Important rules
Property Zoning
Believe it or not, Mexico is not the wild west where anyone can build anything anywhere. There are planning and zoning regulations that govern development in the municipality of Los Cabos. Unlike zoning regulations and processes in major centers in the U.S. and Canada, the Municipal regulations in Los Cabos do not offer sight line protection. In many communities, as part of the Home Owners Association (HOA), there may be sight line regulations. It is important for buyers to understand zoning implications and HOA regulations when making your purchase to determine how viable your fabulous ocean view will be in the long run. If your realtor hasn’t mentioned zoning and zoning implications… you may want to find another realtor.
Residential Property Zoning
Popular zones most buyers are interested in are RT0, RT1, and AT0:
- AT0 – Land zoned as AT0 is predominantly from the water to trans-peninsular highway. AT0 means Turistico Hotelero or Tourism and Hotels. So generally south of the highway is AT0.
- RT0 – North of the highway is predominantly RT0. RT0 means Residential Turistico or Residential and Tourism.
- RT1 – is similar to RT0 but applies to the Pedregal area of Lands End.
The illustration above shows the El Tezal area in Cabo San Lucas. You can see the darker pink areas are denoted AT0 below the highway. Above the highway, you will see the lighter pink areas denoted as RT0.
Property Zoning Documents
On the Municipality of Los Cabos Urban Planning Site the detailed Los Cabos Zoning Map is located here (click on the green Cartographia button of the page). The document showing the requirements for each zone are in Spanish located here (click on the green Carta Sentisis button on the bottom of the page). An English translation of common zones is located here. On the map, you can reference the zoning grids to see what’s allowed in those areas. Simply put, up to 6 stories of hotel or condo can be constructed in AT0 zoned land. For RT0 and RT1 the upper limit is a 4 story condo.
Make an informed decision
We will help you understand zoning implications to allow you to make the most informed purchase decision.
Read our blog about Securing your Ocean View to find out how to minimize your risk of losing your ocean view.