Entire San Jose neighborhood of 5,000 people could lose their homes over one customer’s unpaid water bill

(Luis Aurelio Garcia Ulloa / Panoramio)

May 28^th, 2015 (InsideCostaRica.com) Nearly 1,500 homes and the land they sit on in the Metropolis II neighborhood of Pavas in San Jose could be seized and auctioned off, leaving 5,000 people without a place to call home, due to an unpaid water bill owed to the Costa Rican Institute of Aqueducts and Sewers (AyA) by a former resident, La Nacion reports.

Incredibly, a debt with AyA that has accumulated since 1999 by a single customer who lived in the neighborhood, which now totals ¢6 million, could lead to the seizure and auction of the entire neighborhood, according to La Nacion.

How is this possible?  As La Nacion explains, the entire neighborhood and its 1,500 homes actually sit on what is legally considered a single piece of land.

The neighborhood was originally developed as a low-income urbanization project by the now-defunct Coovivienda RL and the Housing Mortgage Bank (Banhvi).  Homes in the neighborhood were awarded to low-income families in need since the early 1990’s, but the individual homes are not legally segregated as individual properties.

Coovivienda RL’s assets, including the land upon which the neighborhood and its homes sit, were liquidated in July 1999, and the land is currently under the control of Banhvi.

AyA has sued Coovivienda RL – which it claimed was the legal property owner responsible – for the ¢6 million water bill, which according to the report was the result of a single neighborhood resident.  Unfortunately, as is normally the case, it seems that all of the neighborhood’s water meters and water bills were put in the name of the landowner – in this case, Coovivienda.

Rodolfo Lizano, legal director at AyA, told La Nacion that it was necessary to file the lawsuit against the registered owner of the land, Coovivienda, regardless of who caused the debt.

“We cannot verify what happens inside the property.  The debt is billed under the provisions in law,” Lizano said.

Banhvi, who is now in charge of the land, along with the Joint Institute for Social Aid (IMAS) are attempting to reach an agreement with AyA to avoid the auction of the estate, which could leave the neighborhood’s 5,000 residents homeless.

Most of the residents of the neighborhood are not even aware of the situation and that they are at risk of losing their homes, many of which have called the neighborhood home since the early 1990’s.  A Banhvi representative said that the agency has not yet informed the families of the situation.

Area residents expressed their surprise when interviewed by La Nacion.

“I have been living here for like six years and have always been punctual in paying my AyA bills.  Now I found out that because of someone else’s debt they want to take the property,” one resident told the newspaper.

“AyA hasn’t told us anything.  We have no property title; we were once told this land belonged to the Caja,” another resident said.