The sale of the Vaucluse mansion, which was sold for A $40 million, reportedly belonged to Liu Qiangdong, chairman of the Jingdong Group, and was held on behalf of Ms Huang, the wife of Yonghui.
The so-called "on behalf of the purchase of Australian housing", refers to the actual investor to borrow the name of other people to buy Australian real estate, and in the name and identity of others to register the ownership of the property. In this case, the agent does not actually contribute, but still has the ownership of the real estate on the law; the actual investor does not have the ownership of the property, but actually contributes to the investment behavior.
1. FIRB rules on Visa and identity of buyers
For most second-hand homes, Australia's overseas Investment approval Board (Foreign Investment Review Board) has set a set of thresholds to limit direct purchases by overseas buyers.
FIRB rules that overseas buyers are generally prohibited from buying homes already built in Australia, but temporary residents in Australia can apply for a second-hand home and can only be used for personal use, but are required to sell it when their visa expires in leave Australia.
It should be noted, however, that such escrow may itself be suspected of concealment or deceit from the government agency, and even more likely to face the prosecute of the government agency (including criminal proceedings).
This is because the FIRB has expressly prohibited the concealment of the identity of an overseas investor or the holding of a property on behalf of an overseas investor to evade the application fee for the purchase of a property by an overseas person. The violator will not only be fined and forced to sell the property. There may be criminal proceedings if the circumstances are serious.
There is no doubt that this is a very high risk of irregularities for both the agent and the actual owner of the property.
2. First-time Home purchase subsidy and Stamp Duty reduction
Australia's federal government and state government have clear rules for buying properties for overseas investors. In general, overseas buyers must pass the approval of overseas applications and pay a certain amount of application fee.
Victoria's government levies 7 percent more stamp duty on overseas buyers than local buyers, making it easy to imagine how much demand foreigners want to buy in Australia on behalf of others in order to circumvent policy costs.
3. Mortgage and repayment of Bank loan
Since 2016, loans from overseas have been tightened and even closed.
As a result, access to loans through Australian and local-income agents has also become an option for some actual down-payment providers. The actual investor will often agree with the agent that all loans will still be repaid by the funder.
4. The Depositary of the "Depositary Agreement" and the obligation to contribute to the interest of human rights
There is a "proxy agreement" for both parties to buy a house under their name, and there is sufficient evidence to prove that the actual payment of the down-payment, mortgage and other related funds of the property is actually paid by the investor, Should houses registered in the name of the agent be considered to be of a subrogation nature? Is the ownership of the house owned by the funder, not the owner?
Australia implements the Torrance registration system, the core of which is "registration effectivists".
That is to say, after the "registered name purchase", once the agent of the registered rights people turns back, even if the actual investor leaves sufficient evidence to prove the existence of the "registered name purchase house" fact, he will also face the cumbersome and long law proof procedure; Even more, if there is no proof of the existence of the "registered home purchase" fact, the actual investor's own rights will not be guaranteed, resulting in the loss of money and property.
Under Torrance registration, contemporary owners decided to resell the property without the consent of actual investors.
If the new buyer is a bona fide third party, and in the case of a change in property registration, the actual investor is no longer likely to request that the transaction be cancelled and the property right back. At this time, even if you can prove the existence of the "registered name purchase" fact, but also can only pursue the corresponding responsibility of the agent.
Given the law risk of buying on behalf of the above, and the desire of overseas buyers to avoid high tax rates when buying houses in Australia, Lianzhong lawer can help these overseas buyers not to buy through the above-mentioned way, but to achieve its effect. For more information, please consult with lawer firm (United Associates).
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