Almost every buyer arrives with a remodel in mind, and for a retail unit that remodel goes through two separate doors that get confused constantly: the copropiedad and the curaduría urbana. The work the seller already did matters too, because an unauthorised alteration passes to whoever buys.
The curaduría urbana is the body that issues construction permits and their variants, and what it requires depends on whether the work touches structure, façade, built area or only finishes. The copropiedad issues no permits: it authorises —or refuses— work on common property, sets how the job runs inside the building, and answers for what the reglamento says about façade and enclosures. The two doors are cumulative, and neither replaces the other. For a retail unit, the split between what may be touched and what may not is written in the deed and the reglamento, not on the seller's drawing. In a resale there is a prior question: whether what stands matches the approved plans, because work done without a permit where one was required can surface in a Distrito inspection and complicate a later filing. Which permit variant fits your remodel is for the curaduría to define, and what the copropiedad allows is for the asamblea.
A retail unit is bought differently because you are not buying a space but the possibility that someone can trade in it, and that possibility is granted by third parties. Two permissions are needed and nobody bundles them: the one the land-use rules give for that specific lot, and the one the copropiedad's reglamento gives, which need not agree. On top of those sit the tenant's own business permits, applied for activity by activity. The second difference is the relationship with the tenant. A lease of premises for commercial purposes runs under rules distinct from residential tenancies, with an expectation of continuity for the tenant that is worth having a lawyer spell out before signing, because the buyer steps into a contract that already exists and inherits its history. The third is that the unit depends on what lies outside it: façade, signage, pavement, loading area and public access are normally bien común, common property, or public space. What makes the unit profitable, in other words, is not inside its walls and is not decided from within the unit.
What is sold in Punta Canoa is often not a lot but a share in a tract still held en común y proindiviso, in undivided co-ownership, and buying a share gives no right to a specific piece of ground, only an abstract fraction of the whole: the buyer ends up co-owning with strangers and needs a partición, a partition, or a physical division before being able to say which part is his. That is the process that sets this sector apart: identifying every co-owner, finding out whether anyone has already petitioned for division, and seeing how the predial, the property tax, has been paid on an asset nobody uses exclusively. The counterparty differs from the village too: sometimes it is a land-holding company based elsewhere, in which case you request its certificado de existencia y representación, the corporate good-standing and signing-authority certificate, along with the resolution authorizing the sale. Who decides differs as well: lying outside consolidated urban land, permitting runs through the rural regime and the environmental opinions of Cardique rather than a neighborhood licensing office, with DIMAR, the maritime authority, involved at the beach edge. Nor is infrastructure networked: each parcel arranges its own water, power and wastewater.
What is specific to Punta Canoa
A low-density coastal village to the north, with open beach and very little high-rise building. Lots and houses dominate; towers are the exception. It lies along the coastal road toward Barranquilla, far from the centre and without full urban services.
- whether the property has its own registry folio or sits inside a larger parcel that was never subdivided
- whether there is certified utility availability, not merely a promise that services are coming
- whether the property lies in a coastal erosion risk zone, which is documented along this stretch
What to verify, step by step
- Describe the remodel in writing —what is touched, what is opened, what is closed— and ask the curaduría urbana which permit variant or filing applies to that work on that property.
- Request the original licencia de construcción with its approved drawings and compare what was approved against what stands today.
- Ask the administrador for the recorded reglamento and the minutes, and read which works require asamblea authorisation and under what conditions work may run inside the building.
- Check what belongs to a retail unit itself and decides what may be altered: whether the POT (the city's land-use plan) allows commercial use on that specific lot and whether the reglamento de propiedad horizontal admits it — two separate permissions, and you need both; whether the particular activity planned requires a concepto de uso de suelo (a land-use ruling) and who applies for it, owner or tenant and how façade, signage, pavement and loading area are allocated, since these are usually bien común even though the unit uses them daily.
- Ask the Oficina de Registro whether there are entries about alterations, mergers or subdivisions of the folio, and ask the Alcaldía whether any administrative proceeding is open over unpermitted work at the property.
- Have the promesa state what happens if unauthorised work turns up and who answers for regularising it, because after closing the Distrito's counterpart is the new owner.
Mistakes that cost money
- Believing the administrador's permission replaces the permit. The administrador issues no permits, and the curaduría does not read the reglamento.
- Buying with the work already done and never asking for the approved drawings. Extra construction does not show on the certificado de tradición y libertad, and it surfaces the next time something is filed.
- Treating bien común de uso exclusivo as if it were área privada. Terrace, façade and assigned patio often belong to someone other than whoever uses them daily.
Frequently asked questions
- Who issues the permit to remodel?
- The curaduría urbana, under whichever variant matches the work. The copropiedad authorises what touches common property and sets how the job runs, but it issues no permit.
- What if the seller already remodelled without a permit?
- That risk is identified by comparing the approved drawings against what stands and asking the Alcaldía whether any proceeding is open. What route to regularisation exists is for the curaduría and your attorney to say.
- Can the filing be advanced without being in Cartagena?
- The preliminary enquiry and the application can be handled by a professional in the city, and the owner's signature is given by power of attorney. Which power the filing requires is confirmed by the curaduría.
Where to check it
- Curadurías Urbanas de Cartagena — whether a current building or subdivision permit exists and exactly what it authorises
- Alcaldía Mayor de Cartagena de Indias — property tax, betterment levies and District procedures
- Superintendencia de Notariado y Registro — the certificate of title and encumbrances, which is the property's full history
- Cartagena de Indias — the rules of the municipality Punta Canoa belongs to
Official bodies. Specific figures are requested there, not copied from a listing.
Updated 2026-11-06
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