You may have your dream destination firmly in mind but, unable to find your dream home, have ideas of building a new one on a block of land.
Article written by The Overseas Guides Company
Building a house is not the most straightforward process even in the UK, let alone when you are doing it in a foreign country. In other countries, rules regarding the building of new properties can be quite different, and as a non-native, it can be easy to overlook things simply because they are not a consideration in your homeland.
If building a new home is what you have your heart set on doing, you will need to not only research the property market, but also the building approvals process in the country and the state/province you are looking at. Ideally, this is something you should be informed about before purchasing a property.
Some of the things to research about the process of building include:
- How are builders regulated?
- What approvals are needed to build a new home?
- How long does the planning process take?
- How much does it cost?
- Are notice/approvals are needed from neighbouring property owners?
- Is the area you want to build in subject to heritage controls?
- Is new home building subject to VAT in your new country?
- Are there restrictions on building materials you can use?
- What sustainability measures (if any) are you required to incorporate in the design?
- What environmental factors do you need to cater for? (e.g. snow, high rainfall, bushfires, subsidence, landslides, floods, sea spray)
For more information about buying property or to look for property for sale abroad, search the listings on Rightmove Overseas. Wherever you buy abroad, using a currency exchange specialist to make currency transfers could save you considerable amounts of money thanks to their exchange rates typically being 2-4 per cent better than banks. You can find out more by downloading Smart Currency Exchange’s free guide or visiting our Currency Zone.
The views and comments herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Rightmove Overseas, Rightmove Group Ltd or Rightmove Plc