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Moving to Abaco

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goforth
  10/10/2015 22:49 EST

If I purchase a home, do we have to have residency or is a deed from sale good enough.
Thank you

breija
  10/13/2015 14:28 EST

Please clarify your question - good enough for what?

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goforth
  10/14/2015 11:54 EST

Thank you for your response.

We are being told that one of the "contingency" for buying a house we want is that we must "obtain a permit or a certificate of registration under the provisions of the Landholding Act 1993" Is that a normal contingency to purchase property in the Bahamas? Thank you in advance for your time.
:)

breija
  10/15/2015 12:09 EST

Hi,

I am neither a lawyer nor a realtor, so am not comfortable giving you any definitive answers. The real estate sites have a lot of information about buying property in the Bahamas. There are many different situations in which people will buy property, so you need to understand the process for your situation.

Some realty sites:

sirbahamas.com
hgchristie.com
coldwellbankerbahamas.com

Also: http://www.globalpropertyguide.com/Caribbean/Bahamas/Buying-Guide

While I do not recall having had to "obtain a permit or certificate of registration," I suspect that this was covered as a part of the legal fees. Given that this is specifically pursuant to the Landholding Act, as with purchase of a home anywhere, this may be part of the land title search that needs to happen prior to the purchase of property. It may be that they need proof that the seller is actually the owner of the property and that they have the right to sell it to you.

If you have a realtor, they can explain all this to you. If you do not, then I strongly encourage you to work with a realtor and a local lawyer, who know what to look for with regards to illegal sales transactions.

Hope this helps.

breija
  10/15/2015 12:11 EST

PS Your original question was about residency or a deed being "good enough" - again, good enough for what? From what you have written, you are needing this "certificate of registration" before you can even buy. As for residency, you cannot get residency unless you own property here or are under a work or spousal permit.

Please feel free to PM me if you have more specific questions.

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