What kind of property is out there?

Registered property

In Costa Rica, all properties that have an owner according to law, are recorded in a public institution in charge of all the information regarding: owners of land, cars, boats, intellectual property, corporations, powers of attorney and more. This institution gives publicity to this information and helps make real estate and business transactions in general more secure. It’s called the National Registry (Registro Nacional) and through there you can find all the information you need to know about any property you are interested in: who is the current owner, the recorded plot map (plat), the size of the land, and if there’s a mortgage on the property, or other kind of liens or encumbrances.

Within the recorded properties, there’s a special classification:

Condominium Property

This kind of property is under a different regulation that offers some advantages, like the possibility of enjoying common areas such as pools, courts or gardens, and some restrictions, ones set by law and others by the Condominium Bylaws. They usually have regulated in-condo security, behavior code, and a maintenance fee, and because of all this they are usually a little more expensive than regular property.

Maritime Terrestrial Zone (Zona Marítimo Terrestre or ZMT)

The Maritime Terrestrial Zone is an area of 200 meters (646 feet) from the mean high tide line that has a special regulation. This area is divided in two:

- The Public Area, comprehended between the mean high tide line and 50 meters (164 ft) inland. This area is public and there is no possibility of ownership of any kind, neither for Costa Ricans nor foreigners, and only approved marinas and ports can be built there, through special regulations. In Costa Rica there are no private beaches and if you are looking for a beachfront property you should be extra careful on your search,.

- The Restricted Area, located between the end of the public area line and extra 150 meters (492 ft) inland. This is also known as the concessionary area. This area can’t be own either, but the Government can allow you to build, use and enjoy the land for a limited amount of years (concession). Once the concession time expires, the land and everything built on it goes back to the Government.

In order to obtain a concession, a procedure must be established to the Municipality (Local Government). It’s important to be aware that his procedure usually takes time. Moreover, as one of the very few limitations for foreigners in real estate matters, by law the concession can’t be given to a foreigner alone; the concessionaire must be Costa Rican or a company that is mainly controlled by Costa Ricans (at least 51% of the company’s shares)

Non-registered property

Almost all the land in Costa Rica is recorded in the Public Registry. However, mainly in rural areas, the registration of properties is still a process and therefore you can find certain terrains that have no registration number. These lands are considered to be non suitable for transfer, since there’s no registered owner.

Public Property

There are some pieces of land that belong to government institutions, municipalities, National Parks and reserves, These are considered public property and are included in different special regulations and have in common that they are considered to be public and with them the rule is they will remain public.

Time share or 4Dimension Property

This is not strictly an ownership right, but is a figure that has become common in other countries and Costa Rica as well. This is a land, usually with edification (a house, a condo or a ranch), recorded in the National Registry and owned by a company or a person. This owner sells the right of use and enjoy of that land for a specific time frame to different persons, usually one week per year. A person can buy a time share for a limited time of years and a specific week a year and enjoy that property while he has the right to, according to a contract.

This kind of property is called 4Dimension Property because you can enjoy the 3Dimensions of the land (length, height and width) just for a limited time a year, “time” being the Fourth Dimension.