Latin America
Student accommodation regulation in Chile (2026)
Anyone looking to open or run a student residence in Chile will not find an act that regulates it as an activity. They will find three pieces: the General Planning and Building Ordinance, which defines the student hall and sets its building conditions; Law 18.101 and the Civil Code if the resident rents, or the general rules if what they receive is lodging; and Law 19.628, which Law 21.719 reforms in depth from 1 December 2026.
The short answer
Chile has no student accommodation act. It has a planning figure, the hogar estudiantil (student hall); the contract is a lease or, if accommodation with services is provided, a lodging agreement, which Law 18.101 leaves out; and the data protection law changes on 1 December 2026.
| What | Rule | Who applies it |
|---|---|---|
| Legal figure | No act of its own; the OGUC defines the student hall (Art. 4.5.2) | Dirección de Obras Municipales (municipal works department) |
| Contract | Lease: Law 18.101 and the Civil Code; lodging falls outside (Art. 2(4)) | Ordinary civil courts (juzgados de letras) |
| Building | OGUC, Title 4, Chapter 5 | Dirección de Obras Municipales |
| Data | Law 19.628, reformed by Law 21.719 from 1 December 2026 | Today, the courts; afterwards, the Personal Data Protection Agency |
| Harassment and complaints | Law 21.643 (staff) and Law 21.369 (higher education) | Labour Inspectorate; the institution |
| AI | No act of its own | — |
What residences are called there
The only national definition is in the Ordenanza General de Urbanismo y Construcciones (OGUC, General Planning and Building Ordinance), and it is for building, not for operating:
Se calificarán como Hogares Estudiantiles las edificaciones destinadas a residencia y albergue de estudiantes, sea que éstas estén emplazadas dentro del mismo predio, integradas o no al local escolar, o se ubiquen en predios independientes. ("Buildings intended for the residence and housing of students shall be classed as Student Halls, whether they stand on the same plot, integrated or not with the school premises, or on separate plots.")
For location purposes, a student hall counts as housing (Art. 4.5.3). The market mixes university residences, private room-by-room residences —outside Chile, PBSA— and "residenciales" and boarding houses (pensiones), words the law uses for lodging (Law 18.101, Art. 2(4); OGUC, Art. 4.9.1).
The contract: lease or lodging
If the residence grants a room for rent, there is a lease (Civil Code, Art. 1915) and, on urban land, Law 18.101 applies, and the rights it gives the tenant cannot be waived (Art. 19). In month-to-month or open-ended contracts, the desahucio —in Chile, the notice of termination; eviction is called lanzamiento— can only be given by the landlord through the courts or by a notary, with two to six months' notice depending on the years of occupation (Art. 3).
Law 21.461, known as "Devuélveme mi casa" ("Give me back my house", 30 June 2022), added a fast-track procedure for rent claims (procedimiento monitorio, Arts. 18-A ff.) and the rule that, in written contracts, the signatures "serán autorizadas por un notario público" ("shall be authenticated by a notary public", Art. 20). And anyone letting by the room has to meet the OGUC standards; otherwise the letting is abusive and the fine ranges from 5 to 100 UTM, Chile's monthly tax units (Arts. 24 bis to 24 quáter).
If what is signed is lodging —a room with services— Law 18.101 does not apply and the agreement governs (Civil Code, Art. 1545).
The building
Here there is a national framework: Title 4, Chapter 5, of the OGUC, which also covers a building converted to that use later (Art. 4.5.1). What matters most:
- Without the recepción definitiva (final occupancy approval; in Spain, a licencia de primera ocupación) of the Dirección de Obras Municipales, no student may be housed (Art. 4.5.3).
- Bedrooms of 5 m² per bed or floor-level bunk and 6 m³ per student; a living-dining-study room of 1.80 m² per student; 2.20 m ceiling height (Art. 4.5.6).
Land use is set by the Plan Regulador Comunal (district zoning plan, Art. 2.1.24): the same house may work in one district and not in the next.
Data protection
On 19 October 2026, Law 19.628 applies in its current text: express written consent, informing the person of the purpose, unless a law authorises the processing (Art. 4); health data, such as an allergy, are sensitive (Arts. 2(g) and 10); and processing by a third party on the controller's behalf needs a written mandate (Art. 8). There is no administrative authority: the resident complains to the civil judge (juez de letras en lo civil, Art. 16). The law does not regulate international transfers.
