Before you start...

Land survey: If you’re doing even a small development, you should have done this step as part of due diligence. A property line survey – carried out by a topographer – is an extremely important step that will save you from many a headache. Here’s why: When Costa Rica started it’s national cadastre (or official property map) in the 1970s, the country was wide open. Landowners sketched out an estimated property line – from that gully, to that tree, to this road – and submitted the individual plan to National Registry. Their neighbors did the same.

Of course, those closest-guess sketches that became legal boundaries often overlapped, and since no one was doing detailed, side-by-side comparisons, no one knew. Now, 30 years later, property developers are fighting over square meters of farm land, something unheard of in the 70s, and many of the cadastre plans in the National Registry have yet to be reconciled with those of the neighboring properties. Surveying the property and updating the cadastre plan in the National Registry will assure that your property does not overlap (and is not overlapped by) any other cadastre plan. This is extremely important, as such a discovery halfway through the permitting process – or, god forbid, halfway into construction – and the ensuing legal struggle could set your development back years.

Uso de suelo: This is the land use permission you need to get from the municipality. A copy of it is required for several of the subsequent permitting steps. Like the property survey, it’s a good idea to get the uso de suelo before you even buy the property. To get this permission, you, your project manager, or your attorney will submit a letter to the municipality with the property’s ID and cadastre numbers and a short explanation of what you would like to do with the land (e.g. – farm, commercial construction, residential construction, etc.). The municipality will give you the uso de suelo permission within a few days. It’s easy – but unfortunately, it doesn’t mean much. The uso de suelo is based on the municipality’s zoning plan, and if the municipality doesn’t have a zoning plan – as most don’t – it must let you use the land for whatever you want. If the municipality does have a zoning plan, and you receive the uso de suelo for your project, it doesn’t mean you can build there, but rather that your plan is not prohibited by the municipality’s zoning plan. The zoning plans are not scientific, and later soil studies, environmental studies, and oversight by other agencies could very well prove your plan untenable.

Tax and utilities letter: The other thing you might want from the municipality is a letter stating that the property you are about to develop is current on its taxes and utilities payments. If you did your due diligence, you probably already have this letter in hand. If not, get it, and hope that the previous owner didn’t run up any hair-raising electricity bills.

Project plans: Since every step in the permitting process involves some sort of review of how your project will interact with the surrounding community, wildlife, traffic, water supply, landscape, etc., you need to have preliminary project plans to present. It’s a good idea to have your plans drawn up or at least reviewed with the oversight of whoever is going to do your permitting. This especially holds true if you are constructing in an environmentally sensitive area (in a jungle, near a river, on a slope, etc.), in which case the design should be done with the SETENA review in mind and the environmental consultant in the room.