Mid-Term Rentals in Nosara: 1-6 Month Stay Strategy

If your Nosara villa sits half-empty from August to November, mid-term rentals in Nosara (furnished stays of one to six months) are the strategy most owners never set up properly. Remote workers, snowbirds, families trying out the local schools and buyers who want to "rent before they buy" all want the same thing: a furnished home for a month or more, without a hotel bill or a three-year lease. This guide covers who those guests are, how the numbers compare with nightly rentals, and the legal and tax questions you need answered before you take a 60-day booking.

The short version: A monthly guest in green season does not need to pay peak-season rates to beat the typical nightly listing. It only needs to beat the low-season average, which in Nosara is thin. The hard part is the contract. Stays of 30 days or more sit between Costa Rica's tourism rules and its tenant-protection law, so the paperwork decides whether a mid-term rental is a good idea or a liability.

What Counts as a Mid-Term Rental in Nosara?

There is no legal category called "mid-term rental" in Costa Rica. It is a market term for furnished stays of roughly 30 days to six months, booked by a guest who lives in the property instead of visiting it.

Airbnb draws its own line at 28 nights. According to the Airbnb Help Center, a booking of 28 nights or more is a "monthly stay": the guest pays the first month up front and the rest in monthly installments, and a separate long-stay cancellation policy applies. Costa Rican tax and tourism rules draw the line at 30 days, which is the number that matters for your compliance.

In practice, Nosara mid-term demand comes from four groups:

Remote workers on Costa Rica's digital nomad visa or on a tourist stamp
Snowbirds escaping a North American winter for one to five months
Families trialling a school year or a semester before they commit to moving
Prospective buyers renting in Playa Guiones, Playa Pelada or Garza while they shop the listings

💡 Key insight: Your guest's length of stay changes which rules apply. Under 30 days, you are running tourist lodging. Thirty days or more, you may be a landlord. Decide which one you want to be before you price the booking.

Why Mid-Term Rentals in Nosara Are Worth a Look in 2026

The demand is real and documented

Long stays are no longer a niche on the big platforms. In its Q2 2022 shareholder letter, Airbnb reported that stays of 28 nights or more made up 19% of gross nights booked, up from 13% in Q2 2019. The jump happened during the pandemic, and long stays have remained a standard booking category on the platform since.

Costa Rica has also made long stays easier for foreigners:

Tourist stays of up to 180 days. The Government of Canada's travel advice and the US State Department both say visitors may be granted up to 180 days, though the length of stay is the border officer's decision and is not guaranteed.
The digital nomad visa. According to immigration firm AG Legal, Law 10008 lets remote workers stay for 12 months, renewable once, if they show stable foreign income of US$3,000 a month (US$4,000 with dependents) and hold health insurance of at least US$50,000. Holders pay no Costa Rican income tax on foreign-source earnings. AG Legal lists a US$100 application deposit plus a US$90 document fee.

Both groups need somewhere to live for months, not nights. For more on that guest profile, see our Nosara digital nomad guide and snowbird stay-limits guide.

The nightly market has a weak season

The main argument for mid-term rentals is the gap in the nightly calendar. Two data providers measure Nosara, and their numbers differ, so here are both:

Metric	AirDNA (12 months to Sept 2026)	AirROI (Aug 2025 to Jul 2026)
Active listings	527	912
Average annual revenue	$49,200	$39,220
Average occupancy	55%	39.0%
Average daily rate	$339	$429
RevPAR	$186	$169

AirDNA (page updated October 13, 2026) also reports that Nosara revenue per listing rose 75.3% year over year while ADR fell 13.6% and active listings fell 68.1%, and it gives the market a seasonality score of 49 out of 100, where a smaller peak-to-trough swing scores higher.

AirROI breaks out the seasons. In Nosara's peak months (January to March) it reports average revenue of $8,001 a month at 57.3% occupancy. In the low season (August to October), average revenue falls to $2,653 a month, occupancy to 28.0%, and ADR to $345.

💡 Key insight: The two datasets disagree on almost every headline figure, and both of them agree that Nosara's slow months are slow. That gap is what a mid-term booking fills.

The Math: Mid-Term vs. Nightly in Green Season

The comparison to make is simple. A monthly guest in September replaces whatever your nightly listing would have earned in September.

The benchmark to beat

Using AirROI's low-season figure, the typical Nosara listing grosses about $2,653 a month from August to October. A one-month booking at any rate above that matches the market average for those months, before you count the costs a long stay saves you.

What a long stay saves

A guest who stays 30 to 90 days removes most of the variable costs of nightly hosting:

Turnover cleaning. One clean at checkout instead of one every few nights
Laundry and consumables. Linen changes and welcome supplies drop to a fraction
Platform and management fees on gaps. No empty nights between short bookings
Guest messaging. One check-in instead of a dozen
Wear from move-ins. Fewer arrivals with luggage, surfboards and sand

A worked example (illustration only)

The rates below are hypothetical round numbers to show the method. They are not Nosara market prices.

