Overseas Property UK
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Buying Overseas Property through a UK Developer
If you are considering buying investment or lifestyle property overseas it is worth giving a thought to whom you might purchase that property from. For example, you may buy overseas property from a developer based in the country of purchase or you may buy from a UK developer who is based in UK but building in another country.
There are pros and cons to each of these courses and you will need to consider the best approach which suits your circumstances.
The Pros and Cons
Engaging with a UK developer usually means that they have an office in the UK and they will be a company registered in the UK. This will make it easier for you to visit the developer to discuss the purchase and to run due diligence on the developer’s company, and its officers, through the internet. There is also an excellent chance that you will be speaking the same language. That does not eliminate misunderstandings completely but it certainly helps avoid most of them.
This makes it much easier for you to look at detailed plans and identify the exact location of your purchase and to talk to the developer’s staff and get a general impression of how happy they are in their work. This can be important because an unhappy staff can indicate that everything is not as it should be with the developer or the development.
It may also mean that the developer will allow payment of reservation fees, deposits and stage payments in sterling rather than you risking the vagaries of currency exchange rates.
Also, generally, the UK developer will arrange inspection visits to the development sites, especially if the site is in Europe. Purchasers may be left to make their own inspection arrangements if the development is a long haul flight away.
If you are buying through an agent then there are agents in the UK who promote property on behalf of overseas developers building in their own country, so at least you have a point of contact. If the agent is a professional then he will look after you well as he should do, because he will earn a commission from your purchase and will hope that he may sell you more property in the future.
Laws and Customs of the Country
Of course, an overseas developer building in his own country is going to have a distinct advantage over the UK developer building there. He will be very familiar with the laws and customs of his own country and will have contacts in the necessary positions in legal and planning offices of local government.
The same may not be true of the UK developer unless he has built in that country previously. That is not to say that if buying an overseas property, UK developers are a bad bet because they will be able to hire local support in the form of lawyers, planning consultants and surveyors. It’s just that the whole process of getting to your ownership of the finished article may take a little longer.
Equipment and Materials
The hire of equipment and purchase of building materials may come easier to the locally based developer who will already have favoured providers amongst their close contacts.
It will come harder to the UK developer who will have to develop local contacts first and establish themselves both professionally and financially so they are trusted and have good credit ratings.
Deciding Factors
So, what will be the deciding factor for you? At the end of the day you need to make up your own mind as to who you will go with.
It may be that you want to go to a specific location in which only one developer is operating. In that case, if you are determined then you will go with that developer.
If more than one developer is operating and you have a choice between local or UK developer then it will depend on your feelings about both. If the UK developer has experience in building in your chosen location then they will have already established the contacts they need and will probably have experience of the local laws and customs and their idiosyncrasies.
Whatever your choice, please ensure you are entirely happy and understand everything about the legal, build and payment processes. Meet developers wherever you can and get to know them. This will give you a feeling about their honesty and integrity and those are some of the most important factors in making your choice.