Where to buy Costa Rican property

Publication by the research team of the Global Property Guide.

Costa Rican Properties

Costa Rica is not only a country of beaches, coffee and black beans. It is a treasure trove of natural landscape, exotic birds, and mammals. discount

Christopher Columbus was the first European to set foot on the Costa Rican soil in 1502. It became a Spanish colony. However, Spain left the region largely alone, due to its relative isolation and distance from the main colonial cities, and Costa Rica became one of the poorest Spanish colonies in the region. Nevertheless, Costa Rica's socio-political, cultural and religious conscience was strongly shaped by the colonial rule of Spain and by the Catholic Church. The majority of Costa Ricans are white, many of them Spanish. There are relics of the American cultures living here before the Spanish came, and a very small part of the population is Amerindian.

Costa Rica is a developing country and Central America's smallest country. It has 5 different geographical areas: the Central Valley, the Caribbean, the Central Pacific, the Northern and Northern Pacific areas.

The Central Valley is the most populous region of Costa Rica, as it comprises Costa Rica's cosmopolitan capital, San José. The coffee boom of Costa Rica started in the valley with first plantations tilled on the slopes of dormant Barva Volcano. Coffee is still the best-known export of the country. It made many local plantters rich, not only shaping the economy of the country but transmitting a splendid and important legacy: the Teatro Nacional, the most beautiful building in Costa Rica and built from coffee tax. The Central Valley continues to witness an increase in the development of residential and commercial property.

Some of the country's most beautiful beaches are located on the north and central Pacific coasts and the Caribbean coast has a beat that is unique in the country.

Costa Rica is Central America's most visited nation. It receives approximately two million visitors annually, many of them environmentally friendly tourists who come to the beautiful and protected marine and forest areas of the country. Costa Rica has developed one of the world's most successful ecotourism industries. It is the second largest source of income following the production of silicone chips. However, major developments such as high-rise hotels and the growing number of tourists visiting protected areas have started to negatively impact the environment.

The government seeks to protect and preserve the rich biodiversity of the country by creating national parks. The protected areas include volcanoes and virgin forests, reserves for wildlife and several beaches.

There are many North American and European expats in Costa Rica. Its ecological areas still attract foreigners to tour or settle here on holiday.

Brief History: Egyptian landlord and tenant law has recently changed

During Nasser's Arab Socialism period, the law of the landlord and tenant in Egypt was highly protective of Egyptian tenants and of their households' interests. Foreign ownership was no longer welcome in Egypt and was severely restricted during this period. As a result, real estate investment declined and Egypt soon faced housing problems due to its rapidly expanding population. Housing owners were no longer prepared to rent their properties because the rent income was unrealistically low and the eviction of tenants was virtually impossible.

Egypt's modern houses of luxury

In 1996, through Law No 4/1996 (as amended by Law No 137/2006), the Egyptian legislature completely decreased landlord and tenant relations, exempting all new rental arrangements from the rental control introduced by legislation at the socialist era, which began in the 1950's. This law abolishes earlier laws and instead restores the general provisions of the Egyptian Civil Code as the tenancy scheme.

The preceding legislation, however, remains applicable to properties occupied by the same tenant as before Law 4/1996 enters into force or if such tenancies are continued by one of the household members protected by those laws.

In 1977, Law 49/1977 introduced modest reforms, establishing detailed rules for setting rents and defining the property owner and tenant's duties. The law applies to all buildings completed in Egyptian governorships and other areas recognized as townships after its entry into force. Before that time, the allocation of buildings completed is still governed by previous legislation (e.g. Law No 121/1947).

Four years later, in 1981, the Egyptian Legislature introduced Law No 136/1981 on leasing and selling buildings and on landlord-tenant relations. Including detailed rules on the fixing of rents and efforts to strike a balance between landlords and tenants, the law applies to the letting of all buildings completed after its entry into force. Some of the provisions of the previous law were revoked in Law No 136/1981; Law No 49/1977 remained in force in all other respects.

The 1977 and 1981 legislation intended to ease restrictions on landlords, but their provisions remained more advantageous to the interests of landlords. In addition, these laws discriminated against foreigners by excluding them from their provisions. The housing situation in Egypt therefore continued to deteriorate until the passage of Law No. 4/1996, which led to a significant resurgence of the housing market.