Cyprus Property Forum for Buyers, Sellers & Investors

Dear Nigel,
we are in need