DO I NEED TO START A CORPORATION OR S.A. BEFORE I BUY PROPERTY IN COSTA RICA?

SETTING UP A COSTA RICA CORPORATION

One of the first things you will want your Costa Rica lawyer to do is set up an anonymous corporation for you. There are many reasons you will want to have a Costa Rica corporation or "sociedad anomina" (S.A.). One of the main reasons is that it can help protect your home and property against loss from being sued in case someone hurts themselves on your property.

Another reason is that it may make it easier to do things like open a bank account, get services like telephone lines, and so on.

And it may make selling your property easier in the future if you decide to sell it.

You may also choose an LLC or Limited Partnership, instead of an S.A. or "Sociedad Anomo,a" (Anonymous Corporation). Ask your attorney about the differences.

Choose the one that is right for you. Almost everyone who buys property in Costa Rica buys it with an S.A.. This can make buying less of a hassle and less costly, and it can make resale easier and less expensive as well, in addition to giving you some protection against being sued.

Here is one link from a well respected expert about this:
Costa Rica Expertise - A Checklist To Stay Out of Real Estate Trouble

Sometimes you can find an "off the shelf" corporation to buy from an attorney in Costa Rica. This is a corporation that has already been set up, already gone through the process of being legally approved and accepted by the Costa Rica government, and is ready for anyone to register it into their name and use it to hold property, open a bank account, and so on. The last time I checked, these go for around $500 but don't quote me, it may have gone up or down. You can shop around for a better price, but honestly I would just rather have my own attorney do it, even if he charges more than some others. This way I know it will have been done right, and he will hold the papers for me, make the proper entries into the books and all my papers are in one place.

While any attorney can probably do it, he or she may not do everything correctly. I once had to pay a 2nd attorney to fix the corporation I had bought from my 1st attorney.

This is just an introductory article to advise you of the customary procedure of using an anonymous corporation to buy your real estate in Costa Rica. Please do further research on the web and find out more about having an S.A. in Costa RIca.

(See my LINKS page for links to some Costa Rica forums where you can find more information about Corporations and LLC's.)

Please continue to learn about Costa Rica with this article:
HOW TO CHECK A PROPERTY TITLE IN COSTA RICA

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