Convertible bank accounts :

The Moroccan dirham MAD is a restricted currency, which means that it cannot be obtained outside Morocco or leeave the country. It is imperative, therefor, that the account you open is what is known as a convertible bank account, which will enable you both deposit and repatriate any forign currency you have paid in to the account plus any profits you have made from your property. Convertible bank accounts are given automatically to non-residents, as it is assumed that they will wish to be makinga all payments in foreign currency. All of the banks offer convertible accounts and will keep a record for you of what foreign currency deposits have been made, so that you can repatriate funds without having to go via the Office des Changes, which used to be the case. It is not possible to pay dirham in to your convertible account is if you are self-employed in Morocco being paid in local currency, you will need to open a local currency non-convertible account.

Opening a convertible account is very starightforward. All you need to privide are:

• Passport or residence card
• Specimen of signatures
• Utility bill
• Money-as small or large an amount as you wish

After the first deposit has been made in to the account, yu will be given a chequebook and credit card. The credit card can be used internationally. These can be either collected from your branch in Morocco or if you are with a bank that has a  UK representative office, picked up or issued from there. While it is wise to always keep a sum of money in the account to pay off bills and taxes, it is important to keep the account active. If no money is deposited or removed from the account for one year, the bank will automatically close it down and return the remaining balance to you. It will then be much harder to reoopen your bank account through a UK representative office, as they tend only to deal with accounts opened specifically for the purchasing of property and other lage investments.
 

Money Transfers :

Intra bank transfers
As said above, if you choose to open your bank account through a UK representative office, they will handle money transfers relating to the purchasing of your property or investments for you free of charge at reasonable rates of exchage. All you need to do is send a fax requesting the amount to be transferred and the representative bank will forward it on for you. As wish most administrative tasks, it is prudent just to put in a telephone call ensuring the fax has been received and is being actioned, especially if you are keen for the transfer to be made quickly. While banks will insist that transfers take two days to clear, it is always necessary to allow extra time to allow for the the many unexpected occurrences that can crop up.

Bank to bank transfers. It is possible to send money from your UK bank account to either yours or some else?s account in Morocco. To dothis, you need to have the recipients account number, postal address of the bank the swift code. The maximum you can send tends to be around £5000 and costs start around £15. There are also payments to be made at both ends, so it is important to note who will be responsible for paying these prior to the money leaving the account. While to to most places this service takes 1-5 days,with Morocco it can be a lot longer up-to a couple of weeks, so it is not a recommended route if yo wish for the money to be there fast.

Telegraphic transfers
For a fast, reliable service one of the telegraphic transfer companies such as Western Union or its relatively cheaper compatriot, Money-Gram will be your best bet. Taking in to consideration the rapid sending time and efficiency of these telegraphhic transfer companies, the cost is not incomminutes with price dependent on how much money you are sending. All you need to do is provide the exact name of the person collecting the money just a minor spelling mistake will prevent collection) and sometimes, a password known both to you and the recipient. The recipient will need to show either their identity card or passeport and give the shared password in order to collect the money.

Properties for sale, please click here: Property Listings

Approche simplifi?e du statut juridique du bien immobilier selon la Loi Coranique

Des toilettes communes s?par?es pour hommes et femmes doivent ?tre pr?vues et dot?s des ?quipements n?cessaires suivants : cabinets de toilette avec abattants et balayettes au niveau des cuvettes, urinoirs en nombre suffisant, lavabos avec eau courante chaude et froide (robinets m?langeurs ou des mitigeurs), s?che-mains ?lectriques, bo?tes ? rebuts et distributeurs de savon liquide, d?sodorisants et a?ration suffisante (fen?tres ou gaines dot?es de ventilateurs).

Bab Taghzout est un quartier qui se situe au centre de la m?dina. Le quartier pr?sente une caract?ristique exceptionnelle: on y trouve un m?lange de modernit? et d’authenticit?. Bab Taghzout est facile d’acc?s et dispose de routes larges et goudronn?es. La principale route de Bab Taghzout est bruyante, quant ? ses larges derbs, ils offrent plus de calme. Des parkings sont disponibles sur la place ainsi qu’une station de taxi. Le seul cin?ma “?rotique” de la ville se trouve sur cette place. Quelques mauvaises fr?quentations tard dans la nuit, mais des rondes sont organis?es. Bab Taghzout rassemble la pr?fecture et le march? Bab Taghzout o? des biens d’occasion sont en vente. La place et la route Bab Targhzout sont tr?s riches en activit?s commerciales. Le quartier est s?curis?!

