SEDETUS Blacklists 123 Irregular Real Estate Developments in Quintana Roo

Quintana Roo, Mexico — SEDETUS, the state’s sustainable urban development agency, is keeping 123 real estate developments on an official blacklist for being marketed without the required permits and paperwork, a measure aimed at preventing fraud and giving property buyers more legal certainty.

Gabriela Peña, the agency’s director of real estate affairs, said the developments were detected during SEDETUS inspections and will remain on the list until they prove they meet all legal and administrative requirements.

“Right now, we have 123 developments on our registry that have been inspected and where the institutions are certain the required paperwork does not exist,” Peña said. “They can leave the list once they regularize and comply with the requirements, but until then they remain on it so people can check before buying.”

Peña said the largest concentration of flagged projects is in Playa del Carmen and Tulum, followed by Benito Juárez, municipalities where real estate growth has accelerated in recent years because of housing demand and the arrival of domestic and foreign investors.

The registry of irregular developments is public and available to any citizen, Peña said, so buyers can verify whether a project they are considering has the necessary state and municipal permits. She also urged prospective buyers to work only with accredited real estate advisors, who are listed in a separate official registry supervised by SEDETUS.

“If people want to buy, before anything else they should go to the agency or consult these registries to see what they can legally purchase,” she said. “It is also important to use properly accredited advisors to receive good service.”

SEDETUS director José Alberto Alonso Ovando said the agency carries out permanent inspection operations and also responds to complaints from buyers who report irregularities in real estate projects.

Ovando said there are currently three complaints filed by foreign citizens, two involving developments in Tulum and one in Playa del Carmen. He clarified that so far these are alleged contractual breaches, not fraud that has been proven in court.

SEDETUS reiterated that the best way to avoid financial risk is to verify the legality of the development and its advisors before signing contracts or making payments on a property.