Certificate of Final Approval

Do you have a problem getting your Title Deeds?
Esmeralda
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Joined: 29 Feb 2008 13:42

Certificate of Final Approval

Post by Esmeralda »

Firstly, may I say thanks for setting up this wonderful forum where we can get real advice on our problems.

I found this by accident when I was surfing around and was mystified by this Certificate of Final Approval - this was the first time I have ever heard of such a thing !

We bought our land from the developer about 3 years ago and he has subsequently built our house on the land. The deeds for the land are with the bank as security for the mortgage on the house.

we have been living in the house for 2 years now - apparently illegally because we don't have the Certificate of Final Approval.

Our plot of land was split in two - the house is now complete on the other side and the owners are living there.

Does this mean we can now apply for the title deeds? And how do we get a copy of this Certificate? Should we have a copy or does it go straight from the developer to the land registry?

Thanks
E
Nigel Howarth
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Re: Certificate of Final Approval

Post by Nigel Howarth »

Hello Esmeralda and welcome to the forum.

Firstly, it's the developers responsibility to obtain the Certificate of Final Approval.

The way the system works is that the development is inspected by the local Planning Authority. Once they are satisfied that the development conforms to the various Planning & Building Permits issued for its construction, they'll issue a Certificate of Final Approval.

The development could be just your house, or it may be your house and that of your neighbours, or possibly more. It all depends what was covered in the original Planning Application. (E.g. If the Planning Application was for 10 houses, the developer cannot obtain the Certificate of Final Approval until all those houses have been built and inspected).

In your case, the developer may also have to apply for a 'Division Permit', to split the land into two pieces. The first piece for your house and the second for that of your neighbours. (But he needs to have obtained a Certificate of Final Approval before he can apply for this permit). Once he has Division Permit he needs to apply for a Certificate of Approval of the Division Permit. And once he has that Certificate, he needs to make an application to the local Land Registry (the District Lands' Office) for the registration of the properties & issue of Title Deeds.

(If the land doesn't require division, you can ignore the above paragraph).

You say that "The deeds for the land are with the bank as security for the mortgage on the house." In this case, you will not get your Title Deeds until the mortgage has been paid off. At this time the bank will remove its claim against the land, allowing the property to be registered in your name.

From your question, I'm not sure who took out the mortgage - was it you, or the developer?

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Nigel Howarth
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Esmeralda
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Re: Certificate of Final Approval

Post by Esmeralda »

Who'd have thought buying a house could cause so many problems !

I'm wondering actually if our developer is one of the few who has got this certificate - reason being, you say
the developer may also have to apply for a 'Division Permit', to split the land into two pieces.
I have actually signed a piece of paper for the land registry giving my consent for my neighbours house to be built on the land. The land is now split and we both have the title deeds for the land. Although as I said I used the deeds as security for the house.

The mortgage is in my name but originally the developer went as guarantor until the land deeds came through.

Kind regards
Nigel Howarth
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Re: Certificate of Final Approval

Post by Nigel Howarth »

Ah, I understand.

You already have the Title Deeds.

(I suspect the developer may have got the land divided before he started construction)

What you need to do is to get them updated to show that there's a house on the plot.

So your developer needs to have the house inspected to check that it conforms to the permits issued for its construction. If all is OK, he will (eventually) receive the Certificate of Final Approval.

You will then need to take this Certificate along with:
  • a. Title Deed for the land;
    b. Building Permit plus the approved plans and terms attached.
to the District Lands' Office, and they'll update the Title Deed for you. If there's no problem, it'll take a couple of months. (There's no application form for this, but you'll need to write a letter of application - in Greek).

Regards,
Nigel Howarth
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Esmeralda
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Re: Certificate of Final Approval

Post by Esmeralda »

Nigel thank you. Your help and advice as always is invaluable. Keep up the good work.
Nigel Howarth
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Re: Certificate of Final Approval

Post by Nigel Howarth »

You're welcome Esmeralda

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Pantheman
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Re: Certificate of Final Approval

Post by Pantheman »

Nigel Howarth wrote:Ah, I understand.

You already have the Title Deeds.

(I suspect the developer may have got the land divided before he started construction)
Nigel,

not wanting to be the bad guy here, but I have some confusion as to what you just stated.

I am assuming that the land is in a build zone (hence the building of more than one house, since no sizes were stated)

For the developer to be able to sub divide that land he needs to put in the road and pavements and make the necessary provisions for utilities. No mention has been made of this.

