Reviewed 4 November 2026.
No one can own a beach in Mexico, or the strip of land behind it. Under the Ley General de Bienes Nacionales (LGBN, the General Law of National Property), the beach and the zona federal marítimo terrestre (ZOFEMAT, the federal maritime land zone), a strip of firm land 20 meters wide along it, are national property that cannot be sold, acquired by possession or seized. A beachfront house or hotel that uses the strip for a pool deck or beach club does so under a concession from the Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (SEMARNAT, the Environment Ministry).
Buying beachfront property in Mexico therefore means checking two assets: the title to the private land, and the concession over the federal land in front of it. For the concession, the buyer confirms who holds it, its term, area and authorized use, that the fees are paid, that what stands on the ground matches the plans SEMARNAT approved, and that no proceeding is open against it. A hotel acquisition adds the operating company, its employees and its registrations. This is the coastal strand of due diligence in Mexico.
The concession does not travel with the deed. In an asset sale it passes only with SEMARNAT's prior authorization, and an assignment made without it is null. That rule shapes the structure of the deal.
The federal zone and how it is measured
The LGBN, last amended on 14 November 2025, lists the beaches and the ZOFEMAT as bienes de uso común (property in common use) in Article 7, and defines the beach as the land the tide covers and uncovers up to the highest annual tide line. Under Article 119, where the coast has beaches, the ZOFEMAT is the strip of firm, passable land 20 meters wide next to them, and next to river banks from the mouth to 100 meters upstream. On lagoons and estuaries connected with the sea, the 20 meters run from the highest annual water level.
SEMARNAT delimits the zone (Article 119). The 1991 Reglamento para el Uso y Aprovechamiento del Mar Territorial, Vías Navegables, Playas, Zona Federal Marítimo Terrestre y Terrenos Ganados al Mar (the ZOFEMAT regulation) measures it from the highest high tide observed over 30 consecutive days outside the hurricane season (Article 3), and only where the slope is 30 degrees or less, including on rocky coasts (Article 4). The mapping method is set by NOM-146-SEMARNAT-2017, an official standard published on 14 December 2017. The delimitation plan, not the seller's survey, decides where private land ends.
Federal public property is inalienable, cannot be acquired by prescription and cannot be seized (Article 13 LGBN). A concession creates no real right and gives the holder, as against the government, only the use set by law and by the title (Article 16, as amended on 16 July 2025). The zone cannot be granted to an ejido (communal agrarian landholding), though neighboring ejidos have preference for a concession (Article 126).
When the shoreline moves
If the sea invades private land, the zone is delimited again and the invaded land stops being private property, though its last owners have preference for a concession (Article 122). The regulation treats land as permanently invaded after more than 180 uninterrupted calendar days and requires neighboring owners to notify SEMARNAT when the sea starts to cover their land (Article 18). An old deed can describe land that is now federal.
Terrenos ganados al mar (land reclaimed from the sea) are also federal public property (Article 6, fraction IX). They can be removed from the public domain and sold, and a concessionaire whose strip stops being federal zone has preference to buy it or to receive a concession over it (Articles 124 and 125). A seller who claims to own reclaimed land should produce the agreement that removed it from the public domain, which Article 42 requires to be recorded in the Registro Público de la Propiedad Federal (Federal Property Registry).
The concession: who grants it and what it allows
Special uses of property in common use require a concession, assignment, authorization or permit (Article 8 LGBN). For the ZOFEMAT, SEMARNAT acts through its Dirección General de Zona Federal Marítimo Terrestre y Ambientes Costeros (Directorate General of the Federal Maritime Land Zone and Coastal Environments), as the recitals of a concession title published in the Diario Oficial de la Federación (DOF, the Federal Official Gazette) in 2026 record.
Under Article 27 of the regulation, the title records the holder, the term, the authorized use, the technical description of the area, the works approved and any existing ones, and the restrictions that apply. The holder may carry out only that use and only the works approved in the title or authorized later (Article 29).
Article 73 LGBN allows concessions over federal property for up to 50 years, extendable one or more times without exceeding that limit, at the authority's discretion. Under Article 25 of the regulation, SEMARNAT sets each term according to the activity, the area and the time needed to recover the investment. For transitory uses it issues permits of up to one year over areas not under concession (Article 31). A permit is not a concession and should not be priced as one.
