Imagine an English-speaking island of 500 people that sets its own laws, barely has any taxes, where cars are banned and yet located in the heart of Western Europe.
Sounds like utopia. But this place indeed exists.
It is the small Channel Island of Sark.
Last year, Swen raised money in an attempt to buy 20% of the island’s real estate. The fundraising succeeded, but negotiations with the sellers did not.
I went to Sark for the first time at the end of September along with a delegation led by Swen. The island is tiny, but we got to do and learn so much over the course of a few days.
This video we made is now likely one of the most informative vlogs about Sark on the internet.
Who can move to Sark?
Irish and Brits can move to Sark very easily. Essentially, just show up.
Everyone else must go through Guernsey immigration, which is an expensive and capital intensive process.
Sark is very much underrated, especially by Brits fleeing the UK, which is an ongoing trend that is unlikely to slow down anytime soon.
To a World of Opportunities,
The Wandering Investor.
Articles on Sark:
- Sark Island โ a secret low-tax haven in Europe
- Residency in Sark โ 0% income tax in Europe
- I am buying real estate in Sark, Europe’s least-known tax haven
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Transcript of “I Visited the World’s Poorest Tax Haven – SARK”
LADISLAS MAURICE: Hello everyone. Ladislas of The Wandering Investor, and I am going to Sark for the first time together with Swen. Swen, how are you?
SWEN: Hey Ladislas. Good to have you here.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Yes, so you invited a whole bunch of your friends over to Sark for a few days.
SWEN: Yeah, literally, we are 48 people. Um, everyone’s arriving today, and we are going to have three days of activities, exploration, hiking, dinners, networking, meeting like-minded people, and all of that in Sark. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun, and very insightful for the visitors. They’re going to see Sark in a very, you know, unfiltered way.
LADISLAS MAURICE: All right. So, can you give two words on Sark? Because probably half the people are wondering, what is Sark?
SWEN: Independent jurisdiction, Western Europe, small island with 600 people, no cars, very limited taxation, very light government, in a way, how the world used to be, back when the world was still a bit more sane.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah.
SWEN: And all set within the Channel Islands, which is Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, and Sark, which is between the UK and France.
Why are we going to Sark?
LADISLAS MAURICE: So, why are you organizing this trip? Because there you had in an attempt at buying up a bunch of real estate on the island, and that didn’t go according to plan.
SWEN: Right. And that was really that was step two. Step one was in 2020. I helped about 120 people to move to Sark. That put me on a path towards being somewhat involved with trying to help modernize the island, rejuvenate it, bring entrepreneurs there, bring business there. And Sark was not doing very well at the time. Out of that fell a plan to try and acquire a large portfolio of real estate on Sark, which makes up 20% of the island. And we did raise the money for that, also from your followers at the time we did some videos about it. And sadly, we couldn’t agree on a price with the owners of the real estate. So, at least for the time being, we’re, you know, we’re not interested in this right now. It could always come back, but um, the trip is really primarily for people who backed us at the time, or who just always had an interest in Sark, like yourself, who’s we’ve been speaking about this for years. Um, which is said, you know, let’s create an opportunity for everyone to come together and meet some interesting people as well.
LADISLAS MAURICE: All right. I’ll want to see some of the real estate so that I can see, you know, what could happen.
SWEN: It’s unavoidable. You’ll see that as soon as you arrive.
LADISLAS MAURICE: All right, fantastic. All right, so we’re going to do a little tour of Guernsey now, and then we are going to take the ferry this afternoon. How long a ferry ride?
SWEN: 35 minutes. Uh, the sea’s going to be calm this afternoon. We’ve got good weather for the next couple of days. It’s going to be great.
LADISLAS MAURICE: All right. So, no one on the group is expected to vomit on the way there then.
SWEN: Not this time.
LADISLAS MAURICE: All right, perfect. Let’s go.
Shopping in Guernsey
LADISLAS MAURICE: So, we’re going to do that little tour of Guernsey in about 2 hours. So, I have a bit of time to walk around here in the in the city center. And apparently, there isn’t any VAT here in Guernsey, so I’m going to go shopping for some stuff. So yeah, cute island. And everywhere you go, you see banks, banks, fund managers, all of that. I would assume this is probably a better place to buy watches than Switzerland even.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Wide selection of watches.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Yes, I went into the Apple store here and I got the the new iPhone 17 Pro 1 TB. And here it was ยฌยฃ1250 as opposed to ยฌยฃ1500 in the UK because there’s no 20% VAT. So, a good deal for shopping for electronics here. It’s almost worth it if you live in London to just fly here for a day and just buy all your electronics.
Taking the ferry from Guernsey to Sark
LADISLAS MAURICE: So, Swen, can you tell us a little bit about the ferry? The a return ticket is about $50? Is there a price difference for locals and for tourists?
SWEN: It’s the same price for everyone. The Sark ferry is owned by a government-owned entity, and for once, I’m probably actually in favor of that because it provides a lifeline for Sark. During winter, we only have very few tourists, and in winter, it wouldn’t be viable to run a ferry service, but we have connections almost every day. In summer, we have more boats because there are so many tourists going back and forth. It’s got a perfect safety track record. It’s currently very calm. This is about as calm as you will ever have it. Sometimes we see dolphins, so when people ask me about my trip to the airport, I say, it’s a bit longer, but if I’m a bit lucky, I see dolphins all the way.
