Buying property in Nepal

No, foreigners are currently NOT allowed to buy / own property in Nepal. Talks are going at a high political level to start allowing foreigners to own apartments in apartment buildings, but this has not been decided on yet, and it is not sure at all if this change in current laws will be passed parliament. And very unlikely foreigners will be allowed to own land in Nepal any time in the foreseeable future.

Currently foreigners are not even allowed to own a car or a motorcycle...


Ways around this are there, the most easy for foreigners who own a Nepalese company, who can have their company buy / own the property. Another way would be getting married, which would permit you to co-own the property with your spouse.

Thanks for your contribution jw!

Harmonie.

Im an American, married to Nepali, we have a house in KTM, but purchased through the mother in law.. perhaps this is the best work around to get property in Nepal.

Hello tintala,

Thank you for participating on the forum!

Rouma

Buying property here in Nepal is a complex and long process, and can be costly too, with legal help required, authorizations, planning consent, not to mention business visa etc. Maze of regulations limiting what you and other foreigners can do or what fields/activities investors can go into.
However, being retired and now a NON-working full time resident of Nepal - and prepared to dis-invest - I MAY well be able to make it possible for you to achieve your goal, particularly if you interested to purchase outright (not lease or rent) real estate as previously outlined. Could be anywhere in Nepal. This is due to the fact that I am perhaps in the unique position of controlling an existing nepali company whole control I might well be prepared to relinquish, subject to contract and conditions being agreed between us.
Therefore, before we can go further, you would have to tell me whether it is only land which is of interest to you, or possibly creating say a resort or buying into small hotel or even building a new guest house of your own? This is important because the Government allows certain activities in certain fields but certain other fields are closed to foreigners.   
Do you have a budget or ball park figure in mind?
Do contact me, tell me what your objectives are, and after that, I will tell you what I can help or not? All I will guarantee is that my investment vehicle is duly registered with the Ministry, so anything we did would be 100% official and above board.

In terms of minimum investment, I think you should be prepared to think in terms of a minimum investment for this purpose of say: $75,000 to $100,000 + 

Quite apart from the above, do check out the current status of pending legislation re these other new/possible provisions allowing sale of apartments to foreigners?  You may well find that the authorities' minimum investment requirements could be as high as  $250,000 for that purpose. Not sure either whether legislation has gone through or not?  But do carry out your own investigation if that is your primary interest?

I like how forthright you are in this post. I am researching about how foreigners can purchase property and ways to be able to stay here long term.

Could you please explain some of the pitfalls to the process of purchasing property?

You can read my blog for more information on what I am doing or visit my web site: FrugalTravelsNepal.blogspot.com [Moderated: No free ad pls]

Not only can expats/foreigners not buy land, but with the way the deeds are here and all the claims against land and the fact that the courts are backed up for years, I don't think it would be a good idea to buy land in Nepal. I was thinking of maybe a 99 year lease so I could build a home. Westerners really have no business owning land here. The government isn't stable so even if they say yes today, how could you know if it would be allowed later?

Well with new laws you can buy condo's or apartments in nepal but cannot buy a piece of land. With a housing bubble and inflation you can negotiate with the housing agencies if you are planning to buy condo's.

Thanks
Sabin

only Nepali citizen are buying a land property.if you this use in business propose forging buying a property & also you marriage in nepali boy then you buy property.

If my parents are Nepalise and i have a card that gives me a 10yr visa am i alllowed to buy property, if so how much. Or if my parents have property can they put it in my name. I am not sure where i can go for help on this subject.
Is there anyone that can help
Thank you
Mandy

A question this detailed with specifics clearly out of the 'ordinary' range can only be answered by someone specialized on the subject matter who has been informed of all the details.

My advise to you would be to contact a real-estate lawyer or a notary public in Nepal, or have one of your relatives contact such on your behalf.

you can buy but there is terms and condition contact me

[Moderated: No free ad pls]

it is better to rent.

