Hello jungle tribe, how are you doing? This is Sebastian Papworth. I’m a real estate broker investor and developer in the Riviera Maya and today we have a very very special treat for you. We are with Stephanie de la Millar. How are you doing today Stephanie? Very good, yourself? Very good, above average and I’m very very happy to be able to talk with you and so that you can share all of your knowledge about real estate law, immigration, i mean you know so many things about real estate law here. So you’re the partner and co-founder of Sekuralaw, is this correct? Yes, partner. Okay perfect and how long have you been in Sekuralaw? I have been here eight years accounting. Awesome, eight years, wow that’s a long time. So do you know how many real estate transactions you’ve been a part of?

Tough questions. I will say, maybe already a thousand we can talk about.

Okay so just to give you an idea of how much knowledge she has. So our readers and our viewers asked us several questions so we’re going to shoot those legal questions, closing questions, questions about immigration, taxes and just overall the legal closing process in the Riviera Maya. So let’s start.

Now let’s move toward the different options that buyers, investors have when they invest here in the Riviera Maya. Let’s talk about the first one. So what is a fideicomiso? Is it a banktrust? Is it the same as in the U.S.? What are the differences? Can you please explain in detail what a fideicomiso means. It’s the most similar figure, or legal tool that the U.S. has. Of course that ‘s different because basically it’s a tool that you use to acquire a unit that is within the 50 kilometers of the beaches and 100 kilometers of the borders. That is the way that a Mexican government allows you to acquire a unit with total legal safety, Is the trust. The name in spanish is fideicomiso. But basically the trust acquires a unit for you and names you as the beneficiary of the trust so you can do whatever you want to do with the unit. Being a, renovate, sell it, why not? Vacation rental. As long as it’s residential, it can be powered by fideicomiso. One of the questions, one of the main questions that buyers and investors ask when purchasing a property here through a fideicomiso is: Can the government or the bank take the property from you? No. Here in Mexico the ownership right it’s a really important matter. It’s a subject. Ownership is a human right so no one can mess with a human right, like nothing, you know. Of course that you will have to have the legal tools, means a title and the proof that you paid for that title and the physical possession of it. You know that it’s really important to have it, of course, but having a title means that no one can mess with your ownership right. That is really important even though it’s if you bought it through the fideicomiso, actually the person that is trying to get the unit away from you has to fight against the trust event and against you. So technically the trustee bank also protects you and protects your ownership right. And the financial system here in Mexico it’s really really endorsed so the banks are highly regulated and no one wants to fight against them. Understood. And what kind of banks can clients put their or get that trust with? Since ,as I said, a financial system here is endorsed, there is a few banks that provide that service of trust for residential purposes. And there are kind of four or five months of a currently provided service. You can contact the bank directly or you can use an attorney so they can manage all the relation between getting all the documents to be ready to submit the permit and get the permit released to set up the trust and manage the contract. Or you can do it by yourself directly with the bank. It’s quite a process but it’s doable. Okay. It’s better to work with someone that has had a lot of transactions, a lot of communication with the bank. Definitely, and knows the process, the timing, the right documents to send, what has to be sent and when and what do you have to expect, you know. The response of the bank sometimes it’s not the fastest so you have to be definitely advised by someone that knows the process. Perfect. 

And do you need a fideicomiso or banktrust for each property that you buy? Can you hold multiple properties in one fideicomiso? It’s advisable that you have a fideicomiso for each property because this way it will be easier to sell it if you want to. Otherwise, if you have a trust or a fideicomiso with a lot of properties on it, you will have to amend the entire contract every time that you need to sell a unit so it will be a longer process and a little bit more complicated one. Perfect. 

What would be the pros and cons of having a fideicomiso? I will say that the main pro that i see, even as a mexican, I know that i can acquire directly but i need a will for my assets as a you have a trust of fideicomiso, you can appoint substitute beneficiaries. This way you skip the fact that you make a will in Mexico. Because you are already instructing to the trusty bank who will be your inheritors in case of their or illegal incapacity who will be receiving these trustee rights. So you are already, at the same time that you are executing your title, you are instructing who will inheritate this asset. So that will be the problem number one. The one that i like the most. And secondly, you don’t have to take care of a lot of things regarding your unit. Basically, it’s paying the services on time, the utilities and the trusty fee that it’s paid annually and that’s it. You don’t need to to worry about anything else, paying your fee, that’s it. And obviously that is the legal tool that the authorities have provided to foreign investors, to physical foreign investors to acquire a unit so, legally speaking, they buy the book too to acquire the unit. 

And what are the terms? And do you know the prices? Average prices? Because I know the go up, I’m not sure if they go down but the definetly go up. I’m not sure if you have that information.

Yes. Right now the one that offers the more affordable service is Banco del Bajío. They charge about $2 000 for setting up the trust. In the years to come, the annual fees about $500. Okay, so to set up the trust you pay $2 000 and then you have an annual fee of? Of $450. $450, okay. And obviously that changed depending on the bank but you have to adjust according to your needs, There are some other banks that will allow you, for example, to have a loan at the trust and actually there are on some other banks that offer extra services like protecting the another assets that you want to put in the fideicomiso, are more complicated and are more expensive and require more time. That’s why we recommend to keep it simple and acquire the units from the trust. In this case, Banco del Bajío, which is the easiest way to set up the trust. However, there is some other banks that can adjust to your needs. 

And the term that we mentioned, the term of the trust? The permit of the ministry of ruling affairs to set up the trust is 50 years and can be renewed for another 50 years. 50 years, okay, perfect. 50. 

Did we talk about any cons are there any key features that maybe you don’t like a lot about the trust? I will say that maybe only in case that a you want to buy, let’s say, more than 10 properties here. It will be not so affordable because you will have to pay ten annual fees. So maybe in that case you can analyze another options to acquire a real estate here in Quintana Roo. 

Thank you so much Stephanie! You are a world of information. Thank you so much for all the valuable content, all the valuable information that you’ve shared with the audience. What if there is someone that wants to purchase a property or wants help with immigration or taxes? How can they contact you? We have our website. It’s sekuralaw.com and you can also find us in instagram, we upload content every day and useful content. It is sekuralaw_sc and also you will have my whatsapp number and my email address so you can feel free to reach me. Thank you so much for inviting me to chat. This has been really really really enjoyable. Thank you very much and thanks everyone for watching this content. Give it a like, subscribe to the channel; we will keep updating you with more information so that you can make a safe investment. Happy investing everyone!