Multi-purpose cadaster as a tool to generate efficiencies in Colombia’s Real Estate market.

Some of the main challenges that Colombia’s land ownership system faces are as follows: (i) the quality in the information of the land, and (ii) the lack of coordination between public records offices (Oficinas de Registro de Instrumentos Públicos) and cadastral offices (Oficinas Catastrales). According to the paper CONPES 3958 of March 26th, 2019, by March 2015, of 3.293.219 rural real estate properties reported in the cadastral database of the Geographical Institute – Agustín Codazzi (“IGAC” for its acronym in Spanish), just 46% matched in the public records office registry. Besides, in a sample of 5.167.222 urban real estate properties reported in cadaster, 68,2% matched a real estate license number.

This shows that the lack of coordination between such entities leads to real estate properties with cadastral registries that do not match with a public records office registry and vice versa, which does not allow the actual identification of the real estate property. This challenge threatens the legal certainty of the real estate ownership and creates inefficiencies in the real estate transfers because it causes additional transactional costs concerning the real estate property’s id a delimitation.

Aware of it, the Colombian government issued the CONPES document number 3958, by which it aims to overcome the challenges through a multi-purpose cadaster. This policy vows for bringing legal certainty, create efficiencies in the real estate market and promote organized territorial planning through a digital, interoperable, unified, updated, reliable system, consistent with the information provided in public records office registry as well as other databases.

Accordingly, one of the main goals of this policy is to integrate cadaster and public records office registry through the following actions:

(i) Create a baseline of cadastral information (in Spanish “Barrido Predial Masivo”).

(ii) Integrate the information related to real estate boundaries and areas,

(iii) Modify the structure of the cadastral service, focusing on the decentralization of the service to be managed by municipalities or states, which will become the direct managers of their cadastral database (“Cadastral Managers”, in Spanish “Gestores Catastrales”). IGAC will mainly have a regulatory and guiding function, and exceptionally will manage cadastral databases in those municipalities that do not get the certificate for Cadastral Managers. The Cadastral Managers are allowed to hire third parties to execute operational and field functions to gather information, and in general, to execute cadastral services (in Spanish “Operadores Catastrales”).

Based on this policy, recent laws and resolutions have been issued to promote such integration. That is the case of Decree 148 of February 4, 2020, and Joint Resolution SNR No. 11344 / IGAC No. 1101 of December 31, 2020.  Through these legal instruments, the government allows the unification of the information regarding real estate properties boundaries and areas in the cadaster database and public records office registries.

Although the purpose of these legal instruments is not correct ownership issues, it helps to correctly identify them. However, the entities in charge of executing this policy shall have the proper mechanisms and human and technological resources to reach the intended goals. For example, the digital access to cadastral and public records office services requires a drastic improvement, given that during the pandemic outbreak this weakness has become evident.

The ambitious goal of the Colombian government is to achieve by 2025 a 100% of cadastral update of the territory, in a way that makes it complete, reliable, and consistent with the public records office registry. The challenges ahead are not irrelevant and cannot be assessed in the short term. Nonetheless, it is a step in the right direction, because achieving a multi-purpose cadaster will promote real estate investment, which has an intimate relationship with social welfare.