ST.LUCIA
Cotton Bay Villagee 020 34893585
BUYER'S GUIDE
There are certain rules and regulations you must comply in order to purchase a St Lucia property. Generally the cost of purchasing a property on St Lucia will come out at between 6-8% on top of the purchase price. This will cover the Alien Landholding Licence (overseas buyers), stamp duty,Treasury receipt, legal costs and registration fees.
Alien Landholding Licence
Foreigners must apply to the Ministry of Planning for an Alien Landholding Licence which costs EC$1,500, is non-refundable and
does not need renewing. There will be additional fee of EC$5,000 which depends on the land area of your property ( less than an acre ) when
it is granted.
Your locally appointed lawyer will make the application for the Alien Landholding Licence on your behalf. Along with your completed application you will need to provide the lawyer with the following information:
Certificate of character for each applicant (from your local police station)
Full set of fingerprints (from your local police station)
A copy of your passport data page
4 passport size pictures of each applicant
Statutory declaration
A bank reference
Full details of the proposed property including a survey plan and land register of the property (from the Vendor)
Receipt proving payment of application fee
Deposit
There is no standard procedure on this, but common practice is to offer 10% of the purchase price as a deposit, which is forfeited if the buyer pulls out. If the vendor pulls out then the buyers 10% is returned as well as 10% from the vendor plus an additional penalty of 10%. In the unlikely event that the Alien's Landholding Licence is not granted, then the deposit is refunded.
Legal Costs
Local solicitors / lawyers usually charge 3% to 5% of the purchase price.
Vendors Tax
10% for non citizens or 5% if the property is owned by a local citizen of
St Lucia. There is no vendors tax if the property is owned by a company
as you would transfer the shares in the company as a way of transferring the property (rather than by deed of sale). It is therefore best that all foreign clients sent up a local company and to apply for the license in the company's name. When you come to sell, you will be selling the company rather than the property itself.
There is no capital gains tax, inheritance tax or gift tax in St Lucia.
Stamp Duty
2% of purchase price
Returning Residents
There are certain very attractive tax incentives available to a selection of 'returning residents' of St Lucia including the right to ship a container of 'personal goods' without paying duty on them and importing or purchasing a vehicle duty free.
To qualify for 'returning resident' status you must be a citizen of St Lucia, either by birth or parentage who is returning to St Lucia after a minimum of 10 years off the island or be married to the aforementioned citizen.
Currency Exchange
It is better to transfer your funds in US$ Dollars, and there is a fixed rate of exchange to EC$ Dollars (Eastern Caribbean Dollar). You can use most credit or debit cards to get cash from the ATM's. For large sums of money (over £5,000), and with exchange rates and consumer confidence in constant flux it is a good idea to use currency exchange specialists to arrange the transfer of funds to your local bank account or lawyer. In any event, you will always get a better rate of exchange from a specialist company and there will be no banking charges for the money transfers.