What you would call a flat is a condominium here, and the differences run considerably deeper than the word.
This page covers the process. Which building suits you is a separate question. Contact the desk at Miami Dossier for the current position on any building we cover.
A flat is a condominium here, usually shortened to condo. You buy a unit within a declared regime, with common elements and an association that sets budgets and levies assessments.
Leasehold does not exist in this form. Florida condominium ownership is closer to freehold: you own the unit outright, in perpetuity, with an undivided share of the common elements. There is no ground rent, no lease term running down and no freeholder. For a British buyer this is usually the single most welcome difference and it takes a moment to believe.
What replaces it is the association and the monthly figure, which is where the ongoing cost actually sits.
There is no chain and no gazumping. Once you are under contract in Florida the position is considerably firmer than in England and Wales, which is a genuine improvement on the system you are used to.
Preconstruction commits you earlier and harder. Buying off plan here means agreeing a price and a specific unit now, paying in stages against construction milestones, and taking delivery commonly two to four years later. Deposits usually total between roughly 30 and 50 per cent of the price before closing, which is far more than a UK exchange deposit.
The first 10 per cent sits in independent escrow by Florida law. Above that the developer may use funds for construction, which is legal, and is exactly why the developer’s delivery record is not a branding question.
Most preconstruction contracts carry no financing contingency. There is no equivalent of a mortgage condition, so the closing funds need to be certain.
United States real property is a US situs asset. On the death of a non-resident owner it can fall within the US estate tax net, and the exemption available to a non-resident is dramatically lower than the one available to a US person.
The United Kingdom has an estate tax treaty with the United States. Colombia, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina do not. That single fact places a British buyer in a materially different position from most of the international buyers in this market, and it is worth understanding rather than assuming.
It does not make the structure question go away. It changes the answer. We do not advise on structure: we introduce US counsel, and UK counsel where it matters, before you are under contract.
After you receive the condominium documents you have 15 days to cancel a developer contract and recover the deposit. That window exists so a lawyer can read the agreement.
After it closes, walking away is a contract question and usually means forfeiting what you have paid.
Have counsel identified before you enter the window rather than during it. Fifteen days is enough to read a contract and not enough to find someone to read it.
You do not need to be in Miami for any of this. Contracts are signed remotely and closings are done by power of attorney as a matter of course.
A British buyer arrives with reflexes from a system that works quite differently, and several of them do not apply here while others matter more. Contact the desk at Miami Dossier and we will tell you which is which before you commit anything.
We hold no listings and we are not the developer. Contact the desk at Miami Dossier and we will tell you what applies to your situation, what does not, and where we would not proceed. For a British buyer that usually starts with the treaty and the structure. Where a question is legal, tax or structuring, we introduce you to advisers who handle that properly rather than answering it ourselves.