Buyers Guide

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Non Nationals

Non citizens require an Alien’s Land Holding Licence to purchase real estate in St Lucia. The process involves 4 government departments (Planning Department, the Attorney Generals’ Office, the Prime Minister’s Office or Cabinet for properties larger than 1 acre in size and the Governor General’s Office).

In the past this process has been known to take up to two years to complete. Meanwhile the record for obtaining the license is six weeks, but this is the exception rather than the rule. A realistic time-frame for the processing of the application is 4-6 months.

  • A local lawyer must register the licence
  • It is a permanent licence which does not require renewal
  • The licence is granted for a specific property or plot of land and is not transferable
  • The cost of the alien licence application is EC$5,000.00, increasing for properties larger than 1 acre in extent

Fees for the license according to the size of the land:

 

Up to 1 ACRE US $1,859 ECD $5,000
Over 1 ACRE and Up to 10 ACRES US $3,718 ECD $10,000
Over 10 ACRES and Up to 20 ACRES US $7,435 ECD $20,000
Over 20 ACRES and Up to 50 ACRES US $11,153 ECD $30,000
Over 50 ACRES and Up to 100 ACRES US $14,870 ECD $40,000
100 ACRES and Over US $18,588 ECD $50,000

 

  • There is a non-refundable licence application fee of EC $5,000
  • Applications can take as quick as 6 weeks and as long as 6 months to process and are usually applied for immediately after an Agreement for Sale has been entered into and a deposit has been paid by the intended purchaser.
  • The intended purchaser can secure his or her interest by lodging a “caution” against the property.

 

Alien Land License

The Alien Land Holding process is now being handled by the Citizenship by Investment office as an additional mandate . This in itself should make the process easier than each request going before Goverment.

The new process has three stages

Step One “ELIGIBILITY TO PURCHASE”
You can do this at any time, and do not need to be in St Lucia to do this .
You will be asked to supply various documents and due diligence will be done so that you can receive an “Eligibility to Purchase“ . This can be issued for one to ten years and you are able to purchase any properties during your “ Eligibilty “ status.
This process will be the longest of the three stages, and can be done at any time , without you having sourced any Villa or Land (under one acre) to purchase .
The Eligibilty can also be issued to a company

If your goal is to purchase a home in St Lucia in the future, it would be worthwhile, supplying the required documents and the fee to do this to make your eventual purchase much easier.

St Lucia Homes can be appointed by you to deal with this via one of the highly recommended law firms in St Lucia,
This means when you are ready to purchase you have a Lawyer, fully ready to deal with your purchase, and a Realtor who can arrange to show you any properties for sale in St Lucia .
Please note, unlike other countries, there are no restrictions on one realtor dealing with all selected viewings, no matter who is marketing a property.
St Lucia Homes make no charges to “the buyer” and have no limits on viewings, until you find the home which meets all your criteria .

STEP TWO ALIEN PURCHASE OF PROPERTIES

Once you decide any Villa or land you wish to to purchase it will then be a straightforward process to get a licence to purchase any specific property as your ELIGIBILITY has already been approved

STEP THREE ALIEN INVESTOR ENTRANCE PERMIT

Owning a property in St Lucia entitles you to permission to reside in St Lucia as long as you wish , without checking into immigration.

 

Documents Required in Support of an Application for an Aliens License

  • Non-refundable application fee of EC $5,000 (US $1,870).
  • Profile of applicant/Directors of Company
    • Passport and Citizenship details (Copy Data pages of Passport).
    • Profession or employment status (short form CV/Resume).
    • Profession or employment status (short form CV/Resume).
    • Bankers’ reference.
  • Police Certificate of good Character (PCGC) or Police Report from country of origin or current residence.
  • The Statutory Declaration (to be provided by us for your signature), may be provided as an interim measure, but the PCGC must be provided within 6 months of the date of the application.
  • Four (4) passport sized colour photographs of the applicant/directors.
  • Purchase Price of the Property.

All other supporting documents required are available to us here in St Lucia and will be procured and presented along with the application on your behalf.

 

Nationals

The local Buyer has to provide the following documents:

  1. A letter from Inland Revenue for Property Tax Clearance and Income Tax Clearance.
  2. A letter from National Insurance for Clearance.

Conveyancing

Conveyancing in St.Lucia under the new land Registration Act 1984 is by an instrument in notarial form (in St.Lucia all Attorneys are Notaries) duly registered at the Land Registry.

The stamp duty payable on the deed of sale and the registration fee are paid by the purchaser to the Notary who attends to the stamping of the conveyance and its registration in the Registry of Lands.

The Vendor pays a Vendor’s Tax to the Government which in the case of an alien is 10% of the sale price. There is no capital gains tax in St.Lucia but the Vendor’s Tax can be taken to be its equivalent.

Government Stamp DUTY

There is a stamp duty of 2% of the purchase price of the property to register the Deed of Sale.

Mortgage

If a mortgage is taken, there is a government stamp duty of 1% to 1.2% of the purchase price to register the mortgage.

Legal Fees

The legal fees are set at 1% to 1.2% of the purchase price of the property for the legal work. If a loan is required, the lawyer may charge an additional 1 to 1.2%. For obtaining Aliens license and preparing and registering the Deed of Sale a total of 3% is charged except where there are unusual difficulties in obtaining the Aliens Licence.

Power OF Attorney

Power of attorney- if one is necessary EC $500.00.

Registration, Copies and Stamps

The fees for these services are EC $150.00.

Please note that the above information is a rough guide which is subject to changes.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]