Property lawyers in Cyprus – review – Cyprus title deed claims

We would like to take this opportunity to inform you that the deadline for claiming your Cyprus title deeds for properties that have minor building irregularities has now been put forward to April 2012. This means the panic is over and you now have more time to submit your application for claiming your title deeds.

The original date given by the government for the 8th October to submit all applications obviously proved too soon and only a small amount of applications were submitted.

As many purchasers were very confused by the new legislation to explain further the planning amnesty, it allows for property purchasers with minor building irregularities previously not able to claim their title deeds for such reasons, to put forward their application attached with a statement of intent, which simply outlines the irregularities.  The government previously also asked for a sworn statement from an architect or civil engineer to the effect of the irregularities.

However, officials are now trying to make it even easier for property purchasers and presenting in parliament a plan to allow the purchaser to submit their own status of their property cutting out the architect/engineer.

If agreed and passed and it is looking likely, the procedure really does not get simpler than this. The documents however, to be completed are in Greek and must be completed correctly which is why we offer this service to our clients and the public in order to make sure the application is presented correctly as should be.

We will keep you fully informed as to any new changes to the procedure in order to make things a lot less complicated and stressful for you.

Many purchasers panicked when they heard about the legislation but purchasers must be aware this does not necessarily apply to you only to those who have not received their final building permit as yet or as above have building irregularities stopping them obtaining their title deeds.

Due to the extent of this issue we have designated expert members of staff to deal with the queries and cases relating to the planning amnesty and are available to offer further advice and assistance for all your title deed requirements.

PUBLISHED BY A&G KOUZALI LAW OFFICE ON 5TH OCTOBER 2011. http://www.cyprustitledeeds.org/

http://www.lawcyprus.org/

Πριν 1,700 χρόνια περίπου, η Αγία Ελένη φρόντισε να επιλυθεί το τεράστιο πρόβλημα που υπήρχε στην Νήσο της Αφροδίτης. Χιλιάδες ειδών φιδιών έσωζαν το νησί προκαλώντας στους κατοίκους, στην χλωρίδα και πανίδα προβλήματα και πανικό.

Η Αγία Ελένη λοιπόν εύσπλαχνη και συμπονετική καθώς ήταν καθ’ οδόν για την Ιερουσαλήμ και τους Αγίους τόπους, πέρασε από την Κύπρο μας και αφού παρατήρησε τον τεράστιο κίνδυνο που καραδοκούσε , ανάλαβε και έστειλε ένα καράβι γεμάτο γάτους οι οποίοι σιγά – σιγά σκότωσαν τα φίδια κι έσωσαν την Νήσο από τον άμεσο κίνδυνο και τα πολλαπλά εύλογα προβλήματα και καταστροφές της πανίδας.

Η πράξη αυτή της Αγίας Ελένης ας γίνει οδοδείκτης για τον καθένα από εμάς. Η οποιαδήποτε πράξη μας έχει αντίκτυπο σε εμάς αλλά και στους απογόνους μας, γι’ αυτό οφείλουμε να πράττουμε με συνέπεια και ορθό λογισμό, με απώτερο μας πάντοτε σκοπό το καλύτερο αύριο, το αύριο της ελπίδας.

Εμείς εδώ στο γραφείο μας στο Παραλίμνι προσπαθούμε με επιστολές, συναντήσεις με τα αρμόδια τμήματα, όπως Επαρχιακή Διοίκηση, Τμήμα Πολεοδομίας και Χωροταξίας, Κτηματολόγιο, τον Υπουργό και όλα τα εμπλεκόμενα μέρη, για να βοηθήσουμε όλους αυτούς που έχουν επενδύσει στο νησί μας για ένα καλύτερο αύριο!  Προσπαθούμε για την άμεση τιτλοποίηση που έχει γίνει «Αχίλλειος πτέρνα» στον χώρο της βιομηχανίας. Κάνουμε προσπάθειες ώστε να κινηθεί άμεσα η κυβερνητική μηχανή  για να βρεθεί άμεσα η χρυσή τομή για επίλυση του όλου προβλήματος.

Εκείνο που μας προβληματίζει είναι η στάση ή/και απραξία όλων των κομμάτων και των βουλευτών μας! Ως αντιπρόσωποι του Κυπριακού Λαού αναμένουμε να κάνετε κάτι ούτως ώστε να βρεθεί η λύση για το θέμα με τους τίτλους ιδιοκτησίας!

