Can foreigners buy land in Costa Rica?

Who can own what: titled land, the coast and buildings on someone else's land

Do foreigners get the same land rights as Costa Ricans?

Yes. Foreigners can buy and fully own titled (fee-simple) land in Costa Rica with the same rights as Costa Rican citizens: they can sell it, rent it out, mortgage it or leave it to their heirs. Article 19 of the Constitution gives foreigners the same rights as nationals, with exceptions set by law.

The main limit is about location, not nationality. The Maritime Zone (zona marítimo terrestre, or ZMT) is a 200-meter strip measured from the ordinary high-tide line, where nobody, local or foreign, can own land outright, apart from some old titles registered before the 1977 law.

Inside the restricted part of that zone (the 150 meters after the public first 50 meters), the only legal route is a municipal concession. A foreigner needs 5 years of residency to hold one, and article 47 of Law 6043 also excludes companies with more than 50% foreign capital and companies set up by foreigners. So a company with a local holding 51% is common, but it's not a guarantee. The simpler option is titled land just outside the zone.

No nationality gets better or worse treatment for titled land outside the Maritime Zone.

Can I own a house but not the land in Costa Rica?

Yes, in a few cases. The most common is a condo, where you own your unit plus a share of the common areas. The other is a building on Maritime Zone concession land, where the state keeps the land.

When you buy buildings on concession land, what gets recorded at the Registro Nacional is a concession, not a title. You can use the land for 5 to 20 years and renew if you've paid the yearly fee (the canon) and met your obligations. If the concession isn't renewed, the buildings can pass to the municipality.

If your building sits on leased private land outside the Maritime Zone, what happens when the lease ends depends only on your contract. Negotiate renewal options and what happens to your buildings before you sign.

Do land rules differ by region?

For titled land, the rules are the same everywhere in the country. What changes is how complicated the deal gets, depending on whether the land is in or near the Maritime Zone or the border strip.

Beach towns like Tamarindo, Jacó, Manuel Antonio, Santa Teresa, Nosara and Playas del Coco carry the highest risk, because a lot of what is sold as "beachfront" there is concession land, not titled land.

The Maritime Zone law is the same along the whole coast, but each municipality runs its own concessions, and some still have no coastal zoning plan (plan regulador costero). Without that plan, a municipality can't grant new concessions in the normal way.

Can I buy land in Costa Rica through marriage to a local?

Marrying a Costa Rican doesn't give you any extra right to land in restricted areas. The 5-year residency rule for concessions still applies to you, and the company rules still apply to any company holding one.

If land goes in your Costa Rican spouse's name, you don't own it on paper. Get a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement, write down who owns what with a notary, and ideally have your own lawyer.

In a divorce, the family court applies the normal rules on marital property. It gets messy when the foreign spouse has no direct rights, especially for a concession held in the local spouse's name, so plan this before you buy.

What eligibility and status do I need to buy land in Costa Rica?

Do I need residency to buy land?

No. You don't need residency to buy titled land in Costa Rica. A tourist can buy and register property with a valid passport.

No visa or special permit is needed. What you do need is a Costa Rican notary to draw up and file the deed, and proof of where your money comes from: notaries apply anti-money-laundering checks to property deals.

You can also buy without traveling, by giving a power of attorney to someone in Costa Rica. That's legal, but it's exactly how many frauds work, so the notary has to check the power of attorney carefully and you should never sign a general one.

Do I need a local tax number to buy land?

Not to own land in your own name: your passport is enough for the deed. But you will deal with the tax office (Hacienda): the notary declares and pays the transfer tax, and you'll pay a municipal tax every year.

Hacienda replaced its old online system (ATV) with a new platform, TRIBU-CR, in 2025. If you buy through a company, it gets a company tax number (cédula jurídica). Residents use their DIMEX number. Your lawyer usually sets this up as part of the deal.

A local bank account isn't required by law, but it makes paying the municipal tax, utilities and any company fees much easier.

