Landlord tenant law regulates landlord and tenants' rights and responsibilities
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Leasing ContractLeasing Contract
The most common leasing contracts include agreements for residential properties, commercial spaces, garages, and business leases.
It is highly recommended to draft a written leasing contract to ensure full legal protection for both the landlord and the tenant.
A well-prepared rental agreement should include essential legal elements such as:
Identification of the property
Names and identification of landlord and tenants
Total rental amount and payment terms
Duration of the lease
Purpose and conditions of property use
Security deposit details
Inspection procedures
Notification requirements
Subletting permissions or prohibitions
Having a legally valid leasing contract helps prevent disputes and provides clear terms for all parties involved, ensuring compliance with property rental laws and protecting your investment.
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Administrative Eviction The general Landlord-Tenant Law specifically excludes the following: (a) hotels, hostels and B&B’s(b) residential homes for tourism purposes which are located in areas which the Costa Rican Tourism Institute has determined to be tourism areas and so long as the rental is seasonal in nature. (c) Caretaking or occupancy by mere tolerance of a built structure.(d) The use of a home, local or offices assigned to administrators, guards, peons, employees or officers related to their employment and service.(e) Contracts for a home located on farmland where the main purpose of the contract is the agricultural use of the land. In this cases apply the administrative evictions which is the legal procedure to expel personnel, managers, and possession in precarious or by mere tolerance. It also applies to for spaces for parking of vehicles, advertising spots, etc. Important: this process can be applied to the owner of a real property and who was expelled from it due to domestic violence. Our Lawyers may assist you to submit the request of Administrative Eviction which is done before the Costa Rican police forces (Ministry of Public Security). To submit the request it is required the identification of the owner, the location of the property, the origin of the occupation. Our lawyers will guide you during the whole eviction process.
Administrative Eviction -
Eviction process in Costa Rica With new regulations recently created, the eviction process has been changed with the objective to offer major protection to the landlord in case of not payment of the rent or no payment of utilities by the tenant. This new process allows the landlord to recover the possession of the property in less time.
Eviction process in Costa Rica
The Law establishes that it is possible to initiate the eviction process with the new law in case of the following situations:
- No payment of the rent
- No payment of utility bills or the expenses of a condominium.
This process is possible only if the leasing contract states that those amounts were supposed to be covered by the tenant.

