Fraud and money laundering: The incidence on the Real Estate Registry of Costa Rica
Oscar RodrÃguez Sánchez
When land ownership is formalized and registered in a Property Registry, and consequently there are no doubts about the ownership and the existing charges on the properties, the value of that property grows exponentially. It is therefore essential for public authorities to invest resources in the legal definition of property and in the provision of holders of registered public property titles. It is fundamental from an economic point of view to integrate the property of the land in a legal framework. Costa Rica, opted for a system of preventive legal security, based on an organic system of presumptions, based on the validity of registered titles and the possibility of making economic decisions based on registration advertising, without further investigation of the background, elements that they give a correct sizing of legal security registries. Confidence in the information provided allows the market to be dynamized when making decisions related to real estate, as well as a decrease in costs that at the judicial level may generate an inaccuracy in the registration publicity. This is how the registration institution raises four basic issues such as: legal security, the guarantee of civil rights, the legality of real estate transactions and the responsibility of the registrar in the exercise of its rating function. If we hope that the publicity granted by the Registry is legal, it is necessary to provide it with truth, without which it is not possible to secure the traffic or legal trade, hence the fraud response the response of the Registry must be fast and effective, because its inertia can cause social referents to appeal to other ways of guaranteeing real estate investments, such as title insurance. When the registration system is not perfected, parallel systems of privatized advertising, insurance contracts, professional investigators of charges and titles of real estate are produced with the consequent disadvantages of excessive costs in transactions and citizen insecurity. Bearing in mind that any alteration or spurious modification in the registry advertising that affects third parties and causes an injury to their interests, generates a weakening in the whole legal security system. Efforts should focus on minimizing this incidence. Well, although in our country the cases presented at the percentage level are the minimum, a single case that is present affects the trust in the entire registry system that is being strengthened. "So we must see the registry beyond a simple homologation institution at the service of private interests, but on the contrary as a body to defend public order and how we contribute to that order by telling each one what is his and even what belongs to the others. "International Congress of Registration Law in Paris 1994
Event: Land Governance in an Interconnected World_Annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty_2018
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