Knowledge · Property
The single most consequential thing a non-resident buyer does is register the purchase funds with the Central Bank of Barbados when the money comes in. It takes very little effort at the time. Without it, a purchaser who sells in fifteen years can find that repatriating the proceeds is materially harder than it needed to be.
We treat it as part of the conveyance rather than an optional extra, and we tell buyers about it before completion rather than after.
Because most of Barbados still operates an unregistered deeds system, ownership is proved by tracing a chain of conveyances rather than by consulting a single register entry. Investigating that chain is substantive work, and it is the buyer’s principal protection.
What it looks for is the ordinary catalogue of things that reduce or complicate what you are buying: a break in the chain of ownership, boundaries on the ground that do not match the survey plan, rights of way, restrictive covenants limiting what may be built, unreleased mortgages, or a share of the property held by someone who is not party to the sale. Almost all of these are resolvable when found before completion. Almost none are cheap to resolve afterwards.
In outline, a purchase moves through the same stages: the terms are agreed and reduced to a written sale and purchase agreement; a deposit is paid and held; the title is investigated and enquiries raised with the seller’s attorney; any financing is put in place and the lender’s security documents prepared; the conveyance is drafted, executed, and completed; and the transaction is recorded, with transfer tax and stamp duty attended to.
Where transactions slow down, it is usually at the enquiry stage, and usually because something in the title needs explaining or curing. That is the system working as intended. A purchase that appears to be taking longer than expected is often one where your attorney has found something worth finding.
Overseas buyers frequently ask whether to buy personally or through a company, sometimes on advice from their home jurisdiction. There is no universally correct answer. The structure affects how the property is dealt with on a later sale, how it passes on death, and how it is treated by your own country’s tax authorities.
What we would counsel against is deciding this late. Changing the ownership structure after completion is a fresh transaction with its own costs and tax consequences, whereas choosing correctly at the outset costs only the conversation. If your estate planning is complex, or you own property in several countries, raise it at the first meeting.
Two things are far easier to arrange while you are buying than at any later point. The first is the Central Bank registration of incoming funds, which protects repatriation on a future sale and takes little effort at the time.
The second is what happens to the property when you die. A non-resident who owns Barbadian land leaves their executors needing a Barbados grant, or the resealing of a grant made where they lived, before that land can be dealt with. Addressing this while the deeds and survey plan are in front of you spares your family a great deal of work at the worst possible moment.
This information is general guidance, not legal advice, and reflects requirements as at the review date shown above. Law, fees, and procedure change. For advice on your specific situation, book a consultation with Aythawn International Law Chambers — +1 246-417-0839.