In keeping with our theme for this week, Peru, anyone who is looking to obtain residency and or open a bank account, as we have looked into in our other articles, is going to need a place to stay! Don’t panic, today we’ll go through the process of purchasing real estate for foreign nationals in Peru, one of Latin America’s most exciting nations for investment.
Peru is found in the western portion of the region, bordered by Colombia, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile and Ecuador, meaning you’re never far away from another location to explore. The nation has coastline on the Pacific Ocean, as well as mountainous and rainforest areas, the diversity of which makes for an idyllic climate and an abundance of wilderness to adventure within.
What are the steps?
Now, this is where there are some differences to what you may be used to in Europe or the United States. Why? You may ask, well for starters, Peru’s real estate market involves a lot of cash buying, especially in the case of foreigners where getting a bank loan to make purchases is not as easy as their country of origin. However, if you’re an investor, cash buying has the positive that you’ll be buying your asset outright while missing out having the bank as the middleman.
With this in mind, large cash purchases are obviously not something to be rushed into blindly, and, as an investor, you will definitely want peace of mind that your capital is being handled properly and efficiently. So, it is recommended that you have representation from a real estate attorney or agent, incurring some additional cost but at the expense of securing your peace of mind and a quick process.
Something else interesting to mention is that earnest payments, as with the US, are still put down in Peru. However, if the buyer cannot complete the purchase within the time agreed, this money is lost, something to bear in mind when choosing where to live as no one wants to lose money! On the flip side, if the person or entity you are buying from decides to stop going ahead with the exchange after you’ve paid, they owe you double.
This is something that really highlights the differences in real estate culture across the globe and makes understanding the country you are looking to invest in all the more important.
Now we can move onto the notaries, as the transfer of real estate deeds has to be done this way. This way they are able to report to the tax authorities and register their hand-written deeds for safe keeping. They also prepare a document called the SPA (Sales Public Agreement) to allow you to register your new property asset. Then you can finally register it by getting the Property Registration Certificate from the property registry.
This may sound like rather a laborious process, but actually, it takes between 6 and 16 days to complete, meaning that once you’ve found the property you so desire, it’ll be easy enough to make it yours.
Are there any extra benefits?
Yes! The major one coming through taxes and a set of laws established during the pandemic which are actually being extended until the 31 st December 2022. Taxpayers are able to defer their capital gains and transfer taxes to a fund, essentially meaning exemption for investors from these taxes during transfers of ownership of real estate as contributions, promoting investment in Peru.
So, if you are interested in finding out more, contact us today! Below this article you will find a link to set up a free fifteen-minute consultation with us to discuss your options further.
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