Condominium in Costa Rica: Units and Common Areas

Translated from the Spanish original. If there is any discrepancy between the two versions, the Spanish text prevails. Read the original in Spanish.

A buyer signs for an apartment in a twelve-story building in San José. As the notary public reads the deed aloud, words they did not expect keep coming up: “unit” (finca filial), “co-ownership coefficient,” “limited common area,” “condominium bylaws.” Months later they discover that the parking space they use every day is not in their name, that they cannot fence off the patch of garden in front of their door, and that the monthly fee was set at an assembly they never attended. In Heredia, a family paid the down payment (prima) on a house in a horizontal condominium that still exists only on paper, and they have no idea what happens if construction stops. In San Carlos, the owner of two adjoining lots in a lot condominium wants to combine them to build a single house. And in Guanacaste, someone buys a villa near the ocean without realizing that what they are acquiring is not land but a concession that will expire.

All of these situations share a common root. Condominium ownership is a different way of owning property from the ordinary kind, with rules that come from the statute, from Executive Branch regulations, and from the documents signed when the condominium was created. This study, the first in the series “Condominium Property in Costa Rica,” explains what someone acquires when they buy a unit, what belongs to them and what they share, how their share is measured, what types of condominium exist, which documents govern it, what risks come with buying off-plan, what to check before signing, and how the regime is modified or terminated. The assembly, the fees, community living, and renting each have their own study in the series.

The central statute is the Condominium Property Regulatory Law (Ley Reguladora de la Propiedad en Condominio), Law 7933 of 1999, in its current version of March 16, 2026. It is implemented by Executive Decree 45214-MIVAH-MEIC-TUR, the Executive Regulations, which have been in force since January 19, 2026, and replaced Decree 32303 of 2005. The doctrinal starting point is the 2006 collective work by the Chair of Property Law (Cátedra de Derechos Reales) at the University of Costa Rica, whose essays were written around 2000 and 2001. Several of its conclusions still hold and others have been overtaken, and in each case we will say which is which.

What you acquire when you buy in a condominium

The first question for the San José buyer is the most basic one: what exactly did they just buy? The answer is not simply “an apartment.” It is an apartment plus a share in everything else, and the two travel together.

Exclusive ownership tied to an inseparable co-ownership

The Civil Code has stated this precisely ever since Law 7933 amended its Article 265: under the condominium regime, “each owner shall be the exclusive owner of their floor, premises, office, parking space, house, or lot and shall be a co-owner of the property devoted to common use” (Article 265, second paragraph, of the Civil Code). Decree 45214 restates the idea in other words when it defines the regime as one that grants each titleholder “a singular and exclusive right” over their unit and, in addition, “a joint and inseparable right of co-ownership” over the common elements and services (Article 3.42 of Decree 45214).

Legal scholars debated for decades how to classify that combination. Andrés Montejo Morales, in the 2006 book by the University of Costa Rica’s Chair of Property Law, reviews the theories that tried to explain it (surface rights, easements, emphyteusis, usufruct, community property, partnership, compulsory co-ownership), rejects them, and settles on the sui generis theory: a distinct institution combining a singular right over the unit with a special co-ownership of the common elements, the two inseparable from each other. Current law confirms that conclusion, because Article 3.42 of Decree 45214 describes almost word for word the two rights Montejo identified. In the same book, Arturo Pacheco Murillo argues that the condominium is an autonomous property right, and nothing in the current law contradicts him.

The practical consequence is immediate. The unit and the spaces needed to use it belong exclusively to its owner (Article 8 of Law 7933), but the owner’s rights in the common property “may not be transferred, encumbered, attached, or conveyed independently” (Article 12 of Law 7933). No one can sell their apartment and keep “their share” of the swimming pool, and no creditor can attach that share alone. A mortgage on a unit covers the right in the common property (Article 411(4) of the Civil Code), and when the unit is sold, the rights and obligations toward the condominium pass automatically to the buyer (Article 63 of Decree 45214).

Ownership with limits set by law

Article 265 of the Civil Code itself opens by stating that, when the owner does not hold all the rights that full ownership comprises, “ownership is imperfect or limited.” The Constitutional Chamber (Sala Constitucional), in decision 2336-2002, applied that idea to condominiums: it characterized condominium ownership as imperfect or limited, with its limits set by law, and on that basis it rejected the challenge to several provisions of Law 7933, including the one that measures each unit’s right in the common property by area.

Those limits reach even what belongs exclusively to the owner. The owner must use the unit for the purpose set out in the deed of establishment, may not put it to “any purpose other than the one expressly agreed,” and may not disturb the peace of the other residents or compromise the soundness and safety of the complex (Article 15 of Law 7933). Nor may the owner touch the structure or the load-bearing walls, even when they lie inside the unit (Article 16 of Law 7933). Pacheco offered an example that remains valid today: an apartment designed as a residence cannot be turned into a warehouse, a variety store, or a daycare center at its owner’s sole discretion. That change requires an agreement by two-thirds of the condominium’s value (Article 27(b)(1) of Law 7933). What each owner may do in their unit and in the common areas is analyzed in the study Living in a Condominium.

How it differs from ordinary co-ownership

Someone who inherits a property in co-ownership with their siblings can ask at any time for it to be partitioned (Article 272 of the Civil Code). In a condominium the opposite is true: the common property “may not be subject to partition,” except in the cases the statute itself exempts (Article 9 of Law 7933). Article 272 of the Civil Code still exempts from that rule, in the first of its two subsections numbered 3, the community arising under the “Horizontal Property Law,” Law 3670 of 1966, which Law 7933 repealed (Article 41 of Law 7933). In our view, the exception should now be read as referring to the law currently in force, which governs the same subject matter. And even if that reading were disputed, the result would not change, because Law 7933 itself prohibits partitioning the common property (Article 9) and makes it inseparable from each unit (Article 12).

Pacheco pointed out another difference that remains true. An ordinary co-owner holds an undivided share with no physical boundaries until the property is partitioned; the owner of a unit holds a unit identified on the plans and in the Registry, and anyone who buys it or takes it as collateral does not need to “locate” anything.