Transfert du produit de cession ou de liquidation des investissements ?trangers.

Les op?rations de cession ou de liquidation des investissements r?alis?es dans le cadre du r?gime de convertibilit? sont libres.

D?l?gation est donn?e aux interm?diaires agr??s en vue de transf?rer au profit des investisseurs concern?s, le produit de la cession ou de liquidation de leurs investissements financ?s en devises, ainsi que le remboursement en principal des pr?ts et comptes courants contract?s conform?ment ? la r?glementation des changes.

Cette d?l?gation porte sur la valeur v?nale de l’investissement, ?tant entendu que le produit de cession doit correspondre ? la valeur r?elle des biens c?d?s.

Pour le transfert du produit de la cession ou de la liquidation des investissements ?trangers, les int?ress?s doivent pr?senter ? l’appui des ordres de transfert, les pi?ces et documents pr?vus en annexe III.

Les interm?diaires agr??s sont tenus d’adresser ? l’Office des Changes, d?s r?alisation des transferts, un compte rendu d’ex?cution.

Les cessions intervenant entre les ?trangers et les marocains r?sidant ? l’?tranger peuvent donner lieu ? r?glement, directement ? l’ext?rieur au moyen des disponibilit?s ? l’?tranger de la partie d?bitrice. Ces cessions peuvent s’effectuer entre deux ?trangers, entre deux marocains r?sidant ? l’?tranger ou enfin entre un ?tranger et un marocain r?sidant ? l’?tranger.

Si le contribuable n’accepte pas la d?cision rendue par l’administration suite ? l’instruction de sa r?clamation, il peut saisir le tribunal comp?tent dans le d?lai de trente jours suivant la date de la notification de la d?cision pr?cit?e.

A d?faut de r?ponse de l’administration dans le d?lai de six mois suivant la date de la r?clamation, le contribuable requ?rant peut ?galement introduire une demande devant le tribunal comp?tent dans le d?lai de trente jours suivant la date de l’expiration du d?lai de r?ponse pr?cit?.

De la cave au grenier.
Le grenier et le sous-sol ont aussi leur importance.
Enlevez tous les objets inutiles qui y sont accumul?s.
Mettez en valeur les facilit?s d’entreposage.

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Since 1999, Mr Vincent BENVENUTI studies the real estate market of Marrakech. Jemma el Fna real estate is created and established in one of the most strategic point of the ?Red city?, boulevard Mohamed V.

Today, reinforced by his experiences and his French-Moroccan team, Jemaa el Fna disposes of more than 700 values, situated in Marrakech, Essaouira, Rabat, Fes and Agadir.

 
MARRAKECH

Marrakech is berber origin and more africaan than arab. It has been the country?s capital on two occasions. Firstly when it was founded in the 11^th century by Berber Muslim tribesmen, the Almoravids and again, in the 16^th century, during the Saadians dynasty. The city was built by the Almoravid leader, Youssef Ben Tachfine, who chose it as a place to pitch camp based on its location on a warm plain protected from the Saharan winds by the mountains. He immediately constructed a Kasbah and a mosque and to overcome the water shortage, planted pipes (khetara) made out of baked mud in the ground, to carry water into the city, from the High atlas, still in evidence around the Palmeraie just outside the city. When Youssef died, his son, Ali succeeded him and built the city?s original ramparts. In 1147, after many battles, Marrakech eventually fell to the vehemently religious, Almoravids who became the next dynasty. After demolishing many of the Almoravids main monuments, the Almohads rebuilt Marrakech adding such relics as the Koutoubia mosque, which had to be rebuilt 50 years later as the previous one was not completely in the line with Mecca, the El Mansour mosque and Bab Agnaou, the gateway to the Kasbah, all of which are still very much in existence today.

