Four Seasons Villas in Nevis (Fractional Ownership)

This is a one-tenth share in a four-bedroom beachfront villa inside Four Seasons Resort Nevis: nine other owners hold the rest, and the resort runs the building. Construction is in progress, so the interiors in the marketing are renderings, not photographs of a room you can walk into. It suits a buyer who wants a few weeks a year under Four Seasons management and wants the purchase to meet the Saint Kitts and Nevis citizenship threshold — and almost nobody who wants their own front door on their own schedule.

What you actually own

My record for this listing is share ownership: a one-tenth interest in a villa in the Villas at Pinney's Beach collection, delivered furnished with a private pool. Before anything else I want the instrument itself, because "fractional" covers several different legal animals.

• A recorded undivided interest in land behaves differently from shares in a company that owns the villa — on resale, on inheritance, and on whether the citizenship unit accepts it.
• Insist on a numbered unit with a plan attached, not a share in "a villa in the collection".
• Read the default and lien provisions. Nine other people share your operating bill.
• Find out who votes on refurbishment and on renewing the management agreement. On most fractional structures it is not the owners.

The honest cost of holding it

The purchase price is the only number that stops.

• Nevis property tax is assessed on market value at 0.156% on the building and 0.75% on the land for residential property, payable by 30 June each year. Property classified as accommodation is charged 0.3% and 0.2% — establish which applies to a resort-operated villa rather than assuming it.
• Citizenship fees sit on top of the price: due diligence of US$10,000 for the main applicant and US$7,500 per dependant aged 16 or over; post-approval fees of US$25,000 main applicant, US$15,000 spouse, US$10,000 dependant under 18 and US$15,000 dependant 18 or over.
• The resort operating charge is the largest recurring number, and I will not publish an estimate I cannot source. Ask for the annual budget per share in writing, with the prior year's actuals beside it.

This property qualifies for the Saint Kitts & Nevis Citizenship by Investment program.