Buying off-plan in Manzanillo del Mar: what is permitted and what is merely announced

In Manzanillo del Mar units are sold off-plan long before any permit exists, and the sales office is under no duty to explain the difference. What you sign at that stage decides who holds your money and what happens if the project never breaks ground.

An announced project and a permitted project are two different things, and the gap between them is where money disappears. Until a licencia de construcción (building permit) has been issued by a curaduría urbana (the private body that issues building permits in Colombia), what exists is a commercial intention: the render, the stage and the schedule can all change without anyone breaching anything. What does bind is the signed document, the trust account that receives the payments, and the permit as filed. For a buyer outside Colombia this weighs double, because the funds come in through the formal exchange channel and reversing that is not a phone call.

In Manzanillo del Mar the difficulty is not reading a registry record: often there is none to read. Much of what is offered never entered the registry at all, and what the counterparty holds is possession documented in private papers, with an acta de colindantes, a neighbors' boundary statement, and sometimes a sworn declaration before a notary, none of which is title of ownership. That moves the process to authorities absent in the other sectors: the Agencia Nacional de Tierras, the national land agency, where the soil belongs to the Nation; IGAC, the cadastral institute, and the district cadastre to identify the parcel; and the corregidor or the police inspector when occupation is disputed. Verification becomes a matter of fieldwork and mapping before notarial work: comparing the survey against the cadastral record and against what is actually fenced, because the same lot has been sold under different descriptions. The counterparty is usually a local family or a go-between with no written mandate, and that mandate has to be requested. Infrastructure is not handled by any single utility: a well or tanker water, a septic pit, and a side road whose upkeep is not always assigned to anyone.

What is specific to Manzanillo del Mar

What to verify, step by step

1. Ask whether the licencia de construcción has been issued, is still under review, or the project is in pre-launch, and ask for the filing number so you can check it yourself at the curaduría urbana.
2. Ask for the name of the patrimonio autónomo (the trust that holds buyers' funds) and confirm your transfer goes to that account and not the developer's.
3. Read the break-even clause and the withdrawal clause in the reservation document before paying: what is refunded, and when, is set there and nowhere else.
4. Check what is offered against the certificate of title for the lot: who owns it, whether there is a mortgage, and whether the parcel was ever subdivided.
5. Check the POT (the city's land-use plan) for what the Manzanillo del Mar polygon allows, and ask the seller to show you where that matches the offer.
6. Ask what needs verifying in Manzanillo del Mar specifically before reserving, because pre-sale risk differs from one sector of the Zona Norte to the next.

Mistakes that cost money

• Mistaking the commercial stage for the legal one. 'We are already building' and 'the permit is issued' are not the same sentence, and only one of them can be verified.
• Paying the reservation before reading the withdrawal clause, which is the only text that says what becomes of your money if the project stops.
• Assuming the neighbourhood amenities in the render already exist. Ask what is built, what is permitted and what is only announced.

Frequently asked questions

Can I reserve off-plan from abroad?

Usually yes, but the funds must come through the formal exchange channel and into the trust's account. Confirm both before transferring, and ask the Banco de la República about registering the investment.

How do I know the permit I am shown is for the project I am buying?

By the filing number and the property: the permit is consulted at the curaduría urbana that issued it, and that is where you see what it authorises and over which registry folio.

What if the design changes after I sign?

It depends on what your signed document allows and on whether the permit was amended. Those are two separate checks, and both are worth making.

Where to check it

• Curadurías Urbanas de Cartagena — whether a current building or subdivision permit exists and exactly what it authorises
• Superintendencia de Notariado y Registro — the certificate of title and encumbrances, which is the property's full history
• Ventanilla Única de Registro (VUR) — checking the registry folio online and ordering the certificate without visiting the office
• Plan de Ordenamiento Territorial de Cartagena — land use, the rules applying to the property and protected land
• Banco de la República — registration of foreign investment and the official exchange rate
• Alcaldía Mayor de Cartagena de Indias — property tax, betterment levies and District procedures
• Cartagena de Indias — the rules of the municipality Manzanillo del Mar belongs to

Official bodies. Specific figures are requested there, not copied from a listing.

Updated 2026-11-05