Frequently Asked

Yes. What changes is the vehicle, not the substance of ownership. Sri Lankan law does not allow a foreign national to hold freehold title to land in their own name. This is national law under the Land (Restrictions on Alienation) Act, not anything particular to Sevana, and it applies everywhere in the country. It does not prevent you from owning, using, letting, and later selling the villa. It determines the form in which you hold it.

Sevana is held through two Sri Lankan companies, and on purchase you step into both. One company owns the freehold of the land. Because the freehold sits in a company, at least fifty-one percent is held locally, as Sri Lankan law requires. The buyer's forty-nine percent is not a passive minority: by shareholders' agreement it carries effective control and the decision rights over the property, so your position is protected and real rather than merely a stake. The second company holds a registered ninety-nine-year lease over the same land, together with the villa on it. On completion you take that lease-holding company in full, and you step into that protected forty-nine percent position in the freehold company.

The effect is simpler than the structure sounds: you control the villa and the land beneath it for the life of the lease, you hold the share of the freehold that the law permits a foreign buyer to hold, and both are protected in writing. This is the same position we hold today. On a sale it transfers to you as it stands, rather than being built again from scratch.

A fair question, and the honest answer is that a company is only as clean as its records. Both companies are single-purpose vehicles they exist only to hold this land, this lease, and this villa, and carry no other trade or history. On a sale you and your advisers receive full financial and legal due diligence on both, and the sale is backed by warranties and indemnities, so anything undisclosed remains our responsibility and not yours. You are not inheriting an unknown.

Yes. A registered lease is a recognised interest in the property, not a rental arrangement. It can be assigned to a new owner on a later sale and passed to your heirs. The lease is drafted from the outset so that a future sale is a straightforward reassignment rather than a fresh negotiation with a freeholder.

Not against the lease itself. Sri Lankan law restricts a foreign-held company from mortgaging its interest, and the lease is held by a company owned entirely by the buyer. Borrowing, where it is wanted, is done at the level of the freehold company, which is majority Sri Lankan owned and is not restricted in the same way. That means any borrowing sits in the company you part-own alongside the local shareholder, and is secured against the land. It is a route, not a formality, and it should be planned with your adviser rather than assumed.

Funds are brought into Sri Lanka as an inward foreign remittance through a Sri Lankan bank, and proof of remittance is retained. This is a legal requirement. It is also what preserves your ability to take sale proceeds back out of the country later, so it works in your favour rather than against you.

There is one tax that applies to you only because you are a foreign buyer. You should expect stamp duty and the usual registration and legal fees on the transfer, and on a later sale Sri Lanka applies capital gains tax at a flat rate on the gain. Your own adviser should confirm how any of this interacts with your home country.

Yes, and this was settled deliberately before anything else moved forward. The plot was previously held across more than one lot and several parties. It has been resurveyed and amalgamated into a single consolidated title under one survey plan, so what you acquire sits on one clean parcel rather than a patchwork of older deeds. Our solicitor has carried the title work throughout.

A private jungle plot a short distance inland from the coast, with mature canopy, a natural gradient across the site, and its own quiet access. The gradient is treated as an asset, allowing the villa to sit across levels rather than on a single flat pad.

Yes. The villa suits both personal use and letting between visits. Rental income earned in Sri Lanka is taxable there, with tax typically withheld for non-resident owners, and your adviser should confirm the current treatment for your circumstances.

The same way you acquired it, and with the same choice of routes. You can assign the lease on its own, transfer the companies by share sale, or do both together. Selling the lease-holding company together with the lease is the cleaner route and the one we use, because it moves the whole position to the incoming buyer in a single step. The structure is built with a future sale in mind, so it is designed to be a reassignment rather than a renegotiation.

Yes, provided your original funds came in as a documented remittance, which is why that step matters at the start. Sri Lanka's foreign-exchange position has eased considerably in recent years, and documented transfers of property proceeds are permitted. The exact process should be confirmed at the time, as banking practice continues to normalise.

Sri Lanka applies capital gains tax at a flat rate on the gain at the point of sale. Your own adviser should confirm the rate and how it interacts with your home jurisdiction.

Sevana is the first project by Katera, a design-led residential brand built on restraint and a long view. It is led personally rather than run as a volume operation, and the care taken over the title, the structure, and the build — resolved before anything was sold — is the clearest signal of the standard the brand holds itself to.