Difficulty getting Title deeds

Daft question time again... 😁

Why don't/didn't they simply make it illegal/impossible to sell a new (or resale) house without it already haven all necessary paperwork?

Jim

Cyprus..... People bought off plan expecting deeds but developers didn't finish developments and did a runner owing millions to banks .. they got loan after loan on the strength of developments that got built and never finished ..until those developments get finished they don't  get signed off and those deeds don't and cannot get issued to purchaser....

It doesn't mean you can't buy without deeds .. you can but how that impacts on resale values and the valuations by land registry for title transfers I really don't know ... Too much of a risk in my view

You cannot get title deeds, including the house, until the house is built. For a new build that makes the deeds impossible because the buyer wants to have input into the house, and some builders will not start the build until they have a buyer.

Ah... Cyprus... and the perennial issue of title deeds. Probably they are the worst country in the EU on this issue! And that's Cyprus Cyprus. Start looking at TRNC, and that's a whole other cam o' worms. And off-plan contracts... or developers with debts... the other two cans o' more worms.

I have found that the low-tech notary system used by much of the EU is a delight in comparison. You go to the notary, and buyer and seller simultaneously sign the purchase/transfer document. A few days to a couple of weeks later, the notary gives you the official certified copy which demonstrates your ownership.

Some then have an extra electronic step where the notarized transfers get fed into the land registry system... and a month or two later, you can see your property online and get an official title document.

Cyprus seems to have been very creative by taking the British system instead... and then giving it a few tweaks so that it barely functions.

Sorry for anyone caught up with this, sometimes it's not the best experience!

Yes I agree Malta s system is very much easier  with notaries in use.. but my knowledge is that its easier there as a maltese but foreigners have a different experience...

Yes, you're quite right, Toon... sometimes notaries can be a bit corruptible... and then the system can be abused. Fortunately, most countries have been tightening things up so that this is less likely to happen. Or, even without the notary being corrupt per se, devious property agents (or sellers) can bring bad contracts, or contracts for bad (improper ownership, etc.) properties, to be signed by unsuspecting foreigners. I suppose every system has its weaknesses.

This article may be of interest

The acquisition of a Title Deed is usually simple and straightforward, however, at times it can also involve a very complex and specialised process which understandably is not always very clear to the average person.

Nevertheless, a Title Deed is a very important legal document which is used as evidence to prove ownership of immovable property, such as a home or a plot of land. With regards to immovable property, the Department of Lands and Surveys in the Republic of Cyprus is the only public department in Cyprus that is involved with the rights related to immovable property and a Title Deed needs to be officially registered with this Department.

A Title Deed becomes relevant in the immovable property buying process (whether this involves a home or land), for the transfer of absolute ownership from the seller to the purchaser.

Checking a Title Deed
A lawyer will check the Title Deed to make certain that the seller has the right to sell the property. For example, if a property is owned by a minor (under 18 years of age), a court order has to be obtained to sell the property. The Title Deed also contains important information such as, if any other person has an interest or share in the property, the boundaries of the property, rights of way through the property, including its location, registration number and if there are any restrictions which apply to the Title Deed.

It is important to note that Title Deeds exist for all immovable properties in the Republic of Cyprus. If purchasing an entire property with an existing Title Deed, the title can easily be transferred from the seller into the purchaser’s name, when being represented by a lawyer.

The lawyer will be able to assist in making certain that all of the immovable property taxes, municipality taxes and any income or capital gains taxes have been paid and the relevant Tax Clearance Certificates have been issued. The lawyer will also assist in paying and obtaining all receipts of settlement for all electricity and water bills, including local taxes due to the authorities, as well as the payment of any communal fees up to the date of delivery of the property.

The contracts will then need to be stamped by the Tax Authorities. In addition, so as to follow the correct process the seller needs to declare that there have not been any additions or alterations to the property which affect the issue of the permit. The transfer of the Title Deeds will be undertaken by the Department of Lands and Surveys either by the seller and purchaser in person or their authorised representative that has been granted a Power of Attorney.

Transfer of ownership (at completion)
The transfer of ownership will be made to the purchaser following the complete payment of the purchase price of the property, including payment of the transfer fees and stamp duties which are calculated by the Department of Land and Surveys, according to the value of the property on the date of transfer of the property.

The issue procedures become complicated when, for example, there are any legal obligations, mortgages, encumbrances and/or burdens on the property, including in some cases where there are structural contraventions which do not comply with the relevant permits and licences.

The Title Deed transfer/issuing process depends on each individual case and whether all of the relevant regulations have been adhered to, the relevant permits and licences have been obtained, as well as all the taxes, encumbrances and charges have been paid, including the property transfer fees and stamp duties to the Department of Lands and Surveys.

With the construction of new building project complexes, whether these are apartments or clusters of homes, the first application required is the permit for the division of the land.  The construction of new projects must then be completed in accordance with the planning and building permits.

