EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF LEGAL INTERPRETATION[1]
The ruling is crystal clear: the Municipality must finalize their report and act. The report by the Municipality will issue an opinion by the said government body on the issue at hand, which is an apparent privatization of land area that should be public. From a strictly administrative point of view, the Government MUST regard any lands that have been destined toward public use to that use. This means that, if it can be proven that there was a document declaring that public destination of use, received and approved by a Government institution, those areas would be expressly considered to be public domain. The Government would be legally obligated to start what is called a REIVINDICATION process against the owners of all of these lands, to recuperate them.
This is a very novel case, as there is little or no precedent in our legislation of something like this. The people affected would have many legal recourses to battle this, such as defending their rights in a court of law or even going to an international arbitration tribunal.
IF ALL OR MOST OF WHAT IS BEING SAID BY THE CLAIMANT THAT INITIATED THE PROCESS IS TRUE, this will create two different scenarios:
- The NCA received lands directly from the entity that should have given them to the public domain, so it will be important for the NCA to prove that this acquisition was made in good faith. THIS SAID, the Municipality defends the NCA natural protection of the land and claims that use is problematic, since most of the lands are a private natural reserve.
- The people who bought lands privately without any knowledge of this, and then resold to other owners and so on and so forth would most likely be considered acquirers in good faith, and would have a strong case to avoid their land being recuperated.
FINDINGS
- Case Outcome: The Constitutional Chamber, by a majority vote, declared the appeal admissible only with respect to the Municipality of Nicoya, finding it inadmissible regarding the National System of Conservation Areas (SINAC).
- Complaint Basis: The appellant alleged that the Municipality of Nicoya engaged in an omission, illegality, and abstention from carrying out pertinent procedures ordered by the Municipal Council. This failure resulted in the unrestricted authorization of constructions and land uses, to the detriment of public domain property.
- Project Context: The dispute involves the “Proyecto Americano” in Nosara, which originated in 1966/1967. Allegedly (not proven), Institute of Housing and Urbanism (INVU) approved an “Official Map” that mandated layouts for parks, green areas, and communal uses under numeral 40 of Urban Planning Law 4240. Subsequently, a transnational company [Name 005] allegedly transferred institutionally committed areas to [Name 007] “WITH EVIDENT FRAUD”.
- Municipal Omission:
- The Municipal Works Commission had previously recommended taking necessary measures (administrative or judicial) to claim in the name of the Municipality the 80 hectares that should be public.
- The Municipal Council unanimously agreed to transfer this report for legal assessment in March 2021, but no response was received from the Legal Department. The Council renewed the request in April 2021.
- While the Urban Technical Commission (CTU) issued Report 03-2023 in February 2023, noting that the original developers never assigned the communal areas, the Court concluded that no concrete actions were taken to fully address the situation after that date. This inaction for more than two years was deemed an illegal omission.
- Court Order: The Mayor a.i. and the Council President were ordered to execute the following actions within a period of EIGHTEEN MONTHS (18 months):
- Determine and Update: Define the legal status of the real estate assets reputed to be public, based on prior reports (CTU 03-2023, etc.).
- Bring Actions: Interpose the necessary actions (administrative and judicial) to ensure the safeguarding of public interest and the vindication (legal reclamation) of properties where irregularity in ownership is determined.
CONCLUSIONS
The resolution does not declare any specific property as public domain at this stage. Instead, it sanctions the Municipality of Nicoya for its illegal omission and obliges it to complete its technical and legal duties. The Constitutional Chamber is only requiring the Municipality to finalize the technical definition of which properties are affected and to determine the proper course of action.
At present, no property has been definitively declared public, and no type of action (judicial, administrative, or otherwise) has yet been defined.
To provide an opinion regarding your specific legal situation, further technical analysis is required. Our services may be retained to conduct a detailed study comparing your property’s title deed with the cadastral plans and findings from CTU Report 03-2023.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on the 18-month deadline established by The Constitutional Chamber, property owners in the area have two primary courses of action:
- If you wish to pursue an active approach, please call us so we can convene the potentially affected property owners and conduct a rigorous, technical follow-up of the process. This includes coordinating meetings with the Municipality of Nicoya and SINAC, gathering up-to-date information, and ensuring ongoing, independent oversight of all necessary actions.
- Alternatively, one may choose to wait for an eventual notification from the competent authorities. However, it should be noted that such notification may never arrive, since the process might not advance or may not result in any direct action concerning the properties involved.
REFERENCES
Resolution Nº 25307-2025 of the Constitutional Chamber of Costa Rica
[1] DISCLAIMER: The legal interpretation is based on a speculation of what might happen. The rest of the document is a direct analysis of the Constitutional Chamber ruling.
