BajaNuts - 3-21-2009 at 01:29 PM
A Baja professional just told me that there is a fideicomiso requirement of a commitment to invest $250,000 into the property (aka "build/improve")
within 5 years. They didn't say if it was USD or MXD. Don't know if this is for all new fideicomisos or only for ones on property in certain areas.
I've asked for more information about this and will post if I get any good information.
Anyone ever heard of this?
Don Alley - 3-21-2009 at 01:36 PM
I have heard that for large properties (acres) bought by foreigners you must invest a certain amount within a certain time. That's what your friend is
referring to. Lot sized fids don't require any investment that I am aware of, certainly not a quarter million.
comitan - 3-21-2009 at 02:06 PM
Only if the property is more than 2000 mts. That was the investment clause and it was done away with 13 years ago.
[Edited on 3-21-2009 by comitan]
BajaNuts - 3-21-2009 at 02:42 PM
well, the parcel is 27m x 100m,
Comitan, did the investment clause used to apply to all lots and now only applies to lots over 2000m? Can you explain what was done away with 13 yrs
ago?
Thanks-
B'nuts
oladulce - 3-22-2009 at 06:58 PM
Here's a link to a thread where the investment clause was discussed :
http://www.bajanomad.com/forums/viewthread.php?tid=31447&...
I don't know why they changed the investment requirement. Our first couple of Baja properties (starting in 1989) were less than 1000 sq meters and
both had "investment clauses" of $150,000 dollars in the fideicomisos.
We bought lot #3 in '96 and that was the only fidei. without an investment clause.
Our current (and final) Baja property is two adjoining lots that are each 5000 sq meters. We bought the lots at different times, the fidei dates are
2004 and 2006, and they are with different banks.
I erroneously stated in the post mentioned above that these 2 lots have different investment requirement amounts even tho they are both 5000 sq.
meters. But on closer inspection, the 2004 fidei makes no mention of an investment dollar amount at all! The 2006 fidei clause states "$350,000
dollars investment will commence within 24 months".
My previous fidei's have all stated the dollar amount of the investment clause and until now, I didn't realize it wasn't in the '04 doc. I'm sure that
somewhere in the legal Spanish it has a blanket clause that we must obey all foreigner investment laws even if it doesn't quote an exact investment
requirement on the fidei. so we expect we're liable for $350,000 on both.
We've never had an inquiry or inspection by the Ministero de Relaciones Exteriores to make sure we're "improving" ($$$) the property, nor have I ever
heard of one. Heaven forbid that we come close to spending $700,000 dollars on our retirement casa!! But we're sinking enough money in to building
that we're not loosing sleep over it - confident that we are demonstrating "good intentions" of investment.
If the Foreign relations guys from D.F. start snooping around in the Baja Sur outback, we'll deal with it then.
[Edited on 3-25-2009 by oladulce]
rob - 3-23-2009 at 09:38 AM
This thread is of great interest to us as we will have beachfront lots of 15-18,000m2. As far as I know, the Investment Clause is still in good health
and actually had the numbers quoted to me by a bank.
Marla, back in 2003 published a table that matches our own information. Two items to note - there has never been any enforcement mechanism (which is
not to say there never will be) and secondly, the cost of the lot is included in the investment clause requirement.
Given the cost of beachfront until recently (and hopefully once again), I don't think there's too much to worry about.
http://www.bajanomad.com/forums/viewthread.php?tid=31447&...
Katiejay99 - 3-23-2009 at 10:35 AM
I read about a place on the mainland (can't remember where) a few years back where the owner was a gringo, married and mexican woman, had a daughter
and kept the land in a fedi. He died, the gov't wanted his large parcel of land and they came in and asked to see the fedi. It had an investment
clause in it and you could see that they had put that much and more into the property over the years, but they never registered it with the bank. The
gov't told her to come up with the documents proving they had complied with the laws. She found some receipts, but because they were not facturas
sufficent to cover the clause, they confiscated her land and threw her and her mother off.
I think this is a rare event, but it is always a good idea to comply with the contract you sign. I also know that not all banks put that clause in
their fedis and you can actually ask them to remove it before you sign the final papers.
larryC - 3-26-2009 at 08:28 AM
I just signed my fidei papers last week at my Notarios office (Angel Saad Said, Notario #4) and I asked him specifically about the 2000 sq m. clause.
He told me that at this time there is no requirement to fulfil any dollar commitment, but on Fidei parcels over 2000 meters, that I would be asked to
sign a paper stating how much I was going to invest, but there is no Mexican law to enforce how much is invested in the property. My property is a
little over 4K meters. For years I was under the impression that 2000 meters was the max. Evidently not so.
Larry
BajaNuts - 3-26-2009 at 04:01 PM
for those who have done a corporation for vacant land, how did you get around the physical address issue? Or am I confusing the FM3 requirement with
something for corporations?
There was something that required a physical address that could receive mail and maybe something about electric or water bill. Physical addy to get
FM3 and had to have FM3 to get corporation? Or is that backwards?
It's been a few months since I was working on this, I can't remember what it was.