LADISLAS MAURICE: So, peak season, how many ferries a day and low season, how many ferries a day?
SWEN: Peak season is basically April to September, and it’s between two and five ferries a day. Let’s say three or four on average, something like that. In winter, it’s one or two, sometimes one, and there is a part of winter when on Sundays, we don’t have a boat. But honestly, so few people are going are going back and forth in winter. It’s really barely worth it. And there’s always the option to get a private boat. There are a couple of people offering private transfers, and if I really need it on a specific day and a specific time, or if I have visitors who don’t want to wait for the ferry, it’s just a private boat.
LADISLAS MAURICE: What about the helicopter?
SWEN: There is no helicopter. It just simply doesn’t exist. There was a helicopter landing pad on Sark for many, many years, and one large real estate owner tried to get it licensed, but it, let’s say it wasn’t the right time for that.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Okay. But there’s a helipad for if emergency.
SWEN: Yes, that’s basically the the the soccer field in front of the high school. Whenever we get visits from royals, and we do get a fair number of visits from royals, or if there’s a genuine medical emergency, then this is where a helicopter can land.
LADISLAS MAURICE: All right. Exciting. I can’t wait to to land, set foot there.
LADISLAS MAURICE: So, just landed on Sark, and what’s interesting here is there are no cars. So, all the luggage gets delivered on these tractors directly to the hotel. Charming. Welcome to Sark. So, Swen, any any opening words, Swen?
SWEN: Uh, well, we’ve landed. Um, everyone made it. The sea was calm. No one got sick, and we had an amazing time on the boat already getting to know everyone else. And now we’re heading to our hotels and then to dinner.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Time for a pint?
SWEN: A pint, a glass of champagne, a glass of wine. We cater to alcoholism in all its varieties.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Looks like we are taking public transport. Has anyone ever fallen down?
SWEN: Uh, no. No one has.
LADISLAS MAURICE: All right, so we’re done checking in, and now we’re going to go for dinner, right?
SWEN: Yes, we’re walking across the island to Stocks Hotel, which is the nicest hotel on the island. We’ve got the entire restaurant to ourselves, and weather’s still beautiful. We might have a drink outside, all looking good.
LADISLAS MAURICE: And if we drink too much, we might end up here, right?
SWEN: Exactly. So, this is, I believe it’s the world’s smallest prison. It says 1856 at the top, and it was built at that time and it hasn’t really been changed since then. It’s still being used. It’s got three cells in there, no windows, and yeah.
LADISLAS MAURICE: No windows.
SWEN: Yeah, no, no, this this is it. Like, literally. And yeah, if you cause trouble, you know, we’ve got a constable here, several deputy constables. Be careful.
LADISLAS MAURICE: How often do people land in there?
SWEN: I don’t think very often because there’s paperwork involved nowadays with doing that, so they probably just get kicked off the island, but the option is here.
LADISLAS MAURICE: All right. Cool.
Going swimming in Sark
LADISLAS MAURICE: All right, so uh it’s a little rough this morning. The wine was good, and uh the wine was really good. I even forgot to do more filming of the dinner. And then on the way home, it was pitch black. I bumped into some very friendly locals and then we went drinking some more. So yeah, rough one. But now, Swen is organized a morning swim with people. So, right now it’s 8:00 AM, and at 8:30 AM, the whole bunch of people are going to go swimming in the water. Now, I spent two years of high school in Brittany, in Bretagne, in France, not too far away from here. So I’m familiar with these waters. So, I know I know better than to go for a morning swim here, so I’ll just I’ll just be observing. The water’s about 17 Celsius. I will not touch it. I’m honestly just hoping to to see a bunch of Germans in speedos. So, let’s go let’s go count the speedo Germans.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Look at this. I wonder if it’s still active. Haven’t seen one of those in a while. That’s really cute here, really charming. Oh, there’s a post office.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Right, this here’s very charming. Look at how British it is. Sheep. It’s calm, countryside, it’s green. It’s probably going to rain soon. Probably. All right, so this one is not wearing a speedo, but I’m sure there’ll be a German in a speedo.
LADISLAS MAURICE: So, Swen, is this a a usual thing for you to go swimming in the morning here?
SWEN: Not quite. We only do this if we have enough mad adventurous guests. But uh, Sark does have lovely beaches. Swimming is great. There’s a real outdoor swimming culture here. And there’s a Sark swimming club who I’m reliably informed go swimming 365 days a year. So, obviously, if you live here, the temperature from one day to the other only ever changes a small amount, so your body gets adjusted.
LADISLAS MAURICE: So, one very important question: will you be wearing a speedo?
SWEN: No, even though I’m German, I’ve let go of the speedos already. But um, another important thing: you see, we’re walking through a forest here, and people always think Sark’s a very, very small island with like nothing on it, and then they’re completely taken by surprise when we walk through a dense forest that covers a valley that leads down to one of the nicer beaches. Uh, it’s a very, how should we say, diverse island, and um, yeah, it’s just visually stunning. I hope you agree.
