Buying abroad

         

Many elements of a notary’s work involves buying or selling outside the UK; however this page is set aside for companies and individuals buying or selling all forms of real estate overseas be it …

Land: regulated, unregulated...

Buildings: Residential; second homes, investment property, off plan apartments, villas, re-sales, repossessions, time share or fractional ownership...

Commercial: industrial, storage, offices…..

In the UK the role of the Notary in connection with buying foreign property is usually restricted to authenticating a Power of Attorney. Overseas, the notarial system is very different. In many countries the notary plays a major part in the buying and selling process; unlike in the UK, the ‘Latin’ notary’s job is to place formal documents recording the sale or purchase on the public record.

Outside the UK it is common for an ‘estate agent’ to deal with the whole buying or selling process. The agent will draw up a Power of Attorney naming themselves as your legal representative and proceed to deal with the whole transaction from start to finish. Please remember that it is your right to appoint your own lawyer should you choose to do so.

Considerations
Your Powers of Attorney should to be limited to the minimum necessary to conduct the business at hand. Attention needs to be paid to whom deposit monies are paid. What guarantees are in place to ensure that your money will be safe?

At Notary Co UK we can liaise with your agents in drafting the Power of Attorney -
ensuring it is limited to the minimum necessary to conduct the business at hand;
or we can notarised and legalise existing documents.

The general procedure is that your lawyer or overseas agent prepares a Power of Attorney for you to have notarised. More often than not, the document will need to be legalised – this is the process of having an Apostille stamp added by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office – we can deal with all of that for you. We offer a fast-track, same-day service or, at a lower cost, a 4-6 working days legalisation service.

When and What to Buy?
At Notary Co UK we watch the markets; which are up…. when is a good time to buy and when to sell… in conjunction with our own research and agents across the world, we publish NotaryPROPERTYwatch from time to time.

Money Matters
In these turbulent days of collapsing property markets and forced sales, it is possible that the profit or loss on a sale lies in the rate you exchange your currency at.

Independent unbiased advice available from Notary Co UK
With a background in both commercial and domestic property in the UK and overseas, principal notary Basil Preuveneers is well placed to help with any enquiry. He has special expertise in a number of countries particularly (as a partner of NotaryBulgaria) Bulgaria.

Please contact us for more information.