A purchase price is not the full cost of acquiring property in Costa Rica. Closing costs in Costa Rica can include transfer-related taxes, registry and notarial charges, legal due diligence, escrow fees, corporate work, and prorations that depend on the property and the terms negotiated in the purchase and sale agreement. For a foreign buyer, the essential question is not simply what percentage to budget. It is whether each charge is properly identified, allocated, calculated, and supported before funds are released.
Costa Rican transactions do not follow a single mandatory buyer-pays or seller-pays model. Certain taxes, expenses, and closing obligations are commonly assigned by local practice, but the signed contract controls the parties’ obligations. A disciplined cost review should therefore begin before the purchase and sale agreement is signed, not when the closing statement arrives.
What is included in closing costs in Costa Rica?
The closing process generally involves a Costa Rican Notary Public, who is also an attorney authorized to formalize and submit the transfer deed for registration. The deed, known as an escritura pública, is executed before the notary and presented to the National Registry, or Registro Nacional. The costs associated with that transfer are different from the cost of legal representation, escrow administration, title investigation, or correcting a pre-closing problem.
A buyer’s anticipated costs often include transfer tax, National Registry registration charges and stamps, notarial fees for the transfer deed, independent legal fees, escrow fees, and applicable value-added tax on professional services. Depending on the transaction, there may also be costs to form or update a Costa Rican company, obtain corporate certifications, register powers of attorney, commission a survey review, or address condominium documentation.
The seller may commonly bear broker commissions, capital gains tax consequences, costs to discharge mortgages or liens, and certain expenses related to delivering the property free of debts or encumbrances. But “commonly” is not the same as “required.” A contract that is silent, inconsistent, or drafted around assumptions can produce an avoidable dispute at the point when both parties want to close.
Transfer tax, registry charges, and notarial fees
Transfer tax is one of the central government-related charges in a direct real estate conveyance. Its calculation should be reviewed against the values and documentation used for the transaction. Buyers should not assume that the purchase price alone answers the question. Costa Rican transfer documentation and tax calculations can involve registry, municipal, and declared values that need to be examined in context.
Registry charges and stamps are connected to recording the deed and related documents. These are not interchangeable with transfer tax, and a closing estimate should show them separately rather than combining them into an unexplained administrative amount.
Notarial fees are also distinct. The notary’s role is substantive: preparing the deed, confirming legal capacity and authority, incorporating required information, formalizing the transfer, and submitting it for registration. The deed is not merely a ceremonial signature document. Its accuracy affects whether the transfer can be registered and whether the public record will properly reflect the buyer’s ownership.
For that reason, a foreign buyer should ask for an itemized estimate that identifies the proposed taxable base, transfer tax, registry expenses, notarial charges, value-added tax where applicable, escrow charges, and legal fees. A single all-in figure may be convenient, but it should still be transparent enough to review.
Legal fees are not the same as deed fees
A recurring misunderstanding is that the attorney or notary preparing the transfer deed is necessarily providing comprehensive buyer-side representation. That may not be the case. The scope of work should be confirmed in writing.
Buyer-focused counsel normally involves work that begins well before the deed is drafted: reviewing title history and current registry status, confirming the registered owner’s authority to sell, analyzing mortgages, liens, annotations, easements, restrictions, corporate records, survey and cadastral information, tax status, condominium obligations, and the terms of the purchase and sale agreement. The appropriate scope depends on the property and transaction structure.
If the property is owned by a Costa Rican corporation, the transaction may be structured as either a direct asset transfer or a transfer of company shares. Those structures are not economically or legally identical. A share acquisition can change which transfer-related costs apply, but it can also mean acquiring a company with its existing liabilities, compliance history, contracts, and internal records. Lower apparent closing charges do not automatically make a corporate share purchase the safer or less expensive choice.
The legal budget should therefore be evaluated alongside the proposed ownership structure. A buyer should understand what diligence is included, what additional work may be needed if a title or corporate issue appears, and who is responsible for correcting the issue.
Escrow fees and the cost of moving funds safely
International buyers should treat escrow as a transaction-control issue, not simply a wire-transfer expense. Escrow fees vary based on the provider, transaction amount, services offered, and whether the account will hold an initial deposit, final purchase funds, or both.
Before transferring funds, confirm the identity and role of the escrow provider, the escrow instructions, release conditions, currency arrangements, banking charges, and the treatment of interest, if any. The escrow agreement should align with the purchase and sale agreement. If the PSA permits a seller to receive funds before a stated condition is met, the escrow instructions should not quietly create a different result.
A well-drafted release schedule can protect both parties. It should identify the documents, registry status, approvals, possession conditions, and other events that must occur before funds are disbursed. This matters especially where a mortgage must be paid off at closing, where a seller must cure a registry defect, or where the buyer’s ownership entity must be ready to take title.
Costs that depend on the property
Not every transaction carries the same risk profile or expense. A condominium purchase may require review of the condominium regime, association status, unpaid assessments, rules, budget issues, and whether the unit is properly reflected in the registry and cadastral records. A closing statement may include prorated condominium assessments, property taxes, utilities, or other charges, but the allocation should match the contract and the actual billing period.
Land purchases often require closer attention to legal access, survey consistency, boundaries, water availability, municipal considerations, and development limitations. If the property is near the coast, buyers should determine whether it is fee-simple property or subject to the Maritime Zone concession regime. A concession interest is not the same as registered fee-simple ownership and requires a different legal analysis.
Commercial, rental, or development properties can also involve leases, service contracts, permits, employees, income arrangements, or operational liabilities that do not appear in a standard transfer-cost estimate. In those cases, the expense of proper diligence is part of the acquisition decision, not an optional add-on.
What should the purchase and sale agreement say about costs?
The purchase and sale agreement should allocate costs with enough precision to avoid relying on custom or verbal assurances. It should address who pays transfer tax, registry expenses, deed and notarial fees, escrow fees, legal fees, brokerage commissions, lien releases, corporate documentation, prorations, and costs arising from a party’s failure to meet its obligations.
It should also state how the purchase price is paid, where funds are held, when they may be released, and what occurs if title review reveals a material issue. A deposit should not be treated as automatically nonrefundable without examining the conditions, representations, due diligence period, default provisions, and remedies in the contract.
The PSA is also the right place to address the transaction’s tax and value representations. Inaccurate or poorly considered figures can create registration, tax, and future resale concerns. Buyers should not accept a proposed structure simply because it is described as standard or because it appears to reduce immediate costs.
A practical review before you commit funds
Before signing or wiring a deposit, ask for an itemized closing estimate and compare it against the proposed contract. Confirm whether the estimate assumes a direct property transfer or a corporate share transfer. Confirm which services are included and which are excluded. Then verify that the escrow instructions, deed preparation, and closing statement reflect the same allocation of responsibility.
Most importantly, leave room in both the budget and the contract process for issues discovered during due diligence. A mortgage cancellation, missing corporate authority, inconsistent survey information, unpaid condominium assessments, or an annotation in the registry can change the work required to close safely. The correct response is not necessarily to abandon the transaction, but it is to understand the issue, its cost, and the contractual solution before releasing funds.
American Law Partners assists foreign buyers with buyer-side due diligence, purchase agreement review, escrow coordination, ownership structuring, and Costa Rican real estate closings. Early legal review can help ensure that the costs you are asked to pay match the property, the transaction structure, and the protections you negotiated.