LADISLAS MAURICE: It’s beautiful. Hey, Swen, so you were talking about silver mines or something?
SWEN: Yes, so if you look to the horizon there, there you see some big building or several buildings on the island. These are the former worker barracks of the silver mine of Sark. So, in the, I’m really getting the dates wrong now, but like 200 years ago or something like that, uh they found silver on Sark and as ever, they then raised money or someone raised money and tried to exploit it. And there was a tragedy with a a tunnel collapsing, there wasn’t enough silver, it went bankrupt, and it bankrupted the Seigneur’s family. And they had to sell the feudal fief to someone else, which is why the current family of the Seigneur actually owns the fief to Sark. Yeah, so anyway, uh another failed mining venture even here on Sark. I don’t know, maybe someone wants to revive it. I’m not sure it’s possible.
LADISLAS MAURICE: So, yeah, if there’s any Canadian out there from Vancouver who’s into dodgy promotions, there’s a silver on Sark for sale.All right, no uh no speedos for now.I found one. One speedo. With the selfie, obviously.
All right, so right now we are at the post office and there’s a little bulletin board. So, let’s see what the news are. 114% price increase by Sark electricity. Gosh, that doesn’t sound good. If you ever want to get married on Sark, here’s your celebrant. Grass-fed beef, or dog training. There are licenses, bicycles, so you need to pay ยฌยฃ14 a year for a bicycle and for a dog, and ยฌยฃ5 a year for a shotgun. Okay, that’s interesting. Looks like there’s a little farmer’s market, movie screening, little group for kids, Bible reading. Royal Navy helicopter visit to Sark. Friday, the 26th. Actually, this is today. I’ll go check this out. That’ll be nice. Church service. Probably, okay, Sark Methodist and Anglican.
Going to the grocery store in Sark
LADISLAS MAURICE: All right, so let’s uh I need to get some food for breakfast. It’s kind of cool. There are a lot of tractors around this how people get around. Tractors, tractors, and we are going to the food stock Sark’s one stop grocery store, news agents, and off-license. All right, let’s go check it out. Let’s go see what the options are. Another bulletin board. Ooh, Sark Oktoberfest. Sark Oktoberfest. Yoga, Yoga for white women. Perfect.
Let’s see. Good morning.
SPEAKER 1: Good morning.
LADISLAS MAURICE: All right, I can use some yogurt. 2.90. Not too sure how much more expensive it is than in the UK. Need some of this as well. 3.30 per kilo. All right. Frozen goods. Meat. Mate. Where’s the booze?
SPEAKER 2: The booze. Itโs just around there.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Isn’t that what you wanted for breakfast?
SPEAKER 2: Not today. Can’t hack it at all. Nope. No, thank you.
Going to the shooting range in Sark
LADISLAS MAURICE: All right, so now we’re at the gun range, and we are going to have some fun. I’m expecting the Americans to shoot the best.
SPEAKER 3: What’s your name?
LADISLAS MAURICE: Ladislas. Maurice, yeah.
SPEAKER 3: Maurice. Okay, Maurice. Gun’s loaded. Get the stock tight into your shoulder. Call when you’re ready.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Go.
SPEAKER 3: Yeah. How did you do that? Do you know how hard that is to do?
LADISLAS MAURICE: I think I knew.
SPEAKER 3: That was such a good shot.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Thank you.
SPEAKER 3: Um, I would advise trying to take it earlier though when it’s still in the air. Yeah, still quite late, but yeah, you got it.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah. All right.
SPEAKER 3: Great shot. Excellent. Great your gun.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Cool. Four out of five.
Helicopter landing in Sark
LADISLAS MAURICE: All right, so we just did a boat tour around the island. That was pretty fun. And apparently now there is today’s event, which is some sort of helicopter landing. The helicopter is coming from another island. They’re doing some emergency testing, and a lot of people from the island are are gathering around here. So, let’s go check it out. And it’s on the school grounds, it would appear.
So, here we are at Sark School. Petite รชkole duve dโgrans ambision. Interesting. It’s like this weird Patwa here that is a mix of French and whatever. A little school with big ambitions. Mrs. Brady. She looks really nice. Mrs. Smith. Oh, looks like Mr. Smith and Mrs. Smith are one. Mrs. Turner. Mrs. Turner-cross. I wonder if that’s the mom. Mrs. Knight. Oh, they look pretty nice. And the kids, they all look happy. All right, let’s uh let’s go check it out. All right. I see people are gathered here today. They came here by bicycle mostly, and apparently one by tractor, and we shall wait for the helicopter to come through. All the kids look pretty excited. Emergency Response Team. Wow. Sark medical practice. This is pretty cool. This is the local ambulance. All right, so here’s a local friendly dog. What’s his name?
SPEAKER 4: Whoa!
LADISLAS MAURICE: He’s scared of the camera?
SPEAKER 4: Whoa!
