Anatomy of a Title Deed

[tom.want]

So I have been shown some title deeds. I know, they lawyers need to check them out, but I want to understand the document better myself.
Essentially they are all just two page documents which show the most basic information, size of the plot, location, current owner, ownership percentage, 2018 and 2021 evaluation values. Second page is a drawing of the boundaries with adjacent parcels.
Usually that's it. Sometimes there is special information on the first page in a section called "description". I saw one that said the trees on the land belong to someone else.

Question 1: It's less information that I expected. Are there longer versions that the two pagers I've been shown?

Question 1: What I can learn from what is not on there? If there is no mention of a right-of-way anywhere, does that mean the land is currently not subvervient to another parcel? Would a mortage be shown on a title deed? Is there any way that by buying a piece of land I can become responsible for the previous owners mortage?

[Nigel Howarth]

Essentially they are all just two page documents which show the most basic information, size of the plot, location, current owner, ownership percentage, 2018 and 2021 evaluation values. Second page is a drawing of the boundaries with adjacent parcels.

That's about all you'll get.

Question 1: What I can learn from what is not on there? If there is no mention of a right-of-way anywhere, does that mean the land is currently not subvervient to another parcel? Would a mortage be shown on a title deed? Is there any way that by buying a piece of land I can become responsible for the previous owners mortage?

As I explained in a link I posted earlier: "Information or documents in the public register of Titles connected with the ownership of immovable properties and charges or encumbrances lodged against them are treated as confidential and unavailable for public inspection."

There is no such animal as a subservient parcel.

A right of way is not associated with the physical characteristics, ownership, etc. of a property. Access can be checked visually on the cadastral plan. Usually it's obvious when you inspect a plot. Also, it's possible to get right of way over adjacent plots. Check out applications on the DLS website in the Citizens Charter area.

To find out what mortgages, etc. encumber the property, refer to New title search procedures in Cyprus.

Yes, you can become responsible for the previous owner's mortgages and other debts. That is why it's essential to do a Title Search.

[tom.want]

So here is the game. I am trying to get a deal (and thrill) and am looking at auctions. It appears that almost all of the time the seller is either a bank or a specialised institution that bought the loan from a bank and either works with the borrowers or liquitates the assets of non performing loans.
The auction house usually gives you this 2 pages title deed and tells you that there is no mortage. While it might be ideal to ask my lawyer to do a title search every time sometime catches my eye, this would be impossible for two reasons:

- It's an auction, there might not be enough time to ask my lawyer to do a full title search. So I have to rely on the information what the auction house provides, plus whatever open source information I can find on DLS etc
- When just browsing properties I want to know what exactly the two page title deed tells me, before even asking my lawyer to dig deeper.

This brings me to the following: At the bottom of every first page of the title deed, there are two sections:
ΣΗΜΕΙΩΣΕΙΣ (Notes)
Which is usually empty, but I have seen it refer to something like trees and other things and after that would be a number (which I am guessing is a refrence number for the document with the details about what is going on)
ΔΙΚΑΙΩΜΑΤΑ (Rights) / ΔΟΥΛΕΙΕΣ (Servitude)
Usually empty too, but I am guessing that is where a registered right-of-way would be placed.

I just used Google translate for the Greek, but I think I got it about right.

My main question is this: If ΣΗΜΕΙΩΣΕΙΣ, ΔΙΚΑΙΩΜΑΤΑ and ΔΟΥΛΕΙΕΣ on the two page title deed are empty, does that mean there are no registered rights and servitudes OR could could a full title search still turn up documents which are NOT referenced on the two page title deed?

I'll be asking my lawyer too, but wanted to listen to the collective experience of the forum as well.

[tom.want]

There is no such animal as a subservient parcel.

A right of way is not associated with the physical characteristics, ownership, etc. of a property. Access can be checked visually on the cadastral plan. Usually it's obvious when you inspect a plot. Also, it's possible to get right of way over adjacent plots. Check out applications on the DLS website in the Citizens Charter area.

I probably didn't use the right words, but am also confused. In my home jurisidciton a right-of-way is associated with a parcel and I had the impression it works the same way in Cyprus.
In other words if the previous owner of a landlocked parcel, applied for right-of-way over adjacent parcels, then this right-of-way would be written down on both title deeds, eg in the "rights" column on the dominant parcel and in the "servitude" column of the other parcel.

I was reading the DLS Citizen's Charter and it has this paragraph on page 15:

"The acquiring party (i.e. the registered owner claiming access) shall serve a notice upon the
servienttenant(owner ofthe property through which accessis claimed) on Form N.283 properly
completed and signed and accompanied by a cadastral plan. Such form must contain the
particulars of the dominant tenement (the property for which access is claimed) and of the
servient tenement (the tenement from which access is claimed)."

and

"The position and direction of right-of-way is shown on the drawing/plan attached on Form N.286"

So, unless I am misunderstand, the right-of-way would be associated with the parcel (and probably referenced on the title deed). If that dominant parcel is then sold, the future owner acquires the right-of-way along with the parcel.

Tying this back to my previous post, I'd love to know if a right-of-way would be shown in the ΔΙΚΑΙΩΜΑΤΑ (Rights) / ΔΟΥΛΕΙΕΣ (Servitude) section on the title deed?

[tom.want]

I am putting this in a separate post for readability, rather than an edit to my previous post. What exactly is the result of a "title search". Isn't it exactly the same 2 page title document? Plus potentially any other documents it references if anything has been registered to the title, but for a "clean" title deed. It would be just the two pager, right?

[Nigel Howarth]

A Search Certificate will show you the name(s) of the owner(s) and any 'encumbrances' lodged against the property.

The most common 'Encumbrances' are:

A mortgage
A registration of a judgment made under the Civil Procedure Law (known as “memorandum” or memo).
A writ of sale of immovable property
A deposit of a contract of sale of immovable property.
A conditional attachment of property made by the Registrar of Co-operative Societies.
A judgment or order of any Court directing the alteration or cancellation of a registration of immovable property.
A publication of the apportionment of the cost of the construction of a street.
A charge on immovable property in respect of a registration of immovable property fee.
A judgment or order directing the sale of immovable property.

(These encumbrances are removed once the debt has been cleared or the problem has been resolved.)

In the case of mortgages, the figure shown is the value of the mortgage agreement NOT the outstanding balance. E.g. it's possible that the owner mortgaged the land over a 15 year period and has made repayments for 12 of those 15 years. The institution that loaned the money will advise you/your lawyer of the balance (which you can use to negotiate the asking price.)

There may also be 'prohibitions', which effectively prevents the sale of a property:

An interim order of any Court restraining a defendant from alienating or charging his immovable property.
An order of any Court appointing a guardian of a prodigal.
Adjudication of any natural person as “mentally disabled patient”
An interim receiving order.
A receiving order or an order for the winding up of a company.

If there are no encumbrances or prohibitions, the Search Certificate will be a single page.

Regards,