How to Read a Condo Reglamento Before Buying in Nosara (Costa Rica Condominium Law Guide)

If you are buying a condo, a villa in a gated project, or a lot in a horizontal condominium in Nosara, the most important document you will sign up to is one most buyers never read: the condominium reglamento. Reading a condominium reglamento before buying in Nosara tells you whether you can rent to guests, who decides what your monthly fee will be, what happens if the previous owner left debts behind, and how easily the rules can change after you close. The listing will not tell you any of this. The reglamento will.

Costa Rica's condominium law is the Ley Reguladora de la Propiedad en Condominio, Law No. 7933, in force since 1999. Its implementing regulation was replaced in full by Executive Decree No. 45214, which took effect on 19 January 2026, according to the official Gaceta publication summarized by Cimenta. If a seller or developer hands you a summary based on the old 2005 regulation, it is out of date.

This guide walks through the reglamento section by section, with the questions to ask at each step. It builds on our overview of HOA fees, gated communities and private roads, and is meant to be read with the project's actual documents open in front of you.

What a Condominium Reglamento Is in Costa Rica

Under Law 7933, a condominium is a finca matriz (the mother property) divided into fincas filiales (the individual units). Each filial gets its own title number in the National Registry. Article 6 of the law says the filiales come into existence when the founding deed is recorded together with the description of the property, the reglamento, and the approved plans.

That detail matters. The reglamento is not a loose set of house rules posted by the pool. It is a recorded legal document tied to your title, and by buying you are bound by it. Decree 45214 (article 86, as cited by the Costa Rican law firm Murillo y Guzmán) states that whoever acquires a filial is understood to know and accept the reglamento and the amount and frequency of the condominium fee.

Article 33 of Law 7933 sets the minimum content of every reglamento, including how the administrator is appointed, replaced and paid, the administrator's powers, and the owners' contributions.

Where to get the real document

• Ask the seller for the recorded reglamento, not a PDF summary or a welcome packet.
• Have your lawyer pull the condominium's records from the Registro Nacional, where the founding deed, reglamento and any recorded amendments sit.
• Ask the administrator for the minutes book of recent assemblies. Law 7933 requires a minutes book for the owners' assembly and a cash book for common expenses, both legalized with the Condominium Section of the Property Registry (articles 28 and 32 bis, per the HOMS summary of the law).

💡 Key insight: The reglamento is recorded with the title and binds every buyer automatically. "I didn't know" is not a defence after closing, so read it before you sign the option agreement.

The Seven Sections That Matter Most to a Nosara Buyer

Reglamentos vary in length and quality. Some Nosara projects use a short boilerplate document; others have detailed architectural and rental rules. Whatever the length, these are the sections to find and read closely.

1. Permitted use of each unit (destino)

Look for the clause that sets the destino of the condominium and of each filial: residential, commercial, tourist, or mixed. This is the clause that most often decides whether a vacation rental plan works.

A Costa Rica law firm writing about short-term rentals, American Law Partners, notes that some condominium projects expressly allow vacation rentals, while others restrict rentals to longer terms, require guest registration, cap occupancy, or prohibit commercial lodging entirely. The firm also warns that informal assurances from a seller, broker, property manager or administrator do not replace a review of the recorded documents.

If you are buying for rental income, read this section alongside our guide to Nosara short-term rental regulations. National and municipal rules apply on top of the reglamento, and passing one layer does not mean you pass the others.

2. How fees (cuotas) are calculated

Under Law 7933, each owner's share of common expenses and each owner's voting weight both follow the percentage value that the filial represents within the whole condominium (articles 9, 19 and 24, per HOMS). A larger villa usually carries a larger percentage, which means a bigger fee and a bigger vote.

Article 19 lists what counts as a common expense: taxes and fees on common property, insurance premiums set by the reglamento, administration, maintenance, repair and cleaning of common areas, approved improvements, and anything else the assembly authorizes. Article 13 adds that giving up use of the common areas does not release you from paying.

Questions to ask:

• What percentage is assigned to the unit you are buying?
• Is there a reserve fund, and how much is in it today?
• When was the fee last raised, and by what assembly vote?