What is not a condominium

This clarity has a flip side. Many gated residential developments with a guard and a maintenance fee are not condominiums at all, but subdivisions whose streets and services are managed by an association or a company. The Civil and Labor Court of Appeals of Heredia, in decision 656-2024, decided the case of a company that managed a housing development not subject to the regime and sought to enforce, with a certificate from a certified public accountant (contador público autorizado, CPA), the “maintenance fees” set in its articles of incorporation, as the statute allows condominiums to do. The court rejected the claim: enforceable instruments (títulos ejecutivos) exist only by statute, and those were not condominium fees.

The rules in this study, including the condominium’s lien on each unit to collect fees (Article 20 of Law 7933), apply only when the property is registered as a unit. That can be verified at the Real Property Registry (Registro Inmobiliario), which keeps condominiums in a special section, with a dual registry of parent properties and units linked to each other (Article 176(d) of Decree 44647-MJP, General Regulations of the Real Property Registry).

The parent property and the units

That dual registry reflects the structure of the condominium. Every condominium arises from a parent property (finca matriz), which Decree 45214 defines as the real property that gives rise to the condominium, made up of two or more units and their common areas (Article 3.39 of Decree 45214). The unit is the private portion, the autonomous piece that is bought and sold (Article 3.35 of Decree 45214).

How units come into being

Units do not exist because the building has been built or because a developer advertises them. They come into being when the deed of establishment describing the parent property and each unit is recorded, together with the bylaws and the approved plans (Article 6 of Law 7933). The deed is recorded in the condominium property section of the Real Property Registry, and once the parent property is recorded there, the property’s entry in the general section is canceled (Article 5 of Law 7933; Article 17 of Decree 45214). From then on, each unit has its own registration number, always linked to the parent property.

To qualify as a unit, the space must be an autonomous portion, fitted out for independent use and connected to the public road or to a common space leading to it (Article 7 of Law 7933). Decree 45214 further requires that the property subject to the regime have direct access to a public street and that each unit have an outlet to the public road, to a common access, or to an easement (Article 21 of Decree 45214).

Built units and units yet to be built

Not every unit has a building on it on the day the condominium is recorded. Decree 45214 distinguishes the built unit (Article 3.36) from the individualized primary unit (finca filial primaria individualizada), known as an FFPI, which is a lot within the condominium on which the owner will later build, in accordance with the plans and the distribution table (Article 3.38). A unit can have both built and unbuilt private area (Article 34 of Decree 45214), like a house with its yard in a horizontal condominium in Heredia. The deed must state, unit by unit, whether each one is under construction or fully built (Article 16(c) of Decree 45214), and that is the first thing anyone buying in an unfinished project should read.

Why you also need to look at the parent property

Henry Campos Vargas, in the 2006 book, pointed out that a mortgage on the entire condominium is recorded against the parent property and, by that fact alone, against every unit, so the notary public must check both the unit and the parent property. The warning still stands under today’s dual registry. Encumbering or selling the condominium as a whole requires unanimity (Article 27(a)(3) of Law 7933), but the common risk arises before there are any owners: a project financed with a construction loan usually carries a mortgage on the original property that, once the property is placed under the regime, remains on all the units. Campos noted that the earlier statute required the mortgage lender’s authorization to place the property under the regime and that Law 7933 eliminated that requirement; Decree 45214 does not reinstate it either. Anyone buying from a developer should insist that their unit be released from that mortgage in the same transaction as the purchase.

Common areas for general and restricted use

If the unit is what the owner holds exclusively, the common areas are what they share, and that is where many misunderstandings arise, like the one over the parking space the San José buyer believed was theirs.

What is common by operation of law

Common property may be for general or restricted use, “regardless of whether it is built or not,” depending on whether it serves all the units or only some of them (Article 9 of Law 7933). Decree 45214 distinguishes open common area, which is land without buildings, from built common area (Articles 3.4 and 3.6 of Decree 45214).

Article 10 of Law 7933 lists what must be common: the land, in vertical buildings; the foundations, the load-bearing and party walls, the roofs, the lobbies, the stairways, and the internal roads; the staff quarters; the central service installations, such as water, electricity, tanks, or pumps; the elevators and equipment for common benefit; and anything else the bylaws specify. The list is not exhaustive, because “also common are the things necessary for the existence, safety, health, upkeep, access, and appearance of the condominium” (Article 10 of Law 7933). The only exception, from 2026, concerns the installations of social-interest condominiums, which is explained below.

That rule has some surprising consequences. The shaft carrying the pipes for every floor is a common area (Article 35(b) of Law 7933), and utility pipes are considered common areas and must be accessible for inspection from the common areas, without entering the private units (Articles 83 and 84 of Decree 45214). The building’s roof is also common, even if it can be reached only from the top floor: owners on the first and top floors do not, for that reason, have more rights than the others (Article 17 of Law 7933), and building additional floors requires two-thirds of the value (Article 27(b)(2) of Law 7933). Anyone buying the top-floor apartment while dreaming of a private rooftop terrace should check the deed to see whether that terrace is part of their unit.

General use and restricted use

A limited common area (restricted use) still belongs to everyone, but its use is limited to one or more unit owners (Article 3.5 of Decree 45214). This is how a parking space, a storage room, or a garden is assigned to particular units. Decree 45214 sets a clear limit: spaces may be assigned to particular units only within the “excess common area” (área común en demasía), meaning the area that exceeds the minimum required by the regulations (Articles 3.7 and 62 of Decree 45214). It also prohibits walls, fences, or hedges that separate a portion of the common area for the exclusive use of any owner (Article 65 of Decree 45214). Decree 32303, in its 2005 text, allowed such enclosures if the project provided for them; the current regulations make no such exception.

