Thinking about buying or Building in Beacon Hill?

  While St. Maarten / St. Martin as the “Friendly Island” is perhaps the best place on earth to live. Some of the marvelous features of the island are:

• Year round temperatures with only a 20 degree range of 70F and 90F degrees) 
• Multi-cultural population.
• Two distinct European nations with different laws, police force, electrical systems, water systems, trash disposal, languages, and monetary currency, sharing the relatively small island.
• Great place for a vacation, seasonal or full time living.
• Many stunning beaches, some nude, some not.
• Outstanding restaurants from roadside Lolos to five star dining. 
• Low cost health care and dental costs.
• Duty Free importation.
• No Sales tax.
• No annual Property tax (on Dutch side)

While the island is wonderful, Beacon Hill is the best neighborhood on St. Maarten because:

• Beacon Hill is a planned community with deeded covenants protecting from overdevelopment and commercial exploitation. 
• We have full time owner-occupants, seasonal residents, and short stay visitors.
• We are  an international neighborhood with homeowners from around the globe. 
• Live here, walk to the beach. Beacon Hill has access to one of the quietest and longest stretches of beaches on this island. Simpson Bay beach stretches for over two miles from Beacon Hill to toward the Simpson Bay bridge. 
• Walk to restaurants and shops in Maho or stroll the beach to Simpson Bay restaurant row and shopping. 
• A three minute drive to the international airport. 
• Fully stocked grocery store just outside our neighborhood entrance. 
• You can stand behind a jumbo jet to be blasted during take-off… (don’t do that). 
• We have three security guard posts at night for neighborhood safety and security. While Beacon Hill roads are public, we cannot stop anyone from entering but the security guards and surveillance cameras do their best to discourage crime. 
• Our neighborhood includes work force housing, affordable housing, and luxury villas. 
• No annual property tax (see expanded section on taxation)
• PBHA collects annual homeowner association fees.

Buyers Be Aware. 

Developers Beware. 

As might be expected, to appreciate heaven sometimes one must experience some hell.  This heavenly island comes spiced with a pinches of hell. These can distract from the peaceful enjoyment. Hurricanes, tropical storms, and earthquakes created by mother nature are the most obvious.  

The other spices to be aware of when considering living on St. Maarten are from struggling infrastructure, flawed construction laws, unchecked developers, unregulated real estate agents, and non-resident income taxation. 

We at Beacon Hill want our potential new neighbors to be well informed when making an investment in their slice of heaven. We’ll help you purchase here with reputable contacts with homeowners in government, business, and real estate. We’ll also post warnings on this site about projects advertising sales for projects without building permits or permits under court dispute. 

SEE THE  LIST BELOW OF AREAS OF WHICH TO BE AWARE.

  There are many professional and ethical real estate agents on the island, however, there are differences from most markets to be aware of when working with a  Dutch side Real Estate Agent.

1. St. Maarten requires no license or training to be an agent. A person only has to state they are an agent and usually have an island company that is either their own or someone else’s to run business through. 
2. Being a legal resident is not required so the agent can conduct business and return to their home country without any responsibility or recourse.
3. Unlike many other places, the agents do not have an ethical or legal contracted or enforceable  responsibility to disclose murders, defects, or storm damages of a property of which they are aware.
4. Unlike other markets, there is no multiple listing or Zillow type service that aggregates all properties for sale in one place for a buyer to review. This requires the buyer or their agent to contact different agents for their exclusive listings. 
5. While the real estate agency structure is flawed as stated above, agents   ask for as much as eight percent commission without restrictions. 

NO  CONTRACTOR LICENSE - While there are many professional and ethical Builders, there is no license for builders or contractors on St. Maarten. Anyone can represent themselves as a builder or contractor. They may have a business license to operate a business, but unlike most other markets they do not have to take a test to be qualified specifically as a builder or contractor, even though they may have a substancial business of building for many years.

PRECONSTRUTION SALES RISKS   The island has been a host to scams or unfortunate buyer experiences where a “contractor” takes pre-construction deposits on a project from buyers. 

NEVER GIVE A DESPOSIT FOR A REAL ESTATE PURCHASE TO ANYONE OTHER THAN A NOTARY AND ENSURE IT IS ONLY PAID TO THE SELLER UPON CLOSING AND TITLE TRANSFER, NOT USED DURING CONSTRUCTION. 

Notaries on St. Maarten are appointed by the King of the Netherlands and are responsible for all home and land ownership transfers.  

BEFORE MAKING ANY DEPOSITS OR CONTRACTS ASK FOR A COPY OF THE BUILDING PERMIT AND PLANS.  THESE WILL BE DATE STAMPED BY THE PERMIT DEPARTMENT WHEN THE PERMIT IS ISSUED.

When there is a dispute with a builder, they can simply leave the island, and not be held accountable or reachable by the court.  This leaves the buyer to suffer their loss without recourse. 

  Many places other than St. Maarten require a new construction warranty for 10 years. It’s put up as an insurance bond by the builder as is required in the building code. Not on St. Maarten. Once the builder completes and sells the construction, they have no required responsibility for foundation defects or any construction that does not meet the building code or the deviated from the building permit.

