Posts

Insights into what is involved in buying, selling & living in Portugal

April 2007

Government inspections launched a mega operation last week targeting holiday villas and rental accommodation across the Algarve. A total of 147 fines were issued for various infractions, but primarily to property owners not holding the requisite rental licence. Five teams from the Autoridade de Segurança Alimentar e Económica (ASAE) made a total of 64 inspections over April 10, 11, and 12, targeting private owners and middlemen such as villa rental agencies and real estate firms. Read more →

Off-Shores and Trusts

To many people purchasing property in Portugal, either as a holiday home or as a permanent residence, can seem fraught with difficulties. You are in a foreign country with a foreign language, foreign laws, taxes and customs, and will rely heavily on your legal advisor or the sales agent to guide you. Read more →

ReAct Discretionary Trust

There is a lot to think about when moving to Portugal. It’s hard enough moving to a different place in your home country, but relocating abroad often involves extra matters to be organised and is simpler to put some on the back burner for a time when life has settled down. Read more →

Algarve Resident Feb. 2007

FACING UP to the complex licensing legislation affecting holiday rental properties which, to date shows no signs of being altered, one Algarve villa rental agency has launched a service to prepare licence applications for its clients. Caspo Business, based in Praia do Carvoeiro, has chosen to remove all rental properties from its website until owners obtain the licença de utilização turística needed to make villas and apartments legal for rental to holidaymakers. Read more →

Villa licensing and no progress

The problems affecting the licensing of properties for rent deepened this week. A villa owner in Quinta do Lago made public some documents that show it is impossible to obtain the necessary licence to rent a private villa to holidaymakers. After submitting plans, drawings and all the necessary application forms to Loulé Câmara to alter the property’s usage classification from habitation purposes to tourism so it could legally be rented to tourists, the owner received a refusal letter in December from the Direcção-Geral de Turismo (DGT), the entity with the final say on the matter. Read more →

Tax on Expatriates

Thousands of British people, who have moved or retired abroad, could be chased for tax going back six years following a recent court ruling. The landmark decision changed the way the Inland Revenue & Customs calculates whether you are deemed to be resident in Britain and therefore whether you must pay UK tax on your worldwide income and gains. Read more →

Capital Gains again

C.G.T. = Capital Gains Tax = Mais-Valía An issue people in the past never worried about when selling a property was tax, but now it is!! Everyone will agree this is a valid concern. What most people do not know is that it is at the point of purchase that one should be concerned about capital gains. Read more →