3. Late payment interest and surcharges

Many reglamentos set a monthly surcharge on late fees. According to Murillo y Guzmán, model reglamentos that circulated in the early 2000s provided for monthly surcharges of 2% and 5%, and many projects still carry them. The same firm cites a 2005 decision of the Tribunal Primero Civil (vote 823-2005) that treated a 10% monthly surcharge in an industrial condominium's reglamento as interest.

You may never pay late, but this clause tells you how much debt the previous owner could have built up, which leads to the next section.

4. Debts that follow the unit

This is the section that protects your money. Article 20 of Law 7933 makes unpaid common fees, together with their fines and interest, a legal mortgage on the filial, ranked behind only the municipal property tax. Murillo y Guzmán notes that this lien does not appear in the Registry, so a clean title report will not show it.

Article 21 then deals with sales directly. The seller must give the notary a certification from the administrator showing the unit is current on its fees. If the seller is behind, the buyer becomes jointly liable for the certified amount, with a right to recover it from the seller afterward. Murillo y Guzmán cites a Sala Primera ruling (resolution 1491-2024) applying exactly this rule against a buyer of a unit sold with arrears.

Document	Who issues it	What it proves	When you need it
Certificación literal (title report)	Registro Nacional	Registered owner, mortgages, liens, annotations	Before signing and again before closing
Constancia de estar al día	Condominium administrator	Seller is current on condo fees (Law 7933, art. 21)	Delivered to the notary at closing
Recorded reglamento and amendments	Registro Nacional	The rules that bind you	Before signing the option or purchase agreement
Assembly minutes	Administrator	Recent decisions, pending special assessments, disputes	During due diligence

💡 Key insight: Unpaid condo fees are an unregistered lien that follows the unit. Make the administrator's paid-up certificate a condition of closing in your purchase agreement, and have your lawyer hold back funds in escrow if anything is outstanding.

5. How the rules can change

Read the reglamento's amendment clause, then check it against the law, because the law changed in 2022. According to HOMS, a Costa Rican condominium management firm, Law 10229 (2022) lowered the vote needed to amend a reglamento from unanimity to two thirds of the condominium's value, and that reform overrides older reglamentos that demand a higher majority.

The current thresholds under article 27, as summarized by HOMS:

Decision	Vote required
Change the general purpose of the condominium, dissolve the regime, or sell or mortgage the whole project	Unanimity
Amend the reglamento or founding deed, change a unit's purpose, rent out common areas, approve useful improvements or reconstruction	Two thirds of total value
Necessary improvements and other ordinary decisions	Simple majority

HOMS also notes that when a single owner holds 50% or more of the value, a decision additionally needs half of the remaining votes.

What this means for a buyer in Nosara: if the reglamento allows vacation rentals today, a two-thirds vote can change that later. Before you buy for income, look at who owns the units. A project where most owners live full time may vote differently from one where most units are rentals.

6. Who controls the assembly and the administrator

The asamblea de condóminos is the highest authority; the administrator carries out its decisions (articles 24, 30 and 31). The administrator, a person or company, is appointed by the assembly, which also approves the administrator's pay (article 29). Unless the reglamento says otherwise, the administrator acts with general power of attorney over the condominium and its common property.

Points to check:

• Is the developer still in control? In newer Nosara projects, the developer may hold most of the value and therefore most of the votes. Ask when control passes to owners.
• Quorum rules. Per HOMS, the first call requires two thirds of the value present; a second call proceeds with whoever attends.
• Virtual assemblies. Law 10746 (2025) gave virtual assemblies full legal validity, per both HOMS and Cimenta. For owners who live abroad part of the year, this is good news, but check that the administrator actually offers it.
• Calling a meeting. Owners holding at least one third of the value can call an assembly if the administrator does not (article 25).

7. Insurance, fines and architectural rules

Murillo y Guzmán points out that condominium insurance is not mandatory in general; the premium is a common expense in the amount and type the reglamento sets. Without insurance, a reconstruction falls on owners through special assessments. Ask for the current policy and what it covers.

