Four Seasons Residence Club, Peninsula Papagayo

A fractional interest in one of the Pacifico residence club villas at Four Seasons Resort Peninsula Papagayo. Nothing on this peninsula is freehold. Under Costa Rican Law 6758 of 1982 the land is registered to the Costa Rican Tourism Institute, the ICT, which grants concessions, and all real estate at Peninsula Papagayo is sold as a concession interest rather than a fee simple title. The master concession, dated 15 January 1993, runs to Ecodesarrollo Papagayo. What transfers is a recorded interest in the villa, described by the club's appointed resale broker as a floating rotating deed, normally held through a Costa Rican company whose shares pass to the buyer at closing.

Each interest carries 3 weeks of reserved time, plus 1 privilege week: 7 further nights in any villa size, booked within 60 days of arrival at owner rates and subject to availability. Time sits in one of 2 seasons. Platinum covers 8 months, January to April, July, August, November and December. Emerald covers May, June, September and October. First reservations are requested in the villa size owned, on a rotating priority schedule. Network Credits allow a change of season or size at home, or time at the Four Seasons residence clubs in Punta Mita, Jackson Hole, Vail, Aviara and Scottsdale, subject to availability. Letting rules are confirmed for the specific residence before you commit.

The club charges an annual assessment covering management, housekeeping, insurance, reserves and the resort services attached to the villa. The amount is set per interest and is confirmed for the specific residence before you commit, as is the transfer cost. Concession land carries its own charges: the ICT canon, and an annual municipal levy on the ICT valuation of the concession, which a published Gulf of Papagayo guide puts at 3 per cent for residential tourist use. The developer has prepaid the renewal fee for the second 49 year term that begins on 15 January 2042. From 2091, further 50 year renewals cost USD 3.75 per square metre.

Four Seasons runs the villas and the services attached to them, from daily housekeeping to a resort chef cooking in your own kitchen. Check in is at 4pm, signing privileges apply across the resort, and the residence services team handles arrivals, groceries, storage between visits and bookings. The list below sets out what owners and their guests use most.

Two plans, both built into the hillside, with west facing terraces over the Pacific and the tropical dry forest. The 2 bedroom villa is 177 square metres, 1,904 square feet, with 2 full bathrooms, 2 king beds and a sofabed, and sleeps 4 adults. The 3 bedroom villa is 223 square metres, 2,399 square feet, with 3 full bathrooms and a guest powder room, 2 king beds and 2 double beds, and sleeps 6 adults. Both have a full kitchen, a dining room, a laundry room, walk in wardrobes, Lutron lighting and a cot on request.

Four Seasons Resort Peninsula Papagayo opened in January 2004 on a plateau 97 metres above the Pacific, at the narrow tip of the peninsula with a beach on either side. Ronald Zürcher of Zürcher Arquitectos designed it in local lava rock, stone and caña brava, Paul Duesing Partners did the interiors, and Meyer Davis reworked the public rooms in the programme that reopened the resort in December 2017. There are 199 rooms and suites on 30 hectares, 45 acres, with 3 pools, a spa of 18 treatment rooms, a fitness centre, the Wellness Shala, and dining that includes Pesce, Virador Beach Club and the Añejo and La Reserva lounges.

Peninsula Papagayo is a private peninsula of 1,400 acres on Bahía Culebra in Guanacaste, with 7 beaches, 11 miles of coastline and more than 8 miles of trails through tropical dry forest. Marina Papagayo takes large yachts and sport fishing boats across 380 slips. The Andaz resort and Nekajui, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve, also sit on the peninsula. The Ocean Course, 18 holes, par 72 and 6,788 yards by Arnold Palmer, is open to members and registered guests staying on the peninsula. Liberia airport is about 30 minutes by road. The dry Gold Season runs December to April, the Green Season May to November.

A foreign buyer can hold a Papagayo concession. Unlike Costa Rica's ordinary maritime concessions there is no 5 year residency requirement, and where a company holds the concession it must be incorporated and domiciled in Costa Rica, with no limit on foreign shareholders. The concession is recorded at the National Registry, which certifies the area, boundaries, permitted use and term. Any assignment or transfer needs the ICT's prior approval, so allow time for it. Title insurance is not sold in Costa Rica. Take Costa Rican counsel on the structure and on how the fractional interest is held.

Avory works the resale market for these interests, dealing with the club's owner services, the resale broker the developer appointed, and the owner direct where there is one. After you enquire we confirm what is genuinely for sale, the exact weeks and season attached to it, the annual charge as last assessed and the transfer route, and we introduce Costa Rican counsel. Owner stays are arranged subject to availability. We do not hold club inventory. Request access.