Sri Lanka’s Emerging Luxury Property Market

Every Property is supposed to have certain legal documents that show the overall information about the property. These documents are provided by the local municipality and also other government departments. Planning to buy a property? Well, get ready for major paperwork as the process involves providing (to authorities and the bank in case you are taking a home loan) and acquiring several documents (this ensures your ownership over the property). Here is a list of documents that are required for buying a Land:

Title Deed of the Land

Every Property in Sri Lanka has a Deed which is a formal document that confirms the interest, right, for the property and Title is a legal term that establishes the lawful ownership of a property owned by an individual or an organization. The “Title” is very important because it establishes the history of the property and it shows how ‘healthy’ is the property. The accepted practice is to check the pedigree of the “Title” going back 25 to 30 years. Therefore, the first step is to get the title clearance through an independent Lawyer/ Notary Public whom you can trust.

Approved Lot Plan of the Land

Every land has a master plan in which every plot of land is surveyed and there is a approved lot plan that is approved by the government. This approved documents is essential in the registration process.

Certificate of Ownership

This is an approved and certified certificate that shows the actual owner of the property or land. This document is also very vital in the registration process. It is provided by the Assessment Department of the relevant Municipal Council in the respective District or City.

Non-Vesting Certificate

Non-Vesting Certificate is also an important document that is required for the land registration and it is obtained by the relevant Municipal Council in the respective District or City.

Street Line Certification

This is also a formal document that is certified and issued by the local Pradeshiya Sabha and this document will clarify the actual street line of the property. The importance of this certificate is that the Pradeshiya Sabha is empowered to take action on building constructed by violating the street line.

Extracts of the Land

Extracts are a formal document that shows the overall history of the land and it is essential to check the extracts of a certain land before purchasing it. This document is a proof that the property has an entry in the local municipal records and the construction has been done according to an approved plan. Banks ask for this paper before granting you a home loan. It is important to obtain extracts of the land going back to at least 25 – 30 years.

Valuation

Valuation is a formal document that is obtained after the Licensed Valuer values the land in order to show the overall value of the land. The Valuation Process is important because there is a part in the registration process where the buyer has to submit the actual value provided by the valuer to the Inland Revenue Department and then they approve it in order to pay the stamp duty.

Port City is one of the largest foreign investments happening in Sri Lanka, which was planned around 10 years back but started implementing recently being a widely spoken topic. This is a newly developing city as an extension to the commercial capital of the country with the intention of improving business inventions. Since this becomes a noteworthy turning point of the whole concept of urbanization and industrialization, this can be a game-changer in different sectors in the country. 

This currently developing Port City, the economic zone, and the International Financial Center located in Colombo has been one of the major milestones in most of the revenue markets on the island. Likewise, this is being an integral part of the real estate market in Sri Lanka which is presently boosting and widening its territories with flowing in direct foreign investments. Port City has become a bridge to expand this new dimension of the market along with its quality as well as the demand for the market. 

Implementing the port city in the center of the real estate industry indeed brings a vast number of benefits to the market. Most prominent thing is that following the sophisticated technologies and the structures of Port City, the developers around Colombo start to improve their standards and their structures. In a way, the authorities will also allure to keep a step forward to improve the infrastructure facilities around the city. This is not obviously concerning the competition, but because of the visible incompatibility. It is not realistic to have totally different two worlds in the same industry. Thus, Port City uproots the expected standard of the real estate territories of Colombo because of which the demand heightens for the apartment and residential premises within the city. 

On the other hand, most importantly Port City clears the path to attract outland population along with foreign investments that the real estate marketers strive hard to achieve in the present scenario. The reason for this is that Port City itself opens up foreign investments and international financial avenues and thus the flow of foreigners increases. Getting benefits out of it, real estate marketers around Colombo can attract some of them to their developments since they all are situated quite near to the Port City premises. Therefore, Port City leads to higher up outland demand for the market which is not easy to achieve.

Apart from that, it also works on attracting more local population out of Colombo since the Port City takes the development into another magnitude. Hence, the internal population tends to shift more towards Colombo focusing on the evolution happening within Colombo. This tendency opens the doors to the real estate marketers around Colombo since the demand could be high for their projects along with the shifting population. Not only that, because of the demand, there is a possibility of springing up new real estate projects as well. 

Bottom line is that Port City indeed is a game-changer for the real estate market as it increases the demand both locally and internationally while promoting and raising up the industry to higher levels.