Property Owning Companies

For clients wishing to purchase real estate for investment purposes or for those seeking to purchase a secondary property for leisure or retirement purposes, there are substantial benefits to be derived through the establishment of a corporate, trust or foundation structure to address capital gains tax issues, inheritance tax and forced heirship rules.

Different countries have different rules regarding succession of property and the IHT tax can be quite substantial. As a Company never dies, holding a property using a Company can address many issues. Transfer of ownership also becomes easy as a simple transfer of shares of the Company is sufficient to transfer the assets held by the Company to the new owner.

Many potential buyers and those already owning property in the UAE are unaware of the possible implications of owning property in their personal names as the Islamic sharia laws regarding the inheritance of personal effects are different to those in many other countries. The assets of a person are frozen on his death and the assets are frozen until the court decides on the rightful owner. The property held jointly need not pass on to the surviving spouse, hence it is important to set a right structure to circumvent the possible consequences of Sharia law to non- Muslim clients