LADISLAS MAURICE: This is the the school playground. Kind of nice. Not open to the public. Welcome to Sark School.
Interview with a Kenyan resident of Sark
LADISLAS MAURICE: All right, so we’re waiting for the helicopter to come and I’m here with KEVIN. KEVIN, how are you?
KEVIN: I’m Kevin Mongai. I’m all good.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Cool. So, you’re originally from Kenya, right?
KEVIN: Yeah.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Nice, nice, nice. So, how long have you been here in uh Sark?
KEVIN: Um, in Sark, I’ve been here for two months, but I come from Guernsey. So, I’m working with one of the companies. So far, I’ve been here almost now three years.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Three years. Okay.
KEVIN: Three years, yeah.
LADISLAS MAURICE: So, what is it what how does it work in terms of your visa? You have a temporary visa, or it’s like linked to your work? How does it work?
KEVIN: Well, before I came before the rules did change that was back in 2022. I had a short-term visa, which was three years, so I’m going to renew it again, uh, which they’re going to offer me one year. And again, another one year, so that it’s a total of five years. Then they can review whether I am can have a long-term or right to stay live.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Okay. And uh, do you go back to Kenya often?
KEVIN: Not often, once a year.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Once a year, to see your family?
KEVIN: Yeah, absolutely, yeah, yeah, yeah.
LADISLAS MAURICE: So, your wife, do you have children?
KEVIN: Yeah, yeah, I do. I have three.
LADISLAS MAURICE: It must be hard to not see your children for a whole year.
KEVIN: Well, yeah, but uh in the hospitality industry, life is always not that easy. It’s a a good life, but not easy. I’ve been uh in Qatar for two years, but in 2010, 2012.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Do you prefer your experience in Guernsey and Sark, or your experience in Qatar?
KEVIN: Uh, I would say, I just love going with the flow in life. Wherever I am. Yeah, I have enjoyed it. I have to, you know, give my best and I receive the best also. So, uh, but over here, it’s a quiet place, a really enjoyable kind of a peace of mind.
Nightlife in Sark
LADISLAS MAURICE: Another beautiful morning on Sark. So, last night we had a nice dinner, drank a bunch of wine, and then a whole group of us went to the local bar, met some locals, etc.
All right, so now we’re checking out the Sark nightlife on a Friday night. This is the local bar. Hey guys, it’s called The Mermaid or something. Proper English bar. Nice and loud. Here’s our friend Kevin again. Kevin’s at the bar.
Visiting the Seigneurie in Sark
LADISLAS MAURICE: That was fun. So, today the program is going to be a little different. We are now going to the Seigneurie, which is essentially the local White House if we can put it this way, and we will meet with the uh the Seigneur as well and his son. So, effectively, it’s the kind of like the head of state and his son who would then get the position when the head of state dies. Um and it’s just this is how it works on on Sark. It’s not your typical democratic system. Um and we are going to hear from some locals who’ll be presenting about the island, about their vision, what they think of the island. Um and we’ll get to interact with locals this way. So, looking forward to it. Apparently, there’s going to be breakfast and lunch as well, which is good. I’m hungry.
Taxation in Sark
LADISLAS MAURICE: I’m here with Mr. Harris, a member of Parliament here on Sark, and he just made a really interesting presentation on the history of Sark. So, you’ve been a member of Parliament for how long here?
MR. HARRIS: Uh, two years. So, I’m a I’m a pretty I’m a neophyte. I’m a baby.
LADISLAS MAURICE: All right. Can you elaborate on the tax system here on Sark?
MR. HARRIS: I suppose it’s got broadly three strands. So there’s uh Ampo duties, which is on alcohol and tobacco that that comes into the island, alcohol and tobacco taxes. Then you’ve got two uh types of uh personal tax. You’ve got a property tax, which is based on the size of your property. Property is assessed as a number of quarters. This is a sort of fixed figure. Uh each property is assigned as a number of quarters and you pay property tax on that. Then there is a capped uh global wealth tax, which sounds scary, but it’s not. The maximum tax in Sark is ยฌยฃ10,800 a year. Uh I don’t think anyone pays that at the moment because uh you either pay uh not 0.4% of your global wealth, or you are assessed for the full pay, so you can pay a full pay rate, which is I think it’s about four times your property tax rateable value at the moment. That’s what most people do for the um uh the personal tax side.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Okay. So, effectively the tax system, especially if you have a fair amount of capital, can be very low.
MR. HARRIS: Oh, it’s highly favorable, highly favorable. As I say, uh the absolute maximum tax by law is ยฌยฃ10,800 a year.
LADISLAS MAURICE: So, no estate tax, no capital gains tax, none of this?
MR. HARRIS: Yeah, we just don’t have the legislation for it. There’s no there’s no death duties, there’s no capital gains, no income tax.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Can the UK government impose taxes on you and say you should have these taxes, etc.?
MR. HARRIS: No, um Sark is an autonomous jurisdiction. It determines its own um tax legislation and tax policy. So, neither the UK government uh nor Guernsey, our larger sister island, is capable of uh telling us what we should do with our tax policy.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Are you seeing a lot of UK people and Irish people moving here, because those are the two essentially countries whose people can move here visa-free?
