SNR Eliminates Physical Copies of Deeds for Cadastre Offices in Four Cities

#### By: Dr. Luz Eneida Saldaña, Attorney (Universidad del Rosario), specialist in Administrative Law and Financial Law


This article was published in September 2020 and describes a measure in force at that time (SNR Resolution 6266 of 2020). It may have changed since then; it is kept as a historical reference.

Under Article 65 of Law 1579 of 2012, the "Public Instruments Registry Statute," Registry Offices are required to provide the cadastral authorities, within the first ten (10) days of each month, with the documents or titles relating to changes and/or modifications to the physical description of properties. This may be done by technical or electronic means that offer security and speed, and the cadastral authorities must take note of them for the purposes of the powers assigned to them. To that end, the Superintendency of Notaries and Registry (SNR) launched interoperability between Registry and Cadastre, implementing a mechanism for exchanging correspondence between the two entities electronically, also seeking to add administrative efficiency to their processes.

This is based both on the rule cited above and on the guidelines of Presidential Directive 07 of October 1, 2018, on simplifying procedures before government entities, including the digitization and automation of procedures and services; Presidential Directive 04 of April 3, 2012, on the so-called zero-paper policy in public administration; and finally Directive 02 of March 12, 2020, which instructed the adoption of the actions and mechanisms needed for citizens to carry out procedures by privileging and prioritizing digital means, in line with the institutional message "Stay at home."

To that end, the SNR, through Resolution No. 6266 of August 5 of this year, defined the procedure under which, initially, the Registry Offices of four selected cities, namely Cali, Bogotá, Barranquilla, and Medellín, which according to the SNR's own figures account for approximately 34.45% of the country's real estate activity, eliminate the requirement to file a physical copy of documents for the Cadastre Office's archive, replacing it with digitization of those documents.

This directly benefits citizens, who will no longer have to bear, in their real estate transactions, the cost of the physical copy that was destined for the Cadastre Office, since those registry offices must deliver, within the period already set by law, the digitized images of the acts reflecting changes to properties registered at the Public Instruments Registry Offices (ORIP) of those cities.

In conclusion, as of August 5, Registry Offices may not require, for the registration process, a physical copy of the deed or title for the Cadastre in respect of acts reflecting changes to real property registered at the Registry Offices of those cities. Likewise, notaries nationwide will refrain from issuing a physical copy of deeds for the respective Cadastre Office for properties located in those cities, for all transfer acts involving a change of owner or possessor, or a modification of boundaries through merger or division of lots with or without a change of owner or possessor, in Cali, Medellín, Barranquilla, and Bogotá.

SOURCE: SNR Resolution 6266 of 2020.

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