Land access - a continuing saga!

[june]

HI CPF
Can I once again ask for help regarding the process of obtaining an access strip to a plot of land we have on the edge of Inia village? Our solicitor has been pursuing this for a number of years & has now emailed to inform us that there will be a local enquiry at The Village Coffee Shop next month & has offered to attend on our behalf. The email was accompanied by a request for a stage payment of more than we had expected the whole proceedure to cost. (Having been reassured it would only be anominal fee).

Can you advise if such a meeting is routine, what it will accomplish and, in your opinion, is it necessary for us to be represented?

When talking us through the stages of obtaining permission such a meeting has never been mention. However as it's been a long drawn out process already we want to do anything we can to bring it to a conclusion.

Thanks for your time.

[Nigel Howarth]

Hi June,

Did you follow Pan's advice last year on what to do? See http://www.cyprus-property-buyers.com/f ... 361&p=1198

I haven't heard of meetings of this type, and what is the stage payment for exactly?

Regards,

[june]

Hi Nigel,

Yes we did obtain the ref number & contacted the Land Registry but never received a reply. Our solicitor offered to meet us there when we were next in Cyprus and we duly visited a dept in the Land Registry building only to be told that it was in the sytem but no date had been set for an official to visit the site to determine where the access would run.

Our solicitor now states that the meeting she has offered to attend is "a local enquiry.". We asked for more information i.e. had a problem arisen to necessitate said enquiry?
She replied that it was all part of the proceedure and we should forward an advance payment as attending will take a lot of her time!

Would you suggest we write direct to the Land Registry again to ask where we are in the process? And if so should we mention the scheduled meeting?

[Nigel Howarth]

Hi June,

I do not know what the meeting can do - as Pan said last year if your plot is within 300 ft of a public road your are entitled to gain access - you don't need a lawyer for this.

Has your lawyer advised you what her objectives of going to the meeting are? Is she going to canvass support your application? Is she going along as a fly on the wall and report back?

I suggest that you contact the Land Registry again to see what is happening.

Regards,

[Pantheman]

June,

it's quite simple really, this meeting could just be a local inspection, they may just need to see the location and proposed access for themselves. if you are not here, then don't expect you case to be put forward. Do you speak Greek? if not then maybe they can't speak English either, so eitherway you need to know whats going on.

If it is that critical for you, come to cyprus and get someone with you to listen and translate. You do not need to be paying solicitor fees, but in the case you cannot be here, do not speak the language, you don't don't have much choice.

Writing leters / emails to the LR will yield nothing I am sorry to say. This process is not a difficult one, just a time element and if you are trying to do it from afar, then this brings it's own problems.

Sorry if I sound brutal I don't wish to be, but this is the reality.

When I applied for a land swap with the government, I had to meet with the LR officials in the village, wrote a affidavite and then waited 4 years almost to the day for a result. In fact they just turned up 4 years later to measure up my plot I still wait the actual update title deed.


Land issues in Cyprus, needs personal attention, anything else is futile.


Good Luck.

[june]

Thanks to both for your advice. We will ask for further clarification from our solicitor regarding the purpose of the meeting. As Pan says, if we are unable to be there (and we can't) then we have to make a decision to pay for the solictor to attend or not. We do know that there has been one objection from a neighbour regarding the access route so maybe it's to resolve any issues.
Thanks again.