Category: Law and ownership
Right of habitation
A strictly personal, indivisible real right that lets a person occupy someone else's home for themselves and their family — but they cannot rent it out or transfer the right.
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Regulated by articles 2278–2280 of the Paraguayan Civil Code. It's more restrictive than usufructo: the holder can only use the property as a personal residence for themselves and their family, cannot rent it or transfer the right, and the right ends at their death. Commonly used in succession planning to guarantee housing to a relative (e.g. a surviving spouse) without transferring ownership. A more conservative alternative to usufructo.
Example
A widower receives by will a lifetime right of habitation over the family home. He can live there with his family for life, but cannot rent it out or assign it; upon his death, the heirs dispose of the property without restrictions.
Sources
Related terms
Usufructo (lifetime use right)
A real right that lets a non-owner use and enjoy property they don't own, while the owner keeps the "bare ownership" (nuda propiedad).
Full ownership (dominio pleno)
The most complete form of property ownership: the holder can use, enjoy, and freely dispose of the property without partial-rights carveouts like usufruct or anticresis.