Paragon Properties of Costa Rica Warning! If You Purchased Land In Costa Rica Through Paragon Properties, You May Lose Your Investment!
Act Now! Save Your Piece Of Paradise!
DISCLAIMER: I am neither an attorney nor a real estate agent. The following information has been gathered through my personal experience as I endeavor to develop my own properties which were purchased in 2006 and 2007 from Paragon.
I make NO claims regarding the validity or legality of the information contained herein. I advise everyone to seek legal counsel with respect to this issue. I am simply a land owner trying to build a house on my lot.
The Paragon Properties Fiasco Continues
Those who purchased property from Paragon have found out the hard way that buying a piece of paradise is not always bliss. Many of us have waited patiently for the now “defunct” entity to right the wrong they committed. However, the class action law suit brought against them in Florida was dismissed. They walked away without paying restitution and we were left holding the bag. For some of us, the bag was empty.
The current state of affairs is multifaceted. There are 4 groups of people who have been adversely affected by their recklessness and greed.
- Those who paid deposits for their properties.
- Those that paid in full and were given valid or allegedly falsified documents however, these were never registered in the National Registry.
- Those who paid in full and fortunately received their deeded properties- registered in their own names.
- Those who gave Paragon’s Costa Rican attorneys, Alfaro and Soto, “Power of Attorney” to create a Sociedad Anonima (S.A. – which is comparable to a Corporate Entity) who may or may not have had their properties transferred into the entity.
For the first group, I see no recourse, your initial investment has been lost.
The second group may or may not be able to recoup their investment, however, you must hire a Costa Rican attorney to unravel the web of documents you have in your possession. You must possess an “original” executed Agreement for Deed and proof of payment in full. If you were given “unregistered” deeds and/or your S.A. Books, you need to determine in which “canton” or region your property is located and contact the respective local Municipality.
Have them investigate the legitimacy of your ownership and if they can verify ownership, register your lots, pay your taxes and fence in your property.
As for the third group, you MUST contact the local municipality in charge of the “canton” or region in which your property is located (that information can be found at the top of your registered deeds) and pay your property taxes. If you do not pay your taxes, you will lose your property. Additionally, you need to verify through the local municipality that the correct lot was registered in the National Registry.
My investigation has proven time and again that Paragon was negligent on these matters. For example, the lots I purchased did not correspond to the lots that were registered.
Additionally, DO NOT pay an attorney to transact the payment of your property taxes. It is a very simple matter. You can do it yourself. It does not cost $2,000 in attorney fees to pay less than $100 of taxes! And the S.A.’s annual fees cost approximately $350 per year. Don’t forget to pay these! You will lose your property if they are not paid. Directly connect with the respective municipality corresponding to your property and ask for their help.
This is how I have paid my taxes for the last 3 years. My fees have been nominal-Western Union, long distance calls and a small service fee to the individual who generously processed my payment. I did NOT pay $2000 for the service!
To log onto the National Registry – go to the Registro Nacional – Republica de Costa Rica and click the link on the left hand side that says Sedes regionales. There you will find a list of local Municipalities. Contact whichever region corresponds to your property and they will give you the local phone numbers to the regional office in charge of your property.
Once you contact the local municipality, they will assign an agent to your “case” and will email you a time and date to conference with respect to your needs. It will be very helpful if you can speak Spanish, if not, find an interpreter that can help you.
Group 4, you may find discrepancies within the legal language of your S.A. For instance, my S.A. was set up incorrectly, I was not named nor registered as the “persona juridica” (legal representative of the corporation), my property was not transferred into the entity and attorneys Alfaro and Soto appeared as my legal representatives. My current attorney informs me that these lawyers, hired by “Paragon”, could have legally charged me $100 per year, since they appear as the legal representative of my S.A. and, they could have charged the fee retroactively to its inception.
We amended the S.A. with a substitution of attorney, named and registered me as the legal representative (persona juricada) and transferred my property into the S.A. Please contact a Costa Rican attorney (preferably a local one) and have them verify that your S.A. is in order and your properties have been transferred correctly.
Time is of the essence. Some owners of Paragon Properties have possessed their land since 2014. THIS IS YOUR LAST YEAR TO CLAIM YOUR LAND! Squatter’s rights in Costa Rica state that if a property appears to have been abandoned and neglected, anyone can ingress upon it. They can make use of it however they like, i.e. farming, grazing animals, building, or whatever they chose.
After 10 years, they can present their case in court for its possession. If they establish that they have made use of the land throughout that period without any counter to their claim from the existing owner, they will acquire the property through adverse possession.
The “Paragon” properties are now owned by a new entity. These people are reneging on their obligation to build the infrastructure. I have personally met with the legal representative, who now posses all of Paragon’s properties, and he told me he has no intention of building the infrastructures. That’s why my husband and I have decided to take charge of the situation ourselves. We started to clear the old access roads, investigated how to place power poles, build water wells and septic tanks and once we have our permits (which are in progress) we will build the infrastructure ourselves.
I believe the new owner is avoiding their responsibility to develop these properties and this may stem from the desire to regain all of our properties through adverse possession. If no one does anything, and those properties just sit there, they can win them all back in court. Some of our properties are now being rented to farmers; on one of the projects, the tenant is grazing his oxen and cattle, the other is being farmed for crops.
These new owners are profiting from using our land, yours and mine, refusing to honor the “Finca Madre” and reneging on their obligation to develop our projects.
My suggestion to you is -gather up your documents, let me know if you are interest in taking back rightful possession of your land and band against this second attempt at having it taken away. Also, GO – RUN – DON’T WALK- to Costa Rica and fence in your properties.
I have begun the process of building for myself and believe I will prevail. This will set a precedent and then others can follow my template for building a paradise home in Costa Rica.
For more information on this as it develops, please join our private Paragon Properties Owners of Costa Rica group on Facebook here and become part of our community. Let us know who you are. There’s a plan in process to coordinate a trip to Costa Rica within the next month or two by a group of owners who want to meet and mastermind a solution to developing these properties ourselves.
These current owners will not do it, the chances of us getting any money out of them or Paragon is NIL; so this seems the best strategy to take in order to build our properties. In solidarity, we can finally appreciate our little piece of paradise!
Written by VIP Member Clarita Bassett.
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Article ID Number 4754
Andrew Makarik
to@welovecostarica.comAndrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.
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