Extension, and what happens to the buildings
The holder has a period equal to 10 percent of the term, before expiry, to apply for an extension, with preference over other applicants (Article 73 LGBN). The regulation requires the application within the year before expiry and no later than 45 calendar days before it, for the same area and use, with every condition met (Article 30). Before delivering the extension title, SEMARNAT draws up an acta de reversión (reversion record) of the works.
At the end of the term, or of the last extension, works permanently attached to the area pass to the Federation (Article 73 LGBN). On extinction for any reason, the regulation passes the buildings, plans and projects to the nation without compensation and gives the holder 15 calendar days to vacate (Article 48). Continuing to occupy the area after expiry and paying the fees is not an extension (Article 30). A buyer who finds an expired title and a file of fee receipts has found an occupant, not a concessionaire.
Revocation and lapse
A concession lapses if use does not start within the period the title sets (Article 75 LGBN). Article 76 allows revocation for a use other than the authorized one, unpaid fees, an unauthorized assignment or lease, unauthorized works or damage to ecosystems, and the holder then loses the assets used for the concession to the Federation without compensation.
Article 47 of the regulation adds sub-concessioning, leasing or encumbering the area, failing to use it within 90 business days of issue, missing two fee payments, obstructing inspections and blocking access to the beach. Using federal property without a concession carries two to twelve years in prison (Article 150 LGBN), and works built on federal land without one are forfeited to the Federation and may be demolished at the occupant's cost (Article 151).
Transferring the concession on a sale
The concession belongs to its holder, not to the land. Article 77 LGBN lets SEMARNAT authorize the holder to assign its rights and obligations to an assignee that meets the requirements considered when the concession was granted, and to lease parts of the area for directly related activities, with the lessee jointly liable. The authorization must come before the act, and any operation in breach of Article 77 is null and can lead to revocation.
Under Article 37 of the regulation, the assignor must be current on fees and have met its obligations, the area must not be subject to an administrative or judicial resolution, and the use must fit SEMARNAT's master plan for the zone. Companies in the same group are deemed to qualify. An open proceeding over the area, before SEMARNAT or the Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Ambiente (PROFEPA, the federal environmental enforcement agency), can therefore stand in the way, and the purchase agreement should make SEMARNAT's authorization a condition to closing.
In a share purchase the concessionaire does not change, so no assignment is needed, but the buyer reads the title for any condition on a change of shareholders. Article 47, fraction I, of the regulation also makes encumbering the concession a ground for revocation, which matters to any lender.
Use fees under the Ley Federal de Derechos
Anyone who uses the beaches, the ZOFEMAT or reclaimed land pays a derecho (federal use fee) under Article 232-C of the Ley Federal de Derechos (LFD, the Federal Fees Law), last amended on 7 November 2025. The rate per square meter depends on the municipality, which Article 232-D places in one of eleven zones, and on the use. General use, the highest rate, covers construction with foundations and any use linked to a profit-making activity, which takes in a hotel's commercial use of the beach.
The fee is owed whether or not the user holds a concession, whenever the use limits other people's free use (Article 233, fraction II). It is calculated by calendar year and paid in bimonthly provisional payments, with an annual return within three months after year end (Article 234).
Collection can be local. A coastal municipality that signs Annex 1 to the fiscal coordination agreement with the Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público (SHCP, the Finance Ministry) receives, audits and enforces the payments, as the annex signed with Seybaplaya, Campeche, in 2023 shows. Late payment is a ground for revocation (Article 76, fraction III LGBN), so the buyer asks for every return and receipt for each year of the title and confirms the account with the municipal ZOFEMAT office.
Public access to the beach
Access to the beaches and the adjoining ZOFEMAT may not be inhibited, restricted, obstructed or conditioned, except in cases the regulation sets (Article 8 LGBN, paragraph added on 21 October 2020). Where there is no public road, owners of adjoining land must allow access through routes agreed with SEMARNAT, against compensation, and those routes are easements (Article 127).