One tax point if you sell later: since 2025, when the seller isn't domiciled in Costa Rica, the buyer must withhold 2.5% of the price and pay it to Hacienda.

Is there a minimum investment to buy land?

No. There's no minimum price for a foreigner buying titled land in Costa Rica.

A minimum only matters if you want residency through investment: the investor route asks for at least $150,000 (₡68,600,000, or about €134,000), and real estate can count. The immigration authority (DGME) still listed that threshold in September 2026.

Buying land doesn't give you residency on its own: you still apply and wait. And the Law 9996 perks for new residents, including a 20% discount on the 1.5% transfer tax, ended for new applicants on 14 July 2026.

Are there restricted zones foreigners can't buy?

Yes, two big ones. The first is the Maritime Zone: 200 meters from the high-tide line, with 50 meters public and 150 meters only available through concessions.

The second is the border strip. Under article 7 of the Lands and Settlement Law (Law 2825), land within 2 kilometers of the borders with Nicaragua and Panama is state land that can't be acquired, unless it already has a legitimate title. The rural development agency (INDER) grants concessions there for up to 25 years, but not to foreigners without permanent residency, nor to companies more than 50% foreign-owned.

Beyond that, nobody can buy inside national parks and other state protected areas. Non-indigenous buyers can't acquire land inside indigenous territories (Law 6172), and plots that INDER handed out to farmers come with limits on resale.

To check a plot, pull its record from the Registro Nacional, ask the municipality, and have your lawyer compare the survey plan (plano catastrado) with the Maritime Zone line, the border strip and any protected area.

Can foreigners buy agricultural, coastal or border land?

Agricultural land: yes, if it's titled. There's no nationality rule, but you must respect zoning and environmental rules, and check that the plot isn't INDER land still under resale limits or a protected forest.

Coastal land: titled land outside the 200-meter Maritime Zone, yes. Inside it, you're dealing with a concession, and a foreigner needs 5 years of residency to hold one.

Border land: this is where the old idea that "anything goes" is wrong. Inside the 2-kilometer border strip, land is state-owned unless it carries an old legitimate title, and concessions there are closed to foreigners without permanent residency. Further from the border, titled land is open to foreigners like anywhere else.

How much does a lot cost in Costa Rica right now?

More than many buyers expect. On 22 October 2026, TuLugar showed a median asking price of $190,000 for residential lots of 500 to 2,000 m² across the country, based on 1,890 listings. Across all land, rural farms included, the median was about $106/m².

The Central Valley is the most expensive: about $718/m² for residential lots in San José listings (median lot $752,000) and about $292/m² in Santa Ana (median lot $280,000). With $100,000 in Santa Ana, that's roughly 340 m² of land.

On the coast, residential lots of 500 to 2,000 m² in Tamarindo were listed at a median $282,000. For the whole of Guanacaste province, Costa Rica Realtor counted 5,127 lots for sale in October 2026, with a median asking price of $299,000, all sizes and uses mixed.

These are asking prices, not sale prices. Homes and lots stay online a long time (186 days median nationally in August 2026, according to Propiedades.cr), so there's room to negotiate. Our estimate is that deals often close 6% to 12% below the first asking price, but no registry publishes matched sale prices.

What to aim for: compare the price per m² with nearby lots of the same size and use, and ask for a discount when the lot has no water letter, unclear access or a survey that doesn't match the ground. Those are the three things that most often turn a "cheap" lot into an expensive one.

What are the safest legal structures to control land in Costa Rica?

Is a long-term lease equivalent to ownership?

No. A lease is a contract right that depends on what you negotiated. Ownership of titled land is a property right recorded at the Registro Nacional.

Long leases of several decades are possible, with renewal options, but whether an extension holds up depends on the wording of your contract and on the owner respecting it.

You can sell or pass on lease rights if the lease allows it or the owner agrees. Buyers pay less for a lease than for ownership, and banks treat it very differently.

Can I buy land in Costa Rica via a local company?

