Buying Land in South Goa

Which office decides what: The Mamlatdar decides whether a parcel counts as agricultural land under the 2023 Act (section 3(4), India Code) and hears tenancy matters under the 1964 Act (India Code). The same office issues the public notices of mutation on the Directorate of Settlement and Land Records site. Conversion of land use under section 32 of the Goa, Daman and Diu Land Revenue Code, 1968, and any permission to sell paddy land to a non-agriculturist, go to the Collector. Sale deeds are registered at the Sub-Registrar office of the taluka (Goa registration department). Zoning sits with the Town and Country Planning Department, and comunidade land with the Administrator of Comunidades under the Code of Comunidades.

The Portuguese Civil Code and spouses: The 1867 Code is still in force in Goa, but only in part. On 13 September 2019 the Supreme Court held that it applies because the Goa, Daman and Diu (Administration) Act, 1962 kept earlier laws alive until a competent legislature changed them, and that it governs succession for people domiciled in Goa to their land and other assets across India (Supreme Court, September 2019; see also Bar and Bench, September 2019). Parts were later replaced by the Goa Succession, Special Notaries and Inventory Proceedings Act, 2012, in effect from 22 December 2016. For a land buyer the working point is the marital regime: the judgment describes spouses as joint owners of the couple’s assets and records a rule against disposing of them without the other spouse’s consent, on pain of nullity. Whether a particular seller falls under that regime depends on the marriage and any ante-nuptial agreement, so ask for the marriage details and have both spouses sign where the seller is married.

Paddy land and the 2023 Act: The Goa Restriction on Transfer of Agricultural Land Act, 2023 (Goa Act 18 of 2023) defines agriculture as the cultivation of paddy and agricultural land as land currently used for it, leaving out land earmarked for non-agricultural use in a plan under the Town and Country Planning Act (section 2, India Code). Under section 3 an owner or occupant may not sell, gift, exchange or lease such land to anyone but an agriculturist who cultivates it personally. The Collector can allow exceptions, for example for a non-agriculturist who means to farm it, who then has three years to start or the land vests in the Government. A transfer in breach is void (section 3(3)), seller and buyer each face a fine equal to the land’s market value (section 5), and after notice the Collector can forfeit the land without compensation (section 6). The Goan reported the Act as notified in April 2023 (The Goan, April 2023). Because the definition covers paddy only, orchard, cashew and fallow land fall outside this Act, as HSA Advocates point out (HSA Advocates, May 2023), though they remain subject to the conversion, tenancy and zoning rules below.

Conversion under section 32: Moving land from agricultural to non-agricultural use needs the Collector’s permission under section 32 of the Land Revenue Code, which also requires the Collector to acknowledge an application within seven days (India Code). The decision period was 60 days. An ordinance of 2 December 2025 cut it to 45 days (Ordinance 5 of 2025), and the Assembly passed the bill on 15 January 2026 with effect from that date over Opposition objections to the retrospective clause (Bill 8 of 2026; The Goan, January 2026). A separate amendment, Goa Act 20 of 2024, requires an application to carry a certificate from the Director of Agriculture that the land is not agricultural land under the 2023 Act (Government of Goa gazette text). The Goa Investment Promotion Board’s own page lists the documents asked for, including Form I and XIV mutated in the applicant’s favour, and stage timings that add up to 68 days against a stated 60 (Goa-IPB). We found no source for a 3 to 6 month approval wait, so none is quoted here, and we have not seen the notification that brings the Director of Agriculture certificate into force, or the assented 2026 Act, so ask the Collector’s office about both.

Tenants, mundkars and tenanted land: Under the Goa, Daman and Diu Agricultural Tenancy Act, 1964 a tenant is deemed to have bought the land held on the “tillers’ day” (section 18A), and land bought that way cannot be sold, mortgaged or leased without the Mamlatdar’s prior sanction (section 18K). A landlord selling tenanted land must first offer it to the tenant in writing, who has 90 days to reply, and a sale made without that notice or below the notified price is void (section 13A) (India Code). The Goa Land Use (Regulation) Act, 1991 bars use of land vested in a tenant for anything but agriculture despite the planning and revenue codes (India Code); Goa Act 10 of 2024 added exemptions for public acquisition and for use by local authorities and educational institutions (Government of Goa gazette text). The copy of the 1964 Act we read is a scanned text and may not show every later amendment.

