Cyprus Property Forum for Buyers, Sellers & Investors

Dear all, I need your advice.

The developer (a fairly large and well-known group) builds a new house (expensive villa) under the new Passport Program (popular among foreign buyers, mostly Russians and Chinese) near our house, but does not adhere to the adopted standards in our zone (Build / Coverage 40% and 25% respectively, maximum height 8.3 m). In reality, the standards for the area have been exceeded by more than 2 times (100% building and 80% cover), height - more than 12 m (in 4 levels) The municipality explained that the developer submitted an application for the construction of an apartment building/block (although zoning does not allow - all the existing) and not the house/villa. The question "why allowed this construction? " was not distinctly answered (the municipality representative just mentioned that for apartments buildings the issue different planning/building permits irrespective of the zone and formally the developer complies with regulation). Who faced similar issues and what to do in this case?

Hi Homeowner and welcome to the forum

The government introduced incentives to kick-start the economy. The approval of hi-sise developments is one of them.

Regards,

Hi, Nigel!

Thank you for reply. The trick is that the developer applied for multi family apartment building permit, but in reality builds " a luxury villa" (advertised in their booklets and website). If you apply for the planning permit (for a detached house) the municipality will issue you only the permit in line with existing zoning.

Nigel Howarth wrote: ↑10 Feb 2018 23:22 Hi Homeowner and welcome to the forum

The government introduced incentives to kick-start the economy. The approval of hi-sise developments is one of them.

Regards,

Nigel, the incentives do not apply to high rise! The high rise is by special consideration (a clause in the law) and anyone with the right connections and envelopes tends to get the permit.

If the build zone does not permit such constructions then the properties have violated the law. First port of call is the planning department, ask to see the permit and question under what authority it was granted to build as is.

If this villa is depriving your right to air and light, tell them you will sue them for damages and that you will take the matter to the minister or interior until some explains why he has been allowed to do it. Do not take no for an answer.

The incentive was for a 20% increase in build density only.

Hope this helps.

Thank you for advice. The builder is one of the top 3 developers in Cyprus and I believe investigations/negotiations will be complicated. Anyway we will start from the planning department and up.