A formal complaint concerning excavations carried out without the corresponding authorisation. Earthworks are precisely the category the developer's record sets aside as a separate process; these are the filings within that category.
A separate website publishes a development record for Mar Azul. This page sets each of those subjects beside the judicial, regulatory and environmental proceedings that are also open on the same subject — with the issuing authority, file number, date and current status for each.
Court orders in force today
How to read this record
Some entries below are decisions a court or authority has already made. Others are complaints that have been filed and not yet decided. Both belong in a due diligence file, and they carry very different weight. Every entry is marked.
A court or authority has ruled. Binding unless overturned.
An order presently binding on the parties.
Filed and admitted; awaiting decision. No finding has been made.
A complaint on the record. Unproven. The parties named are presumed innocent.
Concluded, including where concluded against the owners.
A fact recorded by the competent authority in its own inspection or report. Not a ruling, and not a contention by the owners.
A factual matter confirmed by an independent technical body. Not a proceeding.
A discrepancy visible on the face of the official record. No assertion is made as to which document is correct.
A file referenced here as the basis of another entry. No status attaches to it.
Construction permits are listed for individual homes — PC-328-2021, PC-572-2025, CFIA registration 945136, INS policy 7729510 — together with infrastructure permit PC-714-2023.
The record then states that building permits for individual homes and permits for earthworks or infrastructure are separate regulatory processes. PC-572-2025 is listed as approved on 16 January 2026.
A formal complaint concerning excavations carried out without the corresponding authorisation. Earthworks are precisely the category the developer's record sets aside as a separate process; these are the filings within that category.
Municipal closure orders issued in respect of works at the site. A closure order is a municipal act, not an allegation by a private party.
A 24-page petition seeking a declaration of absolute nullity of the same permit, on five independent grounds. Under Art. 173 LGAP any one ground, if established, is sufficient. The petition has not been decided, and the permit stands until it is. The petition was logged as trámite 6519-2026 and routed by the Alcaldía on 23 February 2026, under AM-0370-02-2026, to the Dirección de Planificación Urbana y Desarrollo and to legal advisory. The permit itself records CFIA project OC 1217432 and identifies the owner by corporate identity number 3-102-861529.
1 · Water — no AyA Dirección de Acueductos Rurales opinion in the file, required by Art. 117 Reglamento de Construcciones where a condominium relies on ASADA supply. 2 · Environment — 511 m² in an ecologically fragile zone requires a SETENA D1-C form under Decreto 43898-MINAE Art. 3(6); not in the file. 3 · Electricity — ICE no-availability certifications (oficios 1153-055-2021 and 1153-170-2024) appear at folio 039 of the permit's own administrative file. 4 · Trees — the Municipalidad's own use-of-soil certificate designates the finca forested and flags a MINAE felling permit; not in the file. 5 · Procedure — the June 2025 closure had never been lifted when the permit issued.
An open municipal file concerning the issuance of building permits at the site. Six permits were granted through a regularisation process — that is, after the fact, rather than in advance of the works they cover.
Each of the six was applied for before concession R-2133-2024-AGUAS-MINAE was granted for well CJ-135 in September 2024. The concession is the instrument on which the development's water supply is said to rest, and it did not exist as a granted right on the dates those applications were made.
The file has not been resolved. We do not assert that any of the six permits is invalid; we record that the Municipalidad has an open investigation into how they were issued, and that the sequence of dates is on the public record and can be checked.
Closure issued to six entities, including Condominio Mar Azul. No subsequent municipal act lifting it appears in the file. A closure order does not lapse on its own; it remains in effect until formally lifted. Closure seals were recorded as removed on 30 December 2025, a matter raised under Art. 319 of the Penal Code.
On 25 August 2026 the Dirección de Control Constructivo y Obras Públicas issued a construction-compliance notice in respect of 6 filiales.
An incidente de nulidad and a recurso de revocatoria with appeal in the subsidiary were filed against the notice. Filed with them was a complaint recording that eight administrative filings made to the Municipalidad during 2026 — 12443, 12445, 12446, 12447, 15069, 15071, 15073 and 17405 — remain unanswered, together with a report of new pipe works and an interruption of water supply within the condominium.
The issuing office copied the notice to the Ministerio Público.
The notice has not been resolved, and no finding has been made on it either way.
Permit PC-572-2025 records catastro G-3752-2025. The June 2025 closure oficio for the same property records catastro G-2043984-2018. The two do not match. The permit also names no finca number and identifies the owner only as a sociedad de responsabilidad limitada, without saying which one — content requirements under Art. 132 LGAP. We do not assert which plan is correct; we note that the record carries two, and that a buyer should establish which parcel the permit attaches to.
One of five legality actions filed to compel express resolution of pending petitions by the responsible authorities. This filing concerns the municipal enforcement matters, including the closure orders recorded above.
MINAE concession R-2133-2024-AGUAS-MINAE was issued in September 2024 for well CJ-135. The record also cites drilling permit DA-0080-2022, the donation of the original well GA-334 to ASADA Santa Marta, and AyA technical study GSD-UEN-GAR-2025-02417.
The record describes the AyA document as a technical study "concerning water service arrangements."
The Dirección de Aguas recorded that well CJ-135 was not operational — no pump and no electrical connection — on inspection, and again some six months later. The same records note that the development's own manager confirmed ASADA Santa Marta supplies the homes. This is a finding by the granting authority itself, not a contention by owners.
