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. Per - sons are choosing to purchase a second 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 CBI programme. The reason for this may be the new Saint Chris - topher and Nevis Citizenship by Substantial Investment Regulations, 2024 (SRO No 20 of 2024) gazetted on 8 July 2024, which reduced the minimum qualifying real estate investment for citizenship from USD400,000 to USD325,000 for a condominium, and for a standalone home or private home, the minimum investment was decreased from USD800,000 to USD600,000. The reduction in the minimum investment thresh - old for real estate still has St Kitts and Nevis placed above the minimum investment required for CBI in its Caribbean counterparts, but it does increase the number of real estate investments in St Kitts and Nevis within the CBI minimum threshold. Another point worth noting is that for
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.
956 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook