Cuenca Just Changed the Rules on Rural Property Subdivision — Here's What It Means
Chip Moreno
If you own rural property in Cuenca — or you've been eyeing a piece of land in the parishes outside the city — a quiet vote at City Council this week could affect your options.
What Changed
The Concejo Cantonal (City Council) approved a reform that creates a one-time exception to minimum lot size requirements for rural properties that are being:
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- Inherited (sucesión hereditaria)
- Donated irrevocably from parent to child (donación irrevocable)
Previously, if you inherited a piece of rural land that was smaller than the legal minimum lot size, you were stuck. You couldn't subdivide it, you couldn't register the individual parcels, and in many cases you couldn't get water or sewage connections because the property existed in a legal gray zone.
The New Minimums
Under the reform:
- Minimum lot size: 120 square meters
- Minimum road frontage: 6 meters
These are significantly smaller than the standard rural minimums, which typically range from 500-2,000+ square meters depending on the parish and zoning.
The Rollout
This isn't canton-wide yet. It's starting as a pilot program in Llacao parish, then expanding to all 20 rural parishes based on the pilot results.
Why This Matters for Expats
If you're buying rural property: This reform could increase the supply of smaller, more affordable rural lots over time. Properties that were previously frozen — unsellable because they couldn't meet minimum subdivision requirements — may come to market.
If you already own rural property: If you're planning an inheritance or considering donating property to your children, the new rules provide more flexibility on how that land can be divided.
If you're watching infrastructure: One of the key motivations for this reform was to unblock stalled water and sewage projects. ETAPA and the municipality have had trouble extending infrastructure to areas where property lines are legally ambiguous. Regularizing smaller lots means ETAPA can justify the investment in pipes and connections.
The Bigger Context
Cuenca's rural parishes — El Valle, Ricaurte, Baños, San Joaquín, Sayausí, Turi — have been growing rapidly as more residents (both Ecuadorian and expat) look for larger properties and lower prices outside the urban core. But the regulatory framework hasn't kept up.
This reform is one piece of a broader effort to modernize how rural land is managed. It doesn't change zoning classifications or allow commercial development — it simply acknowledges the reality that many rural families have been living on inherited plots that don't meet technical minimums.
Source: El Mercurio, CuencaHighLife