It is quite possible that the title deed issued is a share of the property and I say this because esmarelda had to sign for her neighbour to build which implies that the title is not a whole. It is still possible for the bank to hold this share of a title with the security being Esmareldas house only. In cases like this, it is important to get things done correctly, bacause on shares of plots, a defaulting neighbour can have consequences on your investment.

Sorry to put the spanner in, but I am sure you will correct me if I have made a mistake.

Regards

Pan
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Nigel Howarth
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Re: Certificate of Final Approval

Post by Nigel Howarth »

Hi Pan,

From what Esmeralda's said "The land is now split and we both have the title deeds for the land", I assumed that the land has been split and Title Deeds issued.

Someone did contact me some time ago - they'd bought a share in a plot of land, and the person who'd bought the other share defaulted on their mortgage repayments. I'm pleased to say that their bank listened and they didn't lose anything.

And I came across a similar situation last year where a someone had bought land and had a house built. When they came to sell, they found the developer had taken out a mortgage on the land, even though they'd paid for their house (and land) in full. The problem was that the piece of land they bought was part of a much larger plot under division and the developer had used it as collateral for a mortgage.

The problem is that as the Land Registry only has a single Title Deed, it only sees a single property. So in the case where two owners have an equal share, they have an equal share in each others liabilities as well as each others assets!

This situation would be quite easy to remedy if someone in the Land Registry put a bit of thought into it.

Maybe Esmeralda can clear up the confusion with the situation regarding her land?

Cheers,
Nigel Howarth
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Esmeralda
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Re: Certificate of Final Approval

Post by Esmeralda »

Hi,

It was one plot of land which the developer wanted to divide into 2.

I paid him £x for my piece of land and it was registered in my name.

However, before he started to build my neighbours house I signed some papers for the land registry giving my permission to go ahead. At that point the plot (presumably) was split into 2 as my neighbours paid for the land and have the title deeds.

It is a small development of only 4 houses - we all have our land title deeds. No roads as yet but apparently he's waiting for the phone lines to go in. We are all connected to the electricity and water.

We are hoping to meet up with the developer at the weekend to get some clarification on the certificate of final approval - at least the number would be helpful I guess.

Kind regards
E
Nigel Howarth
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Re: Certificate of Final Approval

Post by Nigel Howarth »

Hi Esmeralda,

Sorry to be a pain - but could you have a look on your Title Deed - I'm still not sure of the situation.

If you have one of the new buff coloured ones, take a look in the 'Mερίδιο' column, it's on page 2 in the darkened area - that indicates your share and you may have some other pages stapled in showing the other shareholders. (E.g. I have a half share in our property with my wife - my deed shows me as having a 1/2 share and there's an extra page stapled in showing my wife as owning the other 1/2 share).

If you have one of the older style white Title Deeds, your share is shown in the column immediately to the left of your name.

Cheers,
Nigel Howarth
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Esmeralda
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Re: Certificate of Final Approval

Post by Esmeralda »

Hi all, will need to do this at the weekend and post back on Monday. I'm getting a bit worried now !
Nigel Howarth
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Re: Certificate of Final Approval

Post by Nigel Howarth »

No problem - don't worry.

Have a good weekend.
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Esmeralda
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Re: Certificate of Final Approval

Post by Esmeralda »

Hi,

Very strangely, the portion is noted as 380/1087 ?? What the dickens is that !

On the papers from the bank it notes 380/1087 then next to that says OLO.

Any clues?

Thanks, this obviously isn't as sorted as I thought it was.

E.
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Re: Certificate of Final Approval

Post by Nigel Howarth »

Hi E,

On the face of it, it looks like you have a 380/1087 portion (Mερίδιο) of the plot - Pan's earlier observation that you have a share in the property - approximately 1/3 of it - and the bank is holding this share of the Title as security for your house only.

The 'oλo' means 'all or 'whole'. But I'm not sure whether this means you have the 'whole' of the 380/1087 portion of the property - or a 380/1087 portion of the 'whole' property.

Maybe Pan can answer this - he has more experience of these things than I.

But it now raises another question - who owns the remaining third of the property? It could be that your neighbour has around twice as much land as you - i.e the remaining 707/1087.

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Nigel Howarth
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Esmeralda
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Re: Certificate of Final Approval

Post by Esmeralda »

Hi, my neighbour does have a bigger plot so it would make sense he owned the remaining 707 - however I intend checking this with him tonight and will let you know.

Krgds
E.
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