Do You Need a Lawyer to Buy Property in Costa Rica? What Due Diligence Actually Covers

Short answer: yes, for closing. Costa Rican real estate transactions are handled by a notary public — who, in Costa Rica, is also a licensed attorney — and you'll want your own lawyer involved in that process, not just relying on the seller's. The more useful question is what a lawyer's involvement actually covers, and what it doesn't.

What a lawyer does at closing

Once you've decided to move forward with a specific property, your attorney:

• Verifies the title is clear and confirms the seller's legal right to sell, immediately before signing.
• Drafts or reviews the transfer deed (escritura) and registers it with the National Registry.
• Manages the escrow process, so funds only release once the transfer is properly registered.
• Advises on the sale contract's legal terms and any conditions specific to your purchase.

This is essential work, and it happens close to the finish line — after you've already chosen a property and decided you want to buy it.

What due diligence covers instead

Due diligence answers an earlier, different question: is this property even worth pursuing? Before you've committed to a specific attorney, paid a retainer, or invested serious time, a due diligence check looks at:

• Title — who legally owns the property today, and whether it's clean.
• Survey — whether the registered boundaries match what you're being shown.
• Zoning — whether you can actually build or use the land the way you intend.
• The sale contract — unusual clauses or missing protections, at the offer stage.
• Outstanding debts — unpaid taxes or fees that would transfer to you.
• Environmental restrictions — maritime zones, river setbacks, or protected land that could make part of the property unbuildable.

None of this requires a lawyer to check — it requires pulling the right public documents and knowing what to look for in them. That's exactly the gap a due diligence report fills.

Why most buyers want both, in the right order

Attorneys are the right tool for closing a transaction you've already decided to pursue. They're a comparatively expensive and slow tool for deciding whether to pursue it in the first place — most buyers don't want to pay a retainer and wait on legal review just to find out the land is in a maritime zone or the seller isn't the registered owner.

The practical order that works for most foreign buyers: run due diligence first on any property you're seriously considering. If it comes back clean, you now know exactly what to bring to an attorney, and exactly what to ask them to double-check at closing. If it doesn't, you've avoided paying for legal work on a property you were never going to buy.

A due diligence report isn't legal advice, and it isn't a substitute for the attorney you'll need at closing — think of it as the fast, affordable filter that tells you whether it's worth getting to that stage at all.