Story By: Jonathan Macias, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News

Meet the couple whose house directly on the border between Colombia and Ecuador is split between the two countries and who have to pay taxes in both.

Local news outlet Publimetro report Edelberto Portilla, 85, and his wife Maria Rosero, 75, live in the house, half of which is located in the community of Urbina near the city of Tulcan in the Province of Carchi in northwestern Ecuador and the other half is in the Narino Department of southern Colombia.

The pictures show the couple sitting in their living room which itself is split between the two countries. A line created with ash starting in the fireplace divides the Colombian part from the Ecuadorian part.

Portilla told Publimentro: “The house exists on the borderline between Colombia and Ecuador, in the south of Colombia and in the north of Ecuador.”

Publimetro reports that there are more houses which are also on the border between these two countries although the exact number is unclear.

The house is reportedly 60 years old and it is believed it remained on the border between the two countries when there were exchanges of land between Colombia and Ecuador in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The couple have dual Colombian and Ecuadorean nationality and pay taxes in both countries, although they want to register the house in Ecuador to stop paying in Colombia, according to Publimetro.

Portillo said: “We are now working to have our little house recognised only by Ecuador.”

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