The 3 year lease!!!

Costa Rica has a unique minimum lease term of 3 years! That’s right, you read that correctly. If you sign a lease with a tenant for 1 year, 6 months, or 2 weeks it is not considered valid based on the General Law of Urban and Suburban Leases, Law No. 7527. The term minimum is 3 years for housing (art. 70). Although the contract indicates a shorter period, as it is a provision of public policy, it is considered not established and the 3 years will apply. Unless your property is registered with the ICT (Costa Rican Tourism Board) and your property is known as a holiday rental or short-term tourism accommodation. Otherwise, your lease no matter the terms is only recognized as a 3-year lease term by the courts in Costa Rica. When drawing up any lease, have an experienced lawyer look at it before signing anything. Make sure for any short-term lease you have the wording “vacation rental” written in your lease and make sure your property is registered with the ICT. This is the only way to protect you from a tenant outstaying their lease.

Basically, if you have a tenant who agrees to stay 3 months but then they decide not to leave, you cannot get them out. Particularly if the tenants continue to pay their rent every month, you will not have much legal ground to evict them. If you have a three-year lease term, you must notify the tenants in writing in advance of the lease expiration that you do not wish to renew the lease. Otherwise, the lease just self renews and you might be stuck with them for another 3 years.