After my recent success with the bank account challenge, I may have been a little too smug. As we are on a long list waiting for a permit, we have to be quite patient, but we had been assured that we would eventually float to the top of the pile, and be able to complete.
Last weekend the Valais cantonal authorities changed their legislation regarding the permits. This year, they applied all 330 permits to the waiting list, which currently stands at 1290. Next year, they will give most of the permits to builders, and "Canton Approved Projects", and the list gets...wait for it...66 permits.
This means, that if you are at the bottom of the pile, then you could look forward to completion and legal ownership in....19.5 years. Whilst you wait on the sidelines, you will be able to observe foreigners view a newbuild being offered by a builder, and be given a permit...straightaway.
We await the release of next years' permit allocation. If we fail to be able to complete next time round, then we wait another year, and will have the option of cancelling our contract if either our Estate Agent or the canton are unwilling or unable to tell us when (if) we will be able to complete. We paid 50% of the purchase price 2 years ago, so our worst case scenario is, it's been a free loan to Valais canton for 3 years. So, a bit like the Swiss banking system really.
Unless, of course the canton changes the rules again.
