Buying Property in Tunisia

[Waqar]

Hi. I am new to this but hoping someone out there can help. I am a British Citizen married to a my amazing Tunisian wife. We are long term planning and are hoping to buy a property in Tunisia. We have family predomintaley in Sfax but want to ensure that we can rent it out while we live and work in the UK. The aim is to buy it rent it in the short term and one day when we can retire and live there.
I have a mortgage here in the UK and my wife only works part time.

1. Can my wfie get a Tunisian mortgage even though she lives and works in the UK- someone dud say Central Bank of Tunisia
2. How much deposit is required by us to secure the property
3. Where is the best place to buy in terms of rent
4. I know lots of people buy land and build there- can we take a mortgage out and build instead of buying
5. Can we move money from UK bank to Tunisian bank and vice versa- ie deposit money in Tunisia bank and move to UK bank


Thanks

[Bigbrother]

welcome to the site

If you don't get all your questions answered on this site, check out two others:

http://www.nomarmiteintunisia.co.uk/index.htm

http://www.thetunisianhouse.co.uk/

[Essem]

Hi Waqar,

Another helpful site is www.internationalpropertylaw.com They have offices in Hull and London.

Contact Loic Raboteau (Hull Office) who is joint head of the Egytpian and Tunisian Law department as well as French and Moroccan. loicr@maxgold.com or 0870 800 4503
From Abroad: - +44 (0)1482 385 603

Hope this helps

PS They advertise in magazines like Overseas Property.

[Kris]

Wow somone else with a Tunisian wife I thought i was the only one!

1. Can my wfie get a Tunisian mortgage even though she lives and works in the UK- someone dud say Central Bank of Tunisia

best to speak with banks concerned as the situation can change from bank to bank. many ask for wages into a bank account but some may be flexible depending on your situation.

2. How much deposit is required by us to secure the property

again avaries from bank to bank and the underwriters 30% is usally enough but looking at property prices about the place people must be getting larger LTVs

3. Where is the best place to buy in terms of rent

In terms of amounts you talking marsa gammarth and du lac however bargains are few and prices are more than some UK towns with worst yields considering fallying UK prices at the moment. 3-5%

If your organised you can rent out places in sousse and hammamet to tourists for higher yields but for more work as holiday lettings.

4. I know lots of people buy land and build there- can we take a mortgage out and build instead of buying

There are self build mortgages as this is very popular given the cost of building in Tunisia again however speaking to a bank is best as they should all have some form of self build mortgage.

5. Can we move money from UK bank to Tunisian bank and vice versa- ie deposit money in Tunisia bank and move to UK bank

First one no problem second one has some restrictions as tunisians have limited export rights on money to protect foreign exchange balances which explains why property is a good investment/very expensive in many parts of Tunisia as rich tunisians decided this is the best place to park their money.

As a foreigner you can move money in and out using a convertible dinar account however the money leaving will have to be in a different currency.

[Essem]

Hi Waqar,

Re mortgages - UK banks tend not to lend on overseas properties, buy may have a foreign subsidiary that would. Another option would be to remortgage you UK home to free up any equity or raise a deposit by extending your UK mortgage and then take a foreign currency mortgage for the balance.

It's probably best to speak to a specialist mortgage broker first - London & Country Mortgages at lcplc.co.uk or Charcoal at charcoal.co.uk Best to ensure your broker is on the FSA register on fsa.gov.uk

A Place in the Sun magazine (June issue) is advertising this year's exhibitions in Birmingham and London in association with Moneycorp - www.moneycorp.com

[Waqar]

Thanks guys for the information- I have checked the websites before and I will again.

Banks that do lend what sort of do***entation will they require for my wife and or myself to open a conversion account?

I have asked them but getting replies back seems to take a long time!

[Kris]

an account in another currency passport only and the money declared as customs or paid in directly.

for convertible dinars

attestation of work and carte du sejour plus address details

[Waqar]

Kris, so if I take all do***entation along with our passports and letter stating we are working on headed paper- along with payslips we can open an account in Tunisia with a view to taking a mortgage- sorry but what is a carte du sejour?

[Essem]

Hi Waqar

Carte de sejour is residency permit.

[Kris]

you should be able to get this whilst in tunisia ask one of your relatives to go to the local police station to get a list of what you need.