Article 154, added by the same reform, fines adjoining owners and concessionaires who prevent, restrict or condition access between 3,000 and 12,000 times the Unidad de Medida y Actualización (UMA, the indexed unit for legal amounts), about MXN 352,000 to MXN 1.41 million at the 2026 daily value of MXN 117.31. A repeat offense also costs a concessionaire its concession. A hotel that fences the beach or charges for passage puts the concession at risk.
What the buyer asks for
The document request starts with the concession title and its plans, every modification of its bases and conditions (Article 34 of the regulation), every extension with its acta de reversión, and every authorization to assign or lease. It continues with the fee returns and receipts, the environmental impact authorization for the works, any transitory permits, and the record of every inspection and proceeding opened by SEMARNAT or PROFEPA, which inspects whether occupation of the zone matches the concessions and permits granted.
The buyer asks the seller whether any inspection has taken place and confirms the court position through a litigation search on the holder and the sellers.
Built works against the concession plans
The title describes the polygon and the works approved, and the field check sets those against what stands on the ground. A pool deck extended toward the sea, or a seawall added after a storm, will not appear in the title. Each unauthorized work is a ground for revocation (Article 76, fraction V LGBN), and works on federal land without a concession are forfeited (Article 151). A survey against the delimitation plan, run before signing, shows whether the hotel the buyer is paying for sits where the title says it does.
Environmental impact authorization
Real estate developments that affect coastal ecosystems, and works in wetlands, coastal ecosystems, lagoons, rivers, lakes and estuaries connected with the sea or on their shores and federal zones, need prior environmental impact authorization from SEMARNAT, in the cases its regulation sets, under Article 28, fractions IX and X, of the Ley General del Equilibrio Ecológico y la Protección al Ambiente (LGEEPA, the General Law of Ecological Balance and Environmental Protection), last amended on 19 January 2026. The buyer asks for the authorization and its conditions and checks the works against it. Our article on environmental due diligence in Mexico covers PROFEPA, contaminated land and water.
The private land behind the beach
The land behind the zone is private property, and the checks in our guide to checking property title in Mexico apply to it. The 50 kilometers along the coast are part of the restricted zone under Article 2 of the Ley de Inversión Extranjera (Foreign Investment Law), where foreigners hold residential property through a bank trust that needs a permit from the Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores (the Foreign Ministry) (Article 11), as our article on the fideicomiso in Mexico explains. A Mexican company whose bylaws include the agreement in Article 27, fraction I, of the Constitution can acquire restricted zone land for non-residential activities, with notice to that ministry (Article 10).
Where coastal land was ejido land, a parcel that has not completed conversion to full private ownership cannot be sold to an outsider, and the property title guide also sets out what the notary does and does not check before the deed is signed.
Buying a hotel: share purchase or asset purchase
A hotel can be bought through the shares of the company that owns or operates it, or by buying the property and business from that company. In a share purchase the company keeps its concession, registrations, employees and liabilities, so the investigation has to find the liabilities. In an asset purchase each asset passes on its own terms: the concession only with SEMARNAT's prior authorization, the employees by substitution of employer and the tourism registration by a new filing. The operating company and its principals get the checks in our guide on how to verify a Mexican company.
A deal above the merger thresholds needs prior antitrust clearance, as our article on legal due diligence in Mexico explains.
Employees and substitution of employer
Under Article 41 of the Ley Federal del Trabajo (LFT, the Federal Labor Law), last amended on 14 May 2026, a substitution of employer does not affect the employment relationships of the business. The former employer is jointly liable with the new one for obligations arising before the substitution for six months from notice to the union or the workers, and after that only the new employer is liable. The article requires the assets of the business to pass to the new employer for the substitution to take effect. In a share purchase the employer does not change, and the whole labor history stays with the company.
Contractors for services such as cleaning or security must be registered specialized service providers under the 2021 subcontracting reform, and the client is jointly liable if they are not. The buyer reconciles the payroll, the contractor list and the people actually working at the property.
