Hoop Jumping in Paradise

Costa Rica, as it turns out, has lots of hoops to jump through if you want to get anything done in the country. Many people avoid them but they do so at their own peril. We are not those kinds of people. We would always prefer to do things within the law, it can only save trouble further down the road. 

So, that said, let me explain what I mean.

First there was the car. We needed one desperately as soon as we could but we were unprepared for the trials associated. Upon arrival we had booked a rental car to allow us to get around. This was an easy thing to do but they are very expensive especially at this time of year so we spent the next few days trying to find the right vehicle to buy and ditch the rental. 

Second hand cars here are very expensive! I mean really expensive. It might have something to do with the high costs of import duties on vehicles. This bumps up the price of cars generally but used ones hold their value much more than in the UK. So with this in mind we tried to find a reasonably priced pickup which would last us for a good few years. It has to after the prices we have seen. There were many being sold privately but in order for us to pay the seller we would have had to organise a money transfer from the UK. This, in itself, is costly for us due to fees and exchange rates but, but as we discovered, local people, Tico’s, are a little unfamiliar with the process and most probably don’t even have bank accounts. (Based upon the size of the queues in the banks here I can fully understand why, imagine the A&E department and multiply it by a factor of three!) So this was going to be an issue. We did see a couple of really nice 4×4 Toyota’s, which, as proved by Top Gear, are pretty indestructible. But the fact that the owners wanted cash made it nigh on an impossibility. 

Finally, we came to the conclusion that it was going to be far easier to buy from a dealer. Always more expensive. We looked around all the local ones but no pickups within our price range. So off we went on the 5 hour journey to San Jose to look there. None. Damn. But the landlord at the hotel told us Grecia was the place to go for used cars. It was nearby so off we went. And, yes, literally dozens of dealerships, some dodgy looking and some quite refined. But we did find the perfect vehicle. A Nissan Frontier 4X4. Now all we had to do was negotiate the price, organise the money transfer to the seller and appoint a lawyer to transfer the title into our names. Honestly, trying to buy a house is far easier. 

Luckily Daniela has become pretty proficient in Spanish and spoke legalese with the notary, all the fine details were checked and stamped and copied into the national registry. Basically you have to do all this unlike in England where you just send off a part of the V5 and a week later the change is done. Or even online nowadays. But not here. The downside to our predicament was that we had to wait a day until the money was transferred from the UK through our accounts. This meant going home and returning on the Monday to collect the car and finalise the process all adding to the overall cost of the car.

At least buying through a dealer meant we got a months guarantee. Which, as it turns out, we needed. The wheel bearings needed replacing! It can be nasty if they disintegrate at 60 miles an hour. So we found a rather interesting local character recommended by the man who sold us the land. This ‘mechanic’ is a very interesting bloke but we have learnt that you have to catch him at the right time. Any time after lunch and he is sozzled! So we approached him in the morning and despite his obvious hangover he was quite  coherent. The car is being repaired as I write thank god, I just hope he knows which way round to put them? We have also been reimbursed for the cost of the work so all is good really.

And that was the first hoop jumped. Phew!

Now the other, many, hoops are involved with the land. 

Firstly, in order to build in Costa Rica you should and are supposed to get a building permit. I knew this already so no surprises there. But I didn’t know fully just how complicated this can be. 

Secondly, you have to have a water letter from the local authority indicating that you have access to water. We had this after the due diligence process on the purchase of the land. In fact we insisted on it. 

Second secondly you have to have electricity. We also have that, positively insisted. 

Thirdly, you have to have a uso de Suelo which is basically outline planning permission in England. We had that. Looking good so far.

Fourthly, it is the law here to use an authorised and licensed architect who designs and processes your plans and submits them to the appropriate authorities. We didn’t have this. What we had was a few architects who we were told would, for a fee, take my plans and edit them and submit them. I have spent many, many hours designing two lovely houses. (I have included images of my designs by way of links at the bottom) I do not want to pay an architect the full price he usually charges because I have done the majority of the design stage of the process which constitutes a lot of the work. Makes sense to me? Anyway we got a couple of quotes based on my designs and WOW! Very costly. They seem to take the total floor area of the buildings including patios and terraces and multiply this by a figure to get the build cost then they charge a percentage of that. The government takes a percentage. The municipality takes a cut. Somebody else gets a share and the architect, obviously, takes his cut. Then you have to, by law, take out an insurance policy to cover any liability for the workers on site. So, golly, add it all up and you have a hefty figure which explains why a lot of people avoid the process completely and simply wait to be found out and just pay a fine. But these days you can actually lose your house so that is not an option for us. 

So, after lots of back and forth with the architect, we have been advised, off the record, to reduce the size of the buildings by removing patios and terraces and put in that revised plan. This way we get a permit and can also modify the build to include what we took out with no real problem as nobody comes to check anyway! FFS! All very dodgy but our funds are limited so it’s necessary really. 

At present we are at the point where the architect has given us a price and we are debating whether to go ahead with him or shop around some more. He does come highly recommended and has been used on various projects here in Pura Jungla so we are leaning towards his services. Also, he has assured us that a permit can be obtained within 10 weeks. Sounds like a long time but at least we can start the process of landscaping and creating new roads etc. 

Here in Costa Rica there are two seasons, dry and wet. Build in the dry, shelter in the wet. It is coming up to wet season in a couple of months so the first order of things is to make the access for the trucks that will be delivering materials. This involves covering the mud road with what they call lastre. Basically crumbly stone which is compacted and becomes a firm base for the trucks to use. We also have to create a new road to the property site. This is all done through a local guy who has all the machinery and experience. I am not going to be using a shovel at all, well maybe a bit. 

We have fallen on our feet again, though. We have a lovely little house 100 meters away from the site so it is very convenient and has a pool too! Great for the lunch break cool off’s.

So all is good in paradise. It has its difficulties but I think that is to be expected when you are learning the ropes and which hoops to jump through and which ones to avoid. 

Pura Vida to all.