For the buyer, the difference among the three possible forms a parking space can take is enormous. If it is a unit, it has its own registration number and is exclusive property; the statute expressly mentions parking spaces among the units that may belong to different owners (Article 1(a) of Law 7933; Article 265 of the Civil Code). If it is a limited common area assigned to the owner’s unit, the use belongs to the owner, but the space remains common, cannot be sold separately, and its rules depend on the deed and the bylaws. And if it is a common area for general use, any unit owner may use it under the bylaws. Residential condominiums with more than thirty homes must also provide ten percent more parking spaces than the required minimum, reserved for visitors and located in the common area (Article 29 of Decree 45214).

Roxana Sánchez Boza, in the 2006 book, proposed a bylaws clause granting the use of common parking spaces to certain units, revocable only by unanimous vote. The idea is still useful for giving those assignments stability, but today it must conform to Articles 62 and 65 of Decree 45214: only within excess area and without enclosures.

No assignment authorizes anyone to take over common property. The First Chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala Primera), in ruling 1572-2022, ordered unit owners in Heredia to remove the gate they had opened onto the common garden, along with benches and planters, and to restore the facade they had altered without the assembly’s approval. The case is analyzed in the study Living in a Condominium.

Every owner uses the common areas, but no one more than another

Each owner has a proportional right in the common property, but “no owner may be limited in the reasonable use and enjoyment of the common property, nor may any owner claim a greater right” because their percentage exceeds that of others (Article 9 of Law 7933). The owner of the largest unit gets no priority at the pool.

Common areas can change, but not at the decision of a single unit owner. With the assembly’s approval, they may be divided or physically transformed, that is, redistributed within the condominium, which is not the same as splitting them up among the unit owners as in ordinary co-ownership, something Article 9 of the statute prohibits; and any portion that is excess common area may be converted into private area, subject to the plan approval process and municipal sign-off (Article 66 of Decree 45214). Acquiring common property, changing its purpose, or deciding how it is used requires two-thirds of the value, but reducing or eliminating green areas or parks has required unanimity since Law 10229 of 2022 (Article 27(b)(3) of Law 7933). Common property may also be leased with the assembly’s agreement, and the proceeds go to common income (Articles 11 and 27(b)(4) of Law 7933). How those resolutions are adopted is explained in the study Who Decides in a Condominium.

One last rule rounds out the point. Waiving the use of the common areas does not release an owner from paying for them (Article 13 of Law 7933): someone who never goes down to the pool still contributes to its upkeep, the subject of the study Condominium Fees.

The coefficient, the percentage, and the value of each unit

If each owner has a proportional right in the common property, the obvious question is how that proportion is measured. The statute uses two different measures, and they are frequently confused.

The deed of establishment must state, on the one hand, the proportion corresponding to each unit “in relation to the total area of the condominium” (Article 2(a) of Law 7933) and, on the other, the total value of the condominium, the value of each unit, and the percentage each represents of the total value (Article 2(f) of Law 7933). Decree 45214 uses the term co-ownership coefficient (coeficiente de copropiedad) for the index that establishes each owner’s proportional share in the common property, and requires it to appear in the distribution tables on the plans (Articles 3.15 and 11 of Decree 45214).

Each measure serves a different function, and the following table sets out the main ones:

What is determined	Measure used	Provision
Each unit’s right in the common property	The percentage represented by the unit’s area	Article 9 of Law 7933
Votes in the assembly, quorum, and majorities	The percentage the unit’s value represents of the total	Articles 24 and 27 of Law 7933
Use of the common areas	Equal for all: reasonable use, with no priority by size	Article 9, third paragraph, of Law 7933
Contribution to common expenses	Whatever the condominium bylaws provide	Articles 19 and 33(b) of Law 7933
Contribution to rebuilding if insurance falls short	The proportion set in the deed of establishment	Article 37 of Law 7933

In many condominiums the area and the value of the units are in the same proportion, and the distinction goes unnoticed, but that need not be the case. Pacheco illustrated the problem with a 15,000-square-meter lot condominium in which five lots of 1,000 square meters and one of 5,000 all had the same value, because rugged terrain, views, and location offset the differences. Under the area rule, the owner of the large lot would have a right in the common property five times greater than the others, even though their unit was worth the same. Pacheco called the rule irrational and proposed using value instead, unless otherwise agreed.

The statute has not changed on that point: Article 9 still measures the right in the common property by area. One of the author’s statements does need correcting, however, since he took it for granted that maintenance contributions are set by value. Law 7933 leaves contributions to each condominium’s bylaws (Article 33(b) of Law 7933) and uses value for votes and quorum (Article 24 of Law 7933). And part of his criticism has been addressed: changing the units’ proportional area, which used to require unanimity, has required two-thirds of the value since 2022 (Article 27(b)(6) of Law 7933, as amended by Law 10229).

For the buyer, the takeaway is simple. The deed and the distribution tables show the unit’s coefficient and its percentage of the total value: the first measures its share in the common property; the second, its weight in the assembly. The fee depends on what the bylaws say, and they often use one of those percentages, although they are not required to.

Types of condominium

Those measures apply to condominiums that differ widely from one another. Law 7933 allows the regime to cover buildings “to be built or already built,” lots and rural properties, existing developments, tourism or commercial concessions, and phased projects (Article 1 of Law 7933). Condominiums may be horizontal, vertical, or mixed, and may be devoted to any lawful purpose (Article 5 of Decree 45214).

Vertical, horizontal, mixed, and lot condominiums

In a vertical condominium, the building has several levels on common land; this is the San José apartment building (Article 3.26 of Decree 45214). In a horizontal condominium, each unit owner exclusively owns a piece of land and the house built on it, and co-owns the common areas; this is the cluster of houses in Heredia or Ciudad Quesada (Article 3.23). A mixed condominium combines both (Article 3.25). In a lot condominium, the units are horizontal parcels, the FFPIs, intended for any lawful use permitted by land-use regulations (Article 3.22). It must comply with the Subdivision and Urban Development Regulations (Reglamento de Fraccionamiento y Urbanizaciones) of the National Institute of Housing and Urban Development (INVU) (Article 11(b) of Decree 45214), and the minimum size of each lot is set by the local zoning plan (plan regulador) or, absent one, by those regulations (Article 35 of Decree 45214). Pacheco criticized applying to these condominiums rules designed for subdivisions; the criticism still makes sense, because the current regulations keep them subject to those rules.

