Titled property and a concession are not two flavors of the same thing. Titled land is ownership. A concession is permission to use a strip of coast that the state has never given away. If a listing on this shoreline is attractive because it feels close to the water, the first question is which of those two legal objects you are being offered. See Maritime Zone guide.
The Maritime Zone, under Law 6043, is the first 200 meters inland from the high-tide line. The first 50 meters are public. Nobody builds a private house there, and nobody occupies it as a yard. The next 150 meters are the restricted zone. Municipalities can grant concessions inside it. A concession is a lease. It is not a folio with your name on it as owner.
How long a concession lasts
Concessions run from 5 to 20 years and can be renewed. Since a 2021 reform, a holder can seek an early extension after half the term has run, which matters if a lender or a buyer wants a longer remaining life before putting more money in. “Typically 20 years” is looser than the statute, which is a range. “The Maritime Zone is 150 meters” is also wrong: 50 plus 150 is 200.
Renewal is a process, not a mood. A concession can be valuable, and people do transfer the rights the law allows, but you are buying a relationship with a municipality and a clock. Your attorney should read the concession file, the remaining term, the permitted use, and any default before you fall in love with the view.
Foreign buyers and the restricted zone
The foreign limits are the reason a concession is a poor substitute for a deed. A person with fewer than five years of legal residency is not eligible to hold one. A company with more than 50 percent foreign capital is not eligible either. Brokers sometimes shorten that to “foreigners generally cannot hold more than 49 percent.” Have a Costa Rican attorney confirm the exact statutory wording before you structure a company around it. This page is not that opinion.
Those limits are why the communities Chris works most often are discussed as titled land. Reserva Conchal, Hacienda Pinilla, Las Catalinas, and the residential areas of Flamingo generally sit outside the concession strip. “Generally” still loses to the survey. A corner of a large parcel can touch the zone even when the house does not. The plano and the folio answer it. The gate does not.
What you actually receive
On titled land you receive ownership, subject to the liens and easements the registry shows and to the debts and permit problems it does not. You can sell it, and you can hold it in your own name without a residency card. On a concession you receive a term of use, subject to the municipality, the plan, and the foreign-capital rules. Title insurance products, where anyone offers them, are discussed separately and are not the norm on concession land.
If a seller describes beachfront as “as good as titled,” ask for the folio number and stop until your lawyer has it. The prettiest mistakes on this coast start with a measurement from the high-tide line that nobody walked.