Law 21.719, published on 13 December 2024, rewrites it, creates the Agencia de Protección de Datos Personales (Personal Data Protection Agency, Art. 30) and comes into force on 1 December 2026 (first transitional article). From that day, a residence that answers on WhatsApp can rely on the contract or a legitimate interest (Art. 13), publishes its processing policy (Art. 14 ter), signs a contract with its processor (Art. 15 bis) and only sends data to an adequate country or under clauses with adequate safeguards (Arts. 27 and 28). Fines reach 20,000 UTM for the most serious infringements, and more for repeat offences (Art. 35).
A Government bill (bulletin 18.623-07) proposes moving the date to 1 December 2027, but on 19 October 2026 it is still at its first stage in the Senate: the date in Law 21.719 stands.
What the rules do not say
Worth knowing
Law 18.101 excludes "las relaciones derivadas del hospedaje" (relationships arising from lodging) without defining it: if a residence with cleaning and meals ends up in a dispute, the judge classifies it. There is no AI act (the bill, bulletin 16.821-19, is still in the Senate); the closest thing is the right to object to automated decisions in the new Art. 8 bis.
The Karin Act (Law 21.643) requires a protocol against harassment and a complaints route for staff (Labour Code, Arts. 211-A and 211-B bis), not for residents. In a university residence, Law 21.369 reaches events outside academic spaces (Art. 2) and its rules go into contracts and agreements (Art. 9).
Where Bedel fits
Bedel answers WhatsApp in the language of whoever writes (languages) and puts on a person's phone whatever a machine should not decide (handover to people). Its data lives in the European Union (Ireland) and the AI model runs in the US under the Standard Contractual Clauses: for a residence in Chile, an international transfer that under Law 21.719 has to be disclosed and backed by safeguards. What changes in the contract and the processing is discussed before signing.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a student accommodation act in Chile?
No. The only national rule is the General Planning and Building Ordinance, which defines the student hall as a building intended for the residence and housing of students (Art. 4.5.2) and sets its building conditions. The relationship with the resident is governed by the lease rules of Law 18.101 and the Civil Code or, if it is lodging, by the agreement, because that law excludes it (Art. 2(4)).
Which data protection law do I follow today, and which from December?
Until 30 November 2026, Law 19.628 in its current text: written consent, health data only with consent or a law, and complaints before the civil judge. From 1 December 2026, the same law as reformed by Law 21.719, with the Personal Data Protection Agency, new lawful bases, transfer rules and fines. A bill proposes postponing it by a year, but it is not law.
Can I turn a house into a residence without new permits?
Furnishing it is not enough. The OGUC applies its student hall chapter also to buildings converted to that use in the future (Art. 4.5.1), and none may house students before the final occupancy approval of the municipal works department (Art. 4.5.3). Before that, check that the district zoning plan allows the use in that area.
What is the risk of letting by the room?
Since 2021, Law 18.101 requires rooms let individually to meet the OGUC standards and not exceed its occupancy load. Otherwise the letting is abusive: the municipality, the regional housing ministry office or anyone can report it to the local police court, and the fine ranges from 5 to 100 monthly tax units (Arts. 24 bis to 24 quáter).
Can I store residents' data outside Chile?
Today Law 19.628 does not regulate international transfers. From 1 December 2026 it does: data have to go to a country the Agency declares adequate or rely on contractual clauses or other instruments with adequate safeguards (Arts. 27 and 28), and the processing policy has to state which countries the data go to and with what safeguards (Art. 14 ter).
Other countries
- MexicoNo act of its own: a lease or a lodging agreement under each state's civil code, civil protection for the building and a federal data protection law that is new since March 2025.
- ColombiaNo act of its own: an urban residential lease or the contrato de pensión of Law 820, commercial lodging, and habeas data under Law 1581 and the SIC.
- ArgentinaNo national act of its own: the Civil and Commercial Code lease after Decree 70/2023, each municipality's licence, and Law 25.326 with the AAIP.
- PeruNo act of its own: a lease or a lodging agreement under the Civil Code, a municipal licence with a safety inspection, Law 29733 with a new regulation and an AI regulation in force since 2026.
- SpainThe starting point in Spain: which rule governs the legal figure, the contract, the building, the data and the AI of a student residence, with the guide for each.
- United KingdomFour systems in one country: in England, membership of an approved management code weighs on whether a student building is an HMO and on which contract is signed; data follows UK GDPR.
- IrelandA figure of its own: student specific accommodation, within tenancy law and under the RTB since 2019, whether signed as a lease or as a licence.
- PortugalRules of its own for the building since January 2022 (Decree-Law 14/2022 and Ordinance 35-A/2022); the contract is a Civil Code tenancy and data goes through the GDPR and Law 58/2019.