Hiring a Housekeeper in Guatapé: Your Legal Obligations

If you hire a housekeeper for your Guatapé or El Peñol lake house, you are a formal employer from day one. Colombian labour law does not recognise an informal arrangement between a homeowner and the person who cleans, cooks or watches the house. You must register the worker with social security, pay monthly contributions, give written payslips, and pay severance-type benefits (prestaciones sociales) on top of the salary. There is no exemption because the house sits empty five days a week, no exemption because you are a foreigner, and no exemption because you pay in cash.

The absence of a written contract does not create freedom. It creates a contract by default: an indefinite-term verbal contract, with every statutory benefit attached, and with the burden of proof on you rather than on the worker if the terms are ever disputed.

What am I actually obliged to do?

The obligations stack in a predictable order.

Affiliate the worker to the system before the first day worked. That means health (EPS), pension, and occupational risk insurance (ARL). For domestic work, ARL registration is required even for part-time staff, and it is the item foreign owners skip most often. Domestic work is physical and happens on stairs, ladders, docks and wet floors. If something happens and there is no ARL, the cost of the accident lands on you personally.

Register and pay monthly through the planilla, the electronic contribution form. Caja de compensación familiar affiliation is also part of the domestic-employment regime and is what gives the worker the family subsidy.

Pay prestaciones: cesantías (held and paid annually to a cesantías fund), interest on cesantías, prima de servicios twice a year, and paid vacation. Prima applies to domestic workers; this changed years ago and many households still have not caught up.

Pay transport allowance where the salary qualifies for it, and pay overtime, night work, Sunday and holiday work at the statutory surcharges. A caretaker who stays on the property over a long weekend is not simply "there". If they are available to respond, that is working time.

Keep records. Payslips, the planilla receipts, the signed contract and a signed record of vacation taken. If a claim is ever filed, the dispute is decided on documents you either have or do not have.

What do foreign owners get wrong most often?

Six mistakes repeat, and they are expensive.

Paying "all in" in cash. A single monthly figure handed over with nothing registered does not discharge the obligation. It is treated as salary, and the benefits remain owed on top.

Calling the worker independent. If you set the days, the hours and the tasks, and the work is done in your house with your supplies, it is employment regardless of what the arrangement is called.

Assuming part-time means no benefits. Working two days a week does not remove the obligation; it changes the calculation. Colombia has a specific mechanism for workers who serve several households, so the housekeeper who also works for two neighbours can be registered properly for the days each employer uses.

Treating the caretaker couple as one person. If two people live on the property and both work, there are two employees.

Letting the rental manager "handle it". If your Airbnb manager sends a cleaner who takes instructions only from that company, that is the company's employee. If you choose the person, set the schedule and pay them directly, they are yours, whatever the manager says.

Firing without cause and without a settlement. A dismissal without just cause triggers indemnification, and the liquidación (final settlement) covering accrued benefits is owed in every case, including resignation.

How do I set it up correctly from the start?

Write a contract. Fixed-term or indefinite, in Spanish, with the salary, the days, the hours, the address and the tasks stated. For a lake house that is used seasonally, a fixed-term contract or a defined per-day arrangement is usually cleaner than an open-ended one you later regret.

Affiliate before day one, not after the first month. Use an accountant or payroll service in Rionegro, Marinilla or Guatapé to run the planilla monthly. The fee is small against the exposure.

Define live-in terms explicitly if the person sleeps on the property: lodging and food are regulated as payment in kind and have limits, and "watching the house at night" needs to be written as a shift or not expected at all.

Set a liquidación habit. Calculate and settle accrued benefits annually so the final number never arrives as a surprise after five years.

If you are not resident in Colombia, give someone a power of attorney to sign and act as employer-side administrator, and keep copies of every planilla receipt in a folder you can reach from abroad.

Frequently asked questions

Does a part-time housekeeper need social security?

Yes. Working two or three days a week does not remove the obligation, it changes the calculation. Colombia allows registration by days worked, so a housekeeper serving several households can be registered correctly by each employer for the days that employer uses.

Is a verbal agreement with a housekeeper legal in Colombia?

It is valid, but it defaults to an indefinite-term employment contract with every statutory benefit attached, and leaves you without documents if the terms are disputed. A written contract in Spanish stating salary, days, hours, address and tasks is far safer.

Do I owe prima de servicios to domestic workers?

Yes. Prima de servicios applies to domestic workers and is paid twice a year, alongside cesantías, interest on cesantías and paid vacation. Many households still operate as if it does not apply, and that gap accumulates year after year.

If my rental manager sends a cleaner, am I the employer?

Not if the cleaner is chosen, scheduled and paid by the management company. You become the employer when you pick the person, set their hours and pay them directly, regardless of how the arrangement is described in the management agreement.

What is ARL and why does it matter for a lake house?

ARL is occupational risk insurance, required even for part-time domestic staff. Lake-house work involves stairs, ladders, docks and wet floors. Without ARL registration, the cost of a workplace accident falls on the homeowner personally.

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