BERMUDA Law and Practice Contributed by: E. Scott Swainson, Andrew Morgan and Erik Gotfredsen, Wakefield Quin Limited
Wakefield Quin Limited Ground Floor Victoria Place
31 Victoria Street City of Hamilton Bermuda
Tel: +1 441 494 4000 Fax: +1 441 494 4111 Email: info@wq.bm Web: www.wq.bm
1. General 1.1 Main Sources of Law Founding Principles
1.2 Main Market Trends and Deals Trends in Tourism
There has been increased interest in tourism-linked products, with record-breaking sales of hotel resi - dence units at the Rosewood, Bermuda resort and the recent sales and impending developments at the Southampton Princess resort and the Elbow Beach resort, and by the beneficial owners of other resort properties already present in Bermuda. Legislative Trends There has also been increasing willingness on the part of the Bermuda government to foster international investor links to Bermuda via property holdings, as shown by the Economic Investment Residential Cer - tificate Policy, which was implemented on 31 March 2023 for those willing to invest a minimum of USD2.5 million in a range of qualifying investments (including real property), giving rise to residency and business opportunities. The Economic Development Act 1968 was recently amended to encourage residential and other devel - opment activity in the City of Hamilton (as a whole). This was achieved by relaxing Immigration Act-related restrictions that previously made it difficult for restricted persons to acquire property in the City and generally extending the potential availability of economic conces - sions to persons developing land in the City (as a whole). Impact of Rising Inflation and Interest Rates Rising inflation, supply chain issues and higher inter - est rates have caused development costs to increase materially. This has impacted speculative develop -
Bermuda’s real estate law is derived from local leg - islation and case law. Case law is often derived from English common law (prior to the codification thereof in 1925). Okay link? The original was to something in the Wake - field intranet I think. Primary Legislation The primary relevant legislation in the Islands of Ber - muda is: • the Conveyancing Act 1983; • the Bermuda Immigration and Protection Act 1956, and accompanying regulations; • the Land Title Registration Act 2011; • the Stamp Duties Act 1976; • the Condominium Act 1986; • the Companies Act 1981; • the Landlord and Tenant Act 1974; • the Limitation Act 1984; • the Rent Increases (Domestic Premises) Control Act 1978; • the Development and Planning Act 1974; and • the Bermuda Constitution Order 1968. Sources Much of this core legislation is amended from time to time, with consolidated versions available at Bermuda Laws Online.
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