Phased projects and condominiums of condominiums

In phased projects, the units from an initial phase may become parent properties of a new condominium “without thereby losing their status as units of the original condominium” (Article 1(f) of Law 7933). This is how a condominium of condominiums, or sub-condominium, is created within a master condominium (Articles 3.18 and 3.24 of Decree 45214), provided the bylaws allow it and govern the relationship between the two (Article 33(f) of Law 7933; Article 33 of Decree 45214). In these projects, an approved preliminary design (anteproyecto) is mandatory (Articles 6 and 14 of Decree 45214).

Anyone buying in the first phase should know one rule: children’s play areas, recreation areas, parks, and green space are calculated proportionally for each phase and are made available as the built phases progress (Article 77 of Decree 45214). The pool in the brochure may be planned for a later phase. In the master condominium’s assembly, the units of a sub-condominium vote through their representative (Article 93 of Decree 45214).

Concession condominiums and the maritime-terrestrial zone

The holder of a concession over public property, such as the maritime-terrestrial zone (zona marítimo terrestre), may place their project under the regime with the express prior authorization of the authorities that granted the concession (Article 1(e) of Law 7933). The regulations specify that this requires authorization from the municipality that granted the concession, from the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT), and, for land belonging to the Rural Development Institute (INDER), from that institution as well (Article 38 of Decree 45214). The notary public attests to those authorizations and to the concession being in force (Article 41 of Decree 45214).

Each buyer receives a unit concession (concesión filial): a new contract, with a proportional right of use over the common areas, for the remaining term of the original concession (Articles 42 and 43 of Decree 45214). Assigning, encumbering, or transferring it requires prior authorization from the granting authority (Article 44); each concession holder pays the fee (canon) on their private area and a share of the fee on the common area (Article 45); and if the unit concession ends, the authority takes over the unit owner’s position (Article 47 of Decree 45214). That is why someone who buys a villa in a beach condominium in Guanacaste does not own the land: they are a concession holder for a fixed term. The regulations also govern condominiums in marinas and tourist docking facilities (Articles 48 to 58 of Decree 45214).

Condo-hotels

In a condo-hotel, an operating company runs the hotel business under a management agreement and takes on the functions of the condominium administrator. At least seventy percent of the time each year is devoted to lodging, and the unit owner may use the remaining thirty percent (Article 3.16 of Decree 45214). Each condominium’s bylaws must set out the rights and obligations of unit owners and guests (Article 59), and converting a condo-hotel into permanent housing requires that the zoning plan allow that use, along with the relevant permits (Article 61 of Decree 45214). Buying there largely means acquiring an investment subject to a contract with the operator, which must be read as carefully as the deed.

Pacheco recalled that the old Horizontal Property Law was enacted with the INVU’s multifamily housing projects in mind, and he cited as an advantage of the condominium over the subdivision that it did not require dedicating areas to public use. For social-interest condominiums, that advantage disappeared with Law 10882, in force since April 30, 2026, which amended Articles 10 and 39 of Law 7933.

A social-interest condominium requires a declaration from an authorized entity of the National Housing Finance System (Sistema Financiero Nacional para la Vivienda) and enjoys the benefits of social-interest housing without losing the prerogatives of a condominium (Article 39 of Law 7933). Its central service installations, such as water, electricity, or wastewater treatment, must be turned over to the public utility provider if the regulations issued for that purpose recognize them as technical and operational, if they meet the technical requirements, and if the provider expressly accepts them by administrative act; when they meet the requirements, they are presumed to be acceptable, absent a reasoned decision to the contrary (Article 39 of Law 7933). That transfer does not convey ownership or alter the co-ownership of the common property (Article 10(d) of Law 7933). The streets, sidewalks, parks, and community facilities that the condominium must build are dedicated free of charge to public use, with a formal act of acceptance by the municipality; parking areas and, in productive-housing projects, commercial premises remain private, and existing social-interest condominiums may dedicate those areas by simple majority (Article 39 of Law 7933).

Law 10882 was published in La Gaceta on April 20, 2026, and directed the Executive Branch to update the regulations within twelve months of that date, that is, by April 20, 2027, at the latest (sole transitional provision of Law 10882); as of October 19, 2026, SINALEVI shows no such regulations. In our view, until they exist, the obligation to turn over the installations is not fully enforceable, because Article 39 leaves it to those regulations to define which installations are to be transferred, and in any event the transfer depends on the provider accepting them. Nothing prevents a social-interest condominium, however, from transferring them voluntarily if the provider accepts them (Article 10(d) of Law 7933), and the statute does not make the dedication of streets, sidewalks, and parks to public use conditional on those regulations. Decree 45214 already contains its own rules for these condominiums: fewer parking spaces (Article 30), and the duty to inform beneficiaries of the fee and to consider the family’s financial situation before taking action over nonpayment (Article 87).

The documents that govern the condominium

Whatever its type, every condominium is governed by a layered set of rules and documents. At the top is Law 7933; below it, Decree 45214, which implements it; next, each condominium’s deed of establishment and condominium bylaws (Reglamento de Condominio y Administración), recorded in the Registry; and finally, the resolutions of the assembly. The Civil Code applies to whatever the special statute does not cover. Each layer must respect the one above it.

The deed of establishment

The owner, co-owners, or concession holders who wish to adopt the regime must declare it in a public deed (Article 2 of Law 7933). The statute sets out its contents, and Decree 45214 expands on them. Under both, the deed must contain at least the following (Article 2 of Law 7933; Article 16 of Decree 45214):

a description of the parent property, with its registered survey plan (plano catastrado) number;
the name of the condominium, which must match the name on the plans; whether it is horizontal, vertical, or mixed; its use; and whether sub-condominiums are permitted;
a description of each unit, with its number, location, dimensions, boundaries, purpose, levels, maximum height in the case of FFPIs, its proportion of the total area, and whether it is built or under construction;
the general purpose of the condominium and the specific purpose of each unit;
the common property, its purpose, and its characteristics;
the rules for combining, dividing, or subdividing units, with the minimum areas and required frontage;
the total value of the condominium, the value of each unit, and its percentage of the total value;
the condominium bylaws.

