Goa clamp hits expats

THE eerie quiet at Molly Malone's cannot be explained only by the early arrival of the monsoon in Goa this year. Just a handful of people are huddled at the bar in the sprawling Irish pub on Calangute beach in Goa.

The conversation is subdued, tables lie vacant, the staff appear listless, and the music has stopped.

"The world has shifted on its axis," said a British retiree who wanted to be identified only as Hillary. "There's a great sadness now. People are bewildered and upset."

Hillary is typical of foreigners whose commitment to Goa extends beyond its four-month tourist season in winter. During the last decade they have come in significant numbers, bought property, sometimes set up small businesses, and started a new life, entranced by Goa's beaches and the unique Indo-Latin charm of the coastal villages. Now their tropical idyll is under threat.

Goa has an estimated 3,000 long-term foreign residents. At least a third own apartments and villas but a combination of complicated rules and poor advice has left many foreign homeowners without proper sale deeds. They now face a wide-ranging investigation initiated by the state government and India's central banking authority into the purchase of property with foreign funds.

"People are dazed, there's a huge feeling of anger and disappointment," said Hillary, who retired from her job with a multi-national and moved to Goa with her husband three years ago.

They invested £30,000 in an apartment, and spent thousands more doing it up. If their purchase is declared illegal, they stand to lose everything. Many other foreign residents are in the same predicament.

"We're devastated to find that somehow we have gone foul of the rules," said a retired professional from London who did not want his name published for fear of facing visa problems.

In 2005, he purchased a newly-built Portuguese-style villa for £80,000. "My wife and I didn't just land here and buy a house," he said. "We spoke to advocates, to builders, even to local politicians, and they all said the same - you can buy after you establish local residency."

The danger signals for foreign property owners first appeared two years ago with the launch of a popular movement against the sale of vast tracts of land to big Indian developers.

Goans were incensed by what they saw as the wholesale takeover of their culturally distinct enclave by outsiders. Soon the resentment was directed towards foreigners, especially after it became known that a Russian investor had bought many acres of paddy fields to build a resort.

Tracy, an auxiliary nurse from England, and her husband moved to Goa in 2004, and in 2005 they bought a villa from a local developer. "We're happy here, and we would like to stay if the government lets us," she said. "Goa is a nice tropical place - the weather is good, the people are friendly, the food is inexpensive, and we're able to live a nice quiet life. But now there's all this uncertainty."

Dayanand Narvekar, Goa's law minister, acknowledged that foreign buyers were "misguided by some people", but said that "even under English law, ignorance is no excuse".

"But," he said, "unlike Russians, who bought agricultural land resulting in a hue and cry, in 99 per cent of cases involving the British these are simple purchases of apartments. I personally feel we should take a sympathetic view and not touch these properties."

But the panic has forced the British high commission to act. "We have raised the issue both at state and national level," said a spokesman. "We would be very concerned if there were to be any question of property acquired legally by British citizens being expropriated through the retrospective application of any new legislation."

Alongside terrorism and crime alerts, the high commission's website now has a warning about buying property in Goa.

Goa's British residents also feel that getting or renewing an Indian visa has become much more difficult since the UK government reversed its visa policy towards highly-skilled migrants from India two years ago. New Delhi, they believe, is playing tit for tat. "They've got us like a puppet on a string," said Tracy. "My whole life depends on my visa. But if you have a British passport, at best you get a one-year visa. And to get it renewed you've to keep flying back to London, and beg on bended knees. Even then they make you feel you've done something wrong."

The British community in Goa is still trying to recover from the shock of the rape and murder of 15-year-old British teenager Scarlett Keeling in February.

Hillary said she knew six English couples running restaurants in Goa who have shut up shop and gone away.

Another British couple who had opened a small hotel and restaurant 12 years ago that had grown into a profitable business recently sold their business to a Delhi company and left.