Το μαχαίρι να φθάσει στο κόκαλο! Είναι η ώρα να πάρουν οι βουλευτές μας άμεσα και σοβαρή Απόφαση! Εμείς και τα παιδιά μας εξαρτόμαστε από τις δικές σας ενέργειες και να ήσαστε σίγουροι πως στο μέλλον πολλοί θα ευχαριστήσουν εσάς για τις αποφάσεις που θα πάρετε σήμερα.

Ας γίνει λοιπόν το παράδειγμα της Αγίας Ελένης πρότυπο μιμήσεως.

Ας βοηθήσουμε λοιπόν και εμείς αυτόν τον τόπο να προοδεύσει!

Ας δούμε επιτέλους φως στην άκρη του Τούνελ!

Ας δώσουμε ελπίδα επίλυσης του σοβαρότατου προβλήματος!

Ας ασχοληθούμε με όσα πονούν και πληγώνουν τον τόπο μας  όπως έκανε ως παράδειγμα προς μίμηση και η Αγία Ελένη !

Ας αφήσουμε τα προσχήματα και τις δικαιολογίες…

Η Κύπρος έχει άμεση ανάγκη για την Απόφαση της Βουλής που θα δώσει επιτέλους ΤΕΛΟΣ στο αβάσταχτο πλέον πρόβλημα των Τίτλων Ιδιοκτησίας!  Ευελπιστούμε ότι οι βουλευτές μας θα ανταποκριθούν άμεσα.

http://www.lawcyprus.org/

Lawyers in Cyprus – Review – land Registry Office – Completed on 14^th June 2010 – Cyprus Lawyers

We have reviewed the recent detainment of the employee of the Land Registry Office and the 2 men involved in the illegal transfer of Turkish owned land.  We found this issue very disturbing.

With many claims being brought to the ECHR for Greek owned land to be returned to the rightful owner, it is beyond our belief as to why and at such a crucial time, a Land Registry employee would transfer Turkish owned land with no authorization from the Turkish owners to Greek nationals.

So while the Greeks are fighting to protect their right to their properties in Turkish occupied areas, Greek government staff is giving away Turkish owned land in the Republic of Cyprus.  This is an outrage.

Putting aside the ECHR claims, the Land Registry office across the Cyprus Island are at this time in the public spot light in a bid to help change the scrutinized Title Deed procedure and to help stop the bad publicity Cyprus keeps receiving.

This has taken us many steps back in any progression being made for the restoration of confidence from overseas investors.

We hope this can be seen for the isolated incident that it is and we hope more than anything else it does not hinder any progression being made in Cyprus with regards to any of the above issues.

We believe practicing as Cyprus Lawyers that a hefty prison sentence should be handed down if found guilty of this accusation.

PUBLISHED BY A&G KOUZALI LAW OFFICE ON 14^TH JUNE 2010. http://www.lawcyprus.org/

Cyprus Lawyers – review – Title deed delay – Completed on 24^th June 2010.

After our previous articles on the new Cyprus Title Deed Reform and anticipation of the new legislation to be passed in parliament, we regret to inform you that there has been a delay and the legislation has not yet been passed.

If you are an A&G Kouzali website fan, you will be very aware of how much our Cyprus Lawyers, Mr Kouzalis in particular, has made great efforts in the fight for a new Title Deed procedure. And our fight is now far from over.

We are very disappointed that the legislation has been delayed, even so, that we have written a letter to the Cyprus Minister stating our concerns and requesting a speedy result. We are also writing to each Member of Parliament and requesting that the legislation be passed without any delay.

We urge the public to do exactly the same thing! If we all pull together and put further pressure on the government and the members of Parliament, a result must prevail.

We have continually joined in the fight for a new Title Deed procedure in Cyprus and we obligatory report all latest news via our website and now we must work even harder and do our utmost to make sure that citizens both local and international are not let down after such promises were made.

We have been supportive of the Minister efforts and had complete faith in the new legislation, but now it is time to get up and fight again as this is unacceptable.

Please join in the fight for a reformed Title Deed process in Cyprus and let your thoughts be known to all the members of parliament.  You can find their contact details on http://www.parliament.cy/

Feel free to contact us and tell your thoughts also.

THERE IS NO EXCUSE……PASS THE LEGISLATION FOR CYPRUS TITLE DEEDS.

