If you have been a UK non resident expatriate for about 75% of the last 10-15 years, you are UK domiciled for tax purposes, and bought the properties when you lived outside the UK you will not be liable to Capital Gains Tax if you sell in the tax year before the year you move back to the UK as a UK resident.

This exception is for people who do overseas service and invest in the UK whilst they are overseas. If you have spent less than 75% of your time overseas, you will still be able to get tapered Capital Gains Tax relief. However, if you move back to the UK you will be then liable to the full Capital Gains Tax burden unless you roll your properties into a family Trust or Company.

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Tecnicil launched bond offer Friday 10th August 2007

Real estate company Tecnicil will carried out a Public Subscription Offer of 750,000 bonds Friday to finance three of its loans.

Through three of Cape Verde’s commercial banks and the Cape Verde Stock Exchange, Tecnicil will launch 750,000 ordinary bonds worth 750 million escudos on the money market Friday to finance its investment portfolio. This is a first for a private-sector company in Cape Verde. The operation is aimed at obtaining financing at a lower cost than that practiced by commercial banks.

The consortium of obligations is made up of three bond loans: A: Euribor + 2.216% 2012, with commercial bank BCA (Banco Comercial do Atlantico), represented by 350,000 bonds; B: Euribor + 2.216% 2012, with Caixa Economica de Cabo Verde, representing 200,000 bonds; and C: Euribor + 2.216% 2012 with Banco Interatlantico, represented by 200,000 bonds.

According to the Cape Verde Stock Exchange, the loan operation, aimed at the public in general, will not have a final purchase deadline and will involve a maximum of 750 million escudos, with the nominal value of each bond at 1,000 escudos.

The bid will be published in one or more of the country’s newspapers and will be publicized along with a prospectus on the Bank of Cape Verde’s web site (www.bcv.cv) and will be available to all those interested at the three banks agencies.

Tecnicil will offer various plots of land and pieces of real-estate in Praia and Mindelo as guarantee in the operation.

Cape Verde Stock Exchange president Verassimo Pinto explains that the operation will be highly advantageous for Tecnicil, which will manage to obtain funds at lower interest rates than those normally practiced in the banking market.

Vila Verde Porto Sal

Vila Verde Resort

With developments going up fast, particularly on the busy island of Sal and around Praia on Santiago Island, the Cape Verde Islands are witnessing rapid change both in appearance and economic status. In fact they are currently tipped to undergo a similar kind of metamorphosis experienced in the Canary Islands some thirty years ago.

Nevertheless the past six to eight months do seem to have seen a relative calm on the Islands in terms of investment opportunities in quality new developments on prime locations. Fortunately this situation is about to change as investors await the launch of four superb new projects to be released on the islands of Sal and Sao Vicente over the next few months. One such project, now at launch stage, is Dunas Beach Resort, offering front line beach or golf properties and all the luxury on-site facilities to be expected of any modern golf and leisure resort today, including a spectacular commercial centre, luxury spa, communal pools and gymnasium.

As most savvy investors are aware, Cape Verde is the nearest Tropical destination for Northern Europeans and, at mere 5.5 hours budget flight from London, it sits on the brink of a heyday both as a tourist destination and as a property investment hotspot. According to official figures, visitors to Cape Verde are growing at a rate of 22% per annum, with over one million per year expected by 2015. Euromonitor global travel and tourism manager Caroline Bremner told TravelMole: “Tourism has become one of the world’s biggest and fastest growing industries, with global visitor numbers growing by 16% over 2004 and 2005 to reach 118.6 million. As a result, towns, cities and regions are welcoming a huge new influx of tourists and have begun to aggressively market their natural and historical attributes in order to encourage visitors.” Many other new facilities are also being established; for example a Macau businessman, David Chow, is investing over $100m in a casino and hotel complex in the capital city of Praia.

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On November 9th and 10th Tony Christie will be performing Tenerife at a fund raising event in aid of the K9 Animal Refuge. Staged at the Magma Centre in Las Americas, this will be the largest ever fund raising event K9 has ever undertaken and one of the main sponsors is the Horizon Property Group.

Christie will be supported by his 12 strong band and the concert will be opened by the Tuxedo Knights.

A Raffle is being organised where one lucky winner will be the proud owner of a brand new car!!!!

Tickets are available from Gold F/M/K9 at Coral Mar, Costa del Silencio or by telephoning Ian Sharrock on 0034 922 730 427 or Stephen Dodgson on 0034 699 563 715.

For further information click here.

Bad news for Los Rodeos,Tenerife, Canary Islands,for northern residents and for the struggling north Tenerife tourism sector, but good news for the south came last week from no-frills carrier Ryanair when the company confirmed it was switching its flights from the north airport to Tenerife-Sur as from October 18.

All Ryanair operations to Los Rodeos will cease on October 14. The change affects all passengers traveling to and from Tenerife on Ryanair’s only links with the island so far: Dublin, Shannon and Girona, Barcelona.

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The Cape Verde property market offers significant potential for buy-to-let investment, it has been suggested.

Rising numbers of visitors to the country are likely to contribute to increased demand for short-term holiday accommodation, meaning those with buy-to-let property on one of the country’s ten islands can take advantage.

The Cape Verde national Statistics Institute noted a 26.4 per cent increase in tourists last year and local industry expert Jenny Adams confirmed the trend.

Source: London Stock Exchange. Read more:

Once the Horizon Property Group have found you a great property, and you have sorted out all of the legalities, the next stage would be to find a suitable foreign exchange provider. You may ask yourself Why do I need to do this, when I can just use my bank? Using a currency provider will ensure that you are guided through the process and taken care of through every step. But ultimately the currency provider could save you hundreds, if not thousands of pounds when purchasing your house in abroad.

How do currency price fluctuations affect your property buying?
Let’s take an example, you are a British resident and are buying a new villa. As the property is not yet built, you would not be paying the whole amount in one go. You will need to put some deposit down with the developer, and then further stage payments (installments) during the construction over an arranged time period, with a final payment upon completion. You have agreed on a price for the property and all the payments will have to be made in Euros. However, the actual cost of the property in sterling will be dependent on how many Euros you are getting to the pound, at the time of purchase.

So, if Pound Sterling strengthens, the actual cost will decrease but if the Euro strengthens then your costs will increase. You will need to shell out more Pound Sterling than you had estimated for the same amount of Euro. This means that your property has just become more expensive!

On 1st of February 2007 the price of buying a Euro was 1.51 to the pound. and just two months later, on 1st April 2004 it was 1.4645 to the pound. (Source: RationalFX). The 200,000 Euro property you thought would cost you

Cape Verde has been enjoying an increase in popularity as a tourist destination among Britons over the past two years. A number of business missions from the United Kingdom have made their way to the islands, with a number of investment projects with English, Scottish and Irish capital currently underway in the archipelago.

It is expected that in the near future, the United Kingdom will respond for the greatest number of tourists making their way to Cape Verde, following Portugal, Italy and Germany.

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