Zoning, sections 17(2) and 39A: Section 17(2) of the Goa Town and Country Planning Act, 1974, inserted in 2023, let the Government correct what it called inconsistent zoning in the Regional Plan. On 13 March 2025 the Bombay High Court at Goa struck down the 2023 rules made under it, read the section down and barred fresh approvals (LiveLaw). The Supreme Court refused a stay in July 2025 but ordered status quo, as the petitioners described it (The Goan, July 2025). Section 39A allows zone changes on individual applications after board approval and public notice; a challenge to it is pending in the High Court (The Goan, September 2025; The Goan, July 2026). Former High Court Chief Justice Ferdino Rebello said in February 2026 that 342 parcels had been converted under section 17(2) up to 31 December 2025 and 199 proposed under 39A, covering 1,726,902 sq m; these are his figures as quoted (The Goan, February 2026). Buy only against a current zoning certificate, and ask whether the zone was changed under either section.

Comunidade and Government land: Comunidade land is village common land governed by the Code of Comunidades (Legislative Diploma 2070 of 15 April 1961). Its sale or exchange is decided by the comunidade and has no force without Government approval, and land granted for one purpose may not be used for another (articles 30, 31, 31-A and 36, India Code). Building on Government, local-authority or comunidade land without written permission is an offence under section 4 of the Goa Land (Prohibition on Construction) Act, 1995, punishable by up to three years in prison and a fine of up to ₹50,000 (India Code). In 2025 Goa Act 16 inserted article 372-B to let people regularise houses built on comunidade land before 28 February 2014, with a cap of 300 sq m in the Cabinet-approved bill (The Goan, August 2025); petitions against it were reported in the High Court in May 2026, with no interim order mentioned (The Goan, May 2026). Treat an offer of comunidade land as a title defect unless the Government approval is in the papers.

Forged records and the land-grab inquiry: A one-man commission under retired Justice V K Jadhav found organised grabbing of Government, institutional and private land, officials colluding with fraudsters and Portuguese-language documents forged; the report was tabled in the Assembly in February 2025 (The Goan, February 2025). Two sessions courts, in Panaji and Margao, were designated for land-grab cases by a notification dated 24 February 2025 (The Goan, July 2025). The Crime Branch’s Special Investigation Team had filed its 13th chargesheet by September 2025 (The Goan, September 2025), and the Herald reported the Enforcement Directorate’s attachment of 19 assets from two comunidades, valued by the agency at about ₹1,268.64 crore, on 27 November 2025 (Herald Goa, November 2025). A further-investigation order in an Anjuna forgery case was reported in April 2026 (The Goan, April 2026). Trace the chain of registered deeds and the Form I and XIV mutation history, and ask the Sub-Registrar for a nil encumbrance certificate (₹100 plus ₹20 for each year searched, Goa registration department).

Coastal zone, and the 500 m figure: The 500 m often quoted is the landward limit of the regulated coastal zone from the high-tide line, not the no-development distance (The Goan, November 2023). The 2019 notification (G.S.R. 37(E), 18 January 2019) sets the no-development zone at 50 m in densely populated rural areas and 200 m elsewhere, and along tidal-influenced water bodies at 50 m or the width of the creek, whichever is less; until a state’s plan is approved, 200 m and 100 m apply (CRZ 2019 text; LiveLaw, January 2019). Goa has not finished its plan, so the 2011 notification still governs (The Goan, February 2025). The draft reached the State in January 2026, and public consultation is not expected before the next Assembly elections (The Goan, June 2026). Read the CRZ clearance and the plan map for the parcel itself.

NRI and OCI buyers: The Reserve Bank’s Master Direction under FEMA 1999 excludes agricultural land, plantation land and a farmhouse from what NRIs and OCIs may buy or receive as a gift, in Goa as elsewhere (RBI Master Direction FED 12/2015-16, updated to September 2022). Other land, such as a residential or commercial plot, is not excluded. At registration the Sub-Registrar’s checklist asks for certified OCI or PIO card copies, and for a FEMA committee order where a foreign national without such a card executes a deed (Goa registration department). Take legal advice before using a nominee, since the benami-law position was not checked for this page.

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Status labels reflect sources read in October 2026. Government-announced timelines are not guaranteed; items marked reported rest on a single outlet.