Living by La Carolina (Quito)

La Carolina is the name of north Quito's large park and of the area around it. EPMMOP describes the park as a 61.35-hectare space in the city's hipercentro, surrounded by buildings, in the financial heart, with playgrounds. If you buy or rent a unit in one of those buildings, it will be under the horizontal-property (condominium) regime.

Transport: two Metro stations

The park has two Quito Metro stations: Iñaquito station, on the Naciones Unidas avenue boulevard at Japón street, and Carolina station, at the junction of Eloy Alfaro and República avenues, according to the Metro de Quito public company. If you work elsewhere in the city, living close to a station changes your daily routine.

The park

It is one of the capital's most important green spaces: before the pandemic it drew an average of 200,000 people every weekend, according to Metro de Quito. Those crowds are part of its appeal and also of its noise: if you want quiet, visit the specific street on a Saturday and a Sunday.

Property paperwork

La Carolina is in the urban area of the Metropolitan District of Quito, so its paperwork is Quito's: the certificate of encumbrances is requested online from the DMQ Property Registry, and the Informe de Regulación Metropolitana (IRM) — with the plot's land use, heights and restrictions — is issued online, free of charge, with the plot number. The Municipality collects the predial and also assesses the alcabala and plusvalía on a sale.

Before buying or renting

• In a horizontal-property building: ask the service charge (alícuota), what it covers and whether anything is owed; read the internal rules (pets, letting, use of common areas).
• Request the certificate of encumbrances from the DMQ Property Registry and the plot's IRM from the Municipality.
• If renting: with rent above one unified basic wage, the lease must be written and registered before a notary (Tenancy Law, art. 29).
• Check the real walking distance to the nearest Metro station.