By Peter Fassl and Helmut Seitz, HSP Rechtsanwälte GmbH
As outlined in the first two articles of this series, the ever-increasing scarcity of arable land in combination with an exponentially increasing world population makes it necessary to rethink real estate business concepts that have been in use to date. At the very least, adjustments need to be made.
By Peter Fassl and Helmut Seitz, HSP Rechtsanwälte GmbH
a) As the analysis in Part 1 demonstrated, the perceived scarcity of land, whether for development or cultivation purposes, combined with steadily growing inflation, necessarily leads to a rethinking of how one might strategically invest in real estate. As shown, the typical real estate investor thrives on acquiring land, building on it, and then reselling it, all in the hope that his profit from this cycle will not be completely eroded by the price of a replacement purchase having risen more than the profit he has made. However, the ultimate goal is always to secure the basic raw material of land for future value creation. This does not necessarily mean becoming the owner of the land. It is quite suffcient to be use it in the same way as the owner. This instrument is called a “building lease” in the DACH-region and a “long lease” in many other jurisdictions.
By Peter Fassl and Helmut Seitz, HSP Rechtsanwälte GmbH
From freehold to subtenant
The typical investment cycle: With typical real estate projects, the goal is to obtain a return from some form of working with a piece of land. In the simplest case, this can be a piece of forest. You wait until trees have grown enough in 50 years to clear them, cut them into planks and build houses from them. Or it could be a piece of land created by constructing a high-rise building on top of a motorway; then the individual apartments are rented out or sold. From the perspective of a professional Monopoly player, this is the typical cycle of purchase, development, construction and sale, although in practice, this cycle is far more complex.
By Alfredo Guzmán Saladín, Guzmán Ariza, Attorneys at Law
In the Dominican Republic, there are no restrictions on foreign individuals or entities owning real estate. The process for purchasing real estate for foreigners is the same as for Dominicans; there are no national defence or security limitations. Foreign individuals and entities, and Dominicans must register locally with the tax authorities before registering purchases of real estate.
By Daniel Waldman, Pallett Valo LLP
In Issa v Wilson, 2020 ONCA 756, the Ontario Court of Appeal affrmed that a buyer could get out of an Agreement of Purchase and Sale when they were induced into entering the contract by misleading information.
By Peter Fassl and Helmut Seitz, HSP Rechtsanwälte GmbH
It seems as if the world is slowly realising that we are ultimately living through a long-term pandemic with an admittedly dangerous virus and things are starting to normalise. From our point of view, in countries like Sweden, which have put their faith in personal responsibility, accepting the risk that is inherent in every life, namely that one is mortal and could die at any time, things are returning to normal much sooner. It will be interesting to see how things develop in Australia or New Zealand, where a zero-Covid strategy has been pursued. In Australia, in particular, there has been barely any tourism – other than domestic – for close to two years now. While in the DACH region, many hotels have been closed for close to half of the time in the last 18 months, in Australia and New Zealand they have been open almost throughout the entire time of the Covid pandemic.
By Liam A. Entwistle, Wright, Johnston & Mackenzie LLP
The Electronic Communications Code came into force in the UK on 28 December 2017 (“the Code”), replacing the previous code. The stated purpose of the Code is to further the public interest in the provision of high-quality telecoms network within the UK. The Code provides the framework for the installation, regulation, and removal of telecoms apparatus, and gives telecoms operators access to sweeping powers to force landowners to do what operators consider is in their commercial interests.
By Tony Nunes and Lishi Huang, Kelly + Partners Chartered Accountants
The New South Wales (NSW) Government is considering a once in a generation change to the way it levies stamp duty and land tax on new property purchases. If implemented, buyers will be able to choose to pay either stamp duty and land tax or a new, lower, property tax.
By Alina Iozsa, Hategan Attorneys
The issue of corporate benefit arises primarily in the case of establishing security for a third-party obligation in banking transactions. We have often encountered instances when foreign parent companies require their Romanian subsidiaries to grant security for banking transactions and conclude corresponding security agreements over their assets according to Romanian law, also known as upstream security.
By Frédéric Couvreur, DALDEWOLF
Belgian property law has been recently reformed, by the law of 04 February 2020 setting out Book 3 “The Goods” of the Civil Code (the “Law of 04 February 2020”). This law provides for one of the very few reforms of Belgian property law since the entry into force of the Civil Code (also called the “Code Napoléon”) in 1804, under the French regime, and of the law on the right of emphyteusis (long-term lease) and the law on the building right (right of superficies) in 1824, under the Dutch regime. Of course, since the beginning of the nineteenth century, Belgian property law has undergone several developments due to case law.
