Buying in Pavones? Find out if it's title or concession before you sign.

Pavones is a coastal town in the Golfito canton of Puntarenas, and its shoreline is almost fully occupied on paper. That single fact shapes your due diligence. Whether a lot touches the maritime zone decides what kind of right you can actually acquire, and the answer lives in the public records, not in the listing.

This note walks through what Folio has measured along the Pavones coast, what those numbers mean for you, which records to request, and the questions worth putting to your attorney.

Why is the maritime zone the first thing to check in Pavones?

Costa Rica's maritime terrestrial zone, the zona marítimo terrestre (ZMT), is defined in Ley 6043, the Maritime Zone Law. Article 9 describes it as "la franja de doscientos metros de ancho a todo lo largo de los litorales Atlántico y Pacífico", a strip 200 metres wide along both coasts, measured from the ordinary high-tide line.

The law splits that strip in two. Article 10 makes the first 50 metres the Zona Pública (public zone) and the remaining 150 metres the Zona Restringida (restricted zone). Article 11 adds that all mangroves are public zone, whatever their size. In plain terms: the public zone is not something a private buyer should expect to own, and land in the restricted zone is usually held through a concession rather than a title. Your attorney will confirm which rule applies to a specific lot.

For a fuller background, read our guide to the Costa Rica maritime zone explained for buyers.

What do Folio's maritime zone numbers for Pavones show?

Folio measured the Pavones coastline on 2026-08-02 as part of a town-level study of 27 coastal communities. The method buffers the official IGN coastline 200 m inland and intersects it with parcel geometry sampled from the Registro Nacional cadastre. The parcel counts are lower bounds: the real numbers can only be equal or higher.

You can see the full breakdown on the Folio maritime zone page for Pavones.

Two readings matter most. First, 96.9% coverage means that if someone offers you a lot near the beach, it almost certainly already has registered geometry. Second, at least 17 of the parcels touching the strip lie entirely within it. Those are the lots where the title versus concession question is not a side issue: it is the whole deal.

Does "registered" mean the seller owns it?

No. On the cadastre map, a titled lot and a state concession look identical: same polygon, same lines. Folio's own field notes say it directly: registration does not mean title, and in the 50 to 200 m band most registered parcels are state concessions.

A concession is a right granted by the state to use land for a set period under conditions. It is not freehold ownership. It also carries eligibility rules. Article 47(a) of the law says concessions are not granted to foreigners who have not resided in the country for at least five years ("a extranjeros que no hayan residido en el país por lo menos durante cinco años"). If you are a foreign buyer, ask your attorney early how that rule would affect you and any structure being proposed.

Article 12 also prohibits fencing, building, cutting trees and similar development in the zone without legal authorization. So even a valid concession does not mean you can build what you have in mind. The use permitted depends on the concession terms and on whatever coastal planning applies.

Why would a parcel overlap the public zone?

Folio measured 0.5341 km² of registered parcel geometry overlapping the first 50 m in Pavones. That does not automatically mean anything is wrong. Folio's reading lists three possible explanations, and only a registry pull can tell them apart:

• Lawful concessions, which the registry record would show.
• Pre-1973 exceptions, older situations your attorney would need to assess.
• Mapping offsets, where the drawn boundary simply does not match the ground or the official coastline.

Each one leads somewhere different. A mapping offset might be a technical correction. An exception needs careful legal reading. A lot that sits in the public zone with none of these explanations is a serious problem. You cannot tell which you are looking at from a satellite image or a sales sketch.

Which records should you pull before you commit?

The core documents come from the Registro Nacional, which offers certificaciones (certified extracts) and registry consultations through its digital services portal. Your attorney or notary will usually request them, but you should know what to ask for:

1. The property registry record for the finca (registered property): who holds it, whether it is titled land or a concession, and its history.
2. Gravámenes and anotaciones (encumbrances and annotations): mortgages, liens, easements, pending claims or court notes recorded against the property.
3. The plano catastrado (registered survey plan): the official drawing of the boundary and area. Compare it to the registry record and to what is on the ground.
4. For any lot near the shore, the concession file and its terms, including duration, permitted use and any conditions still to be met.
5. Municipal records from Golfito: property tax status and, for coastal lots, what planning rules apply. The ICT also publishes information on its maritime zone programme, coastal plans and regulations.

Ask your attorney whether a coastal regulatory plan is in force for the stretch you are considering. Folio does not hold that information, and it affects what can lawfully happen on a concession.

What about lots set back from the beach?

For lots outside the 200 m strip, the checks are more familiar but still matter. In the Pavón district, Folio's parcel vault has mapped over a thousand cadastre parcels, yet only 19 of them carry a recorded area in that dataset. The vault is a coverage count, not a census, so read that figure only as a description of Folio's dataset. Separately, do not rely on an advertised lot size. Read the area off the plano and the registry record, and make sure they agree.

For inland lots, ask about access (is there a recorded right of way to a public road?), water rights, and whether the boundaries on the plano match fences and markers on site. If the lot is near a river mouth or anything that looks like mangrove, raise Article 11 with your attorney, since mangroves count as public zone whatever their extent.

Questions to ask in Pavones specifically

• Does this lot touch the 200 m strip at all? If so, does any part fall within the first 50 m?
• Is the right being sold a title or a concession? Can I see the registry record that says which?
• If it is a concession, who holds it, when does it expire, and what use does it allow?
• Does the registered geometry overlap the public zone, and if so, is that a concession, a pre-1973 exception or a mapping offset?
• Do the plano, the registry record and the physical boundaries all describe the same piece of land?
• Am I eligible to hold this kind of right, given my residency status?
• Are property taxes current with the municipality, and are there recorded liens?

If you are looking at anything close to the water, our guide to buying a beachfront lot in Costa Rica covers the common traps in more depth.

How Folio fits into this

You can start on Folio's Pavones town page. The free property check map lets you tap a lot to see its finca number, area, perimeter and boundary from the official cadastre, plus a maritime zone flag. It does not show the owner, liens, encumbrances or the plano.

Those come in Folio's $29 verified report, a human-checked title and records search covering the registered owner, liens, taxes, water rights and the exact maritime line, delivered within 24 hours. It shows what the public records say. Your attorney or notary is the one who advises you on what to do with that.