Yes. Foreigners often hold land through a Costa Rican company (sociedad anónima, S.A., or limited company, S.R.L.), for privacy, estate planning and to keep the land separate from their other assets. Outside the Maritime Zone, you can own 100% of the shares.

A company costs money every year: in 2026, ₡69,330 ($150) in company tax for an inactive company that only holds property, up to ₡231,100 for an active one with high revenue, plus a yearly beneficial-owner declaration (RTBF), due on 30 April, with a minimum fine of 3 base salaries if you skip it.

Keep the company in good standing. Companies dissolved for unpaid taxes have been used by fraud rings to take over land (see the scam section below).

And don't assume that selling the company's shares instead of the land avoids the transfer tax: the transfer tax law (Law 6999) has a broad definition of a transfer. Ask your lawyer before you plan a sale that way.

What "grey-area" ownership setups get foreigners in trouble?

Most grey-area setups come from trying to get around the Maritime Zone rules, and they can cost you the whole investment.

The usual ones: a nominee who holds 51% "on paper" while the foreigner controls everything through side agreements, buying unregistered possession rights (derechos posesorios) as if they were a title, and paying a big deposit before checking the property number (finca) and title at the Registro Nacional.

If a structure breaks the law, the transfer or concession can be voided, you can lose what you built, and in some cases face criminal charges for false documents or tax evasion.

How does buying land work in Costa Rica, step by step?

What are the exact steps to buy land in Costa Rica?

The usual steps: (1) check whether the land is titled or a concession, (2) get the finca number and pull the registry record (owner, mortgages, liens), (3) hire your own Costa Rican lawyer and notary for due diligence, (4) sign a purchase agreement with the money in escrow, (5) sign the deed before a notary and pay the transfer tax and stamps, (6) have the deed registered at the Registro Nacional, (7) register with the municipality and move the utilities to your name.

For land, add three checks before step 4: a land-use certificate (certificado de uso de suelo) from the municipality saying what you can build, a water availability letter, and, if you're buying part of a bigger property, a separate approved survey plan for your piece (segregation).

A clean cash purchase usually takes about 4 to 10 weeks from offer to registration. It takes longer when the survey needs fixing or the title has problems.

The key documents are the private purchase agreement (contrato de compraventa), the public deed (escritura pública) signed before the notary, and the proof that the transfer tax and registration fees were paid.

Can you get water to build on a lot in Guanacaste right now?

Not everywhere. According to the UNA tourism observatory, 22 water boards (ASADAs) in Guanacaste had no capacity to grant new water connections in 2024, most of them around Playas del Coco, Tamarindo, Playa Potrero and Flamingo, with others further south around Nosara and Sámara.

2026 made it worse. In June, the weather service forecast a drought until March 2027 for the North Pacific because of El Niño. In September 2026, 32 ASADAs nationally reported water rationing, and in May the engineers' association (CFIA) had already warned that lack of water capacity was delaying housing projects.

For a land buyer, this is simple: a lot without a water availability letter (carta de disponibilidad de agua) from AyA or the local ASADA is not a building lot, whatever the listing says.

What to do: make the water letter and the land-use certificate conditions of the deal, confirm the letter directly with the ASADA, and ask whether it still grants new connections. If the lot depends on a private well, ask for its permit from the environment ministry's water department. No letter? Negotiate the price down hard or walk away.

What scams are common when it comes to buying land in Costa Rica right now?

What scams target foreign land buyers in Costa Rica right now?

Property fraud isn't everywhere, but organized rings exist, and some recruit notaries. Between October 2020 and March 2021, about 100 complaints were filed in San José alone, and prosecutors brought 33 cases against notaries in 2020. Rings mostly target valuable land in Guanacaste and Puntarenas.

The common scams: selling a Maritime Zone concession as if it were titled land, fake sellers with forged powers of attorney, survey tricks where the land you're shown isn't the land on the registered plan, and hidden mortgages or liens that block the transfer after you've paid.

Warning signs: pressure to pay a big deposit before the title is checked, a price far below the market, a seller who won't give the finca number, and agents who tell you that you don't need your own lawyer.

