If you’re planning to build a single home, the permitting process is a lot simpler. For one thing, you don’t have to get your master plan approved INVU, although most of the INVU requirements still apply for individual construction (specifically, alineamientos, water availability, slope of the terrain, Health Ministry approval – consult with your civil engineer

The final step you’ll take in the permitting process is to gather all your approvals and visados and alineamientos and planos and cadastre maps and head to the municipality to get your construction permits. Once again, all municipalities have different requirements, but even if they don’t request one of the above certifications for the granting of permits, you still need them.

Other than SETENA, this is probably the most complicated part of permitting a project – the real heart of the matter. INVU (pronounced EEN-VOO) is the branch of the government in charge of regulating all urbanizacions, meaning subdivisions, condominium projects, etc. The following is a run-down of the different OKs you need from the many different

How fast your development moves depends on what category it falls into as far as the environmental impact it will have. Projects over 500m2 (which is most of them) need what’s known as a D-2 review. The D-2 form contains a comprehensive initial evaluation questionnaire that asks for data on everything from water and earth

If you’ve asked around already about developing in Costa Rica, you’ve probably heard this dreaded word. SETENA is the environmental gatekeeper that supervises the environmental impact of any kind of development. The good side of it is that its regulations are incredibly comprehensive and it has the potential and mandate to protect Costa Rica’s greatest

You need your Master Plan approved (or visado) by the CFIA before most other regulators will look at them. The CFIA has actually been quite active in recent years in lobbying to speed up the permitting process, and it has headed up the creation of a Web site (www.tramitesconstruccion.go.cr) that tries (not always successfully) to provide

Land survey: If you’re doing even a small development, you should have done this step as part of due diligence. A property line survey – carried out by a topographer – is an extremely important step that will save you from many a headache. Here’s why: When Costa Rica started it’s national cadastre (or official property