Legality action concerning the water supplied to the condominium and the basis on which it is provided.
Anchored on the same technical study the developer's record cites — GSD-UEN-GAR-2025-02417 (25 June 2025) — together with oficio GSD-UEN-GAR-2025-02538. A technical study describes; it does not authorise.
ARESEP is the regulator of public service tariffs. The question put to it is whether the arrangement under which water reaches the filiales, and the rate charged for it, rest on any authorisation.
Electrical infrastructure was installed and documented through the applicable CFIA process in 2014 — CFIA seal OC 662440 — before the condominium designation existed. Mar Azul is described as coordinating with ICE on a proposed dedicated public connection, framed as an upgrade separate from the existing internal systems.
The proposed connection is described as pending.
Complaint concerning supply and billing. The service connection identified as NISE 2106726 is registered to a separate company, not to the condominium. ICE responded by oficio 1100-137-2026; a formal reply was filed on 7 July 2026.
On 17 August 2026 ICE issued oficio 1100-170-2026 in the supply-and-billing complaint. It records that the evidence gathered was insufficient to establish a breach, and cites constraints on access to the internal installations as a limitation on the verification carried out.
A recurso de revocatoria with appeal in the subsidiary was filed against that determination. The matter is not concluded.
What the oficio establishes and what it does not: it is not a finding that the billing is lawful, and it makes no finding about the registered holder of NISE 2106726. It records that ICE did not establish a breach on the material available to it, in an inspection its own text describes as constrained. Those are different things, and a buyer should read the oficio itself rather than a summary of it.
Legality action requiring ICE to resolve the pending complaint expressly.
Criminal complaint filed the day after utilities to certain filiales were disconnected on 26 February 2026. The matter is pending; no finding has been made and the parties are presumed innocent.
SETENA environmental approval 2514-2019 is cited. A SINAC certificate is said to confirm the property is not located within a protected area. An OIJ inspection of 20 January 2026 is described as reporting that no environmental damage was observed.
Environmental complaint recording confirmed transit of a puma (Puma concolor) across filiales 18, 20 and 21, and earthworks affecting its habitat and transit routes. Filed against the administration and developer as institutions; no natural person is named. A SINAC field inspection followed on 16 July 2026.
Confirmed ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) footage at two locations on the property. Both ocelot and puma are protected under Ley de Conservación de la Vida Silvestre N° 7317 and Decreto Ejecutivo N° 40548-MINAE, and are listed on CITES Appendix I.
The underlying SETENA file behind approval 2514-2019, including the commitments and conditions attached to that approval.
The development record is organised around permits, water, environment, electricity and condominium registration. It does not address the assemblies, the fee resolutions, or the civil proceedings concerning them.
These are the matters that most directly determine what an owner pays each month.
Annulment action against the assembly of 25 February 2025. Sentencia N° 2025000185 of 23 October 2025 suspended those resolutions — including the budget and the amendment of Reglamento Article 6 (6.7 and 6.9) — and Medida Cautelar N° 2026000006 (13 January 2026) reinforced the suspension. Reaffirmed 15 July 2026 with an apercibimiento under Penal Code Article 314.
On 15 July 2026 the court rejected the defendant's nullity incident on two independent grounds. The precautionary measure remains to be decided.
Not in dispute
None of these is contested here. The disagreement is about what they cover.
For prospective buyers
Both websites tell you to do your own due diligence. Here is what that actually looks like on this property. Give this list to your Costa Rican attorney.
Index of proceedings
An amparo de legalidad under Art. 32 CPCA asks a court to order an authority to resolve a pending petition. It is not a ruling on the merits, and none of the five below has produced a finding against any party. What they establish is that five separate authorities have unresolved petitions before them concerning one property.
| File | Authority / subject | Filed | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amparos de legalidad — Art. 32 CPCA | |||
| 26-003943-1027-CA | ASADA Santa Marta de Nosara — water | 20.07.2026 | Pending |
| 26-003944-1027-CA | AyA — water | 20.07.2026 | Pending |
| 26-003945-1027-CA | ICE — electricity | 20.07.2026 | Pending |
| 26-004003-1027-CA | Municipalidad de Nicoya — municipal enforcement | 18.08.2026 | Pending |
| 26-004004-1027-CA | ARESEP — tariffs and distribution | 18.08.2026 | Pending |
| Civil proceedings | |||
| 25-000060-2018-CI | Annulment — assembly of 25.02.2025 | — | In force |
| 26-000076-1632-CI | Annulment — assembly of 09.03.2026 | — | Pending |
| Administrative and environmental | |||
| SITADA 37020 | MINAE — biodiversity / wildlife | — | Pending |
| Nulidad PC-572-2025 | Alcaldía de Nicoya — Arts. 173 & 175 LGAP | 20.02.2026 | Pending |
| DPUD-26/27-2026 | Municipalidad de Nicoya — closure orders | 2026 | Decided |
| MN-DPTSA-CCOP-391-06-2025 | Municipalidad de Nicoya — closure | 02.06.2025 | Decided |
| 2026-23-053 | ICE — supply and billing complaint | 2026 | Pending |
| 1100-170-2026 | ICE — oficio and recurso de revocatoria | 17.08.2026 | Pending |
| DPUD-10-2026 | Municipalidad de Nicoya — permit investigation | 2026 | Pending |
| MN-DPTSA-CCOP-OFI-312-08-2026 | Municipalidad de Nicoya — construction-compliance notice | 25.08.2026 | Pending |