High Value Residents (FOI)

​Request

When a wealthy incoming new 1.1k resident is granted consent to purchase a home:

A

Are they able to place their new residential home in company ownership, ie share transfer?

B

In the last three years how many 1.1k residents have placed or purchased residential homes via share transfer ownership?

C

How many have purchased in their own names?

D

Can a 1.1k resident with a property recently purchased via share transfer keep the share transfer status on their property for ever?

E

If the answer to D is yes, can they still sell it on the open market in company ownership to a non but Jersey qualified resident?

Response

A

Yes, a high net worth resident with Entitled status under Regulation 2(1) (e) of the Control of Housing and Work (Residential and Employment Status) (Jersey) Regulations 2013 is able to form a company in order to purchase a residential property that they intend to occupy as their sole or principal place of residence in Jersey. This has been the practice for many years, under both the current Law and previously under the Housing (Jersey) Law 1949.

B

In the last three years, five individuals with Entitled status under Regulation 2(1) (e) of the Regulations have formed a new company in order to acquire a single residential dwelling, or site on which to develop a single residential dwelling, to be occupied as their sole or principal place of residence in Jersey. In these instances, stamp duty and transaction tax has been paid.

In the last three years, an additional seven individuals with Entitled status under Regulation 2(1) (e) of the Regulations have purchased residential properties by way of the acquisition of shares in an existing company relating to a specific property. In six cases, the purchases related to share transfer apartments and the other related to a property which has been in historic company ownership.

C

In the last three years, 37 individuals with Entitled status under Regulation 2(1) (e) of the Regulations have purchased in their own name a single residential dwelling, or site on which to develop a single residential dwelling, to be occupied as their sole or principal place of residence in Jersey.

D

If a high net worth individual purchases a residential property as share transfer, and that property was previously share transfer, then it would remain share transfer, in the same way as any other share transfer property would. Otherwise, where a high net worth individual forms a new company in order to acquire a single residential dwelling, or site on which to develop a single residential dwelling, the Minister will, on granting formal consent to the proposed transaction, impose certain standard or specific conditions. 

This will include a condition which requires the property to be sold out of company ownership, in the event that it ceases to be occupied by the high net worth individual. Ownership of the property, in this instance, must be conveyed out of the company name by way of a freehold transaction to persons with Entitled or Licensed status under the Control of Housing and Work (Residential and Employment Status) (Jersey) Regulations 2013, and a signed legal undertaking must be provided to confirm acceptance of this condition.

E

Only applicable in so far as share transfer properties available to any person are also available to high net worth individuals, and if purchased as share transfer can be sold as share transfer.