Buying Land on Cape Verde islands

Check with your solicitor/lawyer that approval has been given by the authorities to build on the land you are thinking of buying (don't sign anything, no matter what it is, before showing your solicitor all the papers). Be advised that you should not automatically take the word of those who want to sell you the land, that everything is official. There have been situations where unsuspecting buyers have bought land, then found out at a later date that their plans to build on it will not be granted. Some l and is a Reserve and a protected area, only the Government is in the position to change the law as regards whether an area is released for building purposes. In some areas you can’t build on land 1kilometer from the sea line. There are similar problems on other Cape Verde islands.

I am aware that some developments are given building approval in retrospect; however there are no guarantees that permission will be given.

Some people believe or have been told that there won’t be another development between theirs and the sea, only to find out that they are wrong. Please do your own research on this, it may not matter to you, but it may to someone else, it depends how much you wanted to be near the sea.

There are various types of sales pitches, so it is really up to you whether you make your own separate private enquiries with other developments or the authorities.

I understand that the cape verdean people have been given a plot of land each by the government, if they can’t afford to build on the land themselves, some cape verdean builders may negotiate with the land owner to build apartments on their plot of land, then provide the owner with property as part of the project build. What you have to ask yourself is what if there was a dispute or a disagreement between the land owner and the builder/developer at a later date? Is the land owner one of those 300 reported in ‘Asemana’ as now having their land expropriated?