Buying property in Barbados

When purchasing a property in Barbardos, the following process will take place:

• Price is negotiated upfront in advance of exchanging contracts;
• Price is negotiated upfront in advance of exchanging contracts;
• On exchange, you pay a deposit to the seller and will be committed to purchase the property;
• Title to the property will be investigated to check that the seller has right to sell – local attorneys will undertake the conveyancing searches required;
• New-build property requires planning permission from the Town and Country Planning Office and certificate to show that the building was constructed in compliance with planning guidelines. There is no building regulation regime so you will be reliant on the developer’s expertise to ensure the quality of the work;
• Documents need to be signed in front of a Bajan attorney (or your signature can be notarized in the UK);
• Registration is not generally compulsory in Barbados and your title is likely therefore to remain unregistered. A Condominium Declaration will be required for apartments and that has to be recorded at the land registry.

There is no equivalent for Bajan property of NHBC cover, which is generally provided for a new-build property in England. It is therefore important to negotiate the contract to ensure you are adequately protected and the developer is required to construct the property diligently and to the agreed quality and specification.

Contracts are commonly provide for stage or down payments as construction progresses. It is also important to ensure that there is adequate protection for those payments, for example by adding a provision for them to be held in a separate secure escrow account until completion of the building.

When purchasing a property in Barbardos, the following process will take place:

• Price is negotiated upfront in advance of exchanging contracts;
• Price is negotiated upfront in advance of exchanging contracts;
• On exchange, you pay a deposit to the seller and will be committed to purchase the property;
• Title to the property will be investigated to check that the seller has right to sell – local attorneys will undertake the conveyancing searches required;
• New-build property requires planning permission from the Town and Country Planning Office and certificate to show that the building was constructed in compliance with planning guidelines. There is no building regulation regime so you will be reliant on the developer’s expertise to ensure the quality of the work;
• Documents need to be signed in front of a Bajan attorney (or your signature can be notarized in the UK);
• Registration is not generally compulsory in Barbados and your title is likely therefore to remain unregistered. A Condominium Declaration will be required for apartments and that has to be recorded at the land registry.

Exchange controls restrict the ability of non-residents to obtain loans in Barbados. The correct procedures must be followed when bringing in funds for your purchase and repatriating your gain when you come to sell.

Your funds will have to be registered with the Central Bank of Barbados to ensure repatriation of money following your sale. Non-residents also need permission to purchase the property from the Exchange Control Authority of the Central Bank of Barbados.

We can assist you with UK tax advice in respect of buying the property and the most efficient way of doing so and will work with local advisers in Barbados as needed. If appropriate, after having taken the relevant tax advice, we can assist you in setting up an offshore company to hold your property to simplify repatriation of any gain from the sale of your property. The cost of setting up and running a company structure would, of course, need to be offset against the potential savings in time and money and would also need to be the correct decision for you from a tax perspective.