Costa Rica Tenant Rights: Your Lease Under Ley 7527

Guides · Costa Rica

The lease an agent hands you is probably a three-year lease, and in a deflation year your landlord may have no legal room to raise the rent at all.

Costa Rica tenant rights are stronger than the paperwork suggests, which is exactly why so few tenants use them. The statute fixes a minimum term, caps increases, sets notice periods and lists the only grounds on which you can be evicted. It also leaves real holes, and the honest answer to where you complain is not a regulator. This guide walks through the law article by article, using the figures published up to September 2026.

Costa Rica tenant rights start with a three-year term

Article 70 is the rule that surprises everyone. The minimum lease term is three years. A lease stipulating less, or stating no term at all, is deemed to be for three years, counted from the day you receive the property. The one-year lease an agent presents is, as a matter of law, a three-year lease on your side. Article 3 makes these rights non-waivable, so a clause shortening the term is read as unwritten.

Two cheap protections are worth using. Article 17 exempts residential leases of any value from duties, fiscal stamps and timbres. Article 18 lets any person ask a civil court in the property’s district to stamp a certain date on the contract, verbally, with no formality and free of charge. Article 11 requires a written contract to describe the property, its installations, its state of conservation and any defects, plus an itemised list of furniture. Article 46 presumes you received the property in good condition if nothing says otherwise.

Money up front is capped. Article 92 limits advance rent to one month. It also caps any guarantee at one month’s rent, and voids every obligation to the contrary. Article 58 repeats the advance-rent rule for homes and obliges the landlord to give you a receipt. Article 59 makes that guarantee answer for rent and the lease’s other obligations, unless expressly agreed otherwise. What no article does is set a date for giving the deposit back.

The annual increase, and why 2026 is different

Article 67 was rewritten by Ley 9354 of 4 April 2016, published in La Gaceta on 3 June 2016. The rent updates at the end of each contract year. Where accumulated inflation over the twelve months before that anniversary is 10% or less, the landlord may raise the rent by an equal or smaller percentage. The benchmark is the consumer price index of the statistics institute. Above 10%, the housing ministry sets the additional figure. An increase above the cap is void of full right.

Procedure matters as much as the number. The increase takes effect from the payment period following the one in which the landlord notifies you. The notice must carry a certification from the statistics institute, or an authentic copy of the official gazette publication. A verbal increase or a bare email does not comply. If you disagree you may deposit the previous rent judicially, though the effect of that payment depends on the outcome of any eviction. One duty sits outside article 67 itself. Article 2 of Ley 9354 makes the ministry publish the maximum applicable figure on the first day of each month.

The 2026 figures, and the mistake to avoid

Costa Rica is in deflation. The housing ministry has published a figure for every month of 2026, and all eight readings are below zero. They run minus 2.53% in January, minus 2.73% in February, minus 2.09% in March and minus 1.64% in April. May to August read minus 0.97%, minus 0.32%, minus 0.28% and minus 0.17%. The ministry takes each figure from the year-on-year consumer price index of the statistics institute. Its published series has been negative in every month since May 2025. Article 67 permits an increase equal to or below accumulated inflation. That rate is negative, so landlords on colón leases have no legal room this year.

A single annual cap for 2026 does not exist, and quoting one is the commonest mistake. The cap is a monthly figure tied to your own contract anniversary. A lease falling due in February 2026 met minus 2.73%, and one falling due in August met minus 0.17%. Check the ministry figure for your anniversary month, and ask for the certification.

Dollar leases cannot be raised at all

The final paragraph of article 67 is the single most valuable line in the statute for a foreign tenant. Where a residential lease is priced in foreign currency, the agreed sum stands for the whole term, with no right of adjustment. Combine that with the three-year minimum in article 70 and a US$1,500 dollar lease is a US$1,500 lease for three years. Article 57 still lets you pay in colones at the central bank sell rate on the payment date.

Non-residential premises are different. Under article 69 the parties may freely agree the periods, form and amounts of any adjustment. Failing agreement, either side may bring a summary proceeding at the end of each contract year, or go to arbitrators or experts. So the freeze protects your home, not your shop or office.

Notice, renewal and ending the lease

Renewal is automatic unless the landlord acts. Article 71 gives tacit renewal unless the landlord gives notice of not renewing at least three months before the term ends. The renewal runs a fresh three-year period, with all terms continuing. Article 72 lets you end the lease on three months’ notice, unless you agreed otherwise in writing. Article 75 keeps the lease alive if the property is sold.

There are exceptions. Article 74 lets an owner who lives in the building end the lease on one month’s notice. It applies only where no more than two units are let and the entrance is shared. Article 76 caps the lease at three years where an earlier mortgage or attachment leads to a forced sale. Article 78 bars subletting or assignment without the landlord’s express authorisation, and breach is a ground for termination. Article 79 excepts a shop or workshop sold as a going concern. Article 120 gives you one year to bring a claim.

Eviction, and where you actually complain

Article 114 lists nine grounds for the landlord. They include non-payment of rent, failing to keep the property in good condition, and breaching condominium rules. Also on the list are unpaid condominium expenses, changing the use of the property and refusing inspection. Damage caused by not warning the landlord, unauthorised subletting and failure to notify a subrogation complete the list.

Abusive enjoyment counts too, which article 54 defines as notoriously bothersome, noisy, scandalous, harmful, dangerous, unhealthy or unlawful activity. Article 115 gives you grounds against the landlord, including a property not delivered in a safe and healthy state.

Article 116 requires a formal prior demand, allowing up to thirty days, for the condominium grounds and for all of your grounds. A landlord’s eviction then runs as a desahucio under the Code of Civil Procedure, the route article 121 sets. Article 122 sends your own claims to a summary proceeding. They include resolution for the landlord’s breach, reinstatement in the lease, and a disputed increase.

Now the awkward part. The housing ministry says plainly that it cannot advise on lease terms. It points people to a lawyer, or to free legal advice services. Beyond publishing the monthly figure, its statutory role starts only if inflation passes 10%. Your venues are the civil court for the property’s district, judicial deposit of rent under article 66, and mediation or arbitration. Health and municipal authorities can act under article 93 where a property is unsafe. The one thing nobody publishes is how long an eviction takes.

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This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief