How to Buy Property in Costa Rica as a Foreigner: The Complete Process, Step by Step

My Guanacaste Real Estate · CELAFI-Certified Buyer Advisory · Updated August 15, 2026

Last reviewed August 2026. Prices, regulations and institutional information were verified against the sources linked below.

Foreigners can own property in Costa Rica outright, in their own name, with the same title a Costa Rican gets. That part is simple. The protection lives in the process, and the process is where people get hurt.

This is the complete purchase process, written by a CELAFI-certified buyer advisory. Every legal and tax figure below links to the law, decree or institution that publishes it — because in this market almost everything you will read is published by someone who earns a commission when you buy.

Can foreigners own property in Costa Rica?

Yes, outright and in your own name. Article 19 of the Costa Rican Constitution gives foreigners the same individual and social rights as citizens, subject to the exceptions the Constitution and the laws establish, and no general law restricts property ownership by nationality. You do not need residency, a local partner or a permit. The Maritime Zone is the significant exception.

A foreigner in Costa Rica receives the same fee simple title (propiedad titulada) a Costa Rican receives, recorded under their own name in the same public registry. Not a lease, not a partnership with a local, not a stripped-down version of ownership.

The constitutional basis is Article 19: Los extranjeros tienen los mismos deberes y derechos individuales y sociales que los costarricenses, con las excepciones y limitaciones que esta Constitución y las leyes establecen. Article 45 separately makes property inviolable, subject to expropriation only for legally proven public interest and with prior compensation.

A small precision that matters. You will see this stated as “the Costa Rican government says foreigners have identical property rights.” What exists is Article 19 of the Constitution, plus the absence of any nationality restriction in the general property law. That is a sound legal position, and it is an inference from the texts rather than a government declaration. We would rather you knew which it was.

You can buy while in the country on a tourist entry, sell whenever you want, and take the proceeds home. The one significant exception accounts for a large share of the horror stories: the Maritime Zone, which has its own section below.

The eight steps of a Costa Rican purchase

Hire your own attorney first, then run a registry study, then sign an option agreement that defines the due diligence period and your right to walk away with the deposit. Deposit into a registered escrow, complete non-title due diligence, close before a notary, confirm registration, and set up the annual obligations. Skipping step one is what causes most problems.

Step 1 — Hire your own attorney, before anything else

In Costa Rica, closings are handled by a notario público: an attorney with state authority to draft public deeds. This is not the ceremonial notary of the United States. This person carries real legal weight.

The seller will usually offer to just use their notary. It is simpler and cheaper, and it is the most common way foreign buyers end up unprotected. That attorney’s duty runs to the transaction and to their client, not to you. Hire your own independent counsel. That is a recommendation, and it is the one we would defend hardest.

Step 2 — The registry study at the Registro Nacional

Costa Rica has one genuinely excellent piece of infrastructure for buyers: a centralised, public, digital property registry. Every titled property carries a folio real. Per the Registro Nacional’s own service guide, a certificación literal covers the property’s characteristics, owner, gravámenes and annotations, and a full estudio registral is delivered within five business days.

Your attorney should confirm, at minimum:

• The seller is in fact the registered owner.
• No mortgages, liens, embargos or judicial annotations.
• Property taxes and any HOA fees are current.
• The plano catastrado matches the physical property.
• No recorded easements or rights of way you were not told about.
• No pending litigation attached to the folio.

A clean folio real is the foundation. If the study comes back murky, the correct answer is usually not to negotiate the price down. It is the next property.

Step 3 — The offer and the option agreement

You sign an opción de compra setting price, closing date, who pays what, and — critically — the due diligence period and your right to walk away with the deposit intact. Standard earnest money is 5% to 10%, and it should never go directly to the seller.

Step 4 — Escrow, and what SUGEF registration does and does not mean

Your deposit goes into escrow with a firm registered with SUGEF under Ley 7786, which covers persons who administer client funds in property transactions. You can check a firm’s registration status on SUGEF’s own consultation page.