Registro Nacional de Turismo
The Registro Nacional de Turismo (RNT, the National Tourism Register) is the public catalog of tourism service providers, regulated by the Secretaría de Turismo (SECTUR, the Tourism Ministry) and operated by the states and municipalities (Articles 46 and 47 of the Ley General de Turismo, the General Tourism Law). Registration is mandatory, within 30 calendar days of starting operations (Article 48). The tourism regulation, amended on 25 November 2025, names lodging providers among those obliged (Article 83, fraction IX). The certificate lasts two years and must be renewed 30 days before it expires (Article 93), and the registration is canceled if it is not renewed (Article 95).
The buyer checks that the certificate is current and in the operating company's name. A new company that takes over operations in an asset deal is a new provider and, on our reading of Article 48, has its own 30 days to register.
Condo-hotels and rental pools
Where a hotel has been sold as condominium units, a unit deed covers private property only, because the federal zone cannot be owned (Article 13 LGBN). The buyer establishes who holds the concession over the beach in front of the building and on what terms the unit owners and any rental pool operator use it, since leasing part of the area without SEMARNAT's authorization is a ground for revocation. Timeshare operators are a separate category obliged to register in the RNT (Article 83, fraction XV, of the tourism regulation).
Municipal licenses and civil protection
Municipalities issue the licenses and permits for urban development works under local plans (Article 11, fraction XI, of the Ley General de Asentamientos Humanos, Ordenamiento Territorial y Desarrollo Urbano, the General Law of Human Settlements, Land Planning and Urban Development). Under Article 40 of the Ley General de Protección Civil (General Civil Protection Law), last amended on 21 December 2023, buildings of private sector companies must have a programa interno de protección civil (internal civil protection program), kept current by an internal civil protection unit. The buyer asks for the land use and construction licenses, the licencia de funcionamiento (operating license) and the program, and confirms with the municipality which must be issued again to a new operator.
Where we come in
Warden Consulting works on coastal property matters from its office in the World Trade Center in Mexico City across the resort areas, as our page on private investigators in Mexico describes for Cancún, the Riviera Maya and Acapulco. For a beachfront purchase or a hotel acquisition, our investigating lawyers verify the concession and registry position, run background checks on the seller, the operating company and its principals, and search municipal, agrarian and court records.
In the field, investigators check what is built where against the concession plans. We report the records against the field findings and mark where they disagree, so that the buyer and its Mexican counsel can decide what to require before signing. To scope a review, contact our Mexico City office.
Frequently asked questions
Can a foreigner buy beachfront property in Mexico?
Yes, through a structure. Within 50 kilometers of the coast a foreigner holds residential property through a bank trust with a permit from the Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores, for up to 50 years and extendable on application (Articles 11 and 13 of the Ley de Inversión Extranjera). No one, Mexican or foreign, can own the beach or the 20-meter federal zone.
What is the ZOFEMAT in Mexico?
The zona federal marítimo terrestre is the strip of firm land 20 meters wide along Mexico's beaches, together with the whole surface of cays and reefs in the territorial sea. It is federal property in common use under Articles 7 and 119 of the Ley General de Bienes Nacionales, and private use of it needs a SEMARNAT concession.
How wide is the federal zone on a beach in Mexico?
Twenty meters of firm land behind the beach, which itself runs to the highest annual tide line (Articles 7 and 119 of the LGBN). On rocky coasts it applies only where the slope is 30 degrees or less (Article 4 of the ZOFEMAT regulation).
Does a ZOFEMAT concession transfer when I buy beachfront property?
Not automatically. A concession can be assigned only with SEMARNAT's prior authorization, to an assignee that meets the original requirements, and an assignment without it is null (Article 77 LGBN). The assignor must also be current on fees, and the area free of pending administrative or judicial resolutions (Article 37 of the regulation).
How long does a ZOFEMAT concession last?
Up to 50 years, extendable (Article 73 LGBN), with the term set in each title. The holder may apply for an extension within the period equal to 10 percent of the term before expiry, and at the end of the term permanent works on the zone pass to the Federation.
Can a hotel in Mexico close its beach to the public?
No. Access to the beaches and the federal zone may not be restricted or conditioned except as the regulation provides (Article 8 LGBN). Concessionaires that block access face fines of 3,000 to 12,000 times the UMA and, on a repeat offense, revocation (Article 154).
This article is general information, not legal advice.