Building project complexes, however, may also require, for example, inspections on fire safety regulations from the Fire Department as well as the local municipality/authorities for the issue of the relevant licences. If an operational communal pool has been built as part of the complex, a swimming pool licence will be required.

If all goes well and all of the inspections have been successfully completed with the necessary licences obtained and fees paid, a certificate of completion is filed with the Department of Urban Planning and Housing. At the same time, a submission is made for the separation of each individual unit. If approved, an application is made with the Department of Lands and Surveys for the separate issue of the Title Deeds.

The Department of Lands and Surveys will undertake its own investigations and examinations of the building project and it will begin the process for issuing of the separate Title Deeds for each individual property. On completion of the process, the purchaser will need to pay the transfer fees and stamp duties and within a few months of completion, the Title Deeds will be issued thereby securing the ownership of the property to the purchaser.

Trapped buyers
The problem of ‘Trapped Property Buyers‘ arose from purchasers who had complied with their contractual and financial obligations to the seller and had also deposited their contract with the District Land Office by 31/12/2014. If the contract had not been deposited by this date, a Court application would need to be made to obtain an Order for ‘Specific Performance‘, and to deposit the contract.

The Trapped Buyers issue is very intricate and complex since it encompasses the involvement of many parties such as the developers, the buyers themselves, the banks, central government and local government departments. Depending on each individual case and the cause of the source of the delay, these cases need to be assessed and examined separately to either mitigate the risk of delay or perhaps find a remedy to the problem and initiate the procedures necessary to receive the Title Deeds.

It is very important that property owners understand the reason that they are not in possession of their Title Deeds and they should undertake appropriate action to protect their property, by addressing the delays or difficulties with an experienced lawyer, so that a course of appropriate action can be undertaken to help resolve the obstacles hindering the issue of their Title Deeds.

source https://www.news.cyprus-property-buyers … d=00160190

The delay in issuing Title Deeds was one of the topics discussed at a recent meeting between the Deputy Director of the Department of Lands and Surveys and a delegation of businessmen representing the construction industry.

@Toon Hi Toon, I wonder if you could advise me, we are in the process of buying a house Leptos were the original developers, we have recently been advised that the house deeds have not been obtained by the previous owners (unbeknown to them!) they have the land deeds and registration no?? they thought the house deeds were with the bank? As advised by their solicitor. Our solicitor has advised we withhold 20k until the deeds are obtained, which could take 12-18 months. We have fallen in love with the house, although that said I don’t want to have a house I can no longer sell later on .. it’s a minefield and so different from a house sale here. Please advise it’s not that I don’t trust my solicitor I just would like a second opinion… our sellers are really gutted and feel dreadful over the whole situation as we were both hoping for a speedy sale this will be our only home as we are relocating from Uk

To be fair Leptos along with Aristo are two of the better developers..... Title deeds do indeed take time if the sellers dont already have them.. I know this is easy for me to say and doesn't help you.but it's always best to see the deeds before committing to anything ... If one cannot see the whole deed then walking away is the only thing to do otherwise you are taking a big risk....

I cannot really legally advise you but I do feel.that for me if I was in this position then I wouldn't want to be in it .... There is no guarantee that the deeds will be issued...I'd ask for details of all searches to date for any and all potential encumbrances such as loans taken out which may not have been settled,  and developments not having been completed according to approved plans, land borders and sq meterage being different etc.. these things have happened here for many years and as such those buyers are trapped.. there is today a article in the Cyprus mail.about enclaved buyers trapped in similar minefields of the sort you describe ...... Caveat emptor

It is indeed a minefield and not one I would relish being in....

I don't know your lawyer he may well have full confidence in the deeds being issued but I'd be asking the questions as to why they havent ever been issued as there is always a reason for that ...sometimes developers or builders or owners don't complete a building so as to avoid taxes until completion..... But of course it may just be an oversight and completely innocent

All i can say is think long and hard and ask all the awkward questions .... It's your hard earned at risk...... Good luck Shazza

Just to let you know that some friends of ours who have lived here for a long long time and were caught in the "trap" and never had deeds issued for developer related reasons like thousands of others and they applied for them over two years ago and have just this week been informed their deeds are ready to be collected

Once again good luck

@Toon thank you so much for your kind reply it is very much appreciated.Glad to hear your friends finally got their deeds.

You are welcome and we hope you have a similarly good outcome

@Toon HI Toon- can you give any advice as to the process they went through to obtaiin their deeds? My mother is in a similar situation with her apartment in Paphos. Thanks, Stu

My friends were part of a group of trapped buyers who engaged a firm of lawyers who did all the work for them..... They simply had to provide them with any and all source documents agreements etc .....

