1994
The Villa Serena real estate development in Baja California Sur was founded
as a mobile home park on a 46-hectare ejido with a 30-year land lease.
The original lease was administered by a company called Promotora Los Cabos, which owned the rights to the land at the time.
All individual leases were based on this master lease agreement, which provides that the leases will have a negotiated 30-year option at the end of the lease period. Residents of Villa Serena paid rent to Promotora Los Cabos and taxes to the local municipality.
1995-2014
The trailer park was converted into a gated community of
75 high-end residences in a prime location.
All of the community's urban infrastructure was built by the individual residents of Villa Serena.
The fact that the land was leased did not prevent anyone from receiving permits to build homes, close real estate transactions or access public services such as electricity, water and sewage.
2015
Promotora Los Cabos closed and the Ejido de Cabo group recovered all rights to the land. Each owner went from paying rent to Promotora Los Cabos to paying it to the Ejido, without stopping paying taxes to the local municipality.
The Ejido de Cabo group issued a letter saying it would honor all aspects of the original lease agreement.
The Ejido de Cabo group immediately began requiring new tenants to sign an addendum giving up all rights to their own homes at the end of
the current 30-year lease (which ended December 31, 2023), without compensation. Then the land and their old house could be leased back to them.
2016-2017
Villa Serena began negotiating the new lease agreement and reached a verbal agreement with Ejido de Cabo.
Learn more
2018
The Ejido submitted a formal 30-year purchase option offer, but had introduced significant changes to the lease that went far beyond the verbal agreement that had been reached.
These changes included: A portion of the sales of each home sold would go to the Ejido, a percentage that would go from 10% at the beginning to 90% towards the end of the new lease period.
A 2,000% increase in rental prices, which far exceeds the price increase from 1994 to 2023 in surrounding communities. The Ejido did not and has not shared a copy of the proposed new lease, refusing to share one unless residents sign it.
2018-2023
55 residents of Villa Serena came together to hire legal counsel and seek compensation for the market value of each property and all urban facilities and infrastructure built by Villa Serena, which would prevent the Ejido from taking over their properties without due compensation .
Residents of Villa Serena sent letters of concern to the US and Canadian consulates seeking support during this process, as the majority of the owners are US or Canadian citizens. They received no help and were simply advised to seek local legal advice.
Noviembre 2023
The Ejido threatened to close access to Villa Serena, which has a single entrance guarded by a sentry box managed by the Ejido of Cabos. This would completely prevent all residents from accessing their homes.
Local authorities have already expressed a sympathetic stance on this issue, as denying access or evicting people without a court order is not legal under Mexican law. The local agrarian court refused to hear the request for precautionary measures from the residents of Villa Serena. The residents of Villa Serena appealed this lack of resolution.
Diciembre 2023
The current lease ended on December 31, 2023.
Unless residents sign a lease under new terms before that date, there will be no lease
in effect as of January 1, 2024.
Febrero 2024
El Ejido avanzó en sacar a los vecinos de sus casas,
muy intimidante ya que eran cuatro o cinco camionetas con 10 o 12 personas del ejido, juzgados, musculosos y traductores.
Los residentes están muy molestos.
El Ejido intenta quitarles sus casas sin compensación… robar sus casas.
Learn more
Testimonials
Residente
Villa Serena
Hemos construido esta comunidad desde hace años y sabíamos que con
el tiempo cambiarían los términos del
contrato original, pero no
imaginábamos la escala de los
cambios. Lo que están pidiendo los
ejidatarios es un incremento
exagerado en la renta que no es
racional. Un aumento de
prácticamente el 2000% es exorbitante
e insostenible, en comparación con el
2% que se había acordado al principio
del contrato. Si esto no fuera poco,
además de tener que lidiar con las
preocupaciones económicas que lo
anterior supone; personas del ejido
han venido a intimidarnos y a bloquear
la entrada y salida de Villa Serena,
buscando que firmemos documentos
en un idioma que no comprendemos
(español). Me preocupa mucho esta
situación porque aquí está invertido mi
patrimonio de años, y lo único que
queremos los residentes de Villa
Serena es llegar a un acuerdo y
solución justa con el ejido.
Residente
Villa Serena
Los últimos 23 años, he vivido en Villa
Serena con mi esposo y aquí hemos
construido nuestro hogar, dentro de un
ambiente de tranquilidad y en armonía
con nuestros vecinos. Cuando
pasamos a pagar el arrendamiento al
ejido acordamos que una vez que el
contrato original venciera (el 31 de
diciembre de 2023), se honrarían todos
los aspectos de dicho contrato. No
teníamos contemplado que el ejido
quisiera tomar control sobre el terreno
y además, quitarnos los derechos de
nuestra propiedad. Este es el problema
más grande,que el ejido quiera
quedarse con nuestro patrimonio, un
hogar en el que hemos invertido
durante décadas; y lo que es más
injusto, no darnos el porcentaje justo
de nuestra casa a valor del mercado.
La mayoría de los residentes de Villa
Serena somos ciudadanos
estadounidenses y canadienses que
disfrutamos de las playas mexicanas y
la calma que este bello país nos
ofrece, y quisiéramos recibir el apoyo
que este proceso requiere por parte del consulado estadounidense ocanadiense, según sea el caso.
Residente
Villa Serena
La comunidad de Villa Serena un proyecto que comenzam
construir desde hace años y
evolucionado a lo que es hoy.
de 75 residentes y aquí he
construido nuestra vida. Mi e
yo nos mudamos a Villa Seren
1999 y estábamos al tanto
términos del contrato orig
Estamos de acuerdo en que Lo
ha crecido y se ha vuelto un
turístico importante en México
manera en que el ejido se q
apropiar de nuestros hogar
terrible. Nos hemos unido c
comunidad para resolver
situación de la mejor manera
La situación se está salien
nuestras manos. Confiamos
en nuestro equipo legal para
ayude a negociar y a defe
nuestros intereses para llega
acuerdo justo con el ejido
Our
positioning
As residents of Villa Serena we want a fair lease that allows us to keep our homes and the infrastructure we have built and paid for over the last three decades, or at least receive compensation for these investments. While a rent increase is completely fair, the amount of the increase and other terms are not.
About
Villa Serena
Villa Serena is a real estate development in Baja California. It was initially founded in 1994 as a caravan park on a 46-hectare common land with a 30-year land lease. The current lease ended on December 31, 2023, but a new lease has not yet been settled.
This is largely because the Ejido de Cabos group, the agrarian landowners who own the land, have been trying to disproportionately increase rents and take control of their homes without due compensation. 55 of Villa Serena residents have met to seek legal advice and conduct a fair and orderly negotiation for the next lease period.
The ejido
In October 2023, Ejido de Cabo sent a statement to the residents of Villa Serena to inform them about the implementation of control measures to enter the residential area.
From that moment, residents realized that Ejido de Cabo would begin its strategy to take control of Villa Serena.
Contact
Contact us for any questions or comments about Villa Serena! We are here to help you.