iPhoneYouUp Cyprus Land Registry Services

Introduction

Cyprus maintains a land registry system in which all immovable property is registered. ‘Immovable Property’ is a term that relates to land, buildings, trees, plantations, rivers, wells and all rights relating to land and buildings.

Cyprus Property Title Deeds, which are also known as ‘Certificates of Registration of Immovable Property’, are formal documents that serve as evidence of property ownership. Each piece of immovable property has an associated Title Deed which contains information such as its registered owner, size, location and the Lands' Office reference.

‘Transfer of Ownership’ from the Vendor to the Purchaser is undertaken by a simple procedure through the Cyprus Land Registry Office, either by the buyer in person or by appointing a third party with power of attorney. The Transfer of Ownership requires a permit from the Council of Ministers for Non EU citizens.

Property Ownership in Cyprus

On its accession to the EU, Cyprus revised many of its laws that placed restrictions on property investment by citizens of other EU member states.

But to protect its sensitive property market, it agreed a five-year transitional period with the European Union preventing EU citizens who are not permanent residents of the island from owning secondary residences.

That transition period has now come to end and EU citizens are now allowed to own as much property as they wish. 

Non EU residents, wishing to purchase immovable property in Cyprus are restricted to the type and size of the property which they can purchase. In particular, Non EU citizens are given permission to buy only one apartment or one house or a building plot or land.

After the permission has been obtained and the property has been registered in the name of the purchaser, there are no other restrictions for foreigners who are the owners of immovable property in Cyprus. They may sell or dispose of the property as they wish.  A Non EU citizen owner of immovable property can sell it and buy another and as any bona fide repeat purchaser will be granted a subsequent permit.

Getting Your Title Deeds

A national of an EU member country is permitted to own as much ‘immovable property’ (a term that includes both land and property) as they wish.

Once the Title Deeds for the property they are buying become available, they are required to provide proof of their citizenship by taking their passport to the District Lands office when they pay the Property Transfer Fees.

Any buyer who has yet to receive the Title Deed to the property they purchased may apply for its Title Deed regardless of whether its Title Deed has been issued; the fact that there may be mortgage etc. preventing its transfer is immaterial. In cases where the title deed has yet to be issued, the applicant has the right to apply to the Department of Lands and Surveys for the compulsory acquisition of title according to the provisions of Part VI of the Immovable Property (Tenure, Registration and Valuation) Law, Cap. 224.

Once the following three provisions of the law have been satisfied:

- The property’s purchase price has been paid in full;
- A Title Deed for the property exists.
- The property buyer has fulfilled their contractual obligations regarding the payment of taxes.

The Department of Land Office (DLO) will send interested parties a notice advising them that it intends to transfer the property to the purchaser and requesting any objections they may have, giving them 45 days to respond.

Interested parties are those who have registered ‘encumbrances’ (claims) against the property in question who have the opportunity to object to the transfer and/or request the transfer of their encumbrance within the 45 day period.

Which Is Not Always Easy

Although obtaining Title Deeds to a Cypriot Property is in principle a relatively straightforwards process, delays and problems can and do arise.

So much so that following a visit to Cyprus in 2016, the so called Troika, the ECB (European Central Bank) and the EC (European Commission) have urged the island to accelerate the reform programme in a number of key areas including setting up a sustainable and efficient title deeds transfer system.

In particular, they pointed out that there is still considerable work to be done on what the EC refers to as “the currently dysfunctional Title Deeds issuance and transfer system” in its post-programme surveillance report on Cyprus.

One area of concern are the thousands of ‘trapped buyers’ who have paid for their property but cannot get their Title Deeds due to Developer debts.

The Cyprus Parliament in 2015 passed the 'hidden mortgage' law, which aimed to tackle this problem.
                
The situation is not helped by Local authorities, who are preventing the Land Registry from issuing Title Deeds to trapped buyers by refusing to issue Certificates of Approval for properties suffering from trivial planning infringements.
            
iPhoneYouUp can help clients, who face these and other problems relating to the acquisition of Title Deeds to their properties.

Citizenship	Residential or Commercial Property	Land
EU Residents	Unlimited Number of Residential or Commercial Properties	Unlimited Anount of Land
Non EU Residents	Only ONE Apartment or House	Only ONE Building Plot or Piece of Land up to 4014 sq.m. (equivalent to about three donums.)

Our Services

iPhoneYouUp can help its clients for a reasonable fee, obtain their Property's Title Deeds, through its extensive network of contacts in the appropriate Government Departments, as well as Developers, Land Agents and Lawyers.

We aim to provide a complete and comprehensive service geared towards overcoming any type of problem that is encountered when applying for and obtaining a Property's Title Deeds.


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A.T & P.E Homes (Cyprus) Ltd. is a Certified and Licensed Estate Agent Company: Registration No.: 808; License No.: 147/E.