The notary public must attest to having examined the approved plans (Article 2(d) of Law 7933; Article 15 of Decree 45214) and, in addition, that the condominium bylaws contain no internal contradictions and conform to Article 33 of the statute and Article 18 of the decree (Article 16(h) of Decree 45214). This last requirement did not appear in the model deed in the 2006 book, where the notarial attestation rested solely on the stamps of the institutions that approved the plans.

The condominium bylaws

The bylaws are part of the deed of establishment (Article 4 of Law 7933) and are initially adopted by the owner of the parent property (Article 34 of Law 7933). They supplement and spell out the statute and the decree according to the characteristics of each condominium (Article 3.43 of Decree 45214). At a minimum, they must govern the appointment and removal of the condominium administrator, contributions to common expenses, how the assembly is called, the use of common property, the system of sanctions and dispute-resolution mechanisms, the conversion of units into parent properties, and changes to the facade (Article 33 of Law 7933).

The bylaws may create additional rights and obligations, subject to an express limit: they may not violate the law or undermine “the possibility of independent use and enjoyment of each private unit by its owner” (Article 18 of Decree 45214). A clause that in practice prevented owners from living in their own unit would run up against that limit.

The most important rule for a buyer is this one: “Whoever acquires rights in a condominium shall be subject to the existing bylaws” (Article 34 of Law 7933). Decree 45214 reinforces it by providing that, whenever a unit is transferred, the acquirer is always deemed to know and accept the bylaws, the fee, and its frequency, without the notary public having to attest to it (Articles 18 and 86 of Decree 45214). No one can later claim they did not read the bylaws, which also bind those who occupy the unit without owning it, as explained in the study Renting in a Condominium.

Every amendment to the bylaws must be recorded at the Real Property Registry (Article 34 of Law 7933). The required majority is the subject of a tension within the statute itself: the 2022 amendment lowered to two-thirds of the value the threshold for changing clauses of the deed or the bylaws (Article 27(b)(7) of Law 7933), but Article 34 retains its 1999 text, which requires unanimity. How that is resolved today is explained in the study Who Decides in a Condominium; for the buyer, it is enough to know that the bylaws can change and that their recorded amendments should be checked.

The plans

The deed is submitted to the Registry with the approved plan, which shows the parent property, the units, the common areas, and the distribution tables (Article 5 of Law 7933). Decree 45214 requires location plans, condominium distribution plans, and construction plans, and requires the administration to keep a copy. A unit owner may request them from the Federated Association of Engineers and Architects (Colegio Federado de Ingenieros y Arquitectos); if they cannot be found there or with the administration, the owner must hire a professional to draw them up, and anyone who is not an owner needs an authorization or a power of attorney authenticated by a notary public (Article 8 of Decree 45214). When a unit’s survey plan is recorded at the National Cadastre (Catastro), that plan must state that it is a unit, the parent property number, the name of the condominium, the level or floor, and the purpose (Article 117 of Decree 44647).

Which decree applies and what its transitional provisions say

One question remains that the 2006 book could not have foreseen. Its appendix reproduces Decree 32303, which served as the statute’s regulations for twenty years and has been repealed since January 19, 2026 (Article 103 of Decree 45214). The new regulations apply to all real property subject to the regime (Article 2 of Decree 45214), but they include two transitional provisions:

Transitional Provision I. Projects that, when the new regulations took effect, had already been entered into the Construction Project Administrator (APC), the plan-approval platform of the Federated Association of Engineers and Architects, are governed by Decree 32303.
Transitional Provision II. “Required modifications” to condominiums already in existence on that date, and to the projects covered by Transitional Provision I, are also governed by Decree 32303.

Both transitional provisions speak of projects in process and of modifications, which points to the technical part of the regulations: plans, areas, units, and approval procedures. In our view, they do not prevent applying, from January 2026 onward, the rules on internal operations (Articles 86 to 94 of Decree 45214), such as those on fees, representation, or minutes, to condominiums that already existed, because for those condominiums Transitional Provision II reserves only modifications to the prior decree, and those rules govern no modification. The question is more doubtful for the projects covered by Transitional Provision I, because its wording subjects them without distinction to “the provisions” of Decree 32303. That their operations are governed by the new decree once they are established is a reasonable reading, but not the only one.

The wording of Transitional Provision II is also broad and admits other readings, so the point must be stated with caution: the new regulations have been in force since January 19, 2026, but to physically modify a condominium that already existed, or a project that was already in process, their transitional provisions still refer to the prior decree. That decree, moreover, was amended several times after 2005 (Recital IV of Decree 45214), so the text appended to the book is not the one that governs those modifications either. No transitional provision, however, alters the assembly majorities, which are set by the statute and not by the regulations.

Buying off-plan and the risks of a projected condominium

The transitional provisions matter most to anyone buying into a condominium that does not yet exist, like the Heredia family that paid the down payment on a house still on paper. Law 7933 offers that buyer little, and it is better to know that before signing.

What Article 3 of the statute allows

The owner of a property or the holder of a concession who intends to build a condominium may declare in a public deed that the “projected condominium” is to be governed by Law 7933, describing the parent property and the units on the basis of a preliminary design approved by the INVU, the Ministry of Health, and the municipality (Article 3 of Law 7933); that deed also includes the bylaws (Article 4). The preliminary design is the developer’s initial plan setting out the spatial, technical, and functional proposal (Article 3.2 of Decree 45214). For plan approval, the regulations make it mandatory for phased condominiums and optional for all others (Article 14 of Decree 45214), but anyone who wishes to rely on Article 3 of the statute must have it approved, because the projected parent property and units are described on the basis of it. During construction, the work must follow the approved final plans (Article 15 of Decree 45214).

