Building a vacation home in the Maldives is not only an opportunity to create your own custom-designed private haven on an idyllic tropical island, but it’s also a potentially lucrative business move.
If you plan to visit the Maldives frequently, you’ll find that owning a vacation villa on private land will save you money over the long run. That’s because building a luxury property on private land is much more affordable over time than continually paying the famously high rates for five-star resort accommodation every time you visit – and also lower-cost than buying a villa on a resort island (which was until recently the only option for foreigners).
In addition, under the current structure for foreign homeownership in the Maldives, you can generate a passive income from renting it out to others when you’re not using the property. If you do decide to rent out your property, Atoll Homes takes care of finding guests, providing them with the typical services and amenities they expect from a high-end retreat (which also reflects positively on the owner’s reputation) and housekeeping services. So all you need to do is sit back and watch while your asset generates an annual yield.
You probably still have a lot of questions about owning a luxury holiday home in the Maldives so in this blog post, we’re going to walk you through the process. You can also use our blog and website as a useful resource. Atoll Homes is a startup venture in the new sector of Maldives vacation homes. As such, we aim to be the unmatched market leader with our team of associates and partners sharing decades of experience in hospitality, construction design and logistics between them. This is our beautiful backyard – and nobody knows the Maldives like we do. So let’s take a deep dive into what owning a luxury vacation home in the Maldives entails, and what kind of benefits you can anticipate from owning a piece of paradise.
The first step is picking an island from our catalog. We offer land on dozens of islands in atolls across the Maldives and have personally investigated each island to evaluate its merits and appeal for foreign vacation homeowners. These are summarised in our catalog in an easy to digest way.
Once you’ve selected an island, we send our scout to identify private plots. The scout makes a survey so you can choose which plot you want to buy based on the scout’s detailed report. You don’t even need to leave the comfort of your home because we’ll send all the photos, measurements, and plans to you via our proprietary concierge dashboard, which puts every aspect of managing your property in one place, for easy management.
We then provide you with options from our selection of partner designers and partner contractors to handle the design and construction, and mobilize the team to start building. Typically, your vacation villa can be built within six to twelve months. Very occasionally the process can take longer, but that’s normally only if there are delays with importing materials from overseas or due to design choices. We will inform you of any consequences of particular design choices when applicable. We’ll keep you informed about time-frames during the entire process. All our operations and considerations such as building compliance are all orchestrated according to the relevant laws of the Maldives.
Under current regulations in the Maldives, non-Maldivians can only own property on a leasehold basis. As such, when you purchase land and build a property through Atoll Homes, you can be awarded a leasehold for up to 99 consecutive years (subdivided into two leaseholds of 50 and 49 years’ duration respectively).
We reserve the right of first refusal to extend the lease after 50 years with zero additional payments, assuming there are no regulatory barriers. If you decide not to proceed after 50 years, we shall consider that as an intent to sell. Atoll Homes will then find a new leaseholder and you will receive the entirety of the new sale proceeds after the deduction of agent fees, which will be determined according to fair market rates at the time.
As a luxury homeowner, you are liable for two taxes. The first one is the Tourism Goods and Services Tax (TGST), and the second is Annual Business Profit Tax. TGST is 12% of the value at the time of purchase, and annual Business Profit Tax (BPT) is charged 15% of your annual profit from renting out the property while you are not there.
As a homeowner, you’ll have access to your very own Maldives vacation villa anytime you want. You’ll wake up to the sound of exotic birdsong and the waves lapping on the shore. Then tell us the dates when you won’t be there, and our sales team will get busy with securing bookings from guests wanting to pay to rent your property for a short break. This will prove particularly lucrative during peak season (November to April) and holidays such as Christmas, Easter, and Eid.
You can also order our housekeeping team to swoop in there between guests checking in and out to prepare it for the next arrival. We can also send specialists to perform maintenance projects such as clearing gutters and taming the garden. You can order all of this remotely through our concierge portal on our website from anywhere in the world. Our team will always be standing by to help. Take a look at our catalog today.
The first step is picking an island from our catalog. We offer land on dozens of islands in atolls across the Maldives and have personally investigated each island to evaluate its merits and appeal for foreign vacation homeowners. These are summarised in our catalog in an easy to digest way.
Once you’ve selected an island, we send our scout to identify private plots. The scout makes a survey so you can choose which plot you want to buy based on the scout’s detailed report. You don’t even need to leave the comfort of your home because we’ll send all the photos, measurements, and plans to you via our proprietary concierge dashboard, which puts every aspect of managing your property in one place, for easy management.
We then provide you with options from our selection of partner designers and partner contractors to handle the design and construction, and mobilize the team to start building. Typically, your vacation villa can be built within six to twelve months. Very occasionally the process can take longer, but that’s normally only if there are delays with importing materials from overseas or due to design choices. We will inform you of any consequences of particular design choices when applicable. We’ll keep you informed about time-frames during the entire process. All our operations and considerations such as building compliance are all orchestrated according to the relevant laws of the Maldives.
Under current regulations in the Maldives, non-Maldivians can only own property on a leasehold basis. As such, when you purchase land and build a property through Atoll Homes, you can be awarded a leasehold for up to 99 consecutive years (subdivided into two leaseholds of 50 and 49 years’ duration respectively).
We reserve the right of first refusal to extend the lease after 50 years with zero additional payments, assuming there are no regulatory barriers. If you decide not to proceed after 50 years, we shall consider that as an intent to sell. Atoll Homes will then find a new leaseholder and you will receive the entirety of the new sale proceeds after the deduction of agent fees, which will be determined according to fair market rates at the time.
As a luxury homeowner, you are liable for two taxes. The first one is the Tourism Goods and Services Tax (TGST), and the second is Annual Business Profit Tax. TGST is 12% of the value at the time of purchase, and annual Business Profit Tax (BPT) is charged 15% of your annual profit from renting out the property while you are not there.
As a homeowner, you’ll have access to your very own Maldives vacation villa anytime you want. You’ll wake up to the sound of exotic birdsong and the waves lapping on the shore. Then tell us the dates when you won’t be there, and our sales team will get busy with securing bookings from guests wanting to pay to rent your property for a short break. This will prove particularly lucrative during peak season (November to April) and holidays such as Christmas, Easter, and Eid.
You can also order our housekeeping team to swoop in there between guests checking in and out to prepare it for the next arrival. We can also send specialists to perform maintenance projects such as clearing gutters and taming the garden. You can order all of this remotely through our concierge portal on our website from anywhere in the world. Our team will always be standing by to help. Take a look at our catalog today.
Meerubahuruge Aage (2F), Henveiru, Male, Maldives 20077
150 Spear St. San Francisco, CA 94105, USA
