Learn how fast we can get a loan in Costa Rica using your real estate. Explore the process with GAP Equity Loans and private lending options.
Borrowing Against Property Held in a Company
Most foreign-owned property in Costa Rica is not held in a person’s name. It sits inside a company — usually a sociedad anónima or an S.R.L. — because that is what the lawyer set up at the time of purchase, and because it has genuine advantages for ownership and for passing things on.
So the question comes up on nearly every file we handle: can I still borrow against it?
Yes. GAP arranges loans against corporate-held property all the time. It is ordinary. What it does is add a second set of documents to the file, and that second set is where the delays happen.
What the lender needs on the company side
The property side of the file is the same as always: title, plano catastrado, liens, municipal taxes, value. On top of that, the company has to be in order.
- The company documents. Proof the company exists and is current, and a current statement of who represents it.
- Who actually owns the shares. Not who did five years ago. Who does now, and whether that can be shown.
- Corporation tax paid up to date. This one catches people constantly.
- Authority to sign. Somebody has to be able to bind the company, and their powers have to be current and sufficient.
- The company’s own position. If the company has other debts or obligations, that is part of the picture.
Where these files actually get stuck
Rarely the property. Almost always the company.
Shares nobody can trace. A company set up fifteen years ago, shares issued to two people, one has since died and the other lives somewhere else. Resolving that is a legal job and it takes as long as it takes.
Corporation tax in arrears. Cheap and quick to fix, and a closing stopper if it is not fixed.
Powers that have lapsed. The person everyone assumes can sign turns out not to be able to, or not for this.
Nobody knows where the books are. The legal books exist somewhere — often with the lawyer who set the company up, who may no longer be the lawyer you use.
None of these stop a loan. All of them cost weeks if they are discovered late. Find out where your company stands before you ask for a number, not after.
The warning nobody gives you
Here is the part I want people to hear, because I have watched it cost people time and money.
Holding property in a company can be right for ownership, right for your estate, and right for a loan — and still work against you somewhere else entirely.
If you are planning to use that same property to apply for residency under the investor category, immigration does not look at the property the way a lender does. The ownership structure matters to them, and a company is generally not the way you want it held for that purpose.
People find this out in the wrong order. They buy through a company because that is what everyone does, then a year later they decide to apply for residency using the property, and discover they have created a problem for themselves.
So before you move a property into a company — or out of one — talk to CRIE about what it does to your residency plans. That is their side of the business, not mine, and the requirements come from immigration rather than from me. A ten-minute conversation before you restructure is worth a great deal more than a clever structure you have to undo.
And do not restructure right before you borrow
A related mistake. Somebody decides the property should be in a company, or out of one, and moves it a few weeks before applying for a loan.
Understand what that looks like from the other side of the table. A recent transfer raises questions that have to be answered, the registry entry is fresh, and the file now needs an explanation it would not otherwise have needed. If restructuring is the right thing to do, do it and then borrow. Do not do both at once.
What to send us
The property details and the amount you need, as always. Then, for the company: the name, roughly when it was set up, who holds the shares, whether the corporation tax is current, and who can sign.
If you do not know some of those answers, say so. Not knowing is normal and it is fixable. Guessing is what causes problems, because the file gets built on the guess and the guess falls over at closing.
There is nothing to pay up front, and the loan fees come out of the loan at closing.
WhatsApp: +506 4001 6413
Email: [email protected]
The full loan requirements →
Glenn Tellier, founder of Grupo GAP
Article by Glenn Tellier (Founder of CRIE and Grupo Gap)
Sign up to start your loan today!
Related Posts
