Q COSTARICA — Here’s a bold move on the table: a proposed bill that would raise rents in dollars to allow for inflation. Many foreigners and others in Costa Rica pay rent in dollars.
Currently, the law Ley General de Arrendamientos Urbanos y Suburbanos (Ley 5427) — Costa Rica’s General Law on Urban and Suburban Leases — says rents set in foreign currency can’t be bumped up for inflation while the contract is still active.
Law 7527 also established that residential rental contracts in foreign currency must be for at least three years. That means no inflation-based price changes during that time. But if the lease is in colones, landlords can adjust rent annually based on inflation.
This is what outgoing legislator Alejandro Pacheco from the Partido Unidad Social Cristiana (PUSC) wants to change with proposed bill 24.565.
His proposal would scrap the last paragraph of Article 67 in Law 7527, which currently says: “When the rental price of a dwelling is in foreign currency, the agreed sum stands for the full contract term, with no adjustments allowed.”
The reform argues that stopping any rent increases in foreign currency contracts—even when inflation is steady—throws off the contract’s economic balance. It limits the chance for fair, controlled adjustments and pushes landlords toward informal or indirect ways to make up for lost value, which undercuts the legal certainty the law aims to protect.
This change wouldn’t just affect homes but also warehouses, offices, and other rented spaces priced in foreign currencies.
The bill has just started its journey through Congress. It needs to be assigned to a legislative committee before moving forward, a process likely to fall to new legislators since the current group’s term ends May 1.
If this passes, it could hit hard the wallets of many foreigners and others renting in dollars in Costa Rica—especially with the recent sharp drop in the dollar’s exchange rate.