As noted by other responders, only through a Nepalese spouse or company can you buy property. My wife is Nepalese, and we bough and just sold our house, and are buying property. By and large it is best for the non-Nepalese spouse or partners in a company to stay totally invisible in all business transactions - once the Nepalese know that a bideshi (foreigner) is involved in business they will jack up the price by 30% or so. Always bargain - like Indians, the Nepalese will usually start off by quoting a price that is about twice as much as you should pay, more on smaller items. All Nepalese assume that foreigners are money trees - shake hard and money will fall out. I have lived on and off in Nepal for over eight years, and aside from my wife and one or two - no just one - [moderated: inappropriate comment]

No you have to be a citizen to buy property or have it in your name. Visa doesn't matter - it is residency that matters.

How can you run a blog on Nepal if you don't know about how foreigners can own land in Nepal?

Hint: they can't.

Just don't try to buy property in Nepal or invest or have anything to do with them at all. I wasted 18 years and hundreds of thousands there trying to find a way with joint venture businesses or study visas. I had contracts made by Supreme Court advocates, contacts with judges, etc, everything by the book, and still my bussiness partner was easily able to make false documents and defraud me, pay bribes to officials and corrupt lawyers. The Nepali government and legal system will not support you at all. Nepalis think they have the right to steal from you because you are a foreigner, cheating foreigners is the national sport, that and wife beating. They will acctually laugh among themselves at how cleverly you were set up and ripped off. They are totally corrupt and have no concept of honoring contracts or fair dealing, its is a bandit culture. At first they will be all welcoming and friendly and everything will be easy and cheap, they will say 'possible, possible' to everything, getting your money in will be easy. Later it will be all, 'no sir not possible in Nepal'. You will never get your money out of the country, and you'll be lucky to get yourself out in one piece if you complain. They are deeply racist and contemptuous towards foreigners, if you are white you will not be able to walk down the street without hearing 'gueeede...gueeede' ( white light eyed freak) or ' kaitheee...kaitheee' ( light haired freak) every two minutes, or if you're black they call out ' kaleee' (darky). Its much worse if you're a female. Kathmandu is one of the most polluted places you can imagine, water, air, noise pollution and food contamination are unavoidable, crime and filth everywhere, and they think burning piles of plastic rubbish first thing ever morning is making it cleaner! A major earthquake is inevitable but construction is shoddy, traffic and aviation accidents are common place, it's a death trap, but a trap for your money most of all. Don't believe what others who are still caught up in the scam say, apart from my own experience,  I've heard so many horror stories about what happens to foreigners who try to invest or set up aid projects in Nepal, as soon as they have your money they will just cancel your visa. Their culture is feudal, civil society is disfunctional, utterly corrupt and venal at every level, totally lacking the ethics and values of modern civilization, they are incorrigible, incapable of reform. They are shameless and predatory,  instinctive liars and once they've caught you they will infect your whole life, can you afford to trust anyone or believe they aren't all like that? This isn't my opinion, it's my experience.
nepalmonitor.com/2007/05/post_11.html

Frenchie--

I'm interested in speaking with you about your proposition and experience doing business in Nepal.

Leo,

Your story sounds a lot like my experiences in Kathmandu. The Nepali brain is a tough nut to crack. I've asked for years, what's going on in the grey matter. It's definitely complicated.

Have you resolved the money issues by now or have you given up? One solution could possibly selling to another expat on payments. Getting a little at a time might work. There are many wanting to come here and want to invest. Expat to expat shouldn't be too difficult.

I lost my paypal account recently and found out how difficult it would be to get money out of Nepal. I think many developing countries are like that. Getting money out of any country can be difficult because money is the strength of a country. Nepal is a country that requires a contingency plan.