Read this before you rely on that registration. SUGEF states on that page that registration no es una autorización para operar. SUGEF supervises anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorist-financing compliance. It does not supervise these firms’ operations, their handling of client transactions, or their financial soundness. Registration is a floor, not a seal of approval.

Expect the escrow agent to ask for source-of-funds documentation. That is the law, and it applies to everyone. Buyers who find it intrusive tend to be the ones who look for a way around it. An unregulated escrow arrangement is a wire transfer with extra steps.

Step 5 — Due diligence beyond the title

Title is necessary and not sufficient. The full checklist is a separate article; the short version is water, legal access, electricity, uso de suelo, construction permits, setbacks and environmental restrictions, and concession status if the property sits in the Maritime Zone.

Water is the one that kills deals in Guanacaste. Not price. A dated availability letter from the operator that actually serves the parcel, or there is no construction permit.

Step 6 — Closing

Both parties appear before the notary, in person or by power of attorney. The notary drafts the escritura pública, funds release from escrow, and the deed is executed. Ownership transfers at signing.

Step 7 — Registration

Ley 3883, article 3 requires registrars to return documents fully qualified and registered within a maximum of eight calendar days. A reservation of priority annotation is valid for one non-extendable month from presentation.

Eight calendar days is the statutory maximum, not the figure you will hear. The “30 to 60 days” often quoted is practitioner lore rather than law. Real timelines vary with defects, corrections and workload, and a reform changing the count to business days was in the legislative pipeline as of late 2025. Ask your attorney for the registry confirmation in writing, and do not treat the transaction as finished until you have seen it.

Step 8 — Set up your ongoing obligations

Property tax, the luxury home tax if it applies, and corporate filings if you bought through an entity. Those are the next two sections.

What it actually costs, with the statute behind each line

Closing costs run roughly 3.5% to 4.5% of the price. The verifiable components are a 1.5% transfer tax, 0.5% in registry fees and a 0.2% municipal stamp — 2.2% before notary fees and smaller stamps. Notary fees follow a statutory sliding scale that works out near 1.1% on a mid-priced property, plus 13% VAT. Custom splits this 50/50, but that is custom, not law.

Closing costs, and the instrument that sets each

Item	Rate	Set by
Property transfer tax	1.5%	Ley 6999, art. 8. Base is the real transaction value, never lower than the highest registered value
Registry fees (derechos de registro)	0.5%	Ley 4564, per the Registro Nacional qualification guide
Municipal stamp (timbre municipal)	0.2%	Ley 7794, same guide
Other stamps	See note	Fiscal, agrarian, National Archive and Bar Association stamps, each on its own schedule
Notary fees	Sliding scale	Decreto 39078-JP as reformed by 41457-JP, art. 74
VAT on services	13%	Ley 9635, art. 10 — the general rate on all taxable operations

The notary line deserves unpacking, because it is the one buyers most often treat as negotiable. Per the notarial tariff, article 74 sets fees por cuantía on a sliding scale: 2% on the first ₡11 million, 1.5% on the excess to ₡16.5 million, 1.25% on the excess to ₡33 million, and 1% on everything above that. Article 5 makes these minimums — fees no podrán ser inferiores, though parties may agree in writing to more.

Method
The table below applies that statutory scale to sample prices, converted at ₡450.46 per US dollar, the BCCR MONEX weighted average for 21 August 2026. These are calculations from the decree, not quotes, and they are the legal floor rather than what any given notary will charge.

What the statutory notary minimum works out to

Purchase price	Notary minimum	Plus 13% VAT	As % of price
US$150,000	US$1,897	US$2,143	1.26%
US$250,000	US$2,897	US$3,273	1.16%
US$450,000	US$4,897	US$5,533	1.09%
US$750,000	US$7,897	US$8,923	1.05%
US$1,000,000	US$10,397	US$11,748	1.04%

Add it up on a US$450,000 purchase: 2.2% in tax, registry and municipal stamp is US$9,900, plus about US$5,533 in notary fees with VAT, which is 3.43% before the smaller stamps and before any legal work beyond the deed itself. That is how the familiar 3.5% to 4.5% range is built, and why it lands where it does.

