Fractional freehold offers second home ownership for less

With the credit crunch tightening belts around the country, fractional freehold ownership enables you to buy a second home in the sun at a lower cost.

The Vigia Group has a very successful track record, having been offering fractional freehold ownership for more than 15 years at its resorts on the Western Algarve in Portugal, including the flagship Parque da Floresta Golf & Leisure Resort, the beachfront resort of Quinta da Fortaleza and two village house developments in Salema, The View and The View 2.

Ewa Petersson, Vigia Sales Director, comments: "We developed fractional freehold options to meet the wishes of those who would love to buy their dream home abroad but feel more comfortable with a lower capital outlay. Fractional ownership also gives cautious buyers the option to test ownership abroad."

"Surveys have shown that the majority of second home owners only use their properties for approximately eight weeks per year which sometimes makes it difficult to justify the investment of an outright property.

"Especially in the current market, fractional freehold offers people a way of buying a top-quality dream home in the sun at a portion of the cost."

The simplest way to explain fractional freehold is that a group of people, usually unknown to each other owns a property; they share the investment cost, the running cost and the usage of the property in a controlled and managed way.

Each owner has full ownership rights for the period they own in perpetuity, which includes selling or renting to others, as well as the option of upgrading to buy a property outright or a larger fractional property. However, there are a few rules that needs to be followed but these are all clearly explained in the contract.

Vigia Management Services regularly inspect the properties and ensure they are fully maintained to the highest standard. Bill payments are also organised on the owners' behalf and a lettings service is available, taking the hassles out of owning a property. 

Three different schemes are available and the availability of these varies between Vigia's resorts, offering one, two or three month's use of the property per year in perpetuity.

Ewa adds: "Fractional freehold has opened up the second home property ownership market to a much wider audience that would previously not have considered the idea of buying abroad".

"Our owners are varied and include families, couples, people still working, retired – really anyone who sees the sense in buying what they actually need and perhaps enjoying a better, larger property more luxurious  than they might not otherwise have been able to afford if they bought an outright property."