IRS and RES swap to Property Development Scheme (PDS)

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A change of insight within the real estate sector in Mauritius focusing on local and foreign investors: in fact, the Integrated Resort Scheme (IRS) and the Real Estate Scheme (RES), two property acquisition schemes implemented by the Mauritian authorities in 2002 and 2008 respectively, have been replaced since June last by the Property Development Scheme (PDS) in line with the Budget Speech 2015.While the main characteristics IRS and the RES emphasizes on the projects’ dimensions and the imposition of a minimum price, regarding particularly the IRS, the PDS scheme does not impose a minimum selling price. However, the construction site surface area must be of 1 to 50 acres maximum, with a minimum of 6 high standing residences. At least 25% of the properties are bound to be sold to Mauritians or members of the Mauritian Diaspora. Furthermore, the registration fee has been standardized for all purchasers at 5%.

The foreign buyers will benefit from the same fiscal advantages as those attached to the previous schemes. The conditions for the granting of a Mauritian Residence Permit in the case of a foreigner or a retiree will not change either: a minimum property investment of 500 000 USD is required to be granted the Mauritian Residence Permit.

The forthcoming PDS projects should be secured, include high quality equipments, propose a set of leisure activities, guard and gardening services and ensure waste disposal. The PDS projects include villas, apartments, penthouses and other high standards residences.

However, the Mauritian government intends to further promote the social dimensions of those developments as, henceforth the promoters will have to develop projects which shall integrated the neighbouring local population. In addition, those PDS projects will be more environmental-friendly including for example ecological devices such as solar panels, green spaces and water-collect system, among others. The implementation of the PDS Social Fund will cater for the locals’ well-being. An interaction will be established with the adjacent population.

It is much advisable to go through the BOI’s official guide before considering a PDS project implementation. Application may be submitted on the BOI’s official website on the following address: http://www.investmauritius.com.

It is important to specify that the projects already developed and commercialized projects under the IRS and RES schemes shall still bear the latter respective names. Only forthcoming projects starting from the launching of the new scheme will be named PDS. The granted approbation letter will still be valid and residence permits will still be allocated to those having acquired IRS or RES properties.

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Dany Gowsee