Tenure, use and the quiet details that matter

Cross-border buyers often ask ‘can a foreigner buy?’ as if the answer were a door that is open or shut. In practice the door is a corridor of tenure types, each with its own rights, time limits and costs.

Land and a condominium are different objects. A 30-year lease runs out. A company that holds a villa puts a shareholder register between the buyer and the building. Mixing these up is how people end up with something they cannot occupy, cannot let, or cannot leave to a child without a dispute.

Use is a legal fact

Short-stay, long-stay and owner-occupation are frequently regulated as different activities. A building sold with holiday photographs may be restricted to residential leases. A neighbourhood that welcomes tourists in one decade may restrict them in the next. The use that can be underwritten is the use the rules allow.

Building fabric is the other quiet detail. Waterproofing, fire safety, lifts, sinking funds. In new towers the question is delivery. In old houses the question is what has been deferred. Neither is glamorous. Both decide whether the asset compounds or decays.