Owning a beachfront property in Costa Rica can be a charming feel – know steps away from the white sandpaper, with the soporific sound of the ocean and surrounded by the alcoholic tropical forest that fringes the beach hera. If that sounds invite, you will need to make certain you understand the rules that apply to possession on the beachfront. property that is located on the beachfront is governed by Maritime Zone Law of 1977 ( La Ley Sobre la Zona Marítimo Terrestre No. 6043 ). We are providing you here with a very general sketch of the rules that apply on the beachfront. It is of course important to consult with a good lawyer, if you do decide that the beachfront is for you.
Maritime Zone:
The Maritime Zone is the first 200 meters from the average mid-tid credit line. The first 50 meters from the average mid tide line is called the Public Zone. The Public Zone is owned by the government, you can not own domain in the Public Zone, except in certain special cases. besides, you can ’ triiodothyronine develop it and you can ’ metric ton obstruct access to it. Everyone has the proper to access it.
From the 50 meter mark another 150 meters in, is the Restricted Zone. In this area, the land is placid owned by the government and it is administered by the local Municipality. In this zone the Muni grants a concession to use the land for a time period of 5 to 20 years, with 20 being the most common. This concession is governed by a regulative partition plan that details precisely what you can and can not build. At the end of the 20 years you would need to apply to renew the Concession. This will imply legal fees, but you do not have to pay the Municipality to renew the concession. As character of the refilling they will probable come to check the property to ensure that any construction has been done in line with the Regulatory Plan. If there is anything that does not comply, they will ask you to fix this before renewing the concession.
When you purchase on the beachfront, what you are actually purchasing are the concession rights on the place granted by the municipal Government. So the 20 years of concession rights do not restart when you purchase it… you are purchasing an existing concession with a fix end date.
Regulatory Plan:
In order to grant a concession the Municipality must have a Regulatory Plan ( or Zoning Plan ) in place for a decide geographic area. Each person bunch within the Maritime Zone will have a specific zoning – whether it is ZRR ( Residential Recreative ), ZH ( hotel zoning ), ZAT ( tourist lodging ), ZPQ ( river protection ), ZP ( protection zone ), ZPF ( forest protection ), ZRBD ( residential low concentration ), ZT ( touristic ), ZC ( accommodative zone ), ZSB ( basic services ), and the tilt goes on.
The Regulatory Plan will set out in contingent what you can and can not do on a bunch within the Maritime Zone. It will provide acme restrictions, maximum construction coverage, count of units per hectare, etc. It will besides detail permit uses, conditional uses and uses that are specifically prohibited.
It is important to make certain the place you are considering has a zoning that allows you to do what you want to do. You must follow the rules set out by the Regulatory Plan, differently the Municipality can remove your concession rights. For exemplar if the Regulatory Plan says that there is a utmost stature restriction of 5 meters and you build two stories that reach 7 meters – they can require you to remove the second fib. There are some specific “ grandfather ” exceptions to these rules, that are property specific. Building Process:
The building serve in the Maritime Zone will be slower than for entitle property. This is because your building plans will need to be approved by a number of different governmental agencies, deoxyadenosine monophosphate well as the local Municipality. It can take anywhere from 6 to 12 months to get your build permits and can be up to 2 years for big scale development in the Maritime Zone, depending on the size of your undertaking. Single kin residential homes go through a faster permitting process, and big commercial projects take more fourth dimension. It is very important to use professionals who have a track record of getting things done in the Maritime Zone. The less errors that are made during an application process, the agile the work will be.
Annual Property Taxes:
On the beachfront there are two fees to be paid annually. First the annual canon tax is up to to 4 % of the assess land value. The Municipality can assign unlike tax values to unlike sections of the property. For model, on forest land they may assess 1-2 %, and on buildable down astir to 4 %. then, when you go to build, a 0.25 % property tax is assessed on the measure of the construction you build. Both taxes are billed individually. The judgment of respect is done by the local Municipality. They can reassess values when renewing a concession, with the transportation of a concession, or every 5 years. residential lots broadly pay a lower canon tax than hotel or other commercially zoned properties. We have seen canon taxes range from american samoa gloomy as $ 1,500 per year up to $ 25,000 per year.
On coroneted land the annual property tax is 0.25 % of the register value. The registered respect will be what you paid for the property. You are then required by police to reassess the value every five years. Risk versus Reward:
The dream of having a beachfront home or hotel is shared by many, and the options to do indeed are very limited, anywhere in the populace. There are constantly risks in not having full property rights frequently associated with entitle estate outside of the maritime zone. At the same time, there are great rewards that go along with enjoying beachfront living. Costa Rica does allow for this type of beneficial ownership, by going through their concession march, and abiding by all National Laws. If you are considering beachfront, it is vital to choose a realtor and a lawyer who understand the Maritime Zone Law and who have extensive prior experience in Maritime Zone transactions. Contact us to learn more about the beachfront properties that we have available here in Santa Teresa !
Read more: How Maritime Law Works
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