Almost every buyer arrives with a remodel in mind, and for a property for short-stay rental 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 property for short-stay rental, 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 property bought for short-stay rental is bought differently because what changes hands is an operation, not just real estate. Three things that live in separate documents have to line up for it to work: the copropiedad's reglamento, which can ban renting by the day regardless of any other permission; the registro nacional de turismo, the national tourism register, which is issued in someone's name and does not travel automatically with the deed; and the contract with the operator, which sets who attends to the guest, who pays for supplies and what is deducted before income is split. The second difference is that much of the value cannot be recorded anywhere: furniture, equipment, inventory, review history and bookings already taken appear on no folio, so they have to be inventoried and the purchase document has to say what becomes of each, including stays already sold for dates after closing. The third is that a guest is not a tenant and the activity is a trade, with daily attention, staff and restocking, so a buyer abroad is engaging a management arrangement, not merely acquiring a property.
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
A beach village north of Serena del Mar, where the original town still sits alongside the new complexes. A mixed market: social housing, beach condominiums and unserviced lots. Access is via the Manzanillo road off the Anillo Vial; the final stretch is not always paved to the same standard.
- whether the lot is public wasteland of the Nation, in which case it is allocated rather than sold and no private deed can cure it
- whether there is a right of way to the beach and where it runs, a constant source of litigation between neighbours
- the land use the POT assigns it, because much of what is marketed as residential is still classified otherwise
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 property for short-stay rental itself and decides what may be altered: whether the reglamento de propiedad horizontal permits daily rentals, because the copropiedad's own ban binds you even with the registro nacional de turismo (the national tourism register) in order; in whose name the registro nacional de turismo is issued and what becomes of it when the property is sold and whether there is an operator or management contract and which expenses are deducted before the income is split.
- 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 Manzanillo del Mar belongs to
Official bodies. Specific figures are requested there, not copied from a listing.
Updated 2026-11-06
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