We mapped every registered parcel touching the legal 200-meter Maritime Zone in Costa Rica's top beach towns — official government data nobody had ever put together. The result is the clearest picture yet of who holds the country's most wanted 200 meters, and the one thing the map can't tell you.
Since 1977, Ley 6043 divides every Costa Rican beach into three worlds. Standing on the sand and walking inland, this is what you cross:
The pleamar ordinaria — where the 200 meters begin counting.
Inalienable. No titles, no concessions, no fences. Yet our study measured registered parcel geometry overlapping this strip in every town — concessions, pre-1973 titled exceptions, and mapping offsets a buyer can't distinguish on the map.
The state leases this land as municipal concessions — renewable, conditional, and registered in the National Registry just like a title. Foreigners face ownership limits here that don't exist one meter further inland.
Full private ownership exists only beyond the 200-meter line — unless a rare pre-1973 exception applies inside it.
In Santa Teresa, 96.6% of the legal Maritime Zone is covered by registered parcels. Registration is not ownership: most of those fincas are state concessions. Nothing in the parcel lines tells you which kind you're looking at — and that difference decides what you can own, renew, build, or lose.
Share of each town's 200m strip covered by registered parcels · number = parcels touching the strip. Higher isn't safer — it means more of the beach is spoken for, in one legal form or another.
Article 47 of Ley 6043 is blunt. A concession in the restricted zone cannot be held by: a foreigner with fewer than five years of residency in Costa Rica; a company domiciled abroad; a company with bearer shares; or a company whose capital is more than 50% foreign-owned (Reglamento 7841-P, art. 25). Some municipalities apply it even more strictly.
What about the "local partner" structures you hear about? They exist all over the coast: a Costa Rican partner holds 51% on paper while foreign money funds the project. Understand the risk before copying them: authorities look at substance over form, and a structure built to dodge art. 47 can make the concession null. This is exactly the kind of thing to put in front of your own lawyer, not to improvise.
Inheritance and mortgages: a registered concession is a real right that can generally be mortgaged and inherited, but transfers need municipal approval and heirs must themselves satisfy the foreigner rules. A transfer that breaches the thresholds is void.
| Titled property | ZMT concession | |
|---|---|---|
| What you hold | Fee-simple ownership, registered finca | Time-limited use right over state land |
| Duration | Perpetual | Commonly 5-20 years, renewal not guaranteed |
| Foreign buyers | Same rights as citizens | Art. 47 limits: 5-yr residency, max 50% foreign capital |
| Bank financing | Mortgageable normally | Possible but restricted; needs municipal approval |
| Transfer | Free to sell | Prior municipal authorization required |
| Ongoing cost | Property tax (0.25%) + luxury tax if applicable | Annual canon set by the municipality (varies by zoning and value) |
| If it ends | Doesn't end | On expiry/cancellation improvements can revert to the state |
| Risk level | Registry risk only: verify liens and boundaries | Structural: eligibility, renewal, canon, plan regulador, politics |
Sometimes. Concessions are real rights that can be encumbered, but the mortgage needs municipal authorization and lenders are far more conservative than with titled land. Many banks simply decline; private financing is common.
Yes in principle, but the heirs must themselves satisfy the foreigner-eligibility rules and the municipality must approve the change of holder. An heir who fails art. 47 cannot simply step in.
Only if the corporation's capital is at most 50% foreign-owned, with no bearer shares and Costa Rican domicile. Nominee structures that fake the 51% are the classic trap: they risk nullity.
Only if the concession's approved use and the plan regulador's zoning allow lodging, plus normal business permits. Using residential concession land for tourism can be a cancellation ground.
You apply for renewal. Renewal is normal when conditions were met, but it is not automatic or guaranteed. On expiry or cancellation, improvements can revert to the state without compensation.
It varies by municipality, zoning and appraised value; there is no single national rate. Ask the municipality for the current appraisal and rate for the specific parcel before buying. Unpaid canon is a cancellation ground.
No. The first 50 meters are inalienable public domain everywhere. What varies is what stands behind those 50 meters.
Its origin must trace to a recognized exception: a pre-1973 registration or a specific urban/titling law. The registry entry plus its history tells the story; Folio's verified report pulls the record, and a notary confirms the chain.
Paste Google Maps coordinates or a share link, and the Folio map will fly to the exact spot, show the lot lines, and flag the maritime zone. Free.
Have only a finca or plano number? The verified report locates it in the registry for you.
Tap any lot on Folio's map and see its finca, boundaries and maritime-zone status in seconds — free. The $29 verified report pulls the registry record that says whether it's titled or concession, who really owns it, and what's registered against it.
Check your lot free Read the ZMT guideThe legal strip is a 200-meter landward buffer of the official IGN 1:5000 coastline (SNIT), computed in Costa Rica's official CRTM05 projection and clipped to official district boundaries. The 50-meter public zone uses the same method.
We sampled each strip on a 45-meter grid against the National Registry's public cadastre service — 28,434 lookups, zero errors — deduplicated by finca number, then intersected each parcel's exact registered geometry with the strip. Counts are lower bounds: parcels narrower than 45m can be missed.
Registered geometry overlapping the first 50 meters is a measurement, not an accusation. It includes lawful concession registrations, rare pre-1973 titled exceptions, and offsets between the cadastral mosaic and the coastline. Its lesson is precisely the report's thesis: the map alone cannot tell you a parcel's legal nature.
Ley 6043 sobre la Zona Marítimo Terrestre (1977): arts. 9-10 (zone definition and 50m/150m split), art. 47 (concession eligibility restrictions) — full text at the national legal database pgrweb.go.cr (SCIJ). Reglamento a la Ley 6043, Decreto Ejecutivo 7841-P: art. 25 (foreigner eligibility detail), chapter on cessions, encumbrances and change of use. Institutional sources: ICT, INVU, Registro Nacional, SETENA, SINAC. Canon amounts, municipal practice and plan-regulador status vary by canton and change over time; figures on this page describing them are general and should be confirmed with the municipality for any specific parcel.
This is an educational research resource built from official public data and primary law. It is not legal advice, and no statement here replaces review of a specific property by a Costa Rican attorney and notary. Where our information is still being verified we say so rather than guess.
Town-level data behind this study, free to reuse with attribution and a link: CSV · JSON (with methodology metadata). Journalists: custom cuts on request — hello@foliocostarica.com.