Technical article

Who Can Hold Land at the Beach in Costa Rica and Nicaragua?

They wonder whether that is true for the strip nearest the sea, and how to check a title before paying.

By Neil Solomon · 4 min read

Picture a couple named Walter and June. They are 61 and 59, retired, and they have seen a house a short walk from a beach on the Pacific side of Central America. The agent says the land is "beachfront" and that foreigners can hold it. They wonder whether that is true for the strip nearest the sea, and how to check a title before paying.

I read what the governments publish. Costa Rica's main law was blocked to me, so for Costa Rica I have a legal opinion from the tourism institute instead. For Nicaragua I have the coastal law itself.

Nicaragua: the water's edge is held by concession

Ley 690 (approved 4 June 2009) draws two bands along the sea. The first is public. Article 19.1 says beaches are land "cuyo derecho de propiedad es exclusivo del Estado", with the public zone running to fifty metres inland from the highest average tide mark. Around lakes and crater lagoons it is five metres. The second band, the restricted zone, starts where the public zone ends and runs "doscientos metros hacia tierra firme" (200 metres inland).

In the public zone, Articles 20 and 30 forbid selling or privatising the land, with a few exceptions. What a person can get there is a concession.

A foreigner who is not a resident of Nicaragua is not on the list in Article 37.

For ordinary land away from the water, the government investment agency's page says foreigners have "los mismos derechos bajo la ley que los ciudadanos", citing the Constitution and Foreign Investment Law 344. That page mentions no coastal or border limits. No other official page in the sources says either way.

Nicaragua: checking the title

The same page gives a short list for a buyer:

• Ask for the title history. It shows who owned the property "en los últimos 30 años".
• Ask for the lien-free certificate, the "Libertad de Gravamen", which shows any notes against the property.
• If the land was touched by agrarian reform, the seller must show a "Certificación de No Objeción" from the Attorney General's office, or the buyer cannot register.
• Sign before a notary, register the deed at the municipal cadastre, pay the transfer tax and register at the Property Registry.

The page says the yearly property tax is "el 1 por ciento del valor de la propiedad", on the cadastre value.

Costa Rica: the beachfront concession

The tourism institute's legal office issued an opinion on 28 October 2022 about Ley 6043, the law for the maritime zone. It says Article 47 excludes "extranjeros que no hayan residido en el país por lo menos durante cinco años". That means an individual foreigner needs five years of living in the country before applying. The opinion adds that temporary or permanent residence does not make someone Costa Rican.

Companies face a second test. Entities "cuyas acciones o cuotas o capital, correspondan en más de cincuenta por ciento a extranjeros" cannot get concessions, so more than half must be Costa Rican. The opinion cites a court ruling that what counts is who owns the company now, not at the start.

The law itself could not be read, so I cannot give the width of the zones, how long a concession runs, or what it costs each year.

Costa Rica: records and the registry alert

The national registry offers an email service called Alerta Registral. It sends a message when something is filed against an asset you enrolled. The page says the service "tiene un costo de $15 anuales" and refers to the central bank exchange rate. I cannot tell from the page whether that is US dollars or colones converted. The page I read is written for companies, and it lists a vehicle, a property or the company itself as things to watch. It has no date.

On squatters, no official page I could read was found. The regulation on administrative eviction was blocked to me, so I have nothing to report.

What is left open

• Costa Rica: the law's text, concession term, fees, and anything on squatters.
• Nicaragua: transfer tax rate, and any border limits.
• Whether either page has changed since I read it.

A lawyer who works with Americans buying abroad could confirm the title and the zone that applies to a given lot.