Costa Rica Property Title Monitoring System
Most of us are aware of companies that offer Alarm detection and monitoring systems to protect our homes or business from burglary and home invasions.
However in Costa Rica the problem of actual property theft by organized criminal gangs that steal the title to your property is a real concern. Once the theft gang has taken over title to your property they in turn mortgage or sell the property to innocent third parties.
How does it work ?
The Costa Rican National Registry has implemented a property title monitoring system called “Alerta Registral” which means Registry Alert. It costs $15 per year per property to register to the Alert system. Once you have registered with the system the computer will monitor your specific title number. In Costa Rica all titled property is provided a 6 digit title registration number. If any documents such as a mortgage or a title transfer is filed against your title you will be notified. The system will detect the filing against your title and will send out an e-mail alerting you of the annotation on your title.
This occurs AFTER the criminal act has been perpetrated because by the time you receive the alert the theft gang has already made a move on the property. However, the warning system does give you enough time to take further preventive measures to prevent further damage. Once you are aware that a fraudulent document has been registered against your title you need to take immediate legal action.
The full text of the operating manual for “Alerta Registral” is set forth below in Spanish.