If it happens to you, you can file a criminal complaint with the judicial police (OIJ) and sue in civil court, but property cases take years and you may not get the money back. Prevention is much cheaper.

Can someone steal your land in Costa Rica while you live abroad?

Yes, and foreign owners abroad are the favorite target. In the "Madre Patria" case, reported in July 2024, prosecutors linked 19 separate investigations to one ring. Most victims were older foreigners who were out of the country, or owners whose companies had been dissolved.

The method: spotters looked for land with no registry activity for at least 10 years, often empty lots. A notary then wrote a false deed in which the "owner" appeared to sell, the land was flipped through front men, and finally sold or mortgaged to a buyer acting in good faith. Lots in Avellanas, Guanacaste, were among those taken.

Another trick in the same case was to name a liquidator for a company that had been dissolved by law, then use that role to transfer its land.

What to do: check your folio real at the Registro Nacional several times a year (prosecutors have advised three times), keep your company tax and RTBF filings up to date so the company isn't dissolved, never leave a general power of attorney lying around, and have someone you trust visit the land. If you see a move you didn't make, go to a lawyer and the OIJ at once.

How do I verify the seller is legit?

Pull the current ownership record from the Registro Nacional with the finca number, check that the person signing is the registered owner, and have your lawyer check any power of attorney used.

To see whether the title is clean, ask for a certified copy of the record (certificación literal). It shows the owner, mortgages (hipotecas), easements (servidumbres) and any notes that could affect the sale. A certified registry document costs ₡2,925 ($6) in 2026.

Then check with the municipality that there's no unpaid property tax or municipal charge, since those can follow the land.

The key professional is a notary (notario público), who in Costa Rica must also be a lawyer: only a notary can sign the deed and file the transfer. Hire your own, not the seller's.

How do I confirm land boundaries?

Get the registered survey plan (plano catastrado) linked to the finca number and compare it with what you see on the ground.

The plano catastrado filed with the National Cadastre and the description at the Registro Nacional should match each other and match the land.

A licensed surveyor (topógrafo) isn't required by law for every deal, but hire one for rural land, valuable lots or any place where the boundaries look unclear.

The usual boundary problems: plans that don't match the markers on the ground, neighbors who built over the line, disputed access roads (servidumbres de paso), and overlapping claims you only find out about after buying.

What will it cost me, all-in, to buy and hold land in Costa Rica?

What purchase taxes and fees apply?

In 2026, buyer closing costs usually come to about 3.5% to 4% of the price, and up to about 5% with a mortgage, a company or extra checks. On a $190,000 lot, that's roughly $6,650 to $7,600, and up to about $9,500.

The fixed part: the 1.5% transfer tax ($2,850 on a $190,000 lot) and about 0.85% for registration and stamps (of which the registry fee itself is 0.5%). The rest is mostly the notary, at about 1.25% plus 13% IVA, and $500 to $1,000 for escrow.

Foreigners pay exactly the same as Costa Ricans. The broker's commission, usually 3% to 6%, is normally paid by the seller.

Once you own the land, the municipal property tax is 0.25% a year of the registered value: about $475 on a lot registered at $190,000. The luxury home tax only applies to buildings with a construction value above ₡143,000,000 (about $315,000), so bare land doesn't pay it.

What hidden fees surprise foreigners in Costa Rica most often?

The surprises are usually small on their own but add up: basic title and lien checks at about $300 to $900, fuller due diligence at $1,000 to $2,500 or more, a new survey if the old one doesn't match the land, and the yearly costs of a company if you buy through one.

On the coast, add the yearly concession fee (canon) if any part of the land is in the Maritime Zone. It varies by municipality, and we found no single official rate, so get the figure in writing before you buy.

Stamps (timbres) from several agencies stack up at closing and registration, survey fixes show up when your lawyer compares the plan with the land, and concession costs show up during due diligence.

Protect yourself with a written, itemized cost estimate from your lawyer before you sign the purchase agreement, and keep 1% to 2% of the price aside for the unexpected.