By Allan Garro

Attorney at Law & Notary Public

In Costa Rica easement laws protect certain property owners, so they can have some control on what is built around them. In legal words, an easement is a right where the proprietor of a piece of land -called dominant estate-, has the right to make some specific actions or exercise a particular use of an adjoining property -called the servant estate-. An easement, to validly exist according to the law in Costa Rica, needs to give a usefulness or utility which satisfies and interest of another. 

The basic content of an easement is the straight power that the owner of the dominant estate has over the servant estate. For example, the right to cross the servant estate’s property for a right of way to the dominant estate’s property, or to prohibit any construction or growing trees if it is an easement for the right of view of for the right of illumination. The various classifications of the easements are divided into continual and non-continual, legal and voluntary.

Continual easements do not need any intervention to operate. Some examples are for the right of view, electrical wiring and for the right of illumination. Non-continual easements are used at time intervals and depend on actions to operate, like an easement for the right of way which requires people passing thru. It is important to note that the right of easement based on the passage of time can only be acquired on continual easements. Non-continual easements can only be acquired by agreement or Court order. 

Legal easements are established by law. Some examples are: a. Some properties with public road frontage are prohibited from construction without a previous authorization from the Costa Rican Transportation Department, b. Some institutions like the Electric Company can create easements by paying a compensation to the owner. Voluntary easements can be of any kind and created by agreement between two or more parties.     

Some common type of easements are: a. Easement for the right of way. It gives someone the right to travel across property owned by another person, b. Easement for the right of view. It restricts any building or landscaping which will restrict a property’s scenic and open condition, c. Easement for the right of illumination. It will restrict any building or landscaping which will restrict a property’s lighting. 

Easement rights can be protected with different kinds of Court procedures. Interdictos or injunction lawsuits are the most common in protecting easement rights. They can be effective if handled correctly and filed with proper arguments. If you have a valuable piece of property with great access, a wonderful view and other valuable intrinsic assets, Costa Rican easements laws can help protecting that. 

----------