PUBLISHED BY A&G KOUZALI LAW OFFICE ON 24^TH JUNE 2010.

Lawcyprus.org

In  recent years there appears to be an escalating problem regarding the issuance of title deeds properties. One very important reason for this is that there may be irregularities in some of the units or the common areas from the new owners and from the land developers. Also the Minister of Interior stated that the problem of the delay for the issue of the title deeds is due to state shortcoming, thereby many times there are subsequently irregularities that make the problem more complicated.

For this reason, there are five bills for the planning amnesty, so that they can cope with the whole subject which has been a Gordian chain created by the gaps that have been passed through the sudden elevation of the industry.

Specifically in a publication in the newspaper “ SIMERINI ” on the 3^rd of April, 2010 with the title “ THE END OF THE DELAYED TITLE DEEDS ”, it was written that there has been found THE solution for the planning amnesty which has caused a lot  of troubles to the world and encircled literally thousands of title deeds.

After this, according to the same publication there was a report stating that the five bills for the planning regulations and also the much-debated planning amnesty , were ready to be passed through the Council of Ministry on the 15^th of April 2010 and will be voted from the plenum of the Parliament something that hasn’t been done until now and which causing us great concern. The world is expecting  the promotion of the bills as soon as possible  and we hope to have the approval of the Parliament.

The Minister of the Interior  Mr. Neoklis Sylikiotis, said that to be able to  effectively use  the planning amnesty there  is the new innovation insert of three types of title deeds instead of the one that was previously issued:

A.  The full  title deed which is going to have the existence as it is known.

B. The incomplete title deed which is going to be issued with notes relating the unauthorized extensions or changes relating to the issued permits and which are insignificant or in cases which are not possible to determine the parts of the property which has exclusive rights to develop the unique development.

C. The limited title deed which is going to have notes relating to unauthorized changes or extensions, the title deed will be deprived of legal transaction and the property can not be mortgaged.

We are worried regarding the whole delay and we hope that Cypriot members of Parliament and their parties, will share our concern and push the planning amnesty bill through quickly.

Article www.cyprustitledeeds.org
Every property owner is entitled to have individual title deeds for the property in Cyprus. We as an office have actively been promoting this right to property owners, developers and every other interested party in a property purchase. However the issue regarding title deeds is complicated, before title deeds can be issued there are several processes and documents which need to be issued by the competent authorities. Even after all of these processes and documents have been issued, the developer must them pay any outstanding debts on the property BEFORE individual title deeds can be issued.

In every newspaper at least once a week, title deeds are mentioned, every person wants their title deeds, but is every person able to pay the title deed transfer taxes to obtain their title deeds? Title deed transfer fees are calculated according to the formula below for every single person on the contract of sale.

0 – 85,000 Euros  x 3%

85,001 – 170,000 > x 5%

170,001 +  x 8%

Before you will receive your title deeds you must be able to pay these funds.

Mr. Silikiotis is pushing for title deeds to be issued (and we hope the parliament enacts the legislation soon), however property owners must ensure they are in the position to pay for their title deeds upon issuance. After all… Not only the developer has an obligation, you also must be able to fulfill your obligation towards resolving the title deed fiasco….

Title Deed in Cyprus – review – Lawyers in Cyprus- completed on 26^th May 2010. http://www.lawcyprus.org

We have all been waiting patiently for the new Cyprus Title Deed legislation to be passed in the Cyprus House of Parliament, after already being passed by the Council of Ministers all we can do now is wait.

What can be said for certain is that under the new Title Deed Reform in Cyprus, potential buyers of Cyprus property can now visit any District Land office located in all areas of Cyprus and apply for information regarding the status of the property they are thinking of investing in.

However, there are certain requirements for this and that is the potential buyer must be able to prove they are serious about buying the property. This can be achieved by obtaining a specific document to be signed by the vendor/seller and then presenting it at the District Land office.

The District Land office will then conduct a search and advise on the Title Deed status of the development they are interested in buying. If it is found that the vendor/seller will not sign the document, the purchaser can take this as a sign that something is wrong.

This procedure costs very little and will accomplish peace of mind for the purchaser providing them with the knowledge their potential investment is a solid one.

This is a very good concept as now developers/vendors will have to be on their toes permanently.

We feel it is a great step to helping the Cyprus buyers and we cannot wait to see what else is in store for the Title Deed Reform.

PUBLISHED BY A&G KOUZALI LAW OFFICE ON 26^TH MAY 2010.

