On November 22nd, a critical deadline is approaching at the Registro Nacional, Costa Rica’s national registry of properties. On this date, all property annotations over one-year-old will expire and be permanently purged from the system.
This could seriously affect you and your property if, for some reason, its title is not clear or fully registered.
A Little Background
Here’s what you need to know. On November 22, 1998, a new notary law took effect. Before that date, annotations on property titles would never expire.
An annotation is a note on a property’s computer file that indicates a document is pending registration and is defective for some reason. A document can be incomplete for even simple problems, like not enough legal stamps were affixed, taxes could be due, or a number like a cédula (identification number) is incorrect.
The new notary law changed the time limit to one year that a document can be in this limbo, unregistered state. However, to give everyone a chance to fix their documents, the old annotations (from before Nov. 22, 1998) were "grandfathered" in and given five years to be corrected.
This extended grace period ends this November, and approximately 150,000 unregistered documents with annotations will be purged from the National Registry’s computers.
How Does This Affect You?
This is the critical part. If you purchased a property, car, boat, plane, or anything else that needs its title registered and the registration is incomplete, it could be resold again by the original owner.
For example, a good friend of mine bought a piece of property 14 years ago in Santa Ana. This property was part of a larger parcel that was subdivided. The original document for the subdivision was found to be defective, and for 14 years the transaction has been in suspense with an annotation. If this registration is purged on November 22nd, the original owner and/or their heirs could place a new request to divide the property differently and legally re-sell the parcels to new buyers.
What Should You Do?
You need to verify the status of your property immediately.
Anyone can obtain a printout of any property via the Internet at the official Registro Nacional Digital website:
If you run a report and find that annotations exist on your property, you can obtain a microfilm copy from the Registry to verify exactly why the property was not registered. We strongly advise contacting a qualified Costa Rican attorney to resolve any issues immediately.
The information provided is for informational purposes and does not constitute legal or financial advice. Consult a qualified Costa Rican professional for your specific situation. ©2004-2025 Costa Rica Expertise. Free use permitted with attribution (CC BY 4.0). 1031014 XX!