MR. HARRIS: Yes, I mean, the certainly, the population of Sark was mostly mostly natives up until about the 1960s, although there’ve always been English people who’ve come. Uh, since then, there’ve been there’s been quite a lot more of an influx from England. Um, there’s always been this a certain amount of churn. Uh, it’s a surprisingly well-kept secret, uh, but uh if you’re reasonably uh sort of well-to-do, you don’t even have to be that wealthy, but if you’re reasonably well-to-do and you want to avoid uh UK levels of tax, it’s very easy to come here and sort of build up, say, your pension pot or whatever, build up some wealth. Um, so uh we’ve had Germans in the past, uh Europeans, harder for them to come here now because of uh us leaving the EU. So, but yes, there’s always been a a steady flow of people coming from England in particular.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah, especially now. I mean, you were discussing the the Exodus of people leaving the UK because of all the taxes, the security issues, etc. Sark is in many ways a very logical destination, because the people leaving now are not people that want to leave. People who wanted to leave already left ages ago. Those are people that have to leave because of tax purposes. They they liked their life in the UK. They like it, but they’re having to make a decision and move to Italy, Portugal, Dubai, Panama, wherever. But actually, Sark, if they want to keep that very English or British lifestyle, um it’s still very much available to them. They’re just not aware of it.
MR. HARRIS: It’s exactly, the the island doesn’t uh promote itself sufficiently, I think. It’s a it’s an incredibly well-kept secret. Uh some people call Sark the poorest tax haven in the world.
LADISLAS MAURICE: All right. That’s a good one. The poorest tax haven in the world. That could be the title of a video actually.
MR. HARRIS: Right.
LADISLAS MAURICE: All right. Thank you very much, Mr.
MR. HARRIS: No problem. Cheers.
LADISLAS MAURICE: All right, so now we are trying some archery. First time for me. Fun.
Interview with the Seigneur of Sark
LADISLAS MAURICE: I’m here with Christopher Beaumont and his son Hugh. So, Christopher is the Seigneur here on the island. So, could you please elaborate on what is the Seigneur? What’s his role? What how do politics operate here on the island? And what is your relationship to the UK slash the crown?
CHRISTOPHER: Okay. So, uh, Seigneur is simply, um, a feudal title. Um, it’s at the bottom of the food chain, it’s sort of head of a parish. Uh, so it just means Lord and Lord of the Manor. So, people would understand what a Lord of the Manor is. And it comes with the house and various, you know, land holdings. And, uh, Sark is special in that it, uh, is crown property, so it’s owned by the crown of England. And, uh, I have a direct relationship with the crown. I rent the island directly from the crown. So, that’s my link with, um, the United Kingdom, if you want to put it that way.
LADISLAS MAURICE: How much is the rent?
CHRISTOPHER: Uh, it’s ยฌยฃ1.79 a year.
LADISLAS MAURICE: All right, so clearly it hasn’t been inflation-linked.
CHRISTOPHER: No, it hasn’t. I’m very grateful for that.
LADISLAS MAURICE: And what happens if you fail to pay the rent, if you forget because of administrative reasons?
CHRISTOPHER: I think I’ve got you know.
LADISLAS MAURICE: I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know.
CHRISTOPHER: Uh, so I think I, I think it’s about three years worth of default before anyone claims that I’m in default. Um, but, uh, it’s, it’s easy because they send me a bill.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Okay. Can you please elaborate on the rest of the political system on the island, because there’s a Parliament and how do you fit in with the Parliament, how does this all work?
CHRISTOPHER: So, Sark is independent of the United Kingdom, completely independent, and independent of any other jurisdiction. So, we self-govern. So, we have our own Parliament. We can create our own laws. We raise our own taxes. Uh, we do everything ourselves. We have no link, uh, fiscal or otherwise, to anywhere else in the world. Uh, so, there is a Parliament, it’s elected. It has 18 members. It sits, uh, five times a year, and, um, I take part in those parliamentary meetings without a vote, um, more as an observer than anything else. And my relationship with the Parliament is the is a similar relationship to the King of England with the Parliament of England.
LADISLAS MAURICE: It’s mostly ceremonial at this point?
CHRISTOPHER: Mostly, uh, but the ceremony that I get involved in, uh, is very minimal. Um, what I tend to do more than anything is fly the flag for Sark. So, I talk to a lot of journalists about the island and what makes it special.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Okay. And your son Hugh is next in line, correct?
CHRISTOPHER: Yeah, he is, yeah, yeah.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
CHRISTOPHER: Yeah, yeah.
LADISLAS MAURICE: So, how how do you feel about it?
HUGH: It’s rather hard to say because I’ve lived with it for my entire life and I can’t really compare it to not knowing. So, I’m I’m in a sense, I’m very excited because it it feels like uh my entire life purpose.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Great.
HUGH: I wouldn’t I wouldn’t change it.
LADISLAS MAURICE: All right. So, you I assume you went to school, university in the United Kingdom?
HUGH: Yeah, that’s right. I was raised in Morven and I went to university in Edinburgh.
