Bermuda rolls back law requiring licence to buy property

The Government has rolled back a controversial five-year-old law which forced Bermudians married to foreigners to obtain a licence for the purchase of their own homes.

However, married couples will still require approval to buy a second home on the island, which the opposition One Bermuda Alliance MP Shawn Crockwell has described as fundamentally unfair.

The Bermuda Immigration and Protection Amendment Bill 2012 was supported on both sides of the House of Assembly on Friday.

The restrictions on mixed status couples, and on the sale of land by Bermudians to non-Bermudians, had been imposed to combat predatory, unchecked capitalism during the property boom five years ago.