On July 23, 2024, Exempt Resolution No. 4,788 (“Resolution”), dated July 17, 2024, issued by the Agriculture and Livestock Service (“SAG”), was published in the Official Gazette, which establishes in detail a new procedure for the granting of certificates for the subdivision of rural land, repealing the previous Resolution No. 3,904/2019 and its amendments.

The purpose of this Resolution is to regulate the processing of applications for certification of rural land subdivision projects, within the framework of Decree Law No. 3,516 of 1980 (“DL 3,516”). It applies to rustic properties, i.e., properties suitable for agriculture, livestock or forestry located outside the urban limits or outside the limits of the intercommunal regulatory plans of Santiago and Valparaíso and the metropolitan regulatory plan of Concepción.

Pursuant to DL 3,516, the certification of subdivision of rural properties is a regulated administrative act in which the SAG must only verify that

That the land is rustic;
That the lots resulting from the subdivision have an area of not less than 0.5 physical hectares; and
That the lots resulting from the subdivision have access to a public space or to a road from the agrarian reform subdivision process.

However, this new Resolution seems to introduce additional requirements and criteria not contemplated in the law, which could leave room for discretionary powers on the part of the SAG:

It grants the SAG the possibility of requesting other background information from the individual to better resolve a subdivision.
It gives the SAG the possibility of requesting pronouncements from other State Administration bodies before approving the subdivision.

For more information, please contact our Urban Planning Department at Barros y Errázuriz.