On July 27, 2022, the Executive Secretariat of Condominiums, created by the new Real Estate Co-ownership Law No. 21.442 (hereinafter the “Law”), issued Circular Ord. No. 1, (hereinafter the “Circular”), in order to resolve doubts regarding the transitory provisions of the Law and, specifically, regarding the applications to join the real estate co-ownership regime that were being processed at the Municipal Works Directorates (hereinafter “DOM”), and that were filed prior to the entry into force of the Law (April 13, 2022).

Regarding the applications to join the real estate co-ownership regime that were being processed at the Municipal Works Directorates, the Circular indicates the following:

1. All applications to join the real estate co-ownership regime, submitted up to April 12, 2022, the date prior to the entry into force of the Law, will continue to be processed in accordance with the regulations in force at the date of submission of such application, therefore, they will be processed and resolved in accordance with the terms of the old Law on Real Estate Co-ownership, Law No. 19.537.
2. Likewise, building permits approved by the Municipal Works Directorates prior to the publication of the Law, that is, prior to April 13, 2022, and which had informed of their intention to be included in the real estate co-ownership regime, will be processed and resolved in accordance with the regulations in force at the date of their entry, that is, in accordance with the former Law No. 19.537.
3. Finally, as in the previous 2 paragraphs, the Circular indicates that the building permits where the interested party informs that the project will be under the co-ownership regime, and which are submitted after April 13, 2022, and prior to the date of publication of the Regulations of the Law (which at this time have not been published), will be processed and resolved in accordance with Law No. 19.537.

In addition to the above, the Circular confirms or clarifies the following:

• The Notice confirms that those communities of co-owners that have adopted Law No. 19.537 on Real Estate Co-ownership must adjust their bylaws to the provisions of the new Law within a period of one year.

• The Notice indicates that the resolutions adopted by the Co-Owners’ Meetings prior to the entry into force of the Law will be valid as long as they are not contrary to the provisions of the New Law.

• With respect to the first co-ownership regulation, the provisions of Article 8 Letter C) of the Law will not apply, in the sense that it must indicate the number and date of the filing of the co-ownership plans with the competent Real Estate Registry.

• Finally, prior to the updating of the forms of the respective DOM, applications for building permits shall be processed using the forms currently available, on the understanding that the reference to the real estate co-ownership law contained therein refers to the new Law. For these purposes, the respective DOM may state in the “notes” section of the building permits that the reference to the real estate co-ownership law refers to the new Law No. 21.442.

Should you require additional information on this matter, please contact Sven Herlin (sherlin@jdf.cl), and/or Julio Trucco (jtrucco@jdf.cl).