Yglesias’s diagnosis, twenty years later

Roberto Yglesias Mora devoted his essay in the 2006 book to “pre-horizontality” (prehorizontalidad), the stage in which a property moves from ordinary ownership to the full condominium regime. His description of the facts is still recognizable: developers without financing who expect to build with the money from presales; sales that begin before the condominium is approved; adhesion contracts with no transfer of title and no guarantees, requiring payment of the price and containing vague clauses on location, timing, and common areas; and, in the end, late deliveries, discrepancies with what was promised, or abandonment of the project.

Yglesias pointed out that Article 3 preserved the weaknesses of the prior statute. Placing the project under the regime is optional for the developer. The statute does not clearly say whether that deed must be recorded, although he argued that it must be, in order to be effective against third parties. It does not allow sales or promises of sale to be noted in the Registry, and nothing prevents the developer from canceling the dedication to the regime. Given those gaps, he concluded, pre-horizontality falls into the realm of “legal appearance.” He proposed a mandatory recorded dedication before any presale, limits on its cancellation, and a provisional notation of the contracts.

None of those proposals made it into Law 7933. Article 3 retains its 1999 text, and Decree 45214 did not create a protective regime for off-plan buyers, so within condominium law, the substance of Yglesias’s diagnosis still stands. The regulatory framework did change: plans are now processed through the APC platform, and the deed of establishment must state whether each unit is “under construction” or “fully built” (Article 16(c) of Decree 45214). That provision confirms that the regime can be established and recorded before the work is finished, which lends some support to Yglesias’s position that a project’s dedication to the regime should reach the Registry, but it says nothing about sales the developer makes before that recording. Law 7933 still makes no provision for recording promises to sell projected units in the Registry; whether a particular contract can reach the Registry by some other route must be examined case by case. The most concrete protection came from a different direction: consumer law.

The protection that comes from consumer law

Yglesias considered consumer legislation inadequate, but today it offers considerably more. The Law on the Promotion of Competition and Effective Consumer Protection, Law 7472, governs installment sales of “real property, apartments, and houses” and of “future development projects” when three conditions are met: they are offered “publicly or on a widespread basis,” delivery is conditional on a future event, and that event depends on the party who must deliver. In those cases, before any offer is made, the sales plan must be authorized and registered, with a description of the features and timelines, identification of the parties responsible, and proof of their solvency or, failing that, sufficient security (Article 44 of Law 7472).

That article is implemented by the Regulations on Installment Sales of Future Real Estate Projects, Executive Decree 42995-MEIC, in force since October 18, 2021, and its wording settles any doubt about condominiums: the property in the plan may be the developer’s land “or the units that are formed once the property has been placed under the condominium property regime” (Article 2(16) of Decree 42995). It does not apply, however, to the sale of properties that are already built or completed (Article 1). For presales of units, the regulations require:

prior authorization of the plan by the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Commerce (MEIC), through its Consumer Support Directorate (Dirección de Apoyo al Consumidor), before any public offering; without it, everyone involved in the promotion and sale is liable (Article 4 of Decree 42995);
that no money of any kind be received before that authorization, including reservation deposits or down payments, even if advertising takes place (Article 11);
a down-payment protection trust, irrevocable and with a separate estate that cannot be attached, which releases the money to the developer in installments according to the progress of the work as certified by an expert from the Federated Association of Engineers and Architects (Articles 13, 16, 17, and 25), or, failing that, a bank guarantee in favor of the MEIC for one hundred percent of the plan (Article 34);
a contract with minimum required contents, with no automatic extensions or unilateral changes, stating the number of the resolution that authorized the plan (Articles 5 and 6).

If the developer defaults, the buyer is entitled to a refund of one hundred percent of what they paid in down payments and installments (Article 26 of Decree 42995), and the MEIC must maintain on its website a public database of authorized plans and their model contracts (Article 9). Asking for the number of the authorizing resolution and checking it against that database is the quickest way to gauge how serious the project is. In our view, a private sale of an off-plan unit between individuals falls outside this regime, because it lacks the public offering that the statute and the regulations require, and the seller is not the party who must build.

The developer owes fees too

Another risk arises once the condominium has been recorded and the developer still holds unsold units, because as long as it owns them it owes fees like any other unit owner. The First Chamber of the Supreme Court, in ruling 1491-2024, decided the case of a buyer who acquired a unit from a developer in a condominium in Heredia, with construction the seller never finished and with past-due fees owed by the developer itself. The Chamber reaffirmed that the acquirer is jointly and severally liable to the condominium for the fees the former owner failed to pay, with the right to recover them from that owner (Article 21 of Law 7933), and ordered the developer to reimburse the buyer for the fees and fines predating the transfer. A certificate showing that fees are paid up should be requested even when the seller is the developer.

How to protect yourself when buying off-plan

No precaution eliminates the risk of a project that fails, but several reduce it. Before signing a reservation agreement or a promise to sell a projected unit, we recommend these steps:

Obtain a title search on the project property: who owns it, what mortgages and notations it carries, and whether the deed placing it under the regime has already been recorded.
Confirm that the plans are approved and when they entered the APC, because that date determines which regulations apply (Transitional Provision I of Decree 45214).
Compare the unit in the contract with the plans: number, level, area, and whether the parking space and storage room will be units or limited common areas.
Require the contract to describe the common areas offered and the phase in which they will be delivered (Article 77 of Decree 45214), and obtain the draft of the bylaws that will apply (Article 34 of Law 7933).
Agree on a firm delivery date, the consequences of delay, and the refund of amounts paid if the project is not completed, and tie payments to the progress of the work.
Require that the unit be transferred free of the mortgage financing the construction.
Ask for the number of the MEIC resolution that authorized the sales plan, check it against the MEIC’s public database, and ask whether the down payments go into a trust or are covered by a bank guarantee (Articles 9, 13, and 34 of Decree 42995).

