Step one is to get your professionals lined up and ready. That should certainly include a lawyer who is independent of the estate agent or developer whose property you are viewing, who is qualified and who is a specialist in property in Spain and land law, known as urbanismo. By Christopher Nye It is also...

Portuguese estate agents must be licensed and qualified, so ask to see their INCI certificate and AMI licence. With typical agent fees of more than 5%, private sales are common – look out for boards saying vende-se or para venda. By Christopher Nye Among Portugal’s largest online property portals are casa.sapo.pt and imovirtual.com, or a...

Featuring high on the list of Britons’ favourite retirement destinations, Italy has a highly varied property market for you to choose from in mountains, fertile valleys and seafronts. It is best to begin your home search in Italy as soon as possible. Although good housing is available, it may take some time to find the...

There is no restriction on buying property in Italy and it has some of the most breathtakingly beautiful older property in the world, at surprisingly cheap prices (especially you’re up for a bit of renovating). By Christopher Nye In Italy you generally do not need a lawyer because the agent and the notary are both...

Buying in Cyprus has the advantage of English being very widely spoken and there being no great difference between prices for ‘locals’ and expats, which you see in some countries. When it comes to selling property to foreigners, however, developers and agents in Cyprus have made a few mistakes in the past. Some encouraged buyers...

The first thing to know about buying property in Australia is that foreigners do not have an automatic right to own property. Unless you are married to an Australian or hold a permanent resident visa or special category visa (as New Zealanders do) you will need to apply to the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB)....

Make sure you follow the correct procedures to smooth the process of buying property in Germany. By Christopher Nye To buy or not to buy, that has been the question in Germany in recent years. It was a country where most people rented, protected by strong pro-tenant laws, and where property price rises were...

As a collection of seven separate emirates, there are some differences between emirates in the rules and procedures for buying property. For this guide we will focus on Dubai, where buyers from India, Pakistan and the UK make up the three largest overseas contingents. Buying an existing (resale) property in Dubai follows a similar pattern...