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Archive for the ‘Cyprus Title Deeds’ Category

Lawyers in Cyprus – Review – Cyprus Title Deed Investigation – 2nd November 2010.

The Title Deed issue in Cyprus has been quiet of late! Maybe this is because we are waiting for the government to solve the new Title Deed Legislation or maybe it is because all the relevant property officials are stepping up their acts in order to keep publicity to a minimum.

Whatever the reason this may soon change as the Vice President of Cyprus has applied to the European Union asking them to intervene in the Cyprus Title Deed problem.

The Vice President would like members of the European Commission to preside over a meeting ‘so to speak’ in order to hear all the facts and investigate the Title Deed issue.

Under an EU directive that relates to consumer protection against commercial practices within the EU, of which incorporates immovable property, the European Union has every right to intervene.

In simple terms many properties in Cyprus are being sold to consumers by property professionals, with the full knowledge that there are still loans outstanding against the said properties potential putting investors at risk and not being able to acquire Title Deeds to their investment.

Under the EU Directive this could be seen as ‘misrepresentation’ and there fore in breach of EU laws.  It is not clear yet if the EU will intervene and conduct an investigation although we actually hope that this does prevail.

The local government do not seem capable of correcting this issue themselves so maybe a higher power will do the world of good.  It appears we really are getting no where with the Title Deed problem, parliament have not as yet passed any legislation even though this was a matter of urgency, so bringing in the EU to get to the bottom of it all we feel will only do good and also put further pressure on the Cypriot government.

We ourselves will continue to make the public aware of the dangers and safety procedures for buying a Cyprus property and continue to push the fact that due diligence must be performed before any monies are handed over.

We will continue to urge potential investors to appoint a Cypriot Lawyer before taking any steps in to their potential investment and we will continue the fight for Title Deed Reform as well as helping existing investors.

PUBLISHED BY A&G KOUZALI LAW OFFICE ON 2ND NOVEMBER 2010 http://www.lawcyprus.org/

Legal Consultants in Paralimni – Review – Eco-friendly progress – Completed on 24^th August 2010 – Paralimni Legal Consultants.

With many issues going on in Cyprus today we have to wonder if the issue of Eco-logical and Carbon Emissions are being put on a back burner.

We have heard nothing from the government of late, on how the country of Cyprus are planning on combating the EU sanctions and deadlines for the reduction of Carbon Emissions and bring us up to Eco-logical standards.

Cyprus has already been fines by the EU for lack of effort (in simple terms), and no schemes have been announced for 2010, so where are we with this situation?

We as locals are doing in recycling and fitting sustainable products where possible and we have definitely been paying higher electric bills which we assume is to pay off the fines, but what are the government doing?

This issue has to be made priority if we want to continue living in a safe environment.  Temperatures are rising year on year and water is increasingly evaporating and becoming scarcer.  How much more is to become evident before the government take drastic steps?

We have read reports in the news that a new association ‘Cyprus Association of Energy Saving Enterprises’ has been created to promote and lobby energy saving polices.  This came after the government announced they had no energy saving plans for 2010.

The association will offer membership to businesses and the public and hold seminars advising on the importance of saving energy, legal advice, sustainable products, energy saving strategies and also energy saving funds available to claim.

The association will also lobby for the government to look at energy saving issues and strategies on a more pressing level.

Very true we have nothing to lose with this new creation and while lobby groups can often stir up public awareness is it really enough to get the government to sit up and do something.

We understand there are pressing issues in Cyprus right now, with the countries deficit and Cyprus Title Deed Reform etc, but they will not matter if we do not have a planet left because of our neglect.  Good luck to the Cyprus Association of Energy Saving Enterprises.

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

Cyprus Property Lawyers – Studies – Cooling off Period – Completed 17th August 2010 – Lawyers in Cyprus.

Included in the job description of overseas property agents and developers consists of luring and enticing potential buyers to get their properties sold.

However, there have been many cases in many different countries that the overseas investors, especially first time buyers of freehold overseas properties, have been misled, uniformed and basically blinded by many promises made by the agents or developer.  And in many of these cases what they thought they were buying was actually something entirely different. In some cases investors have even felt pressured to sign agreements or put down deposits.

Certain lobby group are now fighting for new legislation to be passed that offers overseas buyers a ‘cooling off time limit’ of which gives them time to back out the sale with no penalties incurred.

Currently under EU legislation buyers of time share investments are already protected with a ’7 days cooling off period’. If they are not satisfied with their investment within the 7 day period they have every right to pull out of the deal.

This could be seen as a good step for Cyprus and help restore confidence in our market after all the negative press.  However, developers and agents are not quite so enthused and are of the opinion it will delay any potential sales.  But then we could ask the question can the property market get any slower?  And at this point should we not be doing all we can to help bring back the overseas investors?

It is time for a change in these uncertain times and investors not only want more for their money they want safe assurance their money is protected.

Whether these lobby groups will succeed in their fight and whether it will be a good step for the Cyprus property market is yet to be seen?

We would love to hear from our readers and your points of view on this topic or any other topic of your choice.

PUBLISHED BY A&G KOUZALI LAW OFFICE ON 17TH AUGUST 2010. http://www.lawcyprus.org/

Cyprus Title Deed Reform – A statement of truth and realities

Our firm has consistently fought for the Cyprus Title Deed Reform.  Not only do we represent an enormous quantity of clients but as Cypriots who also have properties without title deeds.  Being honest not only we worry, but we fear that our children will still have the same and even bigger problems regarding title deeds.  We believe that our fate is our hands.  We attempted to take some actions to support the title deed campaign. 3 years ago we held a seminar in Ayia Napa with Mr. Antony Loizou as main speaker, where we invited all parties involved: Bankers, Local Authorities, Planning Authority, District Office, Developers, Lawyers, Accountants and Agents.  It is fair to say that none of the representatives of the 3 Famagusta local authorities and the District office invited attended.  According to one of them “it was not our fault that there are no title deeds”. (This is the typical Cypriot attitude….its not my fault….its somebody else!  It’s never me…)  What I don’t understand though is why there are almost no title deeds in Ayia Napa,  it takes 8 – 10 years to get title deeds in Paralimni and only 2-4 in Dherynia!