What to check before buying a unit

When the condominium already exists, the nature of the risk changes: it is no longer that the work will not be finished, but buying without knowing the rules, debts, or conflicts that come with the unit. And the buyer cannot plead ignorance, because the Executive Regulations presume that they know the condominium bylaws, the fee, and the implications of the regime (Article 86 of Decree 45214).

The documents to request

Before signing the purchase of a unit in a recorded condominium, the prudent course is to gather and read these documents:

Title search on the unit and the parent property: confirming that the property is in fact a unit, in the seller’s name, with its liens and notations, and that the parent property carries no encumbrances that reach all the units.
Condominium administrator’s certificate on fees (Article 21 of Law 7933), together with proof that the appointment of the person signing it is current.
Current deed of establishment and condominium bylaws, with all their recorded amendments.
Minutes of the assemblies over the past few years: special assessments approved, planned projects, bylaws amendments under discussion, sanctions, and disputes.
Annual budget and amount of the regular maintenance fee, which the assembly must approve (Article 26 of Law 7933; Article 87 of Decree 45214).
Information on the condominium’s lawsuits, both those it has filed and those it is defending.
Document establishing the parking space, storage room, or garden advertised with the unit: whether they are units with their own registration numbers or assigned limited common areas, and in which document the assignment appears.
Plans of the unit and the common areas (Article 8 of Decree 45214).
The condominium’s insurance policy, if the bylaws require one (Article 19(b) of Law 7933).

The fee certificate and the debt that follows the unit

Of all the items on that list, the Article 21 certificate carries the most consequences. In the sale or transfer of a unit on any basis, the seller must present to the notary public a certificate from the condominium administrator showing that fees are paid up; if there are arrears, the buyer becomes jointly and severally liable for the certified amount, although they can later recover from the seller whatever they pay on that account (Article 21 of Law 7933). This certificate is different from the one a certified public accountant issues for collection in court (Article 20 of Law 7933).

Article 21 does not prohibit selling a unit with outstanding debts: it merely makes the acquirer jointly and severally liable and discloses the debt (Civil and Labor Court of Appeals of Alajuela, decision 45-2024). The debt, moreover, follows the unit, which is encumbered “on a preferential basis and from its origin” for whatever its owner owes the condominium; unpaid fees, along with the fines and interest they generate, constitute a statutory lien (gravamen hipotecario), a mortgage-like lien preceded only by the real property tax (Article 20 of Law 7933). What priority that lien has against a bank’s mortgage is a question on which the courts disagree; that point and the sale of units with outstanding debts are explained in the study Condominium Fees. Buying a unit with past-due fees means buying that debt as well, and the sensible course is to agree that it will be paid out of the purchase price at closing.

What the Registry does not show

Other risks do not appear in any registry entry. The unit’s purpose, set in the deed (Article 2(b) of Law 7933), determines whether an office or a medical practice can operate there. Anyone planning to rent to tourists by the night should read the bylaws with that purpose in mind, because the subject has its own rules, analyzed in the study Renting in a Condominium. The minutes may reveal a special assessment to repair the roof or replace the elevators, which the new owner will pay. And whether the books are legalized says something about how seriously the condominium is run: the condominium must keep minute books and cash books legalized by the Real Property Registry (Article 32 bis of Law 7933), and the National Registry (Registro Nacional) publishes a database of those legalizations, with the condominium’s name, its corporate ID number (cédula jurídica), the parent property, and the date (Article 238 of Decree 44647).

The buyer should request those documents from the seller. The condominium administrator must account to any unit owner who asks (Article 89 of Decree 45214), and the buyer is not yet one, but the seller is. If the seller refuses to provide them, that refusal is itself information.

How to combine, divide, or subdivide units

Once someone owns a unit, they may need to modify it, as with the San Carlos owner who wants to combine two adjoining lots. The statute allows this within certain limits.

Units may be subdivided if the resulting parts meet the requirements for any unit (Article 15 of Law 7933), and the deed of establishment must set the rules for combining and dividing them, with the minimum areas and required frontage (Article 2(e) of Law 7933; Article 16(f) of Decree 45214). In 2006, Sánchez Boza saw that rule as an innovation of Law 7933; today it is well established, and Decree 45214 develops it.

Under Article 36 of Decree 45214, units may be combined, divided, or subdivided without an assembly resolution, provided all of these conditions are met:

The change does not affect common areas or alter the co-ownership coefficients of the other units.
The new distribution table is submitted and the corresponding plans are processed through the APC platform.
Municipal approval (visado) is obtained.
The plan of the resulting properties is recorded at the National Cadastre.

If the modification alters the percentages or the common areas, an assembly resolution under Article 27 of the statute is required, entered in the minute book (Article 36, final paragraph, of Decree 45214). As a general rule, that resolution requires two-thirds of the value, because it involves changing the units’ proportional area (Article 27(b)(6) of Law 7933). If the modification takes part of the common property, subsection 3 also comes into play, which requires unanimity when green areas or parks are reduced.

The Real Property Registry records documents that combine, correct, or split units without affecting the common areas; if they do affect them, it subjects them to the rules of “Article 87” of the statute’s regulations, and for a change in the units’ areas to take effect in the registry entries, it requires the approvals under Article 27 of the statute (Article 119 of Decree 44647). That reference to “Article 87” was drafted when the prior decree was in force and does not correspond to Decree 45214, whose Article 87 deals with fees; the subject is now covered by its Articles 36 and 66.

There is a nuance regarding which rules apply. If the condominium existed before January 19, 2026, combining or dividing units is a physical modification, and the technical procedure could be governed by Decree 32303 under Transitional Provision II. In its 2005 text, that decree required unanimity to change a unit’s area where percentages were altered; in our view, that requirement can no longer be applied, because the majority is set by the statute and a regulation cannot make it more stringent, and since 2022 the statute has required two-thirds. Before starting the process, the professional preparing the plans should confirm which regulations apply.

One variant is converting a unit into the parent property of a sub-condominium, for example to build several units on a large lot. That is possible only if the condominium bylaws allow it and govern the relationship between the two (Article 33(f) of Law 7933; Article 33 of Decree 45214).

