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Title deed issues in Cyprus

Catherine Deshayes

Disgruntled expats are piling mounting pressure onto some of Cyprus' developers as they continue to wait to receive their title deeds.

Cyprus is a victim of its own success.

Sam Orgill, Managing Director of ProACT Partnership, specialists in advice to expats, said, "Expat buyers are complaining that they have been waiting years to receive their Title Deeds from developers, which, for a variety of reasons, have not issued them to their buyers.

The concern comes as most buyers in Cyprus do not own their properties for up to 10 to 15 years and in some cases possibly up to 30 years after purchase.

This is because an inadequate legal frame work to regulate developers and land sales has been compounded by poor legal advice and contracts of sale drafted by local solicitors.

"Cyprus is going through a lot of exciting changes not least the building of a major international marina in Paphos and Limassol aimed at attracting high end visitors and investors. Therefore it is essential that the difficulty of ownership is overcome as quickly as possible before there are major problems in the housing market," Mr Orgill added.

Pressure groups made up of expats recently took the matter to the Cypriot Minister of Interior, Neoclis Sylikiotis and the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, Antonis Paschalides, in the first of a series of meetings outlining the problems facing property buyers in Cyprus.

In response, the Minister told the pressure group, CRAG, that the boom on the island over the past decade has allowed issues to surface however he would do his best to push through new legislation clarifying Title Deed concerns by the end of this year.

He also added that various meetings had taken place with the Land Registry to facilitate the new laws and that extra resources would be called to aid with the transition.

Building permits and regulations are tied to transfer of the title deeds meaning the Cyprus land registry is swamped with transfer applications that can take up to two years to process.

Mr Orgill added, "We always recommend professional expatriate advice before signing any contract of sale in Cyprus. Because of the current unrest over Title Deeds we are offering a free review for anyone anxious about the situation."

Contact ProACT Partnership on 00 357 26 819 424 or email info@proactpartnership.com

To browse properties in Cyprus for sale, visit cyprus.themovechannel.com/