There may only be a few or even no government inspections during the construction process to ensure code and plan compliance.  

Building Inspectors are not allowed on the property and have no authority to demand access to ensure construction complies with the code and permitted plans. IF THERE ARE ANY INSPECTIONS they are typically electrical, plumbing, and final inspection for a certificate of completion.

The common trend is cheaply built    residences sold at high quality luxury prices.  They look great, but may not be structurally to code. The use of sheet rock interiors has soared. In the past, homes were all concrete. The interior walls were cement. The use of sheet rock is a quick, cheaper way to build but leaves the buyer with the prospect of mold growing behind the sheetrock if moisture builds up.

The irony of this is that homes built completely of concrete are stronger and significantly longer lasting without the prospect of hidden black mold, but there may be surface cracks and irregular surfaces in the ceiling or walls that may be unappealing yet are easily replastered. 

 Exterior walls may appear to be concrete but may be only plywood with a skim coat of stucco to give the appearance of concrete. 

 St. Maarten has failed to adopt any zoning or updated building code and continues to use the 1936 bulding code!  

Water – There is no natural water source on the island because the island is a coral atoll. Natural water source of underground aquifers and rivers come from volcanic islands such as Dominica, St. Lucia, etc. Thus all public water is desalinated from the sea. Each side has their own desalination plant. 

• Electricity - Generators on each side of the island produce all the power. With the population growth and the generation capacity limits, electricity is no longer taken for granted. Rolling black outs have becomeE common. Homeowners have had to resort to their own generator or solar systems for consistent power. GEBE the electrical and water utility on the Dutch side passes on fuel surcharges to the consumer that can vary greatly depending on fuel costs. This is largely due to not purchasing fuel futures to minimize the fluctuations in cost.
• Trash and Recycling - French side has recycling readily available in many locations. Dutch side recycling has yet to reach most neighborhoods. Trash is a serious problem. The Trash mountain in Philipsburg is subject to methane fires and smoke that can reach Beacon Hill on bad days.  PBHA is working to bring a recycling program to the neighborhood and reduce the landfill contribution. 
• Plane Noise -  Usually the airport’s last flight is 10PM and the first is about 6:30AM barring private aircraft exclusions. 
• Traffic - Beacon Hill hosts the island’s number one Tourist spot and the only place on earth you can volunteer to stand behind a jumbo jet to be impaled by sand from it’s jet blast. Unfortunately tourists, taxis and buses clog Beacon HIll's only way in and out.                                        If you're going to another part of the island its best to know the schedule of the three bridges.
• Emergency access/exit - Beacon Hill has only one way in and out that is subject to being blocked by sand and sea surge or flooded by rain. Only two Fire hydrants, and narrow roads that can obstruct emergency vehicle response time. 

St. Maarten has income taxation for both residents and non-residents for income earned from renting property. It differs whether short term rental of under 30 days or long-term rental greater than 30 days. Short term rentals are triple taxed with occupancy tax, turnover tax, and income tax. Long term rentals are only taxed as income.

DUTY FREE NOT TAX FREE

St. Maarten is not tax free. It is duty free of importation taxes and there is no sales tax on island purchases. Many of the Caribbean islands have a high percentage import taxation from 50% to 200% taxation on all imported goods. But not SXM, you can ship just about anything down and pay the freight. 

But there is income tax for businesses, a gross revenue or turnover tax, and occupancy tax on rentals. 

RESIDENT / NON-RESIDENT INCOME TAX

All homeowners who rent their home are to either have an agency to manage, collect and pay tax on their behalf or do so themselves by obtaining a St. Maarten CRIB number (an individual tax id for either yourself or a St. Maarten company you own).

Even if you are not a legal resident of the island or non-resident such as a homeowner who rents their villa when not using it, that income is taxable in St. Maarten unless your country has a tax reciprocation agreement with the Netherlands. The United States does not. 

Thus each year any non-resident earning income on the island, even if paid abroad through something like VRBO, must declare the income earned to the SXM tax authorities by completing their non-resident tax form which can be found on the St. Maarten Finance Ministry’s website. 

The tax rate is gross income, less management fees, then reduced by 65% to arrive at the taxable net income. Depreciation and other real estate deductions are not applicable thus the 65% reduction for the assessment is made to simplify filing. The tax rate on the net income for 2024 from the Ministry of Finance is starts at 12.5% for income up to 32,054 NAF to as much as 47.5% on income over 141,572 NAF. The exchange rate in 2024 is: 1 USD = 1.78 NAF which has remained stable for many years. 

 There currently is no annual property tax on St. Maarten! This is one of the few places in the world without a carrying cost of property taxes. Upon closing on the sale of a home the Notary adds 5-7% tax as a one-time taxation for the lifetime of the ownership. St. Martin property tax (French side) has a 1-2% of value annual property tax. 

HOWEVER, be advised that annual property tax is written into the St. Maarten laws and could be implemented by government at any time, placing a similar 1-2% annual tax on your home’s assessed or purchased value.