I will try to find out who they used but I guess that any good lawyer should be able to deal with it..  however another friend of mine is in a similar position but as an individual and he has had many problems and delay after delay due to what I would suggest is lazyness on the law firms part.

The company they used was Mantis in Paphos which is Penelope and Michael. Took about 8 months and done under the trapped buyers scheme.

https://mantislaw.com/

Easy to find as they are behind the court building. Huge sign on building roof saying Penelope's palace.

I suggest a call to them and get the details of how to proceed

Good luck

They visited Mantis around 8 months ago. Had to take the contract of sale from developer. their lawyers took them from the office to the court building where they showed their passports and got a stamp on the paperwork. Didn't need to go back to their lawyers again. They paid him about 5 months ago and about 6weeks ago they got an email saying the deeds were being read in court and if all ok would be issued with them within 4 weeks. Yesterday they got an email from them with attached separate deeds and a refund of €250 which was very decent of them being honest. So in total cost them just under €3000.

Latest news

Deputies on Wednesday were discussing a mechanism aimed at protecting – and preventing – trapped buyers, after Finance Minister Constantinos Petrides submitted a bill to the House legal committee.

The aim is to avoid the situation whereby thousands of homeowners were left without their title deeds despite paying for their properties in full because the building developers had mortgages on the properties.

The Law on the Sale of Real Estate 2022 he submitted for discussion aims to ensure the transfer of any property will be executed immediately and as soon as the buyer fulfills their contractual obligations.

“The aim is to protect buyers so that the phenomenon of trapped buyers disappears before it even occurs,” Petrides said.

It has a threefold impact by ensuring the project will be completed, the mortgage will be settled and there will be no issues for buyers to obtain a title for their property, he added.

The bill seeks to ensure new buyers have the legal security that when they fulfil their contractual obligations, the transfer of the property will take place, without obstacles, he added.

Specifically, if the project a developer is working on is mortgaged, the developer will be required to inform the buyer. Depending on the development of the project, the full amount of the sale must be deposited to the bank and the bank will confirm that the project has been completed.

The bank will also provide a written confirmation to the property buyer that by depositing the full amount, the mortgage will be cleared.

Should the bank default on its commitment, the head of the land registry will clear the property of the mortgage.

“This is the only way to ensure buyers’ money will go for the property the buyer is paying for and we will never again see half-finished projects like we did before, with buyers falling victim,” Petrides said.

The procedure follows a central bank of Cyprus directive and is compliant with legislation other countries follow, he added.

In 2015, parliament passed a law aimed at helping thousands of owners who had paid for their properties in full but had not been issued with their title deeds because the developers had their own mortgages on the properties.

The head of the land registry had been granted the authority to exempt, eliminate, transfer and cancel mortgages and or other encumbrances, depending on the case and under certain conditions, as the state sought to sort out the title deed mess.

In July 2018 banks and the legislature struck a gentlemen’s agreement aiming to resolve the matter. In exchange for MPs approving legislation making it easier for banks to collect their dues, the banks association agreed not to raise any objections over the issue of buyers trapped without title deeds as long as the transaction was done in good faith.

The protection afforded to ‘trapped’ property buyers was last year extended until the end of 2022.

Excellent news 👍

Jim

More on title deeds difficulties

The thousands of buildings suffering from planning infringements that cannot be resolved should probably be demolished, as this is the only solution according to Interior Minister Nicos Nouris.

Speaking at the House Finance Committee on Monday reported on the situation regarding the backlog of Title Deeds.

Back in 2015 around 45,000 Title Deed applications were waiting to be approved. Since then, some 30,000 deeds had been issued, but as many as 15,000 applications were still waiting for approval.

Mr Nouris noted that “However, a large number of these buildings cannot be granted a Title Deed (because of planning infringements) and perhaps the only remedy would be their demolition.”

When the minister spoke at the Land Development Conference in September 2021 he announced that the Title Deed backlog had been reduced to 19,190 adding that 8,000 deeds will be issued in 2022 without problems and a further 6,500 will be issued by the end of 2022 with notes.

However, it seems that there are a large number of buildings that cannot even be issued Title Deeds with notes and should therefore be demolished.

The underlying cause of planning infringements is the total lack of independent inspections of properties while they’re under construction. Independent inspections only take place after the developer advises the planning authority after the company’s supervising engineer/architect signs off the building(s) as complete.

What is needed to help avoid planning infringements is independent inspections at key stages of construction. These would highlight potential problems allowing developers to correct them before continuing work. Failure to resolve any problems should be dealt with severely.

There are numerous rogues and charlatans in the building industry who build without having first received the required permits and permissions. Others who have received the required permits are known to ignore them and build whatever they like.

Given the current situation with no independent inspections as construction takes place, it’s no wonder that the only solution available currently is for a ‘large number of buildings’ to be demolished.

But what redress will be available to those who have bought these properties and who may have been living in them for many years?