Real Estate Legal Advice

Perhaps as important as finding the property and/or investment of your dreams here in Costa Rica, is having a knowledgeable and reputable attorney to ensure that all the necessary due diligence is completed in every phase of your acquisition and investment. Our firm takes a very active role not only in making attorney recommendations, but also in serving as a direct liaison with them so that there is a constant and consistent flow of communication to ensure a secure transaction for our clients. We coordinate not only with our client's attorney, but also the counterpart, and oversee the due diligence process alongside the attorneys in a very active role.

Some of the most common questions that we hear from our clients are:

1) Are there any limitations to foreign ownership? Are properties fee simple title or concession properties? In general, foreigners have the same rights as Costa Ricans to ownership. The only exception are a small percentage of properties that are located within the maritime zone and granted concessions, where a foreigner can hold up to 49% ownership. 2Costa Rica Real Estate markets and promotes very few concession properties, therefore, unless otherwise noted in the listing, or dialogue with your agent, the properties that we represent are almost all fee simple, titled property.

2) Can I hold property ownership in my personal name, or a corporate name? Properties can be purchased either in a personal name, or through a holding corporation. The latter is generally the preferred method both to mitigate personal liabilities as well as to facilitate the future sale or transfer of the property. 

3) What are the estimated closing costs involved in a real estate acquisition? There are three main components to the closing costs for a typical real estate transaction. There are a series of government stamps, which are equal to 8.5 colones for every 1000 colones of the purchase price, as well as a maximum of 10,645 colones (which are distributed amongst Municipal, Fiscal, Bar Association and Archive Stamps). However, the most important aspects of the closing costs are a 1.5% transfer tax, as well as the legal/deed transfer fees which range from 1% - 1.5% of the purchase price. This is a range and it fluctuates according to the purchase price, and is established by a published table issues by the Bar association and be easily corroborated to ensure accuracy. If a property purchase is being financed, there would be additional fees in order to establish the security for the balance of the debt; typically a mortgage or a trust.

We know that each of our clients may have unique questions about the process and we are both happy to provide recommendations to trusted attorneys, but also willing to provide our insight to ensure that you have a clear understanding of the process.