Colombian residential leases are governed by Ley 820 de 2003. The important structural fact about that law is that it is protective and largely non-waivable: a clause that contradicts it does not create a grey area, it simply has no effect. So the useful way to read a lease here is not clause by clause in isolation, but clause against statute.
What follows is the order you will actually encounter these terms in a standard contrato de arrendamiento de vivienda urbana.
The parties, and the property
Names, ID numbers, and the property’s matrícula inmobiliaria — its registration number. Check two things. First, that the person signing as arrendador is either the registered owner or holds a written power to act for them. Second, that the matrícula matches the one on the certificado de tradición y libertad you pulled. A mismatch is not a typo to shrug at.
Term (Articles 5 and 6)
If the contract does not state a duration, the law reads it as one year. At the end of the term, if neither party has given proper notice and both have complied, the lease renews automatically for the same period on the same terms.
The trap is the renewal, not the term. A lease that quietly renews for another twelve months while you assumed it had gone month-to-month is a common and expensive surprise. Diary the notice date the day you sign.
Rent and the annual increase (Article 20)
Rent can be increased once per year, no earlier than twelve months into the contract, and by no more than 100% of the previous calendar year’s consumer price index. DANE certified 2025 inflation at 5.10%, so that is the maximum increase applicable to contracts renewing during 2026.
The increase applies on your contract’s anniversary, not on 1 January. It is a ceiling, not an automatic entitlement — it is negotiable. And a contract clause promising a larger increase, or an increase pegged to the dollar, has no legal effect on a residential lease.
Rent in dollars
You will see this on furnished units marketed to foreigners. On a genuine residential lease it is a problem: the canon is a peso obligation, and pegging it to USD is a way of routing around the CPI cap. If you are signing a real Ley 820 lease, insist on a peso figure. If the landlord will not, you are not signing a Ley 820 lease, whatever the header says.
Deposits and guarantees (Articles 15 and 16)
Article 16 prohibits cash deposits and other real guarantees on residential leases — including the same arrangement made through a third party, under another name, or in a side document. Article 15 permits a guarantee for utility payments, but constituted in favour of the utility providers rather than handed to your landlord.
What is permitted, and what you will actually be offered: a codeudor (Colombian co-signer, jointly liable), or a lease insurance policy that stands in for one. If the contract in front of you has a deposit clause, that clause is unenforceable. Whether you want to start a tenancy by litigating it is a separate question — but you should at least know you are conceding something rather than complying with something.
Administración, predial, and utilities
| Charge | Who pays, by default |
|---|---|
| Administración | Depends entirely on how the rent is quoted. “Con administración incluida” means the landlord absorbs it; quoted “sin administración” means it is on top of your rent. In an amenity tower this is not a small line. |
| Predial (property tax) | The owner’s, unless the contract shifts it. It should not. |
| Utilities | Yours. Billed by estrato, so identical apartments in different buildings do not cost the same to run. |
| Repairs | The landlord owes necessary repairs and must hand over the property in habitable condition. Reparaciones locativas — the small wear-and-tear items — are the tenant’s. |
Get the administración figure in writing before you compare two apartments. Two units at the same headline rent can be several hundred thousand pesos a month apart once the building fee lands.
Ending it early — yours (Articles 24 and 25)
Two routes. Give written notice at least three months before the term expires and walk away at the end with nothing owed. Or terminate mid-term, which requires three months’ notice and an indemnity equal to three months’ rent, consigned through the procedure the law sets out rather than handed over informally.
There are also cause-based terminations with no indemnity — the landlord cutting utilities through their own non-payment, or a serious breach that stops you using the property.
Ending it early — theirs (Articles 22 and 23)
The landlord can terminate for cause: non-payment of rent, non-payment of utilities to the point of disconnection, breach of the building’s bylaws, or using the property for something illegal. Without cause, they need three months’ notice and must pay you three months’ rent.
What they cannot do, ever, is remove you themselves. Changing locks, cutting services, or removing your belongings are vías de hecho — illegal self-help. Eviction in Colombia runs through a court.
Subletting, and the short-let question
Subletting requires the landlord’s written consent. Separately — and independently of what your landlord says — letting the unit for stays under 30 days is a tourism activity, requiring registration in the Registro Nacional de Turismo and express authorisation in the building’s reglamento de propiedad horizontal. If the bylaws are silent, the settled reading is that it is not permitted. Medellín has been enforcing this, and the sanctions under Ley 675 are not nominal.
The clauses to strike before you sign
- Any deposit or caución real. Void under Article 16.
- Rent increases above CPI, or pegged to USD, on a residential lease.
- Automatic renewal for longer than the original term.
- Shifting predial onto you.
- Any right for the landlord to enter without notice.
- Any waiver of the notice or indemnity procedure in Articles 22–25.
- Penalties for early exit beyond the statutory three months’ rent.
Before you sign
Read the Spanish. Pull the certificado de tradición y libertad. Get the administración figure and who pays it in writing. Photograph every room, appliance and mark on the day you take the keys, and have the inventario signed by both parties. Then diary the anniversary date and the notice deadline.
None of this requires a lawyer. All of it is cheaper than not doing it.
Looking in El Poblado?
Tell us the barrio, the budget and how long you need it for. We’ll come back with buildings that actually fit — and flag the ones to avoid.
Send an enquiry WhatsApp us
General information, not legal advice. Colombian rental law and Medellín’s short-let rules change; figures cited are current as of August 2026 and should be re-checked against the source before you rely on them. Primary sources referenced: Ley 820 de 2003, Ley 675 de 2001, Ley 2068 de 2020, Decreto 2590 de 2009, Decreto 1836 de 2021, and DANE’s certified 2025 CPI.
All Luxury Living guides · Buying in El Poblado · MedellinRealEstate.co · Poblado Luxury