Termination of the regime, release from the regime, and destruction

The last possible change is the most radical: the condominium ceasing to be one. The statute makes this deliberately difficult.

The regime terminates only by unanimous agreement of the owners meeting in assembly, and only if that does not conflict with other laws, particularly with respect to the resulting lots or units (Articles 27(a)(2) and 36 of Law 7933). Termination takes effect upon its recording at the Real Property Registry: the entries for the parent property and the units are canceled, the new properties move to the general section, and rights acquired by third parties are preserved (Article 36 of Law 7933), such as mortgages on the units. Unanimity protects each owner, because no majority can force anyone to stop being a unit owner.

Decree 45214 governs the release of horizontal condominiums from the regime (desafectación). The release must specify the new layout with individual plans and a general plan (Article 95), and it is permitted only if the resulting properties, roads, and green areas comply with the INVU’s Subdivision and Urban Development Regulations or the zoning plan; if the internal roads are to become public streets, the municipality must accept them first (Article 96). The plans are approved by the INVU, the Ministry of Health, and the municipality (Article 97), the notary public attests to having examined them (Article 98), and the property returns to traditional ownership (Article 99). A horizontal condominium in San Carlos can become an ordinary subdivision only if its streets and lots meet the requirements for a subdivision. For condominiums on concessions, the approval of the granting authority is also required (Article 100 of Decree 45214).

Destruction presents a different situation. If the condominium is destroyed and the majority decides to rebuild, the insurance proceeds go toward that purpose and, if they fall short, everyone contributes in the proportion set in the deed; owners who refuse give the others the right to buy their unit at a fair price set by expert appraisal within fifteen business days (Article 37 of Law 7933). If the destruction prevents normal use of the property and no one wants to rebuild, the assembly must apply for release from the regime (Article 101 of Decree 45214). What majority rebuilding requires, when Article 27 speaks of two-thirds and Article 37 of “the majority,” is analyzed in the study Who Decides in a Condominium.

What to be clear about before and after signing

This overview allows us to sum up the essentials. Owning in a condominium means holding two inseparable rights: exclusive ownership of a unit and a co-ownership of the common areas that cannot be partitioned or sold separately. That ownership is limited by the statute, by the deed of establishment, and by bylaws that bind the buyer even if they have not read them. The common areas include more than people usually think, from the roof to the main pipes, and everyone has equal use of them, even though each owner’s right is measured by the area of their unit and their vote by its value.

Several concrete guidelines follow from this. Anyone about to buy should read the deed and the bylaws as carefully as they review the price, request the Article 21 fee certificate, review the minutes and the budget, and confirm in the Registry that the property is a unit and what comes with it: whether the parking space is theirs or merely assigned to them, and whether the terrace is private or common. Anyone buying off-plan should know that Law 7933 offers them almost no protection and that their defense lies in the contract, in the title search on the project property, and in the installment-sales regime of Law 7472 and Decree 42995, which requires an authorized plan and protects down payments; and they should insist that their unit be delivered free of the construction mortgage. Anyone who already owns a unit and wants to modify it should distinguish what they can do on their own from what requires the assembly, and confirm whether the transitional provisions of Decree 45214 reach their condominium. And anyone buying in a concession condominium or a condo-hotel should remember that their right also depends on a contract with the State or with an operator.

The rules on who decides, how much is paid, how residents live together, and what happens when the unit is rented out are developed in the other four studies in this series. If you have a purchase under review or a specific question about your unit, you can book a consultation with the firm.

This study is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice for any specific case. To discuss your situation, book a consultation.

Owning a Condominium Unit: The Unit, the Common Areas, and the Governing Documents

What you acquire when you buy in a condominium

Exclusive ownership tied to an inseparable co-ownership

Ownership with limits set by law

How it differs from ordinary co-ownership

What is not a condominium

The parent property and the units

How units come into being

Built units and units yet to be built

Why you also need to look at the parent property

Common areas for general and restricted use

What is common by operation of law

General use and restricted use

Every owner uses the common areas, but no one more than another

The coefficient, the percentage, and the value of each unit

Types of condominium

Vertical, horizontal, mixed, and lot condominiums

Phased projects and condominiums of condominiums

Concession condominiums and the maritime-terrestrial zone

Condo-hotels

The documents that govern the condominium

The deed of establishment

The condominium bylaws

The plans

Which decree applies and what its transitional provisions say

Buying off-plan and the risks of a projected condominium

What Article 3 of the statute allows

Yglesias’s diagnosis, twenty years later

The protection that comes from consumer law

The developer owes fees too

How to protect yourself when buying off-plan

What to check before buying a unit

The documents to request

The fee certificate and the debt that follows the unit

What the Registry does not show

How to combine, divide, or subdivide units

Termination of the regime, release from the regime, and destruction

What to be clear about before and after signing

Main statutes and sources

What you acquire when you buy in a condominium

Exclusive ownership tied to an inseparable co-ownership

Ownership with limits set by law

How it differs from ordinary co-ownership

What is not a condominium

The parent property and the units

How units come into being

Built units and units yet to be built

Why you also need to look at the parent property

Common areas for general and restricted use

What is common by operation of law

General use and restricted use

Every owner uses the common areas, but no one more than another

The coefficient, the percentage, and the value of each unit

Types of condominium

Vertical, horizontal, mixed, and lot condominiums

Phased projects and condominiums of condominiums

Concession condominiums and the maritime-terrestrial zone

Condo-hotels

Social-interest condominiums

The documents that govern the condominium

The deed of establishment

The condominium bylaws

The plans

Which decree applies and what its transitional provisions say

Buying off-plan and the risks of a projected condominium

What Article 3 of the statute allows

Yglesias’s diagnosis, twenty years later

The protection that comes from consumer law

The developer owes fees too

How to protect yourself when buying off-plan

What to check before buying a unit

The documents to request

The fee certificate and the debt that follows the unit

What the Registry does not show

How to combine, divide, or subdivide units

Termination of the regime, release from the regime, and destruction

What to be clear about before and after signing

Main statutes and sources