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Renting property in Cyprus

Last activity 30 April 2021 by Toon

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donnab72

Hi. I’m new to the group, I only joined last night.
I’m looking for helpful tips/ advice on relocating to Cyprus from the U.K.
Our plan is to eventually buy a property but agree it would be sensible to rent for 12 months first.
We are a family of three. Our boy is 10 so we will be looking at putting him in international school.
Can I have peoples advice on schools, locations etc please.
Also we’d  ideally like to rent a villa/ house with a private pool and at least 3 bedrooms. How much should we be looking at pcm?
Any help would be very much appreciated. TIA

Toon

Much depends on where you want To be whether you will work need transport and what you expect to do socially

Location is important in terms of schooling and that in itself impacts on house rent and purchases

Here in paphos you can expect to pay between 750 and 1300 euros per month for what you indicated

Toon

Check out buy and sell web site also marketplace within Facebook and bazaraki for an idea of rents and prices

donnab72

Thanks for your response Toon.
Schooling will  be the most important to us I think. We are both planning on taking a year out from working and depending on how well  living in Cyprus works out for us will depend on if we take the leap and jump in with both feet. In which case we would be looking at living off the rental incomes we have here in the U.K.
It’s all early stages yet and just a dream at this moment in time as we are both committed to our work here in the U.K. until at least early 2022.

jakemurphy

Another good Auctioneer who have properties all over the Island, are www.buyhome.com I used them a few times and found them professional and honest.

Regarding the schools , my own kids are long gone from the nest, but I know a lot of people who have come to Cyprus from Ireland and UK and they faced this issue about schools. The general feedback that they give me is that the standard of education in Cyprus is excellent at all levels. Friends of mine who came for two years sent their three kids to the local Greek speaking school and they were very pleased with the outcome, and their kids who were all in primary school learnt a lot both academically and in their personal development. Another option is to send them to English speaking schools which I gather are fee paying up to €5000 per year, and I know parents whose kids went to these schools. Overall I heard more positive feedback from the parents whose kids went to the local school as opposed to the fee paying ones. Kids are very adaptable and the teachers generally help them to settle in to their new environment.

donnab72

Thank you so much for this information, it’s very useful.
We’ve only been looking at fee paying schools so far. Our youngest will be approaching 11 by the time we move, our eldest two 22 & 19 want to remain in the U.K.
We’ve been looking at paphos side of the island but are not entirely sure that would be the best area for us yet. I was hoping for some feedback on different areas from this site.
We don’t want to live in the middle of a tourist area but don’t want to be to far from everything either 🤷‍♀️
Do you know if schooling is better in certain areas or would you say they all have the same standards?
I will definitely take a look at the link you post, thanks again.

Toon

Jake .... That is also my experience of those who’s kids went to state schools rather than private fee paying schools...

jakemurphy

Hi Donna

Im not to familiar with Paphos as i have just visited for weekends, but i lived in Nicosia for a while and am presently ensconced in larnaka now for a few years.

If you want u can pm me and ill send u what i know.

shotokan101
jakemurphy wrote:

Hi Donna

Im not to familiar with Paphos as i have just visited for weekends, but i lived in Nicosia for a while and am presently ensconced in larnaka now for a few years.

If you want u can pm me and ill send u what i know.


Post here Jake for the benefit of us other members. 🙂

Jim

jakemurphy

As I said I'm not overly familiar with Paphos or Limassol which is a much bigger city, as I have never lived there but in general any place you decide to live in, if its near the coast there will be  a lot of tourists around, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, as the tourists bring a good vibe to the place.

As has been said before, if you are thinking of moving here permanently I would rent first rather than buying, to get a feel for the place. Property transactions here can be tricky as in some places there are issues regarding title deeds, so buyer beware.  We live now for the last few years in Larnaca...close to the town centre and 5 minutes to beach. Initially we lived for 1 year in Nicosia which is the capital, and is a busy enough spot, with crazy driver with absolutely no patience. Nicosia while it has its charms and a lot of history is essentially a business and commercial city, and it wasn't really for us to settle permanently, as its to far to the sea. Also rents and properties are generally more expensive in Nicosia. We initially rented an apartment on a month to month basis until we found a more suitable home to rent.

When we moved to Larnaca, again we rented on a month to month basis until we found a very nice 2 bed apartment in a nice complex for €500 a month. about two years ago we started looking to buy a place and found a very nice house near the centre and near the beach.

I found that buying big products like a house or a car, the Cypriots are hard to deal with, its not like back home where you can haggle and make a low ball offer and maybe meet them in the middle, they don't give much leeway on price, which doesn't make sense to me. I offered 1 builder €160,000 house for a 4 bedroomed new house outside the city in a great location, and the asking price was €170,000 he wouldn't budge, it was 170 or nothing, that was 4 years ago, and I pass the houses regularly and they are unfinished unsold and derelict.

Similarly when buying a car, I was buying a brand new golf two years ago from a VW main dealer in Larnaka, usually in Ireland you can expect up to 10% discount off a new car when paying cash, but here they will let you walk out the door, rather than give a decent discount, maybe they will give you about €500 discount max. Yes the price is the price, however the price of new cars here are much cheaper than at home, so there is good value, however I found the price of oldish second hand cars to be pretty expensive. Car tax is cheap maybe €50 per year, car insurance about €500 per annum.

The general cost of living isn't any cheaper than at home in my opinion, groceries and clothes are about the same price as at home, if not even dearer, but eating out and beer and wine are cheap, and there are excellent restaurants. Electricity and Internet is about the same as at home, and the service is good.

I find the people to be easy going and generally friendly, even more friendly if they think you will buy something from them. There isn't really a big pub culture here more a coffee shop culture, peoples Saturday nights are spent chatting in one of the thousands of coffee shops everywhere.

Needless to say the weather is beautiful, with July and August the hottest, actually a bit to hot if I'm honest, September and October are the nicest months for me, you wont survive over here without air conditioning in your home and your car. Also the winters can be quite cold and the insulation in the homes is usually non existent.

We love the Larnaka area, where there is a nice laid back vibe and a good mix of tourists integrating with the locals, and plenty of ex-pats around. The town has many attractions and a good history, and its a nice laid back place to live. All the regular high street supermarkets and clothing outlets are here as is most European countries.

Finally if your missing home, there are many expats and British and Irish pubs everywhere, with Karaoke's and pub quizzes, if that's your thing, Incidentally a pint of Carlsberg in my local is €1.80. There are also lots of greasy spoons where you can get your full English every morning and add to your cholesterol levels.

shotokan101

Very useful Jake - any major differences you notice off-season?

Jim

jakemurphy

Yes its naturally quieter as most of the tourists have left, but there is still plenty of life about the place, and always a bit of a buzz. A lot of expats live here all year round and quite a few have retired out to here. Some of the hotels close for a few months during the winter, but most businesses stay open. The one thing I miss about home, is Christmas, its just not the same feeling and atmosphere if its not freezing outside, but that's just a personal thing.

Easter is the big thing here, this weekend actually, its a big holiday here, for the Greek Orthodox church, Pre Covid they hold candle light processions everywhere, and families meet up, and its a bigger deal here than Christmas.

donnab72

Wow
Very useful information Jake, might have to read it twice to take it all in. Thank you so much for taking the time to write this.

donnab72

Nothing comes up Jake when I try the link.

Toon

Easter is massive and far bigger than Christmas Christmas here is almost a none event and I agree with Jake and similarly in paphos district

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