	Nightly listing, September	Mid-term guest, September
Gross revenue	AirROI low-season average: $2,653	Example rent: $3,000
Turnovers	Several	One
Nights empty	Most of the month at 28% occupancy	None
Tax withholding by platform	Yes (see tax section)	Depends on how the stay is booked

At the example rent, the mid-term guest grosses more than the market's low-season average and the property is occupied the whole month, which also means someone is there running fans, spotting leaks and keeping mold down in the wettest weeks. Run your own version with your manager's real cleaning and fee schedule. Our 12-month rental income calendar shows where your own weak months are.

What you give up

Peak-season pricing. AirROI puts Nosara's peak ADR in March. A monthly guest who books January to March at a monthly rate will usually cost you money compared with nightly bookings in those months. Keep mid-term stays for May to November.
Personal use. If you visit in the green season, a 90-day guest blocks that.
Flexibility. A guest who stops paying in month two is harder to remove than a guest who overstays a weekend.

💡 Key insight: A common approach is a hybrid calendar: nightly bookings in high season, one or two monthly guests across the green season. A 12-month mid-term lease is a different strategy, and usually a worse one in Nosara.

The Legal Grey Zone: 30 Days and Costa Rica's Tenant Law

This is the section to read twice. Costa Rica has two separate legal frameworks for renting a home, and a 30-to-180-day stay touches both.

Under 30 days: tourist lodging

According to The Tico Times, stays under 30 days fall outside the tenancy law and under the framework for non-traditional lodging created by Law 9742 and its 2021 regulations. The owner must register with the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT), register with Hacienda as a taxpayer, issue electronic invoices and charge 13% IVA. Our short-term rental regulations guide covers the registration steps.

Thirty days or more: possibly a residential lease

The Ley General de Arrendamientos Urbanos y Suburbanos (Law 7527) is strongly pro-tenant. As summarized by The Rio Times:

Article 70: a residential lease for less than three years, or with no term, is treated as a three-year lease
Article 71: it renews automatically for another three years unless the landlord gives notice at least three months before the end
Article 67: rent on a US-dollar lease cannot be raised during the term
Article 92: advance rent and any guarantee are each capped at one month
Article 3: tenants cannot sign these rights away

So a "four-month furnished rental" written up as an ordinary residential lease could, in a dispute, be argued to be a three-year tenancy at a frozen rent. Our landlord-tenant law guide covers evictions and rent increases in detail.

The sources disagree on where the line falls

Here the published guidance is inconsistent. The Tico Times describes short-term lodging as stays under 30 days. Expat Focus says the non-traditional lodging framework covers arrangements running from 24 hours to one year. Those two descriptions put a 90-day furnished stay in different legal boxes.

That inconsistency is the reason to pay a Costa Rican lawyer to draft your mid-term agreement once, before your first booking. Questions to put to them:

Should a 30-to-180-day stay be documented as tourist lodging under Law 9742 or as a lease under Law 7527?
What wording shows the stay is temporary, such as the guest's home address abroad, return flight, visa or entry stamp, and a fixed end date?
How should the deposit be handled, given the one-month cap on residential leases?
What happens if the guest refuses to leave at the end date?
Does your condominium or HOA allow rentals of this length? The Tico Times notes that HOA rules can ban short-term rentals even where national law allows them.

See our guide to hiring a real estate lawyer in Nosara for how to find one.

💡 Key insight: A mid-term rental is only as safe as its contract. A template downloaded from the internet, or a one-page agreement in English, is the most common way owners end up with a tenant they cannot remove.

Taxes on Mid-Term Rental Income in Nosara

Income tax: the 12.75% figure

According to Accounting Costa Rica, rental income has been taxed since 2019 under the real estate capital income regime: 15% on rental income after an automatic 15% deduction for expenses, which works out to 12.75% of gross rent. Owners with at least one employee registered with the CCSS can choose the traditional income tax system instead and deduct actual expenses.

Platform withholding is coming

Accounting Costa Rica and the rental platform Nest Stays both report that Costa Rica will require platforms such as Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com to withhold 12.75% from host payouts and send it to Hacienda; Nest Stays says this takes effect by the end of 2026. Accounting Costa Rica says the withholding targets stays under 30 days. Longer stays still owe the tax but are declared by the owner under the normal rules.

IVA (VAT)

Under 30 days: 13% IVA applies, per The Tico Times and Accounting Costa Rica.
Residential leases: exempt from IVA unless the monthly rent exceeds a legal threshold, which Accounting Costa Rica puts at about ₡693,000 a month. A furnished Nosara villa priced in dollars may well be above it, so check your rent against the threshold at the current exchange rate.

Full detail is in our Nosara rental income tax guide. Canadian owners should also read our Canadian tax guide.

