accountability nor access to check status. So, get ready and wait.

Appendix: Example e-mail to SRE requesting the approval

Artículo 27 articulo27@sre.gob.mx

Subject: Adquisiciones por Extranjeros – Solicitud de renuncia para adquisición de bienes inmuebles fuera de zona restringida

Message:

Muy buenas tardes,

Le agradecería tuviera a bien acusar recibo de la presente y confirmar su acuerdo acerca de su contenido

Por este medio, le pido formalmente la aprobación de un permiso para adquirir una propiedad. En este correo, le brindo las informaciones necesarias según lo que tengo entendido que son los pasos necesarios bajo El Convenio de renuncia para adquisición de bienes inmuebles fuera de zona restringida (Artículo 27 Fracción I Constitucional y Artículo 10 A de la Ley de Inversión Extranjera)

Adjuntos son los siguientes documentos :

• Formulario FF-SER-006
• Una copia de mi identidad como residente permanente
• Documento en el que se señale la superficie, medidas y colindancias del inmueble, con firma autógrafa del solicitante
• La escritura actual de la casa por si la necesita (que el tramite no requiere pero que pueden ser de alguna ayuda).
• El comprobante de pago

Espero su respuesta y aprobación

Estoy muy agradecido de antemano por su colaboración.

Sin nada más, me despido.

Atte,

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