We have even gone as far as to meet with the Interior Minister; Mr Neoclis Silikiotis, and present to him the problems of the current Title Deed procedure and at the same time ascertain how he could help the situation.   At the beginning, he was very negative with us as the ministry officials never presented him the letters we have been sending about the title deeds.  It was such a surprise when he complained about us attacking him personally…however, when he had the opportunity to listen to me on the phone and I requested him to check all letters my office had sent, he realised that our attempt was not against him…but to support him to finalise the bills, stating our disagreement and our thoughts and suggestions.  In my language this is constructive criticism.  This is something that we lack on this island.  The minister then immediately arranged a meeting where we even presented ways to control how the employees can do their work and how to monitor who does the work and who does not.  The meeting was very productive.  (We do feel that thought the minister is very eager to move things forward, we also feel that the governmental ‘machine’ and the governmental employees do not want him to do so.  Hope we are wrong but this is the feeling we get. The bureaucracy is so extended that it’s impossible to achieve any results if things do not change.)  The Minister promised late last year that the bills would be ready shortly.  The bill, according to the minister, was actually presented to the Parliament – after consultation with the political parties – for enactment just before summer holidays in 2010.

However, there are now delays on the Cyprus Title Deed Reform and according to the ministry; apparently the parliament intentionally did not check the bill before the summer holidays.  We can safely say we have not given up the fight and we did write to all members of Parliament in order to have the Title Deed Legislation passed more rapidly. At least we thought that we should write to them to get their views as to why the bills were not approved or to find out why they were postponed.  Well, being a Greek Cypriot I must admit I got…NO ANSWERS from our members of the parliament. We then wrote to the political parties and we only got an answer from DIKO – by phone confirming that they will do their best for the matter!  We also had a response from EDEK.  But nothing concrete.  We do feel that our MPs should at least show more interest to matters like that.  I am actually a bid disappointed by the MPs, as I feel they cannot realise how important this issue is.  Its not just about title deeds…its about our Republic. Its about the existence of our culture and civilisation.  On Friday I saw a good client who said that the only reason he didn’t buy property on the North is because he felt that Cyprus being an EU country is regulated and safe to invest.  Well….he doesn’t feel like that today and I couldn’t bring myself to tell him he was right.

It is very interesting to note that according to the minister, he received a lot of pressure from the political parties not to send the bills to the parliament.  It seems that the developers owe billions to the banks  – so it seems that certain sources are very right on that – and even if the bill is approved by the parliament then still the developers wont be able to pass title deeds to the purchasers.  Which of course gives no other reason to think that the land that innocent purchasers acquired properties is still charged by the banks for developers’ loans.  That seems to be unjustifiable!  This is something that both Mr. Silikiotis and Mr, Orphanides of the Central Bank of Cyprus should really investigate.  I know for fact that in many cases the banks, even when the developers paid in full their loans, did not remove the charges.  Later on when the developers made more loans and couldn’t pay…the new loans, the banks enacted the small letters on the back of their contracts stating that they can use the charges for their favour!  Well I hope that the bank can prove the contrary.

The latest property news concerning the UK pensioners Mr & Mrs H., who were forced to leave their Cypriot home due to the previous owner still having a mortgage on the property, has made us ever more determined to continue this battle.  We empathize with Mr & Mrs H. and we now demand that Parliament deal with this matter promptly and efficiently.  Our task is to do all we can to achieve full protection for all Cypriot Property Investors, local and non local.  We are in the European Union and this part of the EU belongs to the EU citizens and not to the very few…and not to the banks.

The Title Deed Issue has already created a vast number of potential investors for our island that will no longer invest in Cyprus and both the government and opposition should have been under pressure to tackle the issue. Are they really?  Or do they support the few developers that sponsor them?  Can we have an honest answer? Why was there such pressure to Mr. Silikiotis not to push the reform?  Can we at least have a response from the MP’s? This time we expect them to inform us of the true reasons for this delay! But most important…we expect our MP’s to push for the new bills to be passed.

It is fair to point out our position on the Legislation reform. Though we do push for the bills to be passed we do believe that they are not detailed enough.  We believe that the proposed bills will not solve the problem. However some action, any action is better than nothing. First of all we do believe that the 5 proposed bills should have been much stronger, much more precise and give solutions immediately. The Architects should have more power and more responsibilities as they have in other jurisdictions.  Secondly there should be a separation of the deeds:

1. The deeds that the buildings are already delivered – with or without problems,
2. The deeds for the properties that are now under construction,
3. The deeds for the properties that haven’t started yet.

That would create 3 categories and immediately separate the work and the rules for each category.

Join us next month for the second part of the story – suggestions/ latest news and our thoughts and views.  We will analyse why we disagree with the views of that learned friend that it’s not the fault of the Local Authorities.  We are all to blame.  It’s all our responsibility and if we don’t take our responsibilities and try to change the situation…then our children will suffer. Accepting responsibility is the way forward, solving the issue is our main task and we have to do something about it.

We also invite you to visit www.Lawcyprus.org to see certain EU and local directives law and regulation.

PUBLISHED BY A&G KOUZALI LAW OFFICE