Home
Renting and Rentals
Renting a home, condo or apartment when first coming to Costa Rica is an excellent idea to help find the perfect place to purchase once new buyers are ready. By renting, one can learn about the neighborhood, community, shopping, transportation, neighbors, and price ranges. Perhaps where one rents, is an unpleasant place, that it is not ideal for living or on the contrary, that it is the perfect place with ideal neighbors and close to all creature comforts. Quite possibly near where one is renting is where they end up living.
Apartments usually range from $400 and can go as high as $2,500., condos usually range from $500 to $5,000. a month, and homes from $1,000 to $10,000 all depending on the type of housing, size of the property, what is included, and of course location.
Example Beachfront and OceanView Rental Properties visit: http://flamingocostarica.com/
Example Beachfront and OceanView Rental Properties visit: http://flamingocostarica.com/
One can rent furnished or unfurnished and some rentals may include services such as electricity, water, security, cable, internet and so on. Most rental contracts go for one year and require one months rent as a deposit, even though by law all rental contracts must be for 3 years. Upon breaking a rental contract the renter will lose their deposit. Nevertheless, in most rental cases in Costa Rica do not expect to get the deposit back as a renter no matter how clean they leave the property. The majority of places and personal residences do not allow pets, as Costa Rica is not quite a very pet friendly place.
As a renter in Costa Rica individuals have an exagerrated amount of rights. It is VERY difficult, almost impossible for the owners to ever kick out renter even if they want to, need to, or if the renters have not made payments. Usually, these situations force the owner into a long legal battle over past unpaid rent. However, if the renter is found guilty by the courts, the judge could issue that the owner of the property take over one of the renter's registered properties for not paying rent such as a vehicle.
When signing a rental contract most times it will be in Spanish since any legal document in Costa Rica is only valid in Spanish, so have a lawyer translate it if needed. Make sure that everything wanted and needed is in the contract and especially make sure about the part of increases in rent are clear. Be sure on agreements about raising rent, like how often, when, what changes can occur and how much they will be.
Finding rentals online is easy in the online classified sections of Tico Times, La Nacion, and other real estate online platform such as www.costalistings.com.
If looking in the San Jose area for a temporary place to stay there are several different options for aparthotels which can give daily, weekly, or monthly rentals. These are a great option for really independent travellers who just need a place that is fully furnished with everything right away.
To have the true Costa Rican experience, one can rent rooms in people's houses for similar time periods. Many Costa Rican's graciously take in foreigners since they have a spare bedroom and they need some extra income. This is an excellent way to make friends, become a part of a family and provides the opportunity to travel around every couple of months switiching houses to get to know different areas of the country before purchasing.
Usually in these homestay types of situations meals are included and sometimes even laundry service. Just make sure to negotiate with the family before moving in and make sure it is the right; for example, if someone doesn't like kids, but the families kids or grandkids come over frequently then this might not be the right place. Or for someone with allergies or that doesn't like animals moves in with a family with pets, perhaps they should consider a different option.
