Beating the maritime real estate law in Costa Rica

“ Once you find somebody who has the property title you must purchase the occupancy rights in order to be applicable for concession rights. Be careful about buying a deed from somebody claiming they have the occupancy rights to sell. ”

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(iRealtyWire.Org) – Although beachfront property in Costa Rica is not available for sale because of the maritime, there are ways to get around the law if you can find somebody who owns a title to the land from back in the Spanish colonial times. Once you find somebody who has the property title you must purchase the occupancy rights in order to be applicable for concession rights.
Be careful about buying a deed from somebody claiming they have the occupancy rights to sell. Deeds mean practically nothing in Costa Rica as it is more important whose name is listed in the records. Be sure to double check the records and make the sure the name of the person you are buying the occupancy rights and deed from is the same person who is listed in the privacy registry.
Once you have that straightened out and the deed is officially yours, you must present it along with an application to the Municipality government for approval. They are in control of the zoning rights along with the ICT and you must gain approval from both parties before you get any closer to your goal of owning beachfront properties. http://www.encuentra24.com/clasificados-page-s459_0-costa_rica-492-en.html
If you have gotten this far, it is now time to travel to the National Registry where you register your occupancy rights to the deed and have the concession officially recorded so there is no doubt later that everything has happened as you say, because remember that deeds mean nothing and that the National Registry records mean everything. You will then have to have the IGN (Instituto Geografico National) place markers along your concession land marking it as separate from the public beach area. Since beaches in Costa Rica are not typically zoned, you will have to hire a private agency to draw up zoning plans for whatever you plan to use the land for rather it be residential or commercial and then submit the zoning plans to the ICT and municipal government for zoning approval.
Note that after April 08 when the president of Costa Rica was forced to step in and take control of building regulations because of the polluted beach waters, it is harder to get municipal approval for building on the beach so be careful not to be too overambitious with your zoning requests as it could take awhile to develop a second set of zoning papers and get the ICT to once again consider your proposals.
http://www.encuentra24.com/costa-rica/invest-in-costa-rica-real-estate.html
After all this is complete there is a complicated web of affairs you must go through to allow the owner of the occupancy rights to lease the beach land. After all this additional paperwork is done, so long as you meet the requirements and are not a foreign investor who is not a permanent resident or a corporate entity that is mostly owned by foreign investors, the land is finally yours to build on for a minimum of five years and a maximum of twenty years. If you need to renew the concession than you need to make sure to start the renewal process before it expires otherwise there is a good chance you’ll lose your concession on the land or property.
However, after all that finagling, for now you should just be happy to enjoy your beachfront property, you deserve it.