How to check a real estate developer in Mexico: the eleven public registries

The sales office sent a reservation agreement, the developer's name sounds established, and the deposit is due this week.

This is how to check a real estate developer in Mexico before you sign: eleven public registries, what each one shows, and three questions that settle most of the file.

Before you begin

Several of these records are online and free, but they are in Spanish and they index companies by legal name, not brand. Vetting a developer starts with four items you request in writing.

• Legal name and RFC — The company's registered name (razón social) and its RFC, the federal taxpayer number. The brand on the billboard is rarely the company that signs.
• Land data — The lot's folio real, its file number at the state property registry, or the deed showing who owns it.
• License numbers — Land-use and construction license numbers and dates, plus the environmental authorization for coastal or jungle projects.
• The contract — The exact version you would sign, with its PROFECO registration number if it claims one.

NOM-247-SE-2021, the federal standard for residential real estate sales, requires the developer to state its legal name and RFC in the contract and to show you the ownership documents, liens and permits. A developer that withholds these four items before the deposit has already answered you.

The process

The eleven registries fall into five steps, then three written questions. Each step relies on a name or number the previous one confirmed, and together they are the raw inputs behind a legal trust score for developer risk.

The federal records work the same in Tulum, Mérida or Los Cabos. The state records change with the state.

Step 1: Confirm who you are dealing with

Start with the company, not the project. Three federal sources show whether it exists and pays its taxes.

• 1. RFC validation (SAT) — The tax authority's free online validator confirms whether the RFC in your contract is registered. A number that fails, or belongs to another company, ends the review.
• 2. SAT published lists — Under Articles 69 and 69-B of the Federal Tax Code, the SAT publishes taxpayers with final unpaid tax debts, taxpayers it cannot locate and companies presumed to invoice simulated operations. Search the RFC in each, and scan the QR code on the developer's tax compliance opinion to confirm it is genuine.
• 3. Public Registry of Commerce (SIGER) — After a free sign-up, the Ministry of Economy's system shows the folio mercantil, the corporate file recording incorporation, powers of attorney and later corporate acts. Capital reductions and liquidations appear in the ministry's separate publications system (PSM).

Step 2: Match the seller to the land

• 4. Public Registry of Property — Property registries in Mexico are public by law, so anyone may request a certificate on the folio real showing the owner, mortgages, seizures and other recorded liens. Compare that owner with the company in your contract, name by name.

If a bank appears as owner, the land sits in a trust. Ask for the trust agreement and confirm the developer's rights under it.

Step 3: Confirm the permits behind the project

• 5. Municipal licenses — Land use and construction licenses come from the city hall. The General Transparency Law requires municipalities to publish the licenses they grant, and a transparency request fills the gaps. Check that the license covers the floors and units being sold.
• 6. SEMARNAT and ZOFEMAT — Coastal and jungle projects generally need an environmental impact authorization from SEMARNAT, the federal environment ministry, which lists projects entering review in its weekly Gaceta Ecológica. If the brochure shows a beach club, look up the concession for the ZOFEMAT, the federal beach strip no developer can sell you, on SEMARNAT's transparency site.
• 7. State urban development authority — In Quintana Roo, SEDETUS keeps a public registry of developments marketed without state urban approval or municipal licenses, and our guide to the SEDETUS irregular developments registry walks through the search. Elsewhere, ask the state urban development ministry in writing which approvals the project holds.

Step 4: Read the track record

• 8. PROFECO Buró Comercial — PROFECO's free database shows how many consumer complaints a company has received, their status and the main reasons behind them. Search by brand and by legal name, then check that the presale contract is registered with PROFECO.
• 9. State court records — State judiciaries publish daily lists of court orders (listas de acuerdos) naming the parties, and Quintana Roo and Yucatán post theirs online. Yucatán's search runs by court and date, not by name, so a thorough review takes hours, and federal courts need a separate search.

Step 5: Check the obligations the brochure never mentions

• 10. IMSS — Construction employers must register each project with IMSS, the social security institute, through its SIROC system. Ask for a current IMSS compliance opinion, or look it up by RFC if the company has made it public. Unpaid contributions are a cash-flow signal, and cash flow is what finishes a building.
• 11. State housing authority — Quintana Roo's housing law requires private promoters in state housing programs to register with INFOVIR, the state housing institute, and bars those that breached obligations to program beneficiaries. It matters most when the developer also builds homes.

Step 6: Put three questions in writing

Three questions close the rest of the file. Ask for written answers with documents attached.

1. What is the construction license number and date, and how many floors and units does it authorize?
2. Is the company signing my contract the registered owner of the land, and if not, which recorded document connects them?
3. Which projects has this company, or its shareholders, delivered in the last ten years, and where is each condominium regime recorded?

A developer with a clean file answers within days. Vague answers, late answers and brochures are answers too.

Seven failure patterns and the record that shows each

These patterns recur in the files that reach us after signing, and each leaves a trace in the registries above.

• The seller does not own the land — The folio real names another company, a joint-venture landowner or a trust with no rights assigned to the seller.
• The lot carries the construction loan — A mortgage over the whole lot, with no written release for your unit at delivery.
• The license covers a smaller building — Fewer floors or units on the license than in the brochure.
• The project was marketed without permits — A SEDETUS listing, or no license number at all.
• The company is a shell — A recent incorporation, rotating administrators or a capital reduction notice.
• The taxes are in trouble — The RFC on an SAT list, or a compliance opinion the developer will not produce.
• The complaints repeat — PROFECO complaints for late delivery, an unregistered contract, or the company named as defendant in the court lists.

Frequently asked questions

1. Can I run these checks myself from abroad?

Most of them. The SAT tools, PROFECO's databases and SEMARNAT's publications are free online, while registry certificates, SIGER and transparency requests need an account or a formal request, sometimes with a fee. Reading a Spanish registry certificate correctly is where most buyers need a lawyer.

2. How long does a full developer background check take?

The online searches take an afternoon. Registry certificates and transparency requests can take several weeks, so start before the reservation deposit.

3. What if the developer will not share its RFC or license numbers?

Treat the refusal as the result. Under NOM-247 those details belong in the contract anyway, so a developer that withholds them before signing is already falling short of a federal standard.

The path forward

Pre-construction due diligence costs a few afternoons and some registry fees. In the disputes that reach our office, buyers who signed without it commonly give up 15 to 40 percent of the price in delay, legal costs and discounted settlements, a range drawn from our own files, not from market statistics.

If you want the file read for you, our Legal Trust Score scores the contract, the developer and the project within 24 business hours of a complete file. Either way, the review should come from a lawyer who works only for you, not one the sales office recommends.

PeninsuLawyers represents foreign buyers exclusively. We have no affiliation with developers or brokers. Start with the free Quick Check at peninsulawyers.com/quick-check to find out which of these records your developer and your contract still need checked before your deposit moves.