LADISLAS MAURICE: And you’re already making plans to live here full-time on the island?
HUGH: Yeah, of course. Um I mean, we’d probably want to move sooner than than that, actually, really, at least uh temporarily. Um, but it’s a beautiful place. Uh, lovely community. So, what’s not to love and yeah, come live here.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah. Words of wisdom. I really encourage people to uh to come here. And you’re hosting us uh both of you for the uh for the afternoon, a whole group of us. It’s thank you very much. Nice food, nice people, and we’re getting to learn about the island.
CHRISTOPHER: Well, it’s been a pleasure hosting everyone.
LADISLAS MAURICE: All right, let’s go eat.
Local politics on Sark
LADISLAS MAURICE: So, yesterday we had some of the locals present to us. Uh, so we had one member of Parliament. He presented uh the history of the island. He elaborated on on local politics, which are a little heated. A lot of resistance to change, which is to be expected on, you know, on a small island. It usually is like this everywhere in the world. People that live on islands are a bit resistant to change. But I mean, this island has so, so much potential. It really does. Just as a jurisdiction, it is a tier A jurisdiction. It just needs a bit more people. It just needs a bit more infrastructure. It just needs fundamentally more available housing, because that’s one of the main issues why people aren’t moving here. There just isn’t enough attractive housing. Then we also had a Brit, uh, who moved here during COVID. He has started, I think, one or two restaurants, and he is he bought up the local brewery as well, so he’s starting that up again. And he was explaining just how to run a business on Sark. Some of the local operational challenges, including, as we saw a little bit earlier when we were looking at the bulletin board, some of the world’s highest electricity prices, because here the electricity just works through some sort of generator, diesel generator or something that powers the whole island, which is quite obviously expensive to run, expensive to maintain. And as the population hasn’t been growing, it gets, you know, the the fixed costs get shared amongst ever fewer users.
Also, gas is expensive. So, he was saying he runs a restaurant, and his gas bill alone is ยฌยฃ3,000 a month. That’s a tough tough environment. And then labor shortages. There aren’t enough locals to do the work. So, they bring in a lot of seasonal labor from other islands, but also internationally. I mean, we interviewed Kevin, uh, he’s he’s here on a on a contract. Uh, you know, came here from Kenya. You meet people from the Philippines as well, from different parts of the world. Met some people from Azerbaijan as well, some other Eastern European countries. So, labor shortages are an issue, and because of the seasonality, it just makes everything a bit harder. So, people just come here for the season, four or five months of the year, and then the rest of the year it’s quite dead. So, it’s not a it’s not an easy place to to run a business. High fixed costs, a lot of labor availability issues.
Also, when people come here to work for a four or five month contract, not all of them end up staying, because hey, you know, staying on a cute little island is fun for a few days, but it’s not for everyone. You really need to be into that sort of thing. So, people just sometimes leave randomly. So, it’s it’s tough, but the the raw potential on this island is absolutely here. Absolutely. This place is a screaming opportunity. It needs a turnaround.
So, in spite of Sark being an island of only about 500 people, they have an HSBC branch here, a physical one, not just an ATM, an actual physical branch.
Real estate in Sark
LADISLAS MAURICE: There’s also a little real estate company. Let’s go have a look at the listings. We’re going to go Sark Estate Agent. Let’s look at this. Open market freehold, ยฌยฃ1 million, open market leasehold until April 22nd, 2082. So, it’s important to understand that on Sark, most properties are leaseholds rather than freeholds. So, it means that after the amount of years, so for example, lease expires in 60 years after commencement, it means that the property reverts back to the owner, to the to the person that has the freehold. So, effectively here you’d be paying ยฌยฃ600,000 for 60 years, so ยฌยฃ10,000 per year to rent it out. So, it also means faster depreciation.
All right, so the market is extremely liquid here from speaking to people. Oh yeah, and then there’s also open market, and then there’s local market. So, there are properties that can only be leased on the local market, which means that you need to have been a resident here for 15 years. So, this here, for example, local market. So, if you come here, you’re not allowed to rent this unless you’ve been living here for 15 years. So, local market, open market, leasehold, freehold. It’s quite complex and very liquid. So, all of these are extremely negotiable.
There are these abandoned homes all over the island, either ruins or just like this, abandoned, which is, when you think of it, just totally unacceptable. I mean, we’re talking of a proper tax haven, a great jurisdiction, so close to mainland Europe, right next to the United Kingdom. People can easily move here. And still, there are homes like this. I mean, this island has such a marketing problem.
If you live in the UK and you’re worth tens of millions of pounds or a few hundred million pounds, you can literally just move here with barely any paperwork, buy one of those homes or, you know, a nicer one around here and pay just ยฌยฃ10,000 a year in taxes. It’s insane. And no one’s doing it because no one really knows about it.