Ask for an itemised breakdown before you budget. Beyond the percentages above, the Registro Nacional guide lists four further stamps — fiscal, agrarian, National Archive and Bar Association — each on its own schedule. We publish 2.2% in fixed percentages, which is the part that can be confirmed line by line; you will see a higher combined figure quoted elsewhere. Ask your attorney for an itemised desglose rather than budgeting from any published percentage, ours included.

Closing costs are traditionally split 50/50 between buyer and seller. That is custom, not law. It is fully negotiable and it should be explicit in your option agreement.

What you pay every year afterwards

Annual property tax is 0.25% of registered value, administered by the municipality. The luxury home tax applies above ₡143 million of construction value in 2026, at progressive rates from 0.25% to 0.55%, due 15 January. If you hold through a corporation, the annual corporation tax ran from ₡69,330 to ₡231,100 for 2026, plus an April beneficial-ownership filing.

Annual property tax: Ley 7509, article 23 sets it at un cuarto por ciento (0,25%) of the value registered with the tax administration, and article 3 makes the municipalities the tax administration — they do the valuations, bill and collect.

Luxury home tax (impuesto solidario): for 2026, Hacienda’s official notice sets the threshold at construction and fixed installations exceeding ₡143 million, with progressive rates from 0.25% up to ₡359 million through to 0.55% above ₡2,162 million. The brackets were set by Decreto Ejecutivo 45358-H, published in La Gaceta 239 on 19 December 2025, and payment was due 15 January 2026. Confirm the current figures each year, because the decree is reissued.

If you hold through a corporation: the 2026 corporation tax notice sets ₡69,330 for inactive entities and ₡115,550, ₡138,660 or ₡231,100 for active ones depending on gross income, with the 2026 deadline on 2 February. Separately, the beneficial ownership registry requires an ordinary declaration every April, filed through the Central Bank platform.

Capital gains on exit are 15% of the net gain for property acquired after 1 July 2019, and the widely quoted 2.25% alternative is transitional relief that does not apply to a purchase made today. Running costs beyond tax — electricity, HOA, water, transport — are in the cost of living guide, with the tariffs sourced.

Personal name or corporation?

Both are common and neither is automatically right. A corporation offers liability separation and can simplify transfers and estate planning; personal ownership is simpler and cheaper to maintain. For US buyers, foreign entity ownership triggers real IRS reporting that can outweigh the convenience. Decide with your Costa Rican attorney and your home-country tax advisor together, before closing.

Two structures dominate: buying in your own name, or through a Costa Rican SRL, or less often an SA.

This is a decision for your attorney and your home-country tax advisor, together. Not for your real estate agent, and not for a forum post. That is our recommendation, stated as one.

The practical asymmetry: changing structure after closing means paying the transfer tax a second time. Get it right the first time.

The Maritime Zone: where the horror stories come from

Most Costa Rican oceanfront falls inside the Maritime Terrestrial Zone under Ley 6043. The first 50 metres from the high tide line is public and can never be owned. The next 150 metres is concession land, leased from the state. Article 47 bars concessions to foreigners who have not resided in the country for at least five years, and to entities more than fifty percent foreign-owned.

The Maritime Terrestrial Zone is governed by Ley 6043 and works in two bands measured from the mean high tide line.

The first 50 metres, the public zone. Inalienable national property, dedicated to free public transit. Nobody owns it — not Costa Ricans, not foreigners, not the hotel next door.

The next 150 metres, the restricted zone. Here municipalities may grant concessions: time-limited leases from the state. A concession is not title.

Article 47 is stricter than the shorthand, and worth reading in the original. It bars concessions a extranjeros que no hayan residido en el país por lo menos durante cinco años, to sociedades anónimas con acciones al portador, to entities domiciled abroad, to entities formed in the country by foreigners, and to entities whose shares or capital correspond en más de cincuenta por ciento a extranjeros. Transfers made in contravention carecerán de toda validez.

Two corrections to what we and everyone else publish. First, the statute says more than fifty percent, not a “49% cap” — the 49% figure is a practitioner’s safe harbour, not statutory language, and we have quoted it as though it were the law. Second, the text says residido, which is not obviously identical to holding formal residency status, and we found no official interpretation of that distinction. Both are questions for a Costa Rican attorney on a specific file.

This is where buyers get hurt. Structures built to disguise foreign control of a concession are void by the article’s own terms. A buyer who paid beachfront money for one can lose the investment with no meaningful recourse.

The commonly cited figure that 95% of Costa Rican oceanfront sits inside the zone circulates without a source, so we do not repeat it. What is verifiable is the legal structure above, and it is the part that decides anything. The full titled-versus-concession comparison is here, and our Playa Hermosa guide works through a real example, including the coastal regulatory plan that governs that beach.

Financing, briefly

Most foreign purchases here are cash. Central Bank data put the average Costa Rican housing loan rate at 7.83% at the end of 2025, and residency status rather than nationality is the real gate at local banks. Private lenders are faster and roughly double the cost. Seller financing is common and the legal instrument matters more than the rate.

If you intend to finance, establish what you actually qualify for before you make an offer, not after. Local bank underwriting for someone without residency or local income is slow and narrow, and a financing contingency belongs in the option agreement rather than in your hopes.

The honest summary

Costa Rica is one of the most open property markets in Latin America for foreign buyers. The legal framework is sound, the registry is transparent and public, and the ownership right is real. What the country does not do is protect you from your own process, because the checks a title insurer or state regulator performs automatically elsewhere are here yours to commission.

There is no licensing board policing every agent, no MLS obligation, and no statutory buyer’s agency the way North Americans expect. The due diligence that happens automatically back home is, here, yours to commission and yours to skip.

That is the whole thing. The risk in Costa Rica is not the country. It is arriving with North American assumptions about who is looking out for you.

Frequently asked questions

Sources and verification

Every legal and tax figure above links to its instrument at the point it is used.

1. Constitución Política de Costa Rica — Article 19, rights of foreigners. The constitutional basis for equal individual rights, including property.
2. Ley 6999 — Impuesto sobre Traspaso de Bienes Inmuebles. Article 8 sets the 1.5% transfer tax; article 7 defines the taxable base.
3. Registro Nacional — Guía de Calificación Registral, Bienes Inmuebles. Publishes the registry fee of 0.5% under Ley 4564 and the 0.2% municipal stamp under Ley 7794.
4. Colegio de Abogados — notarial tariff, Decreto 39078-JP as reformed by 41457-JP. Article 74 sets the sliding scale of fees; article 5 makes them minimums.
5. Ley 7509 — Impuesto sobre Bienes Inmuebles. Article 23 sets the 0.25% annual rate; article 3 makes municipalities the tax administration.
6. Ministerio de Hacienda — impuesto solidario 2026 notice. The ₡143 million threshold and the 0.25% to 0.55% brackets for 2026.
7. SUGEF — registry of persons inscribed under Ley 7786. Where escrow agent registration is checked, and where SUGEF states it is not an authorisation to operate.
8. Ley 6043 — Ley sobre la Zona Marítimo Terrestre, official text. Article 47 on concessions and foreign participation, quoted in this article.
9. Ley 3883 — Ley sobre Inscripción de Documentos en el Registro Público. Article 3, the eight-calendar-day maximum for qualification and registration.

Two questions here turn on your own circumstances rather than on the law, and they belong with your attorney: how the registration timetable applies to your particular filing, and what residido in article 47 requires of your specific immigration status. Neither has a general answer worth relying on.

Read next: Titled Property vs. Concession in Costa Rica: The Difference That Decides What You Actually Own — the one distinction that decides whether you own an asset or lease one.

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My Guanacaste Real Estate is a CELAFI-certified real estate advisory. We represent buyers — your Buyer Protector in Costa Rica.

This article is general education, not legal, tax or investment advice. Statutory provisions and tax figures are linked to their instrument and were verified in August 2026; laws, decrees and annual thresholds change, and several are reissued each December. Nothing here substitutes for a licensed Costa Rican attorney engaged by you, or for tax advice in your own country. Next scheduled review: February 2027.