In the event you’re contemplating renting property in Costa Rica—whether or not as a landlord or a tenant—understanding the distinction between a trip rental and a long-term rental is crucial. The excellence impacts not simply the period and pricing, but in addition your rights, tasks, and even the eviction course of.
On this article, I’ll clarify Costa Rica’s rental laws, when a rental is assessed as a short lived tourism lodging (trip rental), and when it turns into a residential tenancy ruled by the Costa Rica Tenancy Legislation Ley Normal de Arrendamientos Urbanos y Suburbanos
Costa Rica’s Rental Legislation Construction
Costa Rica has two distinct authorized constructions that apply relying on how a rental is assessed:
- Trip Leases (short-term, business use)
- Lengthy-Time period Residential Leases (domicile, ruled by the Tenancy Legislation)
Costa Rica’s Ley Normal de Arrendamientos Urbanos y Suburbanos applies to long-term residential leases and gives sturdy protections for tenants—together with obligatory lease period, restricted lease will increase, and judicial eviction procedures.
What’s a Trip Rental in Costa Rica?
Trip leases, usually listed on platforms like Airbnb, VRBO, or Reserving.com, are short-term stays meant for tourism or leisure functions.
Widespread Options of Trip Leases:
- Rental interval of lower than 30 days
- Furnished and contains utilities
- Rented for leisure or trip
- Contains providers like cleansing or Wi-Fi
- Not used as a major residence
- Usually paid day by day or weekly
Instance of a Trip Rental:
A Canadian couple books a fully-furnished condominium in Tamarindo for 10 nights by way of Airbnb. They use it purely for trip and transfer out on the finish of their keep. This can be a trip rental, and tenancy legal guidelines don’t apply.
Eviction Course of:
Trip leases fall outdoors tenancy legal guidelines, so administrative eviction or contract-based treatments apply—usually a lot quicker than court-based processes.
What’s a Lengthy-Time period Rental in Costa Rica?
A long-term rental is any rental by which the tenant makes use of the property as a residence or domicile. The meant use and period are what issues—not whether or not the lease is written or verbal.
Widespread Options of Lengthy-Time period Leases:
- Rental interval exceeds 30 days
- Tenant makes use of the property as a dwelling
- Month-to-month lease funds
- Could or might not be furnished
- No providers like day by day cleansing
- Typically organized by way of word-of-mouth or non-public settlement
Instance of a Lengthy-Time period Rental:
An American retiree verbally agrees to lease a small home in Atenas for six months, pays month-to-month, and makes use of the property as his residence. Even with out a written lease, this can be a long-term rental, and the tenancy regulation applies.
Eviction Course of:
Protected tenants can solely be evicted by a court docket course of and just for particular causes (non-payment, property harm, and many others.). Even verbal contracts are legally enforceable underneath Costa Rica’s tenancy regulation.
Fast Comparability Desk
Standards | Trip Rental | Lengthy-Time period Rental |
Period | Lower than 30 days | Greater than 30 days |
Use | Tourism | Residence |
Furnished | Sure | Elective |
Contract Sort | Industrial | Residential (protected) |
Eviction | Administrative or civil | Judicial course of |
Companies Included | Sure | Hardly ever |
Conclusion
If you’re a landlord this distinction is essential as the time-frame concerned to evict a tenant that’s in a trip rental is far shorter than having to sue a tenant in Courtroom for a judicial eviction course of.
As a Tenant it’s essential so that you can perceive the distinction between the 2.
Greedy these distinctions helps keep away from disputes, unlawful evictions, or undesirable authorized publicity.
