Cyprus Property News attracted more than three quarters of a million visitors this year and, as we approach Christmas, here are the top 10 articles and news reports that have attracted the most interest from their readers, over the past twelve months.
CPN top 10 news stories and articles of 2024 in reverse order:
Number 10: Faster Title Deeds issuance announced – Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou, who was speaking at a seminar spoke of “significant improvements” in the examination and issuance of property Title Deeds, which, according to him, will help reducing the average processing time to three months from the previous one to three years.
Number 9: Criminal cases filed against illegal real estate agents – The Cyprus Real Estate Agents Registration Council announced that it had filed 167 criminal cases against illegal estate agents. Its president, Marinos Kineyirou, said that “Our commitment to combat illegal real estate brokerage is ongoing, utilizing all available legal means. We are determined to address the issue of illegality, which profoundly affects the livelihoods of licensed real estate agents.”
Number 8: Trapped buyers law ruled unconstitutional – The law that enabled those who had bought property unaware that it had been used as collateral for a mortgage and/or had encumbrances lodged against it to get their Title Deeds was ruled unconstitutional unanimously by the Appeals Court. The Trapped Buyers law was suspended with immediate effect.
Number 7: Solutions prepared for trapped buyers – Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou said that around 50 per cent of Trapped Buyers cases could be resolved in a manner which is constitutionally sound and has the green light from the legal service. He said there are 9,497 trapped buyers’ applications, of which 5,417 have no title deed, that will remain pending until authorities can figure out whether one can be issued or not. We await developments and what is going to happen to the 50% that cannot be resolved.
Number 6: New Urban Amnesty Plan approved – Although not an amnesty in the true sense of true sense of the word (pardon), this allows people to pay compensation to legalize small-scale planning infringements. Among other things, these include covering verandas and balconies and building too close to the property’s boundary.
Number 5: The ripple effect of Limassol’s real estate – An article explaining how once an area becomes desirable, real estate prices rise – and this spreads to adjacent areas, which also become more desirable and prices increase,
Number 4: Victim of the title deeds nightmare – One of many thousands of people who cannot get their Title Deed due to severe planning irregularities and other issues. (The so-called ‘Urban Amnesty’ will be of no use to him as its scope is very limited.)
The solution to this gross injustice is for the planning authority to impose fines on the ‘criminal’ (i.e. the developer responsible for the planning infringements) sufficient to pay for the remedial work required to issue a clean ‘Title Deed’, plus a further amount to dissuade the ‘crook’ from repeating his misdemeanours.
The top 3 of CPN top 10 stories and articles
It’s not surprising that the top three stories in their top 10 relate to the most important issues facing the property market: the fate of the Trapped Buyers, the new jointly-owned building bill and the associated issue of their swimming pools.
Number 3: Impact of the recent court’s ruling on “Trapped Buyers” in Cyprus – The Appeal Court ruling and the decision of the authorities to stop reviewing existing applications and accepting new applications, pose a significant setback for trapped buyers in Cyprus. Parliament needs to act swiftly to address these issues and find a fair solution that protects both buyers and creditors.
Number 2: Cyprus’ antediluvian swimming pool laws set to change – Although the planned new law does away with the need for lifeguards on complexes comprising less than five residential units, it does absolutely nothing for larger complexes. Other EU counties have introduced EU Standard 14288-2 Swimming pools – Part 2: Safety requirements for operation, but for reasons best known to themselves, Cyprus wants to adopt a ‘home-grown’ solution.
Number 1: What’s in the new jointly-owned buildings bill in parliament? – Considering CPN published this article three weeks ago, the amount of interest shown by their readers has been immense. Some of the changes being discussed by MPs include changes to the calculation of communal fees, owners participating in general meetings using sound, video and audio systems and may vote using those systems, members of the management committee must be owners – and a separate service will be established to oversee compliance with the law.
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