MARRAKECH TODAY

The Marrakech of today is basking in the glory of yet another heyday. Home to some of the world?s most beautiful gardens, hotels, houses and monuments, resided in by some the world?s most famous designers, writers, artists and entrepreneurs, host to the glamorous International Film festival and recipient of over one-third of all visitors to the country, a figure set to rise in line with vision 2010.

It is a city of noise, entertainment and color that thrives on attention and appears to blossom the busier it gets. From the snake charmers, storytellers and acrobats of Jemaa el Fna (see below) to the hustling, playful chitchat in the souks, the honking horns on Avenue Mohammed V, the dashing bursts of bougainvillea and the art galleries, exhibitions and boutiques, it is a city where the old and new seamlessly join and you feel as comfortable on the black of a braying mule as you do in the front of a polished 4×4.

It is also a city where in amongst the opulence and affluence, there is severe poverty. Migrants from the rural Atlas looking for work to feed their families, beggars and street children rifling through dustbins, hustling tourist and conning the naive in order to get a bite to eat or a scattering of loose change

Once recommended by Winston Churchill as having the air to cure bronchitis, it is now one of Morocco?s most polluted cities where every road is a traffic jam and the smell of fumes, overpowering.

Despite this, investment in Marrakech is soaring. The combination of a young, forward thinking monarch and a highly effective regional governor Mohammed Hassad has done much to improve the quality of life in the city. Social housing projects are underway to get the city?s poorest out of the shantytowns, the bureaucracy, notorious for impeding investment and entreneurialism has been hacked down to manageable sized chunks and touts who harass foreigners are at risk of arrest by heavy-handed tourist police.

The main investors are the French many of whom still feel they have something of a hold over the city and, expatriate Moroccans looking for a project they can sink their hard earned foreign currency into. The last five years, though, have seen a sharp growth in the number of British people buying property in Marrakech either as second homes, guesthouses or holiday lets.

ESSAOUIRA

Essaouira is arguably Morocco?s most loved town. Its 10 Km of sandy, white beach, dunes and sea dotted with windsurfs, the whitewashed UNESCO protected medina enclosed within pink sandstone ramparts, the lively, bustling fishing port and colourful wooden boats, fish grills, souks, artisan workshop, art galleries and white paved piazzas have long appealed to artists, musicians and cosmopolitan crowds of visitors. Jimmy Hendrix, Orson Welles and Hollywood directors Ridely Scott and Oliver Stone have all lived or worked in the medina, located on the south west coast of Morocco in between Agadir and Casablanca.

ESSAOUIRA TODAY

For many, what most appeals about Essaouira is that everywhere is reachable on foot. There is very little need for a car in the town as the medina is compact and fully pedestrians, walk able from end to end in 20 minutes. The sea smacks against the medina walls and the beach is opposite the southern gate. The Ville nouvelle is outside Bab Doukalla, to the north of the medina with streets as bustling as inside the walls. The fact that the layout of the medina was specifically designed as opposed to simply evolved like many of Morocco?s more sprawling cities, means that it is easy to navigate.

PLANS OF ESSAOUIRA

The town has been chosen as one of the six cities to be developed with a luxury costal resort, in line with the government?s Plan Azur. The Belgian luxembourgeois group, Thomas Piron/ TPR l?atelier is responsible for station balneaire de Mogador, the 356 hectares site 4 km south of Essaouira , which is currently under construction, due to be complete around 2008. There will be 525 luxury villas, 32 hotels and guesthouse, 2 golf courses, spas, a beach club, cafés, parks and gardens. Quite what the impact of this will be on properties in the medina is not yet clear. Essaouira has always prided itself on being a town that attracts independent travellers as opposed to large package tour groups. Such a development will bring different clientele to the town, it might also decrease business for guesthouse and holiday lets inside the medina as more people stay in the luxury resort visiting the medina only for day trips. On a positive note, it is expected to give a boost to both the local economy and employment rates in the area, although the lack of educational institutes in Essaouira means that highly skilled personnel are traditionally, sourced from the big cities such as Casablanca, leaving the lowlier, unskilled positions to the locals.