Real Estate and Transaction Law Committee, LAWASIA Annual Conference

“Cross-border considerations”, Speaker

November 8th, 2015 – Sydney, Australia

During the course of this presentation Mr. Wilson spoke on the law in respect of real estate transactions in Sri Lanka and discussed briefly about the investment procedure and considerations for foreign persons interested in acquiring property in Sri Lanka and investing in Sri Lanka.

He explained the property tenure in Sri Lanka namely the position in the case of foreigners wishing to acquire state land and private land and what rights they have in the context of leasing state and private land and provided a summary of how the law has developed with regard to foreign ownership of land in Sri Lanka.

He also discussed the law which imposed a complete prohibition on foreigners acquiring ownership of land in Sri Lanka and explained that while the new Act introducedthese prohibitions and restrictions, it also contains certain exceptions whereby the prohibition/restriction would not be applicable.