Informacion Posesoria Is The Legal Process To Acquire Title To Your Costa Rican Property.
(The legal Process To Acquire Costa Rican Title) Disclaimer: PLR will not sell disputed land and never will. This process will not be applicable if the land is currently in dispute of ownership.
A real estate owner may apply for the title for his Costa Rican property:
-if he shows he owns it for more than 10 years.
-If an owner doesn’t have the 10 years of possession, he could use the possession length of the previous owner only if the sale has been registered at the Registro Nacional.
Informacion posesoria or title process requirements:
The owner would have to provide information about the lot, its nature ( prairie, forest etc), its size, its current construction on the site, about his bordering neighbors and previous owners of the land being titled.
He will also have to indicate that the farm or lot has no title in the Registro Nacional.
He needs to acquire a letter from the bordering neighbors stipulating they agree with the boundaries, in accordance with the survey of the land.
He would also need to present an official survey and a document certified from the Registro Nacional indicating the other titled lots or farms that he owns.
One last additional requirement is to provide the name, phone number and ID of three witnesses having knowledge of the property and the area in question.
The process of Costa Rican title:
Once the judge receives the title request, he will immediately study the files. He will notify the owner to fix the errors if any. Once the file is complete and corrected, he will contact the neighbors and previous owners to verify the ownership of the farm. They will have a month to express their disagreement with the title process.
If the judge is already in possession of a boundary agreement from the neighbors, he has no need to contact them, neither the neighbors separated by a public road or natural borders such rivers etc.
The title request will then be published in the Boletin Judicial. The concerned persons will have one month to contest the title process.
The judge will then interrogate the three witnesses about the farm. m The questions most likely used are:
Has the farm been owned in a peaceful manner and publicly witnessed?
How long have they knowledge of the farm?
If the farm is larger than 30 hectares (around 75 acres),
the judge will order an inspection of the land, to identify the nature of the land ( forest rivers, prairie ) and its current construction.
Once the judge has finished the title process, he will submit it to the Procuraduria General de Costa Rica for Costa Rican title approval.
How long does it take to get a Costa Rican Title:
In general, a title process lasts from 8 months to 2 years.
Once the farm gets registered in the Costa Rica National Registry with its own title, a three years validation term will be in effect, which can allow a third party the option contest the title.
The validation term may be reduced to one year for a Costa Rica bank loan application.
How much does it cost?
My first Costa Rica title process cost me $80, 10 years ago. Unfortunately, my lawyer passed away. She got the title of my own farm in 8 months. Bless her heart and soul. I really thought it was a miracle at the time. Nowadays, Costa Rican title process can range up to $1000 or more, depending on which lawyer you are working with.
If you want to know more about the Costa Rican Title Process:
In case, a public road is dividing a farm. The farm will have two different titles but the owner can get both through one file.
Process to correct the size of a titled land:
A farm who got its title before 1930 will not need another title process to be corrected. The size correction can’t, in any cases, exceed:
For a land from 5,000m2 to 5 hectares: the size correction can’t exceed more than 5,000 m2 or a 50% of the titled area.
For a land from 5 to 30 hectares: the size correction can’t exceed more than 25% of the titled area.
For a land larger than 30 hectares: the size correction can’t exceed more than 10% of the titled area.
In case corrections involve a larger area, the owner will have to start a new title process.
All information were translated, by myself, from the law # 5257 from the 31st of July 1973 modifying the previous law # 139 from the 14th of July 1941. Read the law ( link)
Nathalie Donahue.
