- There is no way to force individuals to sell without meeting legal requirements.
- Purchases and expropriations in four municipalities of Quintana Roo remain unresolved according to law.
CDMX, March 9, 2022. Mariano Calderón, an expert in amparos from the legal firm Santamarina y Steta, pointed out that the appropriation of private lands for the completion of the federal mega projects of the Mayan Train and Felipe Ángeles Airport may become bogged down due to lack of legal procedures."We see progress in the works without having the corresponding lands and declarations of expropriation that leave us with doubts about whether they covered the steps dictated by law," reported.
The expert said that the impression that the Executive is leaving for these works is that it arrives at the projected areas, selects the land and intends to force the sale, when it must first meet several requirements, even before resorting to expropriation, which should be a last resort.“There is no legal way to force individuals to sell without these requirements, which can end badly for the government in court. Any affected person has the possibility of resorting to the law and promoting means of defense, to prove that these requirements are not met,” clarified.
Mariano Calderón listed some basic steps required by law to acquire land, which, if not followed, will lead to disputes in court.
For the purchase of land:
1.- Check in advance that there is no available property in the federation's real estate assets. In such a case, the acquisition would mean a waste of resources.
2.- If in fact there is no property available, an analysis should be carried out and documented to determine which property in question is the only and best one, which meets all the characteristics to fulfill the purpose of the government project.
3.- The value of the property must be verified and there must be authorization from the SHCP and a budget allocation must be provided for its acquisition.
4.- An appraisal must be made in terms of the General Law of National Assets.
If these requirements are not met, the last resort is expropriation, which is not unrestricted and must also comply with the law:
1.- It is essential to determine and justify that the land is suitable for the cause of public utility.
2.- Carry out a complete technical, legal, material, etc. analysis to determine and support that the situation is indeed a cause of public utility.
3.- Gather the documentation, grounds and reasons, all the legal and factual support.
4.- Make the expropriation declaration.
5.- Make compensation, which, as a constitutional requirement, must take into account the commercial value of the property being expropriated.
“Given these legal requirements, it is striking that in recent days, for the construction of Section 5 North and 5 South of the Maya Train project, in four municipalities of Quintana Roo, the federal government announced that it has agreements with 70% of the owners, when it should have had not only agreements, but also covered all the procedures and purchase operations and, where appropriate, expropriation files before starting the project,” concluded.
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