Property Management in Costa Rica, Residential and Commercial

Implementing effective management concepts from the US we have built an international full-service property and asset management company designed to make owning offshore real estate investments hassle-free while adding value and maximizing returns on well-located quality real estate investments.

We are a full-service property management company in business since 2002. We have built a reputation for solid leadership and high standards and are regarded among the top Property Management companies in Panama. Our focus is on caring for your property and maximizing your net income. We specialize in residential properties located in the prime downtown area, where the demand for managed properties is highest.

Our Property Management team is comprised of professionals in accounting, legal, reservations, marketing, housekeeping, and maintenance.

Our services include:

• Experienced multilingual staff

• Online marketing and booking

• Utilities and administration fees payments

• Monthly owner statement with complete and organized accounting

• Maintenance and cleaning services

Online Marketing and Booking

Our service includes the promotion of your property. We have therefore several websites and options available always focusing on your wishes and needs. Additional to our flagship webpage Premier Casa we own several smaller pages with a more specified focus on various target groups. Furthermore, and especially for short-term rentals, we cooperate with Airbnb, Booking.com, and other listing pages for driving the maximum of attendance to your property.

Our advanced backend system allows us to integrate auto booking options, especially for short-term rentals. Our booking system is working fully automated and permanently synchronizing between the backend and the pages where your property is listed.

Here you will find a summary of law 820 of 2003 that regulates leasing of properties and some of its most important points for landlords and tenants. Please be aware that this is a piece of first general information.

Real State law in Costa Rica

Real estate law in Costa Rica is regulated by the Costa Rican Civil Code for acquiring, selling disposing of property. The official registration of real state property is made through the registry system, which is administered by the Real Property Registry of the Costa Rican National Registry. This is a public registry system that provides for the public registration of real states in all its forms.

Types of properties in Costa Rica

Fee Simple or freehold: This is one of the most popular and comprehensive types of property ownership it essentially means that the owners can do whatever they like with the property, subject only to Costa Rican law such as Zoning, taxation, and criminal law.

Beachfront property

The laws regarding beachfront property in Costa Rica are unique, one thing that is different from other countries is that the first 50 meters from the high-tide inward at the beach is always considered public property, therefore, no permanent structure is permitted, the next 150 meters of land from the original 50-meters from the coastal zone, is owned by the local municipality and can only be leased in form of concession, meaning that the leasing company has the right to use and enjoy a specific property for a pre-determined period of time if a company wants to lease this land, a Costa Rica must own at least 50% of the company that wants to lease the property from the municipality unless the foreigner has been living in Costa Rica for at least 5 years in that case they may own the majority of the concession.

Condominium

Costa Rica has laws regulating condominiums, under the so-called ¨condominium law¨ this law allows for the developers to set their by-laws to regulate some aspect of the development and also restricts the owners from making structural, architectural, or changes that may impact the intended ¨look and feel¨ of the property.

Untitled property

In Costa Rica, there are properties that are not recorded in the public registry. Some people have been inhabiting these properties for years and some others have never been inhabited, they may lay claim to one or more untitled properties, and may even put it up for sale, however, if the property has no title, then they have no owner, then the sale of this properties essentially becomes a scam, and we advise to stay away from these properties at all cost.

Time-Share

This type of property is usually used as a vacation property and is a shared ownership model, meaning that the property has two or more owners, and each owner is granted a limited time to spend in the property during the year, in a timer share the cost of the property such as maintenance cost, property tax, utilities is divided among the owners, typically these properties are located within a larger resort area, however, these types of properties are not very common in Costa Rica.

A guide to becoming a Costa Rican property owner

Here you will find some basic steps to become a Costa Rican property owner, be advised that this should not replace the advice of a lawyer.

Make an offer

The very first thing you should do if you intend to buy a house, once you have chosen a property, is to make an offer, the way to do that in Costa Rica is to first draft a letter of intent to purchase, in some other places is also known as purchase proposal, this proposal usually has a proposed purchase price, as well as the terms and condition of the sale.

Set up an escrow account

The escrow company acts as a third party and holds the money deposit from one party as well as the title transfer on the other party, setting up an escrow account is easy you just need a copy of your passport as well as filling out a know your client form, your tax returns from the previous year and a copy of the sale/purchase contract, this contract must be signed by your lawyer and both parties.

Make sure the property has a clear title

It is highly recommended that you do a search on the title of the property since in Acosta Rica all properties are supposed to be registered in the public registry, you can easily do an online search at www.registronacional.go.cr either with the registration number of the property or by the name index.

The property title contains important information such as the name of the title-holder, boundary lines, tax appraisal, liens, mortgages, recorded easements of the property.

The transfer of the property

To transfer the deed from the seller or vice versa you must go before a local notary where he or she acts on behalf of the state, this notary must also be a lawyer. To close the sale of the property, either the seller or the buyer must select a notary to draft the deed, in Costa Rica the way to choose which party designates the notary is the following:

If it is paid in Cash

If the buyer pays in cash, then the buyer may appoint the notary.

Financing

If the purchase price is being financed then the designation of the notary depends on the amount being financed, if a larger share of the purchase price is being financed by the seller and if a mortgage is being used to guarantee payment, the seller may appoint a notary/ legal representative.

In case the transaction is 50% each, then both the seller and buyer notary jointly write the deed, in Costa Rica, this is known as co-notariado.

Closing costs

There is a 1.5% Transfer Tax, which will be based on the value of the property or the declared value in the documents, whichever has the higher number, In addition to this tax, there are other taxes that have to be paid in the way of Registration stamps. This usually ranges between 0.7% and 0.8%, also based on the registered value of the property or the declared price in the document.

Utilities in Costa Rica

Electricity services in Costa Rica

The electricity services in Costa Rica are provided by (Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad) also known as the ICE group. Costa Rica invests heavily in renewable forms of energy such as hydroelectric power, solar energy, wind farms, and geothermal.

getting electricity connected in Costa Rica is a fairly simple process you would need the following:

• Proof of ID
• Your address
• Residency visa or similar
• A list of general details about the use of electricity system such as the number of electric appliances will be used.
• Contact information
• · A signed copy of the service request form (Solicitud de servicio)

After the request is made, the connection will be done in eight working days.

Water services

Water services are operated by state water company A Y A services most of the country. Your future home may be serviced by an Asada or Coop. if you would like to know which water company provides its services in the area you are planning to buy, please contact us or ask your real estate agent or seller about it.

Payment

In-person 

In-person payments can be made through the ICE agencies or in grocery stores.

Online

If you prefer to pay your electricity bills online, the ICE website allows you to use this method through their bank

Pre-pay: one way to ensure you never miss a payment is to pay the bills ahead of time, ICE offers these services by averaging your past monthly consumption and set-up a prepaid system.

Automatic payment: this is another way to never miss a payment, you can request a form from the bank that allows them automatically pay ICE each month so you can set it and forget it.

To pay your electricity bill online or if you want more information please visit

ICE’s webpage here: www.grupoice.com

Gas services

In Costa Rica there are no gas lines, most stoves are either electric or work with propane gas tanks that you can easily buy at grocery stores

Internet, TV, and phone services

There are many great and well-known companies you can choose from they all perform very similarly, some internet and phone services companies in Costa Rica are Kolbi, Claro, Movistar, Tigo, and Sky satellite TV (this company only offers satellite TV).