General Information
In
matters of land and property ownership, foreigners and Costa Rican
citizens have equal rights under the law (unless the owner bought the
land as part of a government program). In these cases, the land can be
traded or sold to foreigners only after the original owner has held it
for certain period of time.
Foreigners do not have to live in Costa Rica to own property here.
Registration of a Property
Costa
Rican properties are registered at the Registro de la Propiedad
(Property Registry) which keeps track of all the title registrations.
It is a great resource for verifying the status of a title or claim
associated with a property.
If you wish to buy land in Costa
Rica it is wise to either hire a lawyer or go yourself to the Registro
de la Propiedad to search the title and verify that there are no liens
against the property or the property owner(s).
Once you buy a
property, you need to make sure the sale is properly registered at the
Registro de la Propiedad, proof that you are the new legal owner.
There is no local financing for property purchased by foreigners.
Zoning
Building and subdivision plans must be:
- Signed by a registered local engineer
- Approved by the local Ministerio de Salud (Health Department)
- Approved by the Instituto de Vivienda y Urbanismo (INVU) (Housing and Urban Development Department)
Real Estate Brokers
The
Ministerio de Economia (Treasury Department) issues real estates
licenses on the recommendation of the Chamber of Real Estate Brokers.
Taxes
Property
taxes vary from 0.5% to 1.5% of the declared value of the property.
However, Costa Ricans are a calm and resourceful people, so they
customarily undervalue their properties by at least 20% when they
register it.
The closing costs of a sale include a transfer
land tax, a stamp tax, and legal fees. Closing costs run about 5% or 6%
of the sale price, an expense divided evenly between buyer and seller.
Transfer land tax and stamp tax assessments are based on the declared
value. Legal fees are based on the selling price of the property.
Transactions may be conducted in U.S. dollars.
Costa Rican lawmakers have drawn up very strict rules governing the development of ocean front property along both coasts.
First,
according Costa Rican law, the beaches belong to everybody and
everybody has a right to use them. The first 50 meters (164 ft.) above
the mean high tide line are public land. No one can restrict access to
a beach or claim a beach is privately owned, exceptions being
landholdings in port areas, old land grants or by some agreements made
prior to 1973.
Second, along 80% to 85% of the coastline, the
150 meters (492 ft.) after the 50 first meters (164 ft.) are called the
Maritime Zone and are controlled by the government. A foreigner must
establish five years of residency to own more than 49% of a lease in
this zone. Foreigners can evade the law by assigning the lease to a
corporation that is wholly foreign owned or by assigning 51% of the
ownership of the land (on paper) to a Costa Rican citizen. Take a
careful look at the zoning laws before you start development in any of
these areas.
If there is no zoning plan for land you want to
develop, hold off on the celebration. If nobody has gotten around to
making a zoning plan, then it's up to you to create one on your own and
submit it to ICT (Tourist Board), the INVU (Housing and Urban
Development Department), and the local municipality for approval.
The
"zoning of land" plan you submit must address questions regarding –
among other things – public use areas, roads, water and electricity.
If
your development dream is located on the 15% or 20% of the coast land
not in a Maritime Zone, then you may develop the property without
filing a regulating plan. However, developments geared to the tourist
industry must be approved by ICT (Tourist Board), anything else
requires building permits.
Real Estate Prices
Real
estate prices in Costa Rica, like real estate prices everywhere, vary
according to location, amenities, the buyer's patience and the seller's
panic. Here are the sorts of prices you'll encounter in Costa Rica. All
prices are in U.S. dollars.
San Jose (September 2004)
- Land: $75.00US to $150.00US sq./m. ($6.97US to $13.94US sq./ft.)
- Office space: $700.00US to $1,500.00US per month.
- One bedroom apartments: $600.00US to $1,500.00US per month
Property values in San Jose tend to appreciate about 3% annually.
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