Buying property in Hurghada – Legal Aspects Looking at the laws and regulations in Egypt
Freehold properties are available in Hurghada and if buying in a new development, prices are often set without the possibility of negotiation. However, if you buy property in Hurghada for resale, there is often room to negotiate the price.
Many Egyptian property owners/developers prefer “cash” payments, which is more beneficial to the buyer as it often means around a 5% discount on the sale and/or may include longer term credit agreements in refunds.
Once you have paid for your property in Hurghada in full and it has been validated or registered by signing the validation process, you will receive a green contract, which is the contract awarded to you by the Egyptian courts. This only applies to freehold properties.
When purchasing a property in Hurghada, buyers should be aware that there is an additional fee known as a ‘buyers commission’. This is an additional charge made by the Agent handling the transaction on your behalf and is normal procedure. The fee can range from 1.5% to 5% depending on the region.
When deciding to purchase a property in Hurghada, you will need to start the process of hiring a good Egyptian lawyer.
Contracts with the lawyer should always be in English and Arabic and a deposit is usually required at this stage.
The deeds to your property in Egypt are assigned to you at the land registry office and the cost of this per property is a maximum of 2000.00 EGP, around £175 (as of June 2008).
When you buy property in Hurghada, you must have an entry visa as it is required to complete the residency procedure in Egypt to give your lawyer power of attorney to go to court on your behalf and register your property. You must also apply for a residence entry visa, which is generally valid for one year.
When buying a property in Hurghada, there are two procedures, first a complete registration and the second to choose the Validity Signature process. Registering a property gives you maximum security under Egyptian law.
However, even in the areas of Egypt where foreigners can buy freehold, the signature of validity can be used instead of registration.
While all of this information may seem hard to digest, it’s actually much simpler than it sounds. If it was a difficult process, then there would not be such a huge investment here in Real Estate Hurghada by foreign investors, which is growing year by year on a large scale.