Recent 'expropriation' of land and businesses by the Venezuelan government has led many to believe that future constitutional reforms could threaten the property rights of second home owners. However newly instated Venezuelan lawyer at the International Property Law Centre, Julio Mastrogiacomo, believes that the right to own private property in the country will remain safe.

"The Venezuelan Constitution safeguards the property right throughout its content," says Mastrogiacomo. "Chavez was recently asked about a change to Venezuelan property rights in future reforms and restated that there would be none to private property legislation within the constitution. Therefore I do not see this as a big issue or something to worry about. As far as we know Chavez respects private Venezuelan property and there has been no expropriation of private houses."

He continues: "Chavez is a conservative making political domestic changes which affect large private corporations as opposed to investors such as private Venezuelan property buyers. Crucially, in the past months the Venezuelan Government has carried out expropriations of land, intellectual and other rights from companies deemed essential to the public such as CANTV (the only available landline telephone company in the country).

"Following these actions, the Venezuelan press highlighted they were not expropriations rather a consensual sale, where the shareholders were paid the asking price instead of the original price offered by the Government."

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For more information about Venezuelan property:
International Property Law

Article first published 6 August 2007
Image courtesy of Lana Law, Planetware