Property Rights in Belarus

[gordon Bolt]

Ïðèâåò:

ß äóìàþ î ïåðåìåùåíèè â Áåëîðóññèþ è çàêóïêå íåäâèæèìîãî èìóùåñòâà. Ýòî áûëî
áû êàê ïåðâè÷íîå ìåñòî æèòåëüñòâà ïîñëå áðàêîñî÷åòàíèÿ ãðàæäàíèíà
Áåëîðóññèè.

Ëþáîé èìååò çíàíèå î çàêîíå îòíîñèòåëüíî ýòîé ñèòóàöèè?

Ñïàñèáî,

Ãîðäîí.


Hello:

I am thinking about moving to Belarus and buying real estate. This would be
as a primary residence after marrying a citizen of Belarus.

Does anybody have knowledge about the law concerning this situation?

Thank you,

Gordon.

[Eryk]

Gordon,

Post by gordon Bolt
I am thinking about moving to Belarus and buying real estate. This would be
as a primary residence after marrying a citizen of Belarus.
Does anybody have knowledge about the law concerning this situation?

Difficult to do that in your own name unless you are a Russian (and I
assume you are not) without doing complicated things like founding a
joint-venture company and having it technically own the property while
you control the majority shareholding via shell companies.
There is no problem owning property registered in your wife's name
however.

Eryk (British but lived in Minsk for 2 years now)

[mike]

Post by Eryk
Gordon,

Post by gordon Bolt
I am thinking about moving to Belarus and buying real estate. This would be
as a primary residence after marrying a citizen of Belarus.
Does anybody have knowledge about the law concerning this situation?

Difficult to do that in your own name unless you are a Russian (and I
assume you are not) without doing complicated things like founding a
joint-venture company and having it technically own the property while
you control the majority shareholding via shell companies.
There is no problem owning property registered in your wife's name
however.
Eryk (British but lived in Minsk for 2 years now)

Hi Eryk

I had a conversation about this with a Belarusian friend, because I was
just curious about the way real estate sales worked there. Bottom line
that i got from her, was that mortgage banking as we know it in the US,
is not widespread there. In the US, if you want to buy a house you save
up 5 or 10 percent of the price and borrow the rest from a bank. From
what she told me, essentially you either save up the whole price
yourself, or you borrow the money from your friends and/or relatives.
Is this true, or was she woefully untrained in the real estate market?
I did see a lot of partially completed houses, that were under
construction for years, and I assumed it was because the people were
doing the construction a bit at a time, as the cash became available,
unlike here, where you borrow all the money at once, and in a few months
you move into a new house.

Mike

[Eryk]

Mike,

Post by mike
Is this true, or was she woefully untrained in the real estate market?

It is true. You can arrange bank finance for commercial property
developments but private mortgage loans are not common. For one thing
banks deal in rubles which are both inflation and devaluation prone
making a US style mortgage loan a risky undertaking for the lender.

Post by mike
From the point of view of the borrower, most vendors want payment in

hard currency so a ruble loan isn't a particularly useful service.

Post by mike
I did see a lot of partially completed houses, that were under
construction for years, and I assumed it was because the people were
doing the construction a bit at a time, as the cash became available,

Partly that and partly that land prices are appreciating steadily,
particularly around Minsk and other major cities. Property developers
here aren't traded companies so they don't have to pursue ultra-short
term profits to shore up share prices. They acquire land and then
develop it at leisure rather than having to aim for swift turnover
(they have to do *something* with it to avoid being labelled
expolitative speculators - hence the evidence of intermittent
construction).

Post by mike
unlike here, where you borrow all the money at once, and in a few months
you move into a new house.

There is not the same culture of home ownership here for obvious
reasons (USSR etc.). In addition, most people live in apartments so the
practical significance of "ownership" is somewhat diluted given the
large amount of shared infrastructure.

Eryk