The thread regarding the petition is too hidden...it really needs to be on the opening page to get the required support...please mods.
It is really important to us here in Goa...please think again, it is not offensive and I am sure there are folks out there who are willing to support our cause ??

there is a thread on Goa forum directing members to this thread and I have seen a lot of members showing here.

It would be good if the users of Holiday Truths can show some support by signing the petition.

Fiona, dear, this really is terribly important to those who have bought in Goa (I am not one of them)

It could be their last chance to get justice.

Please, please, give it more prominence. As has already been said, it is not contraversial and needs a mainstream position to get the numbers it needs.

Thanks in hope
J5

it is as near to the top of the Goa forum as I can get it
http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=135749

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/goahomes/

There you go. Own thread here and thread in Goa forum directing everyone to here. I can't do any more now- except wish everyone good luck in their fight.

We would appreciate if you could lend your support by signing the petition. It only takes a couple of minutes, is internet safe, and your personal information such as address is not displayed or accessible.

There truly is a serious threat of the confiscation of properties bought in good faith by foreign nationals (mainly British) who had simply fallen in love with Goa. This would amount to a multi million pound fraud upon these people who followed the advice of Goan advocates, agents, builders, the Reserve Bank of India, and now feel duped and under extreme pressure.

Certain politicians in Goa are voicing increasingly anti foreigner statements. It is as if they invited tourism, realised too late that they have inadequate infrastructure, and are now lashing out at foreigners as the cause of all their own inadequacies.

The witchhunt against an insignificant number (amongst the whole population of Goa) of foreign property owners has been going on for three years causing great personal stress. Not one individual who has been interviewed by the Directorate of Enforcement has yet had any clarification of the outcome of their investigation.

The closure of the Register for the registration of purchases and sales by foreign nationals is an illegal act by the Government of Goa since no legislation has been passed to amend the Registration Act (1908). This would be a Constitutional matter for the Central Government at New Delhi who show little interest in giving 'special status' for Goa.

Please take the time to sign.

Thanks

It is a horrific situation. However, have to say that the RBI told me 4 years ago that I could not own property in India. It was also pretty prominant when I looked at RBI online. I was of course lied to by the agent who was selling the property. And am still aghast to see property for sale in Goa with no warnings whatsoever. I was going to be buying as an investment. I have since invested with another couple of companies, both of which I tried out first by pretending to be interested in Goa. Both immediately told me that I couldn't- and one of them said that he would only allow a sale to people with a large property portfolio who knew they were taking a huge gamble and could lose everything. You can even now look at the big glossy property abroad magazines and read whole glowing articles with no word of the dangers.
But to those who own property- do any of you still try to warn folks off of buying only for them to not really believe you and go ahead??

Hi Fiona,
There are still a 'few' people who are either new visitors to Goa or have not had the opportunity to read BE, that are quite willing to 'buy' in Goa.
Personally, we have given any foreigner who came to view our property the complete rundown...but some (very stupidly) are so captivated that they still want to go ahead.
We have had to be quite blunt on many occcasions and say strongly that we would not sell to foreigners cos we know what their consequences would be.
I am sure, 100% sure that a lot of Goans would not have the same compunction to be honest and truthfull about the situation...and so the problems go on and on and on...
Where this will all end..I have no idea??
regards Indiapurple

It was 2002 when we paid for our place in Goa. Now we are under investigation although have the property registered. If we were not allowed to purchase in India, why did the Advocates allow us to proceed.

In this country they would be held accountable.

Hi Fiona, I had a very friendly interview with the manager Reserve Bank of India, Panjim late 2004. He cheerfully xeroxed the relevant pages of FEMA defining 'person resident in India' and was genuinely pleased that foreigners were buying in Goa. He saw no obstacle so long as I stayed within the terms of FEMA. I had already met the terms of FEMA concerning the purchase of 'immovable property', and proceeded following the advice of two separate and eminent Goan advocates.

This was not a snap decision purchase. It was as well researched and informed as was humanly possible. We also had the knowledge of more than a decade as long termers in Goa of how things can and do go wrong.

Our Deeds were registered legally in April 2005 and the Registrar put up no complaint about taking Stamp Duty Tax and all other fees at the time, or about a foreigner regestering.

There is a political agenda in Goa to oust long termers invoking generalised anti foreigner statements. The investigation and harrasment of 482 foreign individuals (in a Goa population of 1.65 million at last Census of 2001; and rising) are being used as a smokescreen to divert an easily diverted electorate away from the real property issues which is that the politicians and moneyed elite (who have prospered from tourism) wish to carve up Goa out of purely financial self interest and greed, and they don't care a hoot about the 'common man'.

As usual, it is all a big lie on their part, and a xenophobic manipulation of the populace. This does not bode well for tourism since it stokes up anti foreigner sentiment in general, and many may have noticed in recent years a falling away of the innocent friendliness of the Goan and a harder edged 'money grabbing' approach to tourist commerce.

Millions of pounds of foreign exchange handed over in good faith now sits in the bank accounts (or under the mattress) of Goan builders, agents, advocates, and even the Exchequer of the State Government of Goa.

The petition is not forcing an open door policy for foreign ownership of property in Goa. It is simply asking HM Governement to put diplomatic pressure on the renegade government of Goa to obey the law and put an end to the refusal by the sub registrars to process existing Deeds of foreigners as under the governing law (and still governing) regards registration. No laws or amendments have been made and the State Government of Goa is acting unlawfully and outwith the Constitution of India.

Many people simply want to be allowed to sell. Finding an Indian, NRI or OCI buyer is absolutely no problem. But the sub Registrars have unlawfully been instructed not to deal with sales or purchases where one part is a foreigner. It is a multi million pound property scandal and a property trap. If they don't want us there, at least be decent enough to allow us to sell up and exit.

Please support us and sign, and encourage others to sign before 17th. July 2009.

Many thanks

Today 533 - please all ask family friends etc. to sign. Quite a bit of publicity has been in the Goan newspapers with regard to this petition. It has opened a can or worms.