It depends on the size of the project; most large projects being sold in the west these days need a Due Diligence report which shows the ownership of the land, that all building licences are in place and so on. Most agents will not sell projects that cannot provide this. However Egypt has not yet caught up with the rest of the world on this one, so not all projects will produce such a document. Sharm el Sheik Real Estate are a sound company and should look after your interests.

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Well, your lawyer in Egypt should formulate the power of attorney bilingually in your name, then send it to you by email.

Then you print it out and follow these steps (Originally written by a client who is also a barrister in London):

1/ look in Yellow Pages for a local notary public (NP), who are always lawyers in practice; there is one at least in every small town and many more in cities

2/ Take the PoA along with passport and sign name in front of the NP who will then add his signature and details. He will want paying cash which is normally about GBP20.

3/ Take the PoA along, or post it to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London Legalisation Foreign & Commonwealth Office who will check the NP's details on their database and legalise the PoA by apostille. This costs GBP27.

4/ Take or post the PoA to the Egyptian Consulate General in London http://www.egyptianconsulate.co.uk/ who will then check everything over and will legalise it in Arabic. Cost of this is GBP20.

5/ Post the PoA to you by recorded delivery or better still by DHL or the like.

The above is really very straight forward and in fact there are companies that will do 3/ and 4/ for people at a relatively cheap price as they do so many a day; details can be found on the internet.

hi Zeiad, thanks for the above, just what i needed to know. i did speak with an english lawyer in my home town and he said that the law had changed in october, making this an expensive and difficult process. he didn't seem to fully understand it himself, this is why i am here!!!

hi peter, briefly spoke to hamdy yesterday and he says he can deal with it (thank you) i didn't get chance to ask about the above i was too busy trying to get hold of the lawyer in egypt to start the ball rolling (i still haven't heard from him!!) as hamdy will be away at the end of next week.

I am glad you found the contributions here helpful. Best luck.

I have executed several PoAs - or "Tawkil" in Arabic - here in Cairo, and the procedure is pretty straighforward.

Get your local lawyer to draft the document - they come on standard forms. But DO get it translated first, so that you are in no doubt as to exactly what powers you are conferring upon him.

You then go to the Sharia Akari in the town or district concerned. Sharia Akari is effectively a Notary Public, who also registers land transactions among other things. Unless you are a fluent Arabic speaker, they will not give you the time of day without a translator who is not connected to the beneficiary of the tawkil. They will tell you this is for your own protection, and they are right. The Notary will ask you a number of questions to satisfy himself or herself that you are completely aware of what exactly you are signing.

The process can be daunting and time-consuming, and the Sharia Akari offices are dumps. However, I have met many crooked lawyers in my time in Egypt - but I have NEVER met anyone with a whiff of impropriety at Sharia Akari. They can be stern and rude at times, but they ARE on your side!

Maximum, half a day of your time will get your tawkil notarised. I can't remember what the fees are: modest, and your lawyer will probably slip someone a small "tat tarabeza" (under the table) to get you to the front of the queue. These places are impossibly crowded most of the time.

EDIT: most importantly, you must keep a copy of the tawkil, as well as the date and ledger reference number of the Sharia Akari registration. When you no longer need the services of your lawyer, you must get the original tawkil back from him, and you are strongly advised to go back to Sharia Akari to execute its revocation.

I believe power of attorney should not be given to anybody,I have heard some real horror stories regarding power of attorney.(Not regarding Egypt).

Hi I am also buying on Sierra at Nabq. I had to go to El Tor which is about an hours drive from Sharm. I was met by my lawyers representative at the passport office ( took my passport ) and he basically done everything with the officials. I obtained the 6m multi entry visa and 12 residents permit and then he took me to another government building where I handed over the passport and obtained power of attorney for my lawyer. The process was very easy. Taxi fare return was 150le.

queenie, we also go visa's from sharm when we was there last febuary because we nearly bought an apartment there. We had trouble getting back in at Marsa Alam airport we had to buy visa's there too they said they were out of date but they wasn't. We had the re entry visa's too. Think the airports please them selves but it's not worth the hasstle. We have now bought in Hurghada and get the visa's everytime we get to the airport saves alot of time and money.

Hi J4 since October when I got mine I have been back to Sharm and also flew from Sharm to Luxor on it and back to Sharm again with no problems at all. I would not pay again when I paid extra for the multi entry one. If any one will not let me I will insist on speaking to the airport supervisor. It is just another scam to get more money out of you at the airport.