When I got to Kathmandu I was fleeced so much I felt like a sheep. That's why I started writing my book, Nepal: A Tourist's Manual. There is a lot to learn and a person should not jump into this without a well thought out end plan. My end plan will be to either take a trip to Pashupatinath or become food for the birds like the Buddhists do it.

A book is a great idea to warn naive people who can't imagine how the feudal, premodern mind works. I'm thinking of undertaking a study of the endemic culture of corruption and nepotism in Nepal and calling it 'Bandit Kingdom'. There has to be experience based accounts of life in Nepal which aren't romanticized as 'House in Kathmandu' and 'Tiger for Breakfast' were. You and I and others with long experience of living there are up against thousands of people who spent two weeks trekking and think everyone is their lifelong friend. There are too many apologists and enablers for the corrupt elite.

Nepal is ranked 126 out of 175 in descending order on Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index. That only leaves a few failed states and war zones which are worse. Despite 55 years of development aid they haven't even reached developing country status,  it is still low income economy.  And this is because the utterly corrupt elite embezzle everything while blatantly avoiding taxes with impunity. They have one of the lowest GDP to tax revenue ratios anywhere,  an indicator of widespread evasion.  So developed economies' aid collected from the working poor in Western countries subsidizes the criminal tax evasion of wealthy elites in Nepal. It just isn't morally defensible. Tourism too is just another conduit for enriching greedy elites at the expense of the environment and with reckless indifference to the safety of tourists.

The best of my lawyers are basically Forest Gump, the worst just jackals. Pushing anything through the legal system in Nepal is a task of Sisyphus. Judicial corruption is only worse in occupied Afghanistan.  Try functional communication with a mind that thinks in a language lacking a formal future tense so unable to commit to anything and were everything is in the passive voice so nobody is really responsible for anything.

The more tourists and investors warned off Nepal the more the government will be pressured to reform.  But I'm incapable of expecting anything good out of there anymore.

Kudos to Leo.

Is it possible to lease land? If so what are the leasing agreements like? what is the process?

After recent earth quake, I thought of investment in the energy and housing sector. However after reading your remarks, I am in two mind now.
Thank you for posting the head truth!

The corruption runs deep and is perpetualized by foreign aide which never really reaches civil destinations such as access to clean water, electricity of which before earthquake was a loadshedding at 12-14 hrs a day, this corruption is blatantly obvious and has been enabled by allowing the govenrment to control and monitor any aide that is generousky dontated by western countries. nepal is forever in a state of pathetic development and will always suppress their own by embezelling the much needed funds to further its own development.

buying property in Nepal is NOT complicated if you know how.  By far the easiest and risk-less way of doing it is to buy an existing Private Limited corporate entity, which is already registered and in good standing with a clean balance sheet.  So if you are a foreigner, why not totally eliminate the risk of placing it in your "spouse's name" (which I would most certainly NOT recommend)? Instead, buy 100% of the existing shares from another foreigner of already owns the corporate vehicle and the land and the house or both, as the case may be.  Better to spend  a larger amount like $150,000 - play safe - and  pick up a prime piece of land that way, in a good location, than playing Russian Roulette ....only to find out one day that the other party whom you thought you could trust has kicked out of your OWN HOME....and you are out in the cold!
Better safe than sorry......
and finding an existing company with a beautiful piece of land, with mountain view, very near Kathmandu, where there is no pollution, no noise....is totally possible.

This way you will have 100% ownership - no risk - you will be your own  boss...legal owner, under nepalese law. 

