Can Foreigners Buy Property in Costa Rica?

Yes, with one big distinction every buyer needs to understand: titled land, concession land, and the untitled land you should avoid.

Yes. Foreigners can buy, own, and sell titled property in Costa Rica with exactly the same rights as citizens, whether or not they ever live here. The confusion comes from the two kinds of land that are not titled: beachfront concession land and untitled possession land. Knowing the difference is the single most important thing a foreign buyer can learn before looking at listings.

Titled property: what most buyers should be looking for

Titled land (propiedad titulada, often called fee simple by North Americans) is registered at Costa Rica's National Registry under a unique folio real number. The registry entry shows the legal owner, the exact registered survey, any mortgages, liens, easements, or annotations, and the full chain of ownership. Anyone can look it up. When you buy titled property, the notary transfers that registry entry into your name or your company's name, and you own it outright, forever, with no residency requirement and no restrictions on selling, renting, or leaving it to your heirs.

Virtually every home, condo, and building lot in Playas del Coco, Ocotal, Playa Hermosa, Sardinal, Curubandé, and the gated communities behind the coast is titled property. So are most homes in Tamarindo, Potrero, Las Catalinas, and Hacienda Pinilla. If a listing is titled, the foreign-ownership question is already answered.

Concession land: the Maritime Zone

Costa Rica's Maritime Zone Law (Ley 6043) reserves the first 200 meters of coastline, measured inland from the mean high-tide line, as public property. The first 50 meters are the public zone: beach, open to everyone, and impossible to own or build on. The next 150 meters are the restricted zone, which the local municipality can grant to individuals or companies under a concession, a long-term lease of typically 5 to 20 years that can be renewed.

Concessions are where the foreign-ownership rules actually bite. A foreigner who has not held legal residency in Costa Rica for at least five years cannot hold more than 49 percent of a concession, and a corporation holding a concession must be at least 51 percent owned by Costa Ricans or qualifying residents. In practice, foreigners buy concession property through a Costa Rican corporation with a local partner or nominee holding the majority, which is legal when structured properly but adds cost, complexity, and dependence on the partner. Concessions can also lapse if the annual canon (fee) goes unpaid or the municipality declines to renew, and the municipal zoning plan governs what you can build.

Some of Costa Rica's most beautiful beachfront is concession land, and there are well-run concession properties on the Gold Coast. But a buyer who wants simplicity should understand that "beachfront" and "titled" rarely appear in the same listing. When they do, it is because the property was titled before 1977 or sits in one of the few areas exempted from the law, and your attorney will confirm which. Everything Expat Properties CR lists is titled unless we say otherwise in the listing.

Untitled land and possession rights

The third category is land that has never been registered at all, held under possession rights (derechos de posesión). In rural Guanacaste you will occasionally see very cheap land advertised this way. The seller may have farmed it for decades, but without a registered title there is no guarantee of ownership, no way to get a mortgage, and a real risk of competing claims. Titling possession land is possible through a court process that takes years. For a foreign buyer this is an expert-only purchase, and it is not something we recommend to anyone who is not prepared to lose the money.

Other restrictions worth knowing

A 2-kilometer strip along the Nicaraguan and Panamanian borders is national property and cannot be privately owned. Indigenous reserves cannot be sold to non-indigenous buyers. Land inside national parks and protected zones cannot be developed. Wetlands and mangroves are protected regardless of who holds title around them. And any lot needs a municipal land-use certificate (uso de suelo) confirming that residential construction is permitted; agricultural zoning, forest cover restrictions, and setback rules from rivers and springs can limit what you build even on clean titled land.

Personal name, or a Costa Rican corporation?

Foreigners may hold titled property directly in their own name or through a Costa Rican corporation, either a Sociedad Anónima (S.A.) or a Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada (S.R.L.). Corporations were the traditional choice because they allow the property to change hands by transferring shares, keep the owner's name off the public registry, and simplify inheritance. They cost money to form and maintain: an annual corporate tax, an annual shareholder declaration to the tax authority, and a registered agent. For US taxpayers a controlled foreign corporation also creates IRS filing obligations (Form 5471), and Canadians have their own foreign-affiliate reporting. Many buyers today hold in their personal name and write a Costa Rican will instead. Neither route affects your right to own; it is a tax and estate-planning choice to make with your advisors.

What your attorney checks

Because ownership rests on the registry, due diligence is a document exercise. A proper title study includes the registry report (informe registral) for the folio real; the registered survey (plano catastrado) compared against the fences and boundaries on the ground, ideally by a licensed surveyor; the municipal land-use certificate; the water letter (carta de agua) proving a legal water connection or the right to one; proof that property taxes and, for condos, HOA dues are current; and, for corporate sellers, the corporation's standing and the authority of the person signing. On the Gold Coast this takes two to six weeks and costs a few hundred dollars in fees beyond the attorney's closing charge. It is the cheapest insurance you will ever buy.

What foreign ownership does not require

You do not need residency, a Costa Rican bank account, a local partner (for titled land), a visa beyond a tourist entry, or to be present at closing; a special power of attorney lets your attorney sign for you. You do need a passport, proof of where your funds came from (Costa Rica's anti-money-laundering rules apply to every closing), and a Costa Rican tax identification number, which your attorney obtains for you as part of the process.

The short version

Titled land: yes, fully, with no restrictions, and that is nearly everything we sell. Concession land: yes, but with a 49 percent cap for non-residents and a corporate structure to manage. Possession land: technically possible, practically unwise. If a property you are looking at is not clearly one of the first two, ask before you fall in love with it. Our buying guide covers the purchase process itself, and our land listings show the documentation status of every lot.

This guide is general information from a licensed real estate agency, not legal, tax, or immigration advice. Laws, thresholds, and rates change; confirm current figures with your attorney and accountant before you act.