We were looking at some figures as well. If you look at the GDP per capita in the UK, Guernsey is a little higher, not by much, I think, like 20% higher or something. I don’t remember the exact details. I’ll try to add B-roll. Jersey is significantly higher than the UK. I mean, that’s it’s a proper proper jurisdiction, a lot of finance, etc. Very wealthy island. And for Sark, there are no figures, but it is understood to be significantly lower than the UK. And that’s just so unacceptable. How can you have a jurisdiction like this, a effectively almost zero-tax jurisdiction, right off of the UK, Crown dependency, you know, 600 years plus of, you know, a solid constitution or equivalent of a constitution, and just be living in near poverty? Total mismanagement, total mismanagement. If people here got their got their stuff together, they’d be living as well as in Jersey, if not even better, because this place is flexibility. It can build things from scratch. So, apparently, handmade chocolate is a thing here. Nice logo.
Little Sark
LADISLAS MAURICE: All right. I have been warned. Look at how gorgeous this is. So, on the other side is Little Sark. The separate little, I mean, not really an island, a little separate part connected by this ridge. Beautiful here. And quite sharp, indeed. I wouldn’t want to fall off the cliff, that’s for sure. And, uh, there is a nice yacht here in the backdrop. Reminds me of Montenegro, the yacht, not the scenery.
Christian life in Sark
LADISLAS MAURICE: Enough with the money talk. Today’s Sunday morning. I would typically go to Catholic Mass. There is no Catholic church. I would go to Orthodox service. We’re on Sark. There isn’t Catholic. There isn’t Orthodox. So, there are two churches here. One is the Anglican church and the other one the Methodist church. They’re both presided by the the same minister. And it happens that today they’re having some sort of harvest festival at the Methodist church. So, I’m going to go there. I’m going to go to service there. I’ve never been to a Methodist service. And apparently, then there’s a a lunch that’s organized for the parishioners. I’ll see if I can get in there and uh talk to some locals. Let’s go check it out.
[Singing]
So, I just attended the lovely service here at the Methodist Church of Sark. We had a really nice lunch. Thank you very much for having you having me over, Reverend.
REVEREND: Yep.
LADISLAS MAURICE: So, can you tell us a little bit about Christian life here on Sark Island?
REVEREND: Yeah, we have two churches here, um a Church of England church and then the Methodist church here, both very different, both different characters, but we work together as much as we can, very much involved with the community here. Um as you’ll have seen, that’s how we’re having having lunch with us. Um and very, um much during the summer, we have a lot of extra visitors come amongst us. So, um a traditional church, the Church of England, very um quite quite old-fashioned in some respects in the type of service they have. Um but it’s something they enjoy. The Methodist church is somewhat more informal. Um tends to be more involved with with mission in the community, which is why we have the the hall at the back. Um and we’re involved with the school um quite a lot as well. And then generally amongst the island in terms of caring for the community, because we don’t have the social infrastructure that you have in other areas. So, we try to be part of that caring um part of the community.
LADISLAS MAURICE: So all the churches are very active here.
REVEREND: Very much so, yes. Um probably have a higher proportion of uh the population coming to church here than in most places, um probably because people need that in the community.
LADISLAS MAURICE: I read somewhere online that there is that these spots here in the church are dedicated and there are even spots for prisoners or
REVEREND: That’s in St. Peter’s Church. Yes, we are the the last church in the British Isles to have pews which actually each one belongs to one of the 10 mans. Um and they pay a yearly rental. Uh it’s now ยฌยฃ5. I think it used to be something like two shillings and sixpence, but it’s now ยฌยฃ5. Um and each of those 10 mans will will pay for those pews and they effectively own those pews. Um and then there is a pew for the prisoners um which is slightly bigger than the others because they used to have shackles, so they needed to be room for that. And then there’s for instance a pew for the lighthouse as well from when they used to be lighthouse keeper here. Um and that is unique. There’s there’s nowhere else that still has that. So.
LADISLAS MAURICE: All right, so theoretically, let’s say I go to the bar, the Mermaid, I get in a bar fight, and then I end up in prison for, you know, 24 hours. May I request to go to attend service on Sunday and will be take me here?
REVEREND: You you certainly could. whether whether the constable will take you or not, I’m not sure. But you certainly could. I don’t think they’ll shackle you either. Um but of course, you won’t get into trouble down at the Mermaid.
LADISLAS MAURICE: All right. Thank you very much for your time. you.
REVEREND: Bless you.
LADISLAS MAURICE: It’s so nice for children here. I had a talk with some parents that live live here. Some of them are doing homeschooling. Others send their kids to the local school. It’s super safe. Look at the nice playgrounds. And this is the sign of a high trust society, which is rare nowadays in in the Western world. Some kid forgot his sunglasses, and instead of them being stolen or broken, they’re just laying here waiting for their owner.
Internet and connectivity in Sark
LADISLAS MAURICE: The internet on the island is fine. There are quite a few people who work remotely, consultants, a few digital nomads, people like that. Personally, I had the surprise that my data didn’t work in Guernsey and on Sark, because you need a separate data package. So, I thought I have UK covered, but I don’t have Guernsey. So, my particular package didn’t cover Guernsey. Then I was just too busy to do anything about it. And the place I stayed at for whatever reason didn’t have functioning internet for a few days. So, I had a nice detox. So, I spent a few days here with barely any access to to the internet. I hadn’t had that in a long time. And it was the perfect place to detox. So, just a few days of meeting interesting people, going for nice walks every day.