For more information:  contact Chobhar Village Resort  in Kathmandu Nepal...and talk to the French guy who knows the ropes.

better be the owner of a Private Limited company, buy property that way  and eliminate the  risk.
With leasing, you are at the mercy of the "owner" . In Nepal, the risk of breach of lease is omnipresent. Countless people have lost their investment that way or are still fighting in court which can take up to 10 years, with no guarantee of recovery in Nepal
DO NOT lease in Nepal is best advice we can give you

Dear Christina,
buying property to a foreign national is restricted in Nepal. However they can invest in Nepal as foreigner within BFi policy incorporated by the govt. any foreign can hold property in lease period up to 99 years. the Assets can be used to the business upon the agreement. the other option is any foreigner can be a partner as investor in the business and can hold the property. the other option is if you get marry with nepali than can have equal rights as of nepali, who can buy and sell the property or can live as nepali citizen under the marriage act.

hi!
the information which has been communicated to you about leasing property option by a foreigner is entirely correct. However, if I may suggest, do consult a lawyer about your rights or shortcomings thereof, particularly if you are planning to put some money into the leased property, improve or modernize it, with the intention which is natural of residing there for a long period of time.
While this leasing option is totally do-able and feasible, a lawyer can better than me explain and confirm to you that as a foreigner, to the best of my knowledge, you will not have "locus standi" under nepalese law, under the terms of that lease, be it 5 years or 99 years or some other duration.
It is not up to me to speculate here on what may or may not happen - and with what consequences -  between you as "lessee" and the nepalese owner of property which for simplicity sake, we shall call here the "lessor"
But suffice it to say that a lease in Nepal can be breached, regardless of how many protective clauses you write into the lease agreement which is a form of contract, so do take good legal advice before you enter into such lease agreement, so you know the "pros" and "cons" and have a full understanding of yours rights, and what you are getting into before you sign.  Last but not least, be sure that the lessor with whom you are entering into a contract has absolutely impeccable moral and highest character references.

not true.  the way you describe is just one way to buy land, but it is the riskiest.  a foreigner can buy land, see a lawyer.

hi if anyone interested to buy a property in pokhara or wants to build a house or rent.please contact me i will five all deatils to foreigners

No, even if you marry a Nepali you still cannot own land. I even saw a sign at the immigration office that said even if you are married to a Nepali you cannot even work.

I'm not an expert, so please send some details for us. How, under what circumstances, can an expat/tourist/resident buy property and be able to the right to go to court after the Nepali seller/landlord wants to change his mind?

I know they were talking about changing the laws, but don't know what happened.

Hi i think law is coming to buy a property in nepal for foreigners

I would love to have my own maison in Nepal but I heer that it is not possible to buy cos if you are not nepali, you do not have the same rights as the nepalis and cannot buy like locals. Not same rites.  In addition I heer that a foreign invesstor cannot bring home to his home nation all the money he has invested or monay made there and re-convert everything into foreign currency like euros or dollars. I heer also, that the laws are there, but not applied or enforced. So even if laws are there, what is the point of investment, if not posible to bring home out of the country through a nepal bank anything except 2000 dollars when you leave maybe some yeers later?? It does not sound very faire to me, no? 
Of course, we can rent but then one of my french friends told me she is paying 70 thousand roupies a month and I know  my husband and I with children need 4 bedrooms and we cannot possible pay that very high amont.  Why are rents so high, for good places in good areas to live in Nepal cities? So I don't know what to do, as in Thailand I know another friend of mine has a sweeming pool and house for that price 10 min from the capital of Bangkok. If my hausband and me have no right to buy, I don't think he and I will want to pay like 1000 euro or dollars a month, we are not that riches.

re   legal system and legal proceedings in Nepal

not uncommon in Nepal that if you take a matter to  court in that country, you can be there for anything up to 10 years. no exaggeration....
1. Arbitration court and process alone can take two years before you get a decision
2. Then the next level is the District court
3.  After that, the Appellate court
4.  then finally Supreme court which is known to have like a two year backlog of cases, with not enough judges.

So even with the best of lawyers to act on your behalf,  is most likely to be a long process and costly process which personally I do not wish  on anyone. So if it can be avoided my best advice is to stay out of legal proceedings altogether (if you can avoid the long and stressful process for yourself)

You can't buy a property in nepal. But u can buy through nepali citizen. Then you can take all properties papers.with believable  person you can do this.I hope u can do that.