Fraccionamiento (Subdivision / Planned Development)frak-see-oh-nah-mee-EN-toh
Fraccionamiento is an authorized subdivision of land into individual titled lots with dedicated public streets and infrastructure, governed by state urban development law rather than condominium law.
By Daniel Ortega · Last reviewed 11 November 2026
How it works
In Quintana Roo, a fraccionamiento must be authorized by the municipality under the Ley de Asentamientos Humanos, Ordenamiento Territorial y Desarrollo Urbano del Estado de Quintana Roo, which defines it as a division of land into lots requiring one or more public streets plus water, drainage, electricity and roadways. Each lot receives its own escritura and can be sold independently. Fraccionamientos may be open (public streets, no gate, no mandatory fees) or closed/gated (fraccionamiento controlado or cerrado), where residents form a civil association (asociación de colonos) to operate private security, a gate and shared amenities; in gated fraccionamientos, monthly fees typically range from USD 50 to USD 300 depending on services and are contractual obligations to the association, not condominium cuotas de mantenimiento under law. Streets and green areas are typically transferred to the municipality after completion. Before buying a lot or home in a fraccionamiento, a buyer should verify the development holds a valid municipal fraccionamiento authorization, all promised infrastructure is delivered, streets are municipalized or the homeowners association is active and solvent, and the individual lot escritura matches the master plan registered at the Registro Público de la Propiedad.