The island is really beautiful, good food, good wine. I’m a little tired, but I feel good. And contrary to popular belief, Sark is not just fields. There are little hills, little creeks. There’s a forest as we saw. It’s quite diverse for such a small place. Little little villages, that’s nice. Feels good to be here. I really recommend it. And uh now I’m going to meet up with Swen and he’s going to do a little tour of the island for me. I’ll probably switch off the camera for this one. I mean, it will always be switched on. But we’ll we’ll do a little conclusion with Swen in a bit. Paradise. Nice weather. I think that’s might be France down there. I’m going to sit here for a little bit, so I’ll go I’ll go meet with Swen in a bit and in the meantime, I think I’ll enjoy this view and read a book.
Why move to Sark?
LADISLAS MAURICE: So, Swen just took me on a nice tour of the island. It’s so beautiful here. Stunning sunshine.
SWEN: Yeah, beautiful September day.
LADISLAS MAURICE: So, you’ve been here how many years already?
SWEN: I properly moved here 2017. I bought first bought a house here a small cottage in 2004, but in the interim I wasn’t really, you know, spending much time here. Since 2017, all my stuff is here. It’s my home. I travel a lot, but this is my home.
LADISLAS MAURICE: You plan on staying here?
SWEN: The world’s in way too much turmoil to even consider moving elsewhere.
LADISLAS MAURICE: That’s a good point. There’s so much potential on this island.
SWEN: Glad you say that. And basically, anyone who’s who’s ever been here and then also did a tour with me to give them a bit of context and show them the right places, basically says the same thing, yeah, there’s so much potential at the same time, nothing much has happened here in many, many years. It’s just it’s just stuck for many reasons that have been reported on in the media. It’s not really, you know, advanced in any way.
LADISLAS MAURICE: In any case, I really recommend you to to come to Sark. It’s absolutely stunning. It’s not too hard to get to. I flew personally, I flew from Budapest, and then to Gatwick Airport, 2 hours later, I had a flight to to Guernsey, and then from Guernsey Airport, it’s pretty easy to get to the to the ferry that that comes here. So, I really recommend a trip here.
SWEN: And just two pieces of practical advice. So, first of all, check the national airline of Guernsey, which is called Aurigny, because they have a surprising number of flights to regional airports in the UK. So, much as everyone always checks London Gatwick first, because from there you can take five or six flights a day to Gatwick. You may be able to fly, for example, from Germany to Edinburgh or Manchester, and then have a very convenient connection from there straight to Guernsey. And the other one is Guernsey is definitely worth a visit as well. So, if you haven’t been yet, consider spending a day there or two, spend the night there, that breaks the journey into smaller bits and then it doesn’t feel like a major trip. It’s just, you know, a few steps along the way to look at different places.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah, and uh go shopping there. And the food, I have to say, uh the food was really good during this whole on this whole trip.
SWEN: Yeah, I guess that’s the French influence, given that we’re so close that we could almost we’re we’re on the wrong side of the island, but other than that we could see France from here. I think there’s just also a culture of good food, which in the Channel Island, certainly in Guernsey and Sark, um makes it quite pleasant to go to restaurants, at least some of them.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah, good food, good wine, pleasant company, this weekend was a real success. So, thank you very much, Swen.
SWEN: Delighted to have you.
LADISLAS MAURICE: So, Swen, we’re going back to Guernsey today, and yesterday there was a little bit of a controversy here near the ferry. There was a nice little sign for you. What what do you have to say about this?
SWEN: Yes, so the anti-tourism movement has reached Sark. There was a sign, ‘Don’t be part of Swen’s prostitutes,’ I think. Yeah. ‘Love and kisses from 95% of the community.’ Um as I always say, you know, some people don’t even like their own mother. You can’t make everyone happy. And there’s definitely an element of Sark is in crisis and a lot of nerves are lying blank. Yeah, by me bringing very successful people here who spend a lot of money, that has created some emotions. I guess envy. Uh there’s a certain amount of bitterness on this island as well. And that then leads to um stuff like that, which is not good for the island as such, as a whole, because day trippers saw the sign as well. Sark lives off tourism.
LADISLAS MAURICE: So, you have a I mean, it was right here near the ferry.
SWEN: Exactly, right. So, you know, it’s uh a few members of the community damaging everyone’s interest, and it gets way too much attention. We had a good laugh about it, but uh yeah, no, it’s a sign of the times we live in. There’s some things to take into consideration if anyone wants to invest in Sark, you know, do you want to buy a house here, or would you rather rent? I’ve been saying for years, you know, renting is the way forward until Sark hasn’t had a major call it a reset or whatever you want to call it, but there are certain blockages here which then, you know, show in incidents like that.
LADISLAS MAURICE: All right. Thank you, Swen.
SWEN: Wow.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Make sure to download my free e-book, 12 Mistakes to Avoid When Investing in International Real Estate, which you can find on my website, link below, and feel free to follow me on Instagram @thewanderinginvestor. I look forward to hearing from you.