Fines for breaking the rules (noise, unapproved construction, guest behaviour) must follow due process under article 23. The same firm cites a 2025 appellate decision (Tribunal Segundo de Apelación Civil, vote 513-2025) that struck down fines charged to an owner for a tenant's conduct because no proper procedure was followed.

Also look for architectural controls: approved colours and materials, maximum heights, setbacks, pool and casita rules, and whether you need committee approval before building or renovating. If you plan to add a casita or guest house, this section can decide whether you can.

💡 Key insight: The architectural and use rules can stop a renovation or rental plan that is perfectly legal under municipal rules. Read them before you design anything.

Special Cases in Nosara

Condominiums on concession land

Some projects near the beach sit on Maritime Zone concession land rather than titled land. Decree 45214 (article 45, as cited by Murillo y Guzmán) treats the concession fee for common areas as a shared canon, split in proportion to each owner's share. If the project is on concession land, read our guide to titled vs concession property first; the reglamento is only one layer of the review.

Projects still under construction

Law 7933 (article 3) allows a developer to put a planned condominium under the regime before it is built, describing the units from a preliminary design. Decree 45214 (article 6) allows projects to be developed in stages. If you buy off-plan, confirm which phases are recorded, what the reglamento says about future phases, and whether the developer can amend the rules unilaterally while it still holds most of the value.

Gated communities that are not legal condominiums

Not every gated community in Nosara is a condominium under Law 7933. Some are subdivisions with a private association and voluntary dues. In those projects, the article 20 lien and article 21 certificate do not apply in the same way, and fee collection depends on private contracts. Ask your lawyer which structure you are buying into. Our gated communities guide covers the main options.

A Practical Reglamento Review Checklist

Use this list with your lawyer during due diligence:

1. Obtain the recorded reglamento and every recorded amendment from the Registro Nacional.
2. Confirm the destino of the unit allows your intended use, including short-term rental if that is the plan.
3. Find the unit's percentage of total value and the current monthly fee.
4. Request the last two years of assembly minutes, the current budget, and the reserve fund balance.
5. Ask whether any special assessment has been approved or proposed.
6. Check the late payment surcharge rate and request a statement of the seller's account.
7. Make the administrator's paid-up certificate (article 21) a closing condition.
8. Review insurance coverage on common areas.
9. Read the architectural rules before planning any renovation or addition.
10. Identify who controls the vote today and whether a developer still holds a majority of value.

Red flag	Why it matters
Seller cannot produce the recorded reglamento	You cannot confirm what you are agreeing to
No assembly held in years	Budget and fees may be set informally, and disputes go unresolved
Administrator will not issue a paid-up certificate	Possible arrears that could become your debt
Rental rules vague or under discussion in recent minutes	Your income plan could change after purchase
Developer holds most of the value	The rules can be amended without other owners' agreement
No insurance on common structures	Reconstruction costs fall on owners

💡 Key insight: The minutes book often tells you more than the reglamento. Rules on paper are one thing; a fight over rentals or a coming roof assessment shows up in the minutes first.

Why This Is a Job for Your Lawyer, Not Your Agent

Your agent can get you the documents and flag obvious issues. A Costa Rican lawyer should read the reglamento, check it against the current law and Decree 45214, confirm the recorded amendments, and write the article 21 protections into the purchase agreement. If you have not chosen one yet, see our guide to hiring a real estate lawyer in Nosara, and add the reglamento review to your full due diligence checklist.

Weighing a condo against a standalone home or land? Our land vs villa vs condo guide compares the trade-offs, and the buyer's guide covers the full purchase process.

Final Word

A Nosara condo can be an easy way to own near Playa Guiones, Playa Pelada or Garza: someone else maintains the grounds, security is shared, and the unit is ready to lock and leave. The trade-off is that you join a legal community with its own rules, its own budget and its own politics. The reglamento is where all of that is written down. Read it, have your lawyer read it, check the minutes, and get the paid-up certificate before you close.

When you are ready to look at specific projects, browse current Nosara listings and ask for the reglamento with the first set of documents.

This article is general information and is not legal advice. Laws and regulations change; confirm the current text with a Costa Rican lawyer before making a decision.