Review by A&G Kouzali Lawyers in Cyprus

For Cyprus Lawyers Title Deeds have been an ongoing battle. Title Deeds in Cyprus have been the topic of controversial discussion more and more of late.  Although, the government is taking steps to help solve this issue within a certain amount of time, Cyprus Property Investors are not happy and are not prepared to wait for this belated course of action.  As a result, 24 investors who have yet to receive their Cyprus Title Deeds are proceeding with a civil court case at the High Court in London, against several Cyprus Developers and Lawyers.

There have been many problems as to why Title Deeds have not been issued and in some cases this is down to the Cyprus Developers and the Cyprus Lawyers.  However, the applicants who are of British, Cypriot and other nationalities want this dilemma changed to prevent future buyers experiencing the same problem.   They are also proceeding with the civil case in the hope that the developers will be forced to issue the Title Deeds.

Compensation is being sought for buyers who have incurred losses and for their properties to be given back to them.  It is reported that these civil cases will also be addressed in the Cypriot Courts and could even go even further and taken to the European Court of Human Rights. 

Depending on the outcome it could be a rough and expensive road ahead for Developers and Lawyers in Cyprus who have not performed there due diligence regarding Title deeds.

We at A&G Kouzali Law Office have continuously been fighting for recognition of this problem and striving for a solution to be found.  We sent letters to the Minister of interior, and spoke with him on many occasions about the Title Deed problem, of which resulted in our Company Director Mr Giovannis Kouzalis attending a meeting with the Minister at his office in Nicosia.  

On conclusion of the meeting it was evident that the Minister was doing all in his power to rectify this issue and was confident that the new changes would endeavour to bring a solution to this litigious affair.  At this stage the political parties in Cyprus are about to approve all legislations proposed by the minister.  We do urge clients to contact their Cyprus MP’s and request their party to approve the new legislation as a matter of urgency.

Visit us at www.lawcyprus.org PUBLISHED BY A&G KOUZALIS LAW OFFICE ON 22^ND NOVEMBER 2009.

PRESS RELEASE July 26^th, 2009

ΜINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR  

The Ministry of Interior considers it necessary to announce the following concerning some comments that were allegedly made by the Minister in an announcement during a conference held on the 20^th of June.  Specifically, the Minister allegedly declared that the possibility of small businesses going bankrupt is of no concern to the Government, since that will caution developers to be more careful during business and when investing.

(a)   The Minister has never mentioned anything even remotely pointing to the above unfortunate statement, and could not have done so, given that he very well knows the importance of small and middle businesses in the field of construction and development. These businesses have an important function in the field of land and housing market, forwarding competition as part of a healthy economy, providing work places, and influencing various other specialized businesses of the specific field.

(b)   Apparently, some of the Minister’s  answers to questions were misinterpreted. The Minister, when asked on the possibility of the government’ s intervention in case of  mortage on a property, in order to safeguard the rights of buyers, and to provide a guarantee by the government itself to the buyers, stated that as in any state, the government does not intervene in private contracts and agreements between free parties (between the seller and the buyer), neither before the signing of the deal or agreement, nor afterwards, to safeguard any of the parties.

(c)   The Ministry of Interior wishes to inform the public that the Ministry is not only studying a new legislation, for a comprehensive amendment of three different laws concerning property registration and building permission procedures, but is also completing the amendment of a fourth law; all four legislative amendments will remedy and provide feasible answers to a number of problems that many buyers in Cyprus have been facing when dealing with matters concerning property and permit procedures.  The amendments will be actually a significant reform of the planning system and will largely improve the system of issuing immovable property titles, providing solutions to a lot of the problems of the present system.

(d)   The Ministry of Interior wishes to once again advise every future buyer of immovable property, whether a buyer of a part of or of a whole building (whether it be an apartment, a single detached house or a house in a housing complex), to go forward in agreements to acquire immovable property with caution, and after carefully examining the content of the agreement, the guarantees given by the seller for the issuing of the title for the immovable property in a defined period of time, the measures obliging the seller to deliver what has been agreed, whether the property has a planning and building permit etc., with the advice of relevant professionals (a lawyer or an architect). As stated before, it is not possible nor desirable that the Government take on any responsibility as to any of the agreements made between a seller and a buyer, to the benefit of any of the parties concerned.

MINISTRY OF INTERIOR

July 26^th, 2009