💡 Key insight: The income tax rate is the same whether your guest stays four nights or four months. What changes with length of stay is IVA, who withholds, and which forms you file.

Which Nosara Properties Suit Mid-Term Guests?

Monthly guests choose differently from vacationers. They are living in the house, so they care about daily life more than the view from the pool.

What a mid-term guest checks	Why it matters	Where Nosara buyers should look
Reliable internet with backup	Remote work is the reason many of them come	Ask for speed tests and outage history; see our infrastructure guide
A real workspace	A desk and chair, not a stool at the bar	Spare bedroom or office nook
Full kitchen and laundry	They cook and wash clothes every week	Washer and dryer inside the unit
Walking or short-drive access	Daily surf, groceries, yoga, school runs	Playa Guiones suits walkers; Garza suits guests who want quiet
Road and drainage in the rainy season	Their stay overlaps the wettest months	Check access in September and October, not just in March
Air conditioning in bedrooms	Humidity during green season	Inverter units cost less to run on a monthly bill

Furnishing matters too. Expat Focus describes medium-term rentals of three to twelve months as a distinct category in Costa Rica, typically fully furnished with some utilities included, and puts the premium for furnished properties at 20% to 40% over unfurnished equivalents. The Tico Times gives a lower range of 15% to 25%. Either way, furniture is part of the price. Our furnishing budget guide covers what a rental-ready fit-out includes.

For comparison, The Tico Times reports that long-term two-bedroom rentals in Guanacaste hot spots including Nosara and Tamarindo range from $1,000 to $2,500 a month, and higher for beachfront. A furnished mid-term stay should price above an unfurnished long-term lease, because the guest gets flexibility and you carry the furniture, utilities and vacancy risk.

💡 Key insight: If you are buying with mid-term income in mind, judge the property in the green season. A house that works for a March vacation can be a hard sell for a September resident if the road floods or the internet drops.

How to Set Up a Mid-Term Rental in Nosara: Step by Step

Map your calendar. Mark your own use, then block January to April for nightly bookings. The open months are your mid-term window.
Get the contract drafted. Have a Costa Rican lawyer prepare a Spanish-language agreement for 30-to-180-day stays, with an English courtesy translation.
Sort your registrations. ICT registration and Hacienda registration if you also take stays under 30 days. Confirm with your accountant how mid-term income is declared.
Check the HOA. Read the condominium bylaws for minimum and maximum stay rules.
Set a monthly rate. Benchmark it against the low-season revenue your nightly listing actually earns, not against peak rates.
Decide what is included. Electricity is the cost that surprises owners in a house with several air conditioners. Many owners include a monthly allowance and bill the excess.
Collect payments safely. Platform monthly-stay billing handles installments for you. Off-platform bookings need a written payment schedule and electronic invoices.
Screen properly. Ask for ID, the purpose of the stay, proof of onward travel or visa status, and references.
Document the handover. Take a dated photo and video inventory at check-in and check-out.
Brief your property manager. Mid-term guests need a monthly check, pool and garden service, and a clear contact for repairs. Our guide to choosing a property management company lists the questions to ask.

💡 Key insight: Steps 2 and 3 cost the most effort and you only do them once. Skipping them saves time until a guest refuses to leave.

Mid-Term Rentals vs. the Other Nosara Rental Strategies

	Nightly (under 30 days)	Mid-term (1 to 6 months)	Long-term lease
Legal framework	Non-traditional lodging, Law 9742	Grey zone; depends on how the contract is drafted	Tenancy law, Law 7527
IVA	13%	Depends on structure and rent level	Exempt below the threshold
Income tax	12.75% of gross under the capital income regime	Same	Same
Owner workload	High	Moderate	Low
Personal use	Easy	Only between stays	Effectively none for three years
Best Nosara months	December to April	May to November	Year-round

For the full comparison of the two ends of this table, read long-term vs. short-term rental in Nosara.

Is a Mid-Term Rental Strategy Right for Your Nosara Property?

Mid-term rentals in Nosara suit owners who:

Own a furnished home with good internet and workable roads in the rainy season
Want income from the green season without managing a dozen short bookings
Will pay for a proper contract before the first guest
Don't use the property themselves from roughly May to November

They are a poor fit if you visit often in the green season, if your HOA restricts rentals, or if you are not prepared to deal with the legal grey zone.

If you are still shopping, you can build the strategy into the purchase. Look at the current listings, compare the neighborhoods for walkability and road access, and read our buyer's guide before you make an offer. Ask the seller's manager for the property's month-by-month booking history, so you can see exactly which months a monthly guest would need to fill.

Market data in this article comes from AirDNA (updated October 13, 2026) and AirROI (August 2025 to July 2026). Legal and tax information comes from the sources named in each section and is general information, not legal or tax advice. Confirm your situation with a Costa Rican lawyer and accountant.

Mid-Term Rentals in Nosara: The 1-6 Month Rental Strategy for Green Season (2026)