New "Article 3:200a of the Aruba Civil Code" law for leased land

Introduction

Our civil code has been drastically amended as of September 1, 2021. Among other things, a law was introduced for so-called longterm undivided property. The new law is set out in articles 3:200a to 3:200h of the Aruba Civil Code (ACC).

The new law was introduced to solve the main issue with longstanding undivided property, i.e., an accumulation overtime of unknown or untraceable rightful owners as a result of which a legally binding division of the property is frustrated (article 3:195 ACC).

Under the law, the actual user of the property or a rightful owner may request the Court to grant ownership of the property to him.

It must concern an (1) immovable property that forms the object of a community of goods that has remained undivided for a lengthy period of time, whereby it is likely that there are rightful owners who cannot be traced, or a large number of rightful owners with each a negligibly small share in the property.

The new law does not apply to leased land

The new law also applies to limited rights such as long lease rights and rights of superfies (opstalrecht), but not to leased land.

Leased land was (initially) issued by the government as agricultural land, without building rights. According to the land allocation policy of the Directorate of Infrastructure and Planning (DIP), lease agreements granted for an indefinite period are old and date from 1880. The tenants are often no longer known. DIP intends to terminate agreements for undeveloped leased land that is no longer in use and convert leased land in use into long lease.

Leased land, in a longtime undivided community of goods with partly unknown or untraceable rightful owners, cannot be easily converted into long lease, however. All the rightful owners would have to cooperate in establishing the right of long lease, which would proof challenging.

The division by the Court ex Article 3:185 ACC of a house dwelling built on government leased land is also difficult, because the judge will ask for declarations of inheritance.

According to the explanatory memorandum on the regulation of Article 3:200a ACC, other legal alternatives do not offer an adequate solution to the problem, e.g., article 3:181 ACC (forced representation); article 3:174 ACC (consent in lieu); article 3:27 ACC (conveyance of ownership); article 4:204 paragraph 1.a ACC (appointment of a liquidator for unattended estates).

A specific law for leased land

Leased land, in a longterm undivided community of goods, requires a separate and effective arrangement. A law similar to Article 3:200a ACC, but specifically for leased land, could be introduced wherein the actual user of the leased land or a rightful owner requests the Court to grant him the exclusive lease rights to the leased land (including the house dwelling on the land). The regulation may be laid out in Book 7 of the ACC, which regulates special agreements such as the lease agreement. The sole lessee may, after having obtained sole lease rights to the leased land, have it converted into long lease through a request to the DIP.