On Nov. 22, all annotations over one year old will expire and be purged at the Registro Nacional, Costa Rica’s national registry of properties. This could affect you and your property if for some reason its title is not clear or fully registered.
Here’s a little background. On Nov. 22, 1998, a new notary law was approved and took effect. Before that date all property (real and chattel) annotations would never expire. An annotation is a note on a property’s computer file that indicates a document is pending registration and is defective for some reason. A document can be incomplete for even simple problems, like not enough legal stamps were affixed, taxes could be due, or a number like a cédula (identification number) is incorrect.