ST KITTS & NEVIS Law and Practice Contributed by: Dahlia Joseph Rowe and Daisy Joseph Andall, Joseph Rowe, Attorneys-at-Law
Joseph Rowe Unit #5 Long Stone House Main Street
PO Box 1200 Charlestown Nevis Tel: +1 869 469 1015 Email: rowe@josephrowelaw.com Web: josephrowelaw.com
1. General 1.1 Main Sources of Law
1.2 Main Market Trends and Deals In the past 12 months, the authors have noted an increase in the number of lifestyle buyers in the real estate market in St Kitts and Nevis. Persons are choosing to purchase a 2nd home in St Kitts and Nevis and the authors noted more persons moving to the islands to live. At the same time, the authors have noted a marked decline in the purchase of real estate as a qualifying investment for the citizenship by investment programme. The reason for this may be the new Saint Christopher and Nevis Citizenship by Substantial Investment Regula - tions, 2023 (SRO No 26 of 2023) gazetted on 27 July 2023, which increased the minimum qualifying real estate investment for citizenship from USD200,000 to USD400,000 for a condo - minium and for a stand-alone home or private home, the minimum investment was increased from USD400,000 to USD800,000. This has placed St Kitts and Nevis’ investment threshold for Citizenship by Investment purchasers signifi - cantly above the minimum investment required for CBI in its Caribbean counterparts. However, as recent as 22 March 2024, the heads of state of 4 of the 5 CBI Caribbean countries, namely, St
St Christopher and Nevis (St Kitts and Nevis) has two systems of land ownership that operate side by side: the unregistered system (by which one acquires a deed) and the registered system (by which one acquires a Certificate of Title, or COT). The relevant pieces of legislation are: • the Conveyancing and Law of Property Act (unregistered system); and • the Title by Registration Act (registered sys - tem). The Stamps Act addresses taxes payable in rela - tion to the transfer of real estate. Non-citizens who wish to invest in real estate would be sub- ject to the Aliens Land Holding Regulation Act and require an aliens land holding licence (ALHL) to hold an interest in real estate. For non-citizen investors, there is also the option of owning land (without requiring an ALHL) through participa - tion in the Citizenship by Investment (CBI) pro - gramme, which is governed by the Citizenship by Investment Act.
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