Costa Rica’s Real Estate Registration Information System (SIRI)

In 2006, the Government of Costa Rica established (re-designed) the Cadastre and Registration Regularization Program (PRCR). As established in Law 8154, which approved loan agreement number 1284/OCCR between the Republic of Costa Rica and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the objective is to strengthen the country's real estate legal security in order to improve public and private investments.

In Costa Rica, the official cadastral and registry information is administered from two big databases:

1. Contains the graphic information of the cadastral plans, called SIC (Cadastral Information System)

2. Manages the literal information of the properties, called SB (Real Estate System).

However, with the integration of the National Cadastre and the Real Estate Registry under the legal reform that gave life to the

Real Estate Registry, it became necessary to evolve towards integrating both databases. The resulting Real Estate Registry Information System — referred to as SIRI — works on three key areas:

1. Formation of the Cadaster and

compatibility with the Registry.

2. Regularization related to real property in areas under special regimes (ABRE).

3. Municipal strengthening in the use of cadastral information.

"All this data is unified in the Real Estate Registration Information System (SIRI) and in the cadastral map, which is a multifinancial map, which will express the physical and legal data of the property. There will be a single seat, registry-cadastral, with a graphical representation of the property, a map with the legal reality of that property."

— Executing Unit of the Cadastre Regularization program and National Registry, 2009.

Therefore, SIRI is a tool for the interaction, research and study of properties in the country. With this system you can obtain the following services:

1. Visualization of the Mosaic of Plot Plans and the Conformation of the Cadastral Map.

2. Cartography Visualization and the Consultation of Lot´s Plot Plans.

3. Display of Images of the Plot Plans, Verification of Tolerances, Format and Geometry (Paths).

4. Data of the Adjoining Property Identifiers Relationships, Inconsistencies and Modifications.

5. Georeferencing lines and landmarks. Layers of MINAE, INDER, CONAI. Situation Holders, among others.

Law 6545, National Cadastre, indicates in its first articles what Cadastre is and its role. We can see that it also indicates in Article N°. 4, two types of zones:

1. Zona Catastral: Part of the national territory in which the cadastral survey validation and verification is in process.

2. Zona Castrada: Part of the national territory where the cadastral survey validation and verification has been concluded and officialized.

The law indicates that once the decree declaring a cadastral area has been published, the data derived from the Cadastre, referring to the location and measurement of the properties, will be considered as true and may not be challenged, except by judicial route. However, rectifications may be made by legal officio or to the management of the owner. Later, the National Cadastre will make them to guarantee and improve the accuracy of the cadastral data. The management carried out by the owner must be endorsed by an authorized professional.

The final purpose is that gradually, through this management, the Cadastral Zones will be applied to the entire country.

Should you have any questions related to the application of SIRI, we are at your service at info@gmattorneyscr.com