Purchasing a property in Cyprus

I believe mortgages are much harder to get here now  and would need a deposit of at least 30%. Anyone can buy here there is a restriction for non EU nationals and that is you can only buy one property each whereas an EU national can buy as many as they wish ..

Plus being British and thus a non EU national it is currently taking 5-6 months  (some are still waiting after 9+ months) to get council of ministers approval to buy,,, the sellers tax clearance can also take an inordinate amount of time..  And you do sign a declaration to the effect that you will be living in it as a main home or holiday home  and it's not for rental income. As an EU national that stumbling block goes away...  If considering a new build property be aware that they are subject to only 5% vat but moves have been made to catch those who have had that benefit and are not living in it but are renting out ..they will be charged the extra 14%.

My advice would be to go get your Irish passport if you can prove Irish ties back to a maximum of grandparent... Making residency application much easier and travel in an out of Cyprus easier too without 90/180 restrictions.

As with many things here there is usually a way to get things done if you know the right people in the right places

Good luck

If you got round all of that you will need a licence to short term let with plans of the building,safety equipment, inspections etc ..not expensive but without it you cannot legally rent out short term lets without the registration number being present on any advert whether that be in faceache or any of the letting platforms such as Airbnb VRBO, Booking dot com etc as the authorities are hot on that mainly due to the strong influence of the hotels lobby.

I would recommend you buy a buy to let in the UK then use the money from that to rent something when you visit Cyprus, I have some rental properties in Cyprus and you really need to know what you are doing and live here full time to keep a check on them. Graham

@graham6

I agree..... it can be a minefield if you are not here to oversee things .... Unless of course one engages a good property management company to look after the usual issues that holidaymakers come across  then repairs cleaning changeovers etc ...  All of which needs to be paid for

There are other EU countries were you can purchase property with less hoops to jump through.

But with any EU country, as Toon says, if you can get an Irish passport. It might be a pain getting it, but in the long run it will be worth it.

Dito all the above. Have a look to see if there are any property's for sale that are already a short term let. I recommend contacting the estate agents by phone (email does not get their attention) or in person if you come over and ask them to let you have any property that is short term already. This will easy the short term regs but you will still need to jump thru the hoops mention for purchase unless you are EU. Come over for a week and go to the agents is probably best and then if they have any you can view immediately. Property's can get snapped up quickly so you need to strike while the iron is hot lol Do the homework on the mortgages as well so you have an idea how you will fund this purchase. Keep in mind that things work very slowly here :-/  If you can get the money by re-financing your current property that would be a good option. Int rates in Cyprus might be slightly lower than the UK but still an option. If you need to open a Cyprus bank account allow 6 weeks and several face to face meetings. There will be a lot of documents required and again best done when you are here. Make sure that the house, bank account etc. are in joint names as well.  Good luck and lets hope your plans for retirement are fruitful

@Toon-- seriously are these now the times frames!!! Are'nt we glad!!!. Could never go through this jungle now. Take care.

@LR9891 Suggest you try the Eastern side of the island instead of the jungle on the West. Maybe you might get things done a little bit easier and faster.

    @Toon-- seriously are these now the times frames!!! Are'nt we glad!!!. Could never go through this jungle now. Take care.
   

    -@charles533

Yes, this is because of Brexit, the joys of not being an EU citizen. Its even worse in other countries but less so in some.

@charles533

100% for sure .  So glad we did it 10 years ago and took PR 5 years ago . How things change eh . We wouldn't pass the criteria now.

Yes the timeframes are highly variable ..we have our biometric card application next week so will report back on that. I believe that it's quick but actually getting the card is taking a long time anywhere between 3 months and a year.  Apparently friends of mine picked theirs up  last week having waited months for them ..they were stored in a box... a box that was piled high with new cards......  So I suggest anyone waiting....to go and ask for.theirs

@Toon the only thing left to do. Problem is that my Mayor friend is no longer the Mayor-- idiot has gone and become a MEP. So have no one to nudge for me but let me see what happens. will get around to applying one of these days. Take care

Where was the box of cards Paphos? Been waiting for mine for 18 , months

    Where was the box of cards Paphos? Been waiting for mine for 18 , months
   

    -@phildraper

Go in and ask, when passing by maybe?

@phildraper

Yes Paphos office

OK thanks will pop in.

I remember the same thing with a driving licence renewal. I visited after a long wait and was told not back yet. After my insisting she reluctantly looked in her folder containing maybe 100 and YES! there it was.