What are “Squatters’ Rights” in Costa Rica?
Before you purchase property in Costa Rica you may want to know more about Squatters’ Rights.
These are formally referred to in legal terminology as Prescriptive Rights and Adverse Property Possession (“Usucapion”). These Rights have virtually been abolished by Statute during the last one hundred and twenty year period, in most English Common Law jurisdictions such as the U.S., Canada, and English Commonwealth Countries. However, Squatters’ Rights have been making a bit of a come-back in certain jurisdictions.
Unfortunately, that same transformation has not taken place in Civil Law (Roman law) jurisdictions such as Costa Rica.
What are Squatters’ Rights?
Squatters’ Rights are the rights to occupy and possess land without taking formal title to it. This arose from the original settlement of Costa Rica as an agriculturally based colonial nation. In the settlement process, large tracts of land were granted by the Spanish Monarchy to their friends and other members of the Spanish Nobility.
Most Spanish Noble owners of these lands never came to Costa Rica to occupy, or develop them. They didn’t want to associate themselves with “a bunch of heathens” in the New World.
Accordingly, third parties willing to occupy and convert them into sustainable agricultural production, were allowed the cultivation of these somewhat abandoned properties. This was seen as a good thing for the Costa Rican Society as a whole, rather than to leave the lands fallow.
Therefore, such third parties were granted the rights of possession and occupation of a property, in return for their labors of farming them; hence, “Squatter’s Rights” came into being.
200 Years later
Now, we’ll fast forward to what Squatters’ Rights means today in Costa Rica. In present day Costa Rica, Squatter’s Rights stands for nothing more than a perversion of the law. Agricultural production is conducted in a completely different manner than it was two hundred years ago, when colonial settlement took place. Today, legitimate poor peasant farmers requiring land for crop growing have the Costa Rica Government Agency of INDER (The Rural Development Institute) to apply to, for the leasing or granting of Government lands for such purposes (See the following link: https://www.inder.go.cr/servicios/dotacion_de_tierras.aspx).
Albeit, there are many more legal restrictions associated with acquiring such Squatters’ Rights today than previously. Vacant land in rural areas is more at risk. There are organized “Squatter Gangs” ready and willing to occupy such lands. Their sole purpose is to acquiring Squatters’ Rights over time. This allows then to steal the property from the rightful, registered property title owner.
Currently, Squatters’ Rights has become nothing more than a legalized business of land thievery. This is conducted in many cases, by wealthy and influential members of Costa Rican Society backing these “Squatter Gangs”.
90 Days
Such Rights begin to be acquired after only ninety days of uninterrupted occupation of the land by the squatters, in a publicaly open and peaceful manner. This culminates in an Application to the Court by the squatter(s) to acquire a registered title to the lands, following a ten year uninterrupted period of such occupation, by way of an Informacion Posesoria Application under Agrarian Law for untitled agricultural property, or an Application under the Civil Code for Prescripcion Positiva for other properties.
How to protect the property
Here are some tips to protect yourself as the registered owner of the property title of such lands:
- Fence the perimeter of the property.
- Place “Private Property/Keep Out” signs (in Spanish and English) every few meters around the perimeter.
- Hire a caretaker under a written contract to watch the lands and report to you as the owner, of any observed squatter activity.
Caretaker – Employer Relationship
The irony of having to have a written contract with the caretaker, is that if the legal relationship between the land owner and the caretaker is not clear, the caretaker can in-fact acquire the Squatter’s Rights that you as the owner are trying to protect against.
Therefore, use the services of a lawyer for guidance.
My Opinion
Obviously, the solution to this perversion of these laws, is to abolish the laws providing for Squatter’s Rights by Statute. There are cases currently before the Costa Rica Courts regarding land theft arising in this manner. When decided, this ultimately may force the required just legal changes, to protect land owners of such properties in the future.
