What is the Difference in the Due Diligence Required when Buying a Building Lot? When you purchase a completed home, issues such as the correct zoning, the availability of utilities, and access, are most likely not to be in issue. Your main concerns will be to obtain a reliable Home [...]
Registered Title Properties Most properties in Costa Rica are properties with an independently registered Property Title in the National Registry. Each such property comes with a registered Survey Plan indicating the property size, the property boundaries, and the property location. The Survey Plan number is annotated on the registered Property [...]
Is Joint Tenancy Property Title Registration Available in Costa Rica? In English Common Law Jurisdictions, such as Canada and the United States, registering a Property Title in Joint Tenancy as between a husband and a wife is the norm. Joint Tenancy embodies the principle of Right of Survivorship. This principle [...]
The one annual tax expense that will be incurred with all property ownership, is the Municipal Property Taxes, which are payable to the Municipality where the property is located. These taxes are [...]
You may believe that Costa Rica, as a tropical country, with a bountiful rainfall in the wet season, would have no issues related to the supply of potable water. Unfortunately, in many parts of the country, this is not the case. Your concern for the availability of potable water will equal, if not [...]
From a residential and commercial real estate point of view, these Real Estate Market Cycles are largely driven by the state of the U.S. Economy at any given time. There is a lag-time of approximately eighteen months for the economic effects in the U.S. to have an effect [...]
This is a relatively new way of living in Costa Rica, unlike countries such as Canada and the U.S., where condominium developments have existed for some time. The term “Condominium” in Costa Rica refers to a legal property entity registered in the National Registry as such, having specifications on a Master Plan as to the dimensions, location, and the number of condominium lots, or [...]
In 1977, Costa Rica passed the Maritime Zone Law, which established property ownership rights for beachfront property in Costa Rica. Under the Costa Rica Constitution, the initial fifty meters inland from the high-tide line on beachfront properties, as established by the Costa Rica National Geographic Institute, has always been reserved for public use and [...]
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. They have largely been abolished by Statute during the last one hundred and twenty year period, in English Common Law jurisdictions such as the U.S., Canada, and [...]
Purchasing and/or renting property in Costa Rica can be confusing for foreigners. One of the most confusing and little understood legal concepts, is the difference in the applicability and the enforceability of the HOA By-laws in the circumstances of a Condominium entity, versus that of a […]
