KEY FACTS OF REAL ESTATE ACQUISITIONS UNDER BRITISH LAW - 1. Introduction - Historically, there has been significant investment by overseas individuals and corporations in real estate in England and Wales and in...more
KEY FACTS OF REAL ESTATE ACQUISITIONS UNDER SINGAPOREAN LAW - INTRODUCTION - There are two systems of land registration in Singapore: registration under the Registrations of Deeds Act, known as “unregistered land”, and...more
KEY FACTS OF REAL ESTATE ACQUISITIONS UNDER SCOTTISH LAW - 1. Introduction - This guide applies to real estate in Scotland only. 2. Tenure - Real estate, both commercial and residential in Scotland may be...more
Stamp Duty Land Tax Changes from April 2025: What Buyers Need to Know - From 1st April 2025, significant changes to Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) will take effect, impacting buyers across England and Wales. These adjustments...more
KEY FACTS OF REAL ESTATE ACQUISITIONS UNDER PORTUGUESE LAW - I. INTRODUCTION - Portugal is an Iberian Peninsula country, bordered by the Atlantic to the west and south and Spain to the north and east. In addition to...more
KEY FACTS OF REAL ESTATE ACQUISITIONS UNDER HONG KONG LAW - Introduction - Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated cities over the world. Due to historical reasons, almost all lands in Hong Kong are leasehold...more
KEY FACTS OF REAL ESTATE ACQUISITIONS UNDER AUSTRALIAN LAW - INTRODUCTION - The majority of land in Australia consists of freehold title. Registration of ownership of freehold title is recorded using the Torrens...more
Rachel Reeves, the first female Chancellor of the Exchequer in the role’s 800-year history, delivered Labour’s first budget in 14 years on the 30th October. We have set out below a brief summary of some of the tax measures...more
Yesterday, 30 October 2024, the Chancellor announced that the Autumn 2024 budget will raise taxes by £40bn, the biggest raise since 1993. While the Autumn budget arguably does not portray as pessimistic an outlook for...more
The real estate sector was not ignored by Budget announcements today. There were no seismic changes – the changes announced were less impactful than the speculation in the weeks preceding the Budget....more
Guernsey companies are extremely popular, and are used for a wide variety of purposes. Guernsey companies can be incorporated quickly and a large number of corporate services providers offer day-to-day administration...more
The insertion of a US holding company by way of a share-for-share exchange, whereby the shares in an existing UK company (“UKCo”) are transferred to a new US company (“USCo”) in exchange for shares issued by USCo, is commonly...more
Despite cancellation of all "spicy" stamp duty measures, Hong Kong’s Stamp Duty Ordinance has not reverted to its old version. In particular, the rules governing exemption of stamp duty for "nomination" and “series of...more
On 5 February 2024, the Honourable Justice Paul Webster granted a restoration order (the “Order”) pursuant to section 218A of the BVI Business Companies Act (Revised Edition 2020) (as amended) (the “Act”), declaring the...more
The Chancellor of the Exchequer delivered the United Kingdom (UK) Spring Budget for 2024 on 8 March 2024. The Budget was delivered against the backdrop of an anticipated general election in the summer or autumn of 2024 and...more
Common Entity Types - Legal persons (such as corporations) and natural persons can generally hold rights over real property in Canada. Investment in real estate can be made through direct ownership by an individual or...more
Key Tax Measures The Chancellor of the Exchequer delivered the United Kingdom (“UK”) Spring Budget for 2024 on 8 March, 2024. The Budget was delivered against the backdrop of an anticipated general election in the summer...more
Budgets are normally stories of two halves. The first half contains the headline-grabbing tax policy reforms that can be encapsulated in a snappy soundbite in the Budget speech, such as “Chancellor scraps the non-dom regime”....more
Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan delivered the 2024-2025 Budget on 28 February 2024. This Legal Update highlights a few aspects relevant to the real estate industry....more
On 28 February 2024, Paul Chan, the Financial Secretary of Hong Kong, delivered the 2024-25 Budget (the “Budget”). Starting off by acknowledging the “challenging external environment” including “heightened geopolitical...more
KEY FACTS OF REAL ESTATE ACQUISITIONS UNDER SINGAPOREAN LAW - INTRODUCTION - There are two systems of land registration in Singapore: registration under the Registrations of Deeds Act, known as “unregistered land”,...more
In this review of taxation and the British Virgin Islands, Conyers Corporate Counsel Nicholas Kuria discusses some of the most commonly misunderstood notions relating to the use of offshore jurisdictions, with a focus on the...more