Hi, I am interested in dividing a 10 acre parcel of land into 4-5 lots. This is outside of San Ramon, not in the city but in a tiny pueblo 10 km or so from San Ramon.

I am wondering how I go about subdividing it? What are the first steps? Is it done via San Jose' or is it all done within San Ramon?

How much would it cost me?

How long would it take?

What's the process?

If any one could help me with some info, I'd appreciate it.

p.s. the land has water and electricity already, but will require an interior road to get to the other lots.

No one split any land here who can give me any tips on this? I'm not a "developer" just a guy who needs to sell some land off at a fair price.

The Real Estate attorney you used when you bought the property should be able to answer your questions. Try contacting him/her. In the meantime, maybe one of the developers who post on this forum will reply to your post. I'd start with the attorney.

Thanks for the reply. I have not been able to reach my attorney lately. I know I eventually will but in the meantime I thought someone here might be able to give me some tips or estimates of cost/time involved.

you could try your question at the "other" forum - yahoo's Costa Rica Living - they have a number of builders and developers who may know

First, you need to get an experienced Topographer and Attorney to give you a correct answers for your area. Where I live, the minimum lot size for a farm that does not have public road frontage is 5000 square meters. You should hire a Topographer to visit your site and work with him to decide the boundries of your lots. Once you have a general idea of the property lines, he will take readings at different points and load them into his laptop. He will generate new "Planos" for each new lot. These new Planos will be submitted to the Catastral for initial approval and then submitted to the Municipality for a Visado. Once you have these two approvals, it will be submitted to the Registro Nacional to record the subdivision. Your Topographer and Attorney can work to get this all done. It could cost anywhere from $2000 to $5000, depending on the rates of the Topographer and Attorney. Don't pay all until the registered Planos are returned to you. It will take at least 3 months or more. Make sure you get a "Uso de Suelo" (Use of Terrain) from the Municipality, ensuring your right to build on the property. Each lot will need to have access via a Servidumbre from the entrance of the property. Good luck.

Great post but this part really cracked me up. You are completely and perfectly accurate but this old timer would have said, "He will survey your property lines and draw up a plot plan."

Boy how times change! 8^)

(from the old timer who wrote one of the original plot plan programs in AutoCAD waaaaaaayyy back in in 1983 8^)

The property needs to be on a public road and then it can be subdivided.

There are different rules in different areas, but a property does not need to be on a public road to be subdivided. It just needs to have access or a Servidumbre. Where I live, once the lot is more than 60 meters from a public road, the minimum lot size is 5000 square meters. If there is a Plan Regulator for your area, then the sizes may be different. Every lot has to have at least one access.

Got it! One of my best friends is a lawyer on the Nicoya Peninsula, and there it works like that. If any of you needs an attorney in that area, I will be happy to get you in touch with him. His dad has also a law office in San Jose.


~ Mike

Marcos, you are absolutely right. I actually found someone to do it for $1250 by looking around, and he's recommended to me by someone who has done a lot of development and should know. He agreed to take $650 now and $600 when it's all done.
I could ask my topo this, but since I'm here and you seem to know all the answers I'll ask you:
Does the Uso de Suelo from the municipality come after all the rest is done (after the registro records the subdivided lots)? Does the servidumbre have to be CUT IN already before you can get the uso de suelo, or does it just have to be recorded as part of the overall plan before getting the uso de suelo?
And is the Uso de Suelo ever denied? And under what circumstances would it be denied?
Thanks for all your info, and you are correct that at least in my area the land does not have to have public road access in order to be subdivided, according to my topografo. The lots do have to be at least 5000 meters though. Again, this may vary depending on the area.