Any Property Registration in Hurghada by UK Owners

[dave99]

Given the other threads on the potential issue of registration of property in Egypt, I'd like to know if there are any UK residents who have bought a property in Hurghada, moved in, and then registered their property at the land registry yet.
If so how did it all go,
how much did it cost,
what documents did you get back.
did the developer or agent help
did you have to attend in person
did you use a Power of Attorney (through a lawyer)

I'm sure all us developers / agents etc are keen to set the record straight on this issue.

Red Sea Developments (UK & Egypt) - 2 Bed Apartments from £14950

[dave99]

How come we there is nobody out there that has registered a property yet.

Could it be that everything is still unfinished so that you have nothing to register.

Or is it because the process it so complicated.

Or is it because you have all decided NOT to register !!!

Must be someone who has gone through this.

[Peter Mitry]

Nigel
You are probably right in your assumption; there are few properties completed yet. My understanding from our lawyers is that if you do not register you can sell on at will; as there are no mortgages this will rarely be a problem. However, if you do register with the local Notary I understand that you cannot sell for 5 years. You can register through a company and sell on at will but I do not know the costs and implications of this; perhaps someone else has experience of this?

[dave99]

Peter

Maybe you could ask your contacts at Resort Alliance since they have had some apartments sold and completed since April this year I think.

[Peter Mitry]

The clients who have completed have bought their units to use rather than to sell on and no one yet has reported on their experience of registration. I will however ask the question and post the findings on the forum.

[linzkins]

Hi everyone. I recently joined this forum in order to ensure I'm aware of all the known pitfalls when buying in Egypt. I recently put a £2k deposit down on one of the Hurghada Village Apartments. These are currently selling for around £30k for a one bed with large roof terrace and on the face of it looks like a good investment with guaranteed 7% annual rental return on the first 2 years.

I subsequently stumbled across your forum thread which brought to my attention the whole property registration issue and the 5 year no resale rule when the property is formally registered with the Egyptian authorities.

I subsequently went back to the agent who appeared to know nothing about the registration issue, but took around 2 or 3 weeks to get the following reply from their lawyers (see below).

The main problem I have with all this is that some agents are either unaware of the legal registration issue and the associated 5 year rule, or are simply not telling their clients about it. Indeed re the 3 or 4 agents we spoke to prior to putting down a deposit, all of them were selling the benefits of being able to 'spin' these offplan investments - i.e. making a quick profit by onselling them either before or shortly after completion.

At the present time we don't know how long we will hold on the apartment, but it would be good to know we had the option of selling within 5 years if we needed to - e.g. ill health, other investment opps etc.. On the other hand we, like everyone else, wants to know their investment is reasonably safe and legally made.

So the questions I'm now left with are:

1. The agent is now appearing to offer the purchaser (me) the option of either formally registering the property or not - with an apparent default on the no registration route.

2. If I go along with this second option of NOT formally registering the property in order to reserve the right to be able to resell at will - what additional risks am I exposed to? (if any). This advice appears to conflict with Peter's article "Positive Property Investment Forecast for 2007" on purchasing a property where he advises: "Even though many Egyptian properties are unregistered, registration is an essential pre-requisite to a purchase".

3. What are other investors doing, and is this a safe investment for me?

Given the elapsed time since putting the deposit down and getting to this stage, I now need to make a decision to proceed within the next few days, therefore all advice and knowledge gratefully received.

Regards to all,
Lindsay.

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31 August 2007 - reply from our agent re my question on the 5 year issue:

Please find attached the information you have been waiting for regarding property registration of the Hurghada Village Apartments.

I am sorry that you have had to wait for this information.

If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind regards


PROPERTY REGISTRATION IN EGYPT

There are two types of registration for properties in Egypt, the most formal of which restricts sale and rental in the first 5 years and is rarely used by foreign purchasers. The second of these is used by investors for the flexibility to determine where and when they rent and sell their property.

We therefore will register all properties using the second method unless requested otherwise.

Regarding residency, purchasing a property in Egypt automatically gives the purchaser the right to apply for residency.

Our lawyer who has carried out the due diligence for the development has many years experience in dealing with properties in Egypt and has successfully completed many purchases without complications.

[dave99]

Hi

see my reply under " An Insight into Property Regulation in Egypt "

[dave99]

Originally Posted by Peter Mitry

The clients who have completed have bought their units to use rather than to sell on and no one yet has reported on their experience of registration. I will however ask the question and post the findings on the forum.

Any news on owners buying through Resort Alliance - I would have thought that all owners would wish to register if only to prove that they have actually got a good title to the property. Hopefully it should be possible to find out. I understand that the first owner were able to move in around April 2007.

[Peter Mitry]

I arrived back from Hurghada yesterday; during the visit I had a meeting with Hamdy el Sawy, a London lawyer who is advising several Palm Beach Piazza clients. It appears that the first client who registers independently could have to pay around 1000 GBP which would be the cost of registering all 108 apartments. The lawyers advice was for the Developer to register and charge each client who wishes to register proportionately. This would probably be a decision for the owners committee when it is formed as some people may not wish to register. I will publish updates when more information is available.

[jeremy bright]

hi i am also geting one in the village in hurghada from them if you want to contact me who are you geting it from i am using knight knox as are only down the road from me in manchester