Buying land in Costa Rica.

Before price, before paperwork — know exactly what you are buying.

• The plano catastrado (registered survey map). Every titled parcel has one. It shows the boundaries point-to-point in meters, the area, and the registered access.
• Walk the borders. Look for the physical markers — the mojones set in the ground at each corner. Boundaries on paper should match boundaries on the land. These parcels were recently surveyed with modern GPS equipment, so what the plano shows and what you walk are the same thing.
• Easements and rights of way (servidumbres) — who has the right to cross, and where. These are registered and they travel with the land.
• Waterways. Any quebrada or river on or bordering the parcel carries protected setbacks under Costa Rica’s water and forestry laws.
• Slope, access, and neighbors. Who adjoins you, and how you reach the land in the dry season and the rainy season.

On resurveying: the seller has already paid for the registered plano. If you want an independent resurvey, that is your cost as the buyer — and it can be money well spent. A resurvey occasionally surfaces something the paper record does not.

This is public, online, and it is the single most reassuring step in the process. Every registered property in Costa Rica appears in the National Registry. Confirm:

• The current registered owner — the person selling is the person on title.
• Bordering properties — the neighbors of record.
• Gravámenes y anotaciones — liens, mortgages, annotations, disputes.
• Property details — area, folio real, registered value.

No liens is what you want to see. Your attorney will pull a full title study; you can also look yourself. Nothing about this step is hidden.

Confirm what you are permitted to do and what reaches the land.

• Uso de suelo — the land-use certificate from the municipalidad. This states what the zoning permits.
• Electricity — availability and distance to the nearest connection.
• Water — a carta de agua (water letter) or a registered concession.

Water is the gate to a building permit. In Costa Rica you generally cannot obtain a construction permit without documented water. Understand the water before you commit to anything else.

Only now — once you know the boundaries and the title is confirmed legal and registered — does it make sense to agree on a number. A verbal agreement on price and terms comes first. It is then written into the document that follows.

Not the closing. This is where the transaction is actually decided. The contrato de compraventa is a legal document, prepared with a Costa Rican abogado-notario (in Costa Rica, only a notary-attorney can transfer property). It sets out:

• Seller information and full land details, including bordering properties.
• Buyer information — passport or cédula.
• The price, and the terms of payment.
• Earnest money — paid as a commitment of good faith. On these parcels the seller prefers some or all of it in cash at the signing of the purchase agreement, so costs can be covered as the process moves; escrow remains available if you’d rather use it.
• The due-diligence window — your time to verify everything above.
• The closing date.

The purchase agreement can be put together creatively — the timeline bends to the property. Thirty days is a normal close when the paperwork is up to date. Sixty days gives room when the close involves transfers like changing names on the electrical account. A few days is entirely possible when the purchase agreement and closing happen back to back — useful if you need to return to your home country. Beyond two months is unusual without a good reason.

On escrow: it’s available if you want it, not required. If you and the seller choose to use it, funds should be held by an escrow agent registered with SUGEF, Costa Rica’s financial regulator — confirm the registration before any money moves.

Budget beyond the purchase price. Allocation is negotiable and should be stated plainly in the purchase agreement. Traditionally, legal fees, stamps, and transfer fees are split between buyer and seller — that’s the starting point, not a rule. Sometimes a seller wants a set amount in pocket, in which case the buyer carries the remaining costs. It is a point of negotiation like any other.

Two lawyers is normal. Legal fees can be split between two attorneys — one for each side. It is always worth having your own representative review every document before you sign it.

Declare the true value. Costa Rica calculates transfer tax on the higher of the sale price or the registered fiscal value, and enforcement has tightened. Under-declaring creates problems later — in capital gains, in resale, in title clarity. Declare what you paid.

Land taxes must be current. Any outstanding property tax owed by the seller is settled up to the date of sale.

One honest warning: it is not unusual for a seller to arrive at closing without the funds to cover their own share of costs. It is worth knowing this can happen, and worth having the allocation written down clearly in advance.

By the time you reach closing, it is largely a formality. Every important detail was settled in the purchase agreement. Closing is about one thing: the signatures and the payment happening together. The funds move — from escrow if that was the path chosen, or directly at signing — the transfer deed is executed before the notary, and ownership transfers then, not later. The signed contract is recorded in the protocolo book held by that attorney before it is entered in the National Registry.

When the funds land and the deed is registered, the land is yours.