Lawyers and Legal Jargon

Hi
Who is the agent. There is a lot of conmen who pretend to be agents.
I spent 3yrs in Santo

allan

Hi Uncle Baldrick, do you need to have a lawyer I would recommend it, as some of the land that is sold in Vanuatu isn't by the person that owns it?
You need to check for the land owner for starters with the Lands department but if you used a real estate agent they should of confirmed the real owner for you.
Just be careful whom you give the money too.

Hi There
As you are probably aware all land in Vanuatu is leasehold NOT FREEHOLD, so it would be very wise to have a solicitor.
He will ensure no money is paid until consent to transfer lease is made available.Without this document you are buying absolutely nothing.

All leases after 1985 are for 75years and an annual "ground rent" is payable for the term of the lease.How much time is left on the original lease?"Ground Rent is a small annual amount.

Do you intend to build? Any capital improvements will make tenure of the lease easier.
Leases can generally be renewed as opposed to extended, at a small cost.

In Australia you buy freehold land and the deed is given over to either the purchaser or their bank at settlement.
Please ask yourself "how do i know the seller is the "legal custom owner" or representative of a family"?Sadly, unless you have checked the title you don't know.
Undoubtedly you have heard of the scams where people sold the Sydney Harbour Bridge to unsuspecting foreigners.
As far as solicitors go,why not ask the real estate agents on Santo which firm they use?

Good luck to you as I know how beautiful Vanuatu is,but PLEASE proceed with caution.
regards
Kevin

Congratulations on your purchase, but PLEASE do it through a lawyer. I know of 2 or 3 incidents where people have bought property, only to discover, the person they bought it from, doesn't own it. We have a lawyer, but I can't recommend him, unfortunately.
By the way, welcome to paradise :-) :-)   

Thanks to you all who have replied. We've got a lawyer looking over the papers and are now just waiting to get the official nod. Everything is signed and we have a 14 day cooling off period that we included in the contract, so provided there is nothing untoward in the documents we'll be owning our property by the end of September. Our lease will run for 65 years....

hi uncle! we re in process ready to buy land or a house how did your lawyer go - would you recommend them thanks diane

Well after almost 3 years of waiting we finally have our papers in order from our lawyers for our property....
Would I use our lawyers again Yes, but only because of the huge stuff up in the lodgement of our documents. and the offer of representing us for free now that we are selling up in Vanuatu. 
Would I recommend  Thornburgh Lawyers to anyone else.... probably not.
Yes, you read right.... we're selling.

Thanks uncle! much appreciated.. is the reason you sold was you didnt like Vanuatu? I am looking to buy and any :no good " info would be appreciated thanks diane

ps: I am glad everything is done for you now!

No bad stuff, Our reason for selling as our passion to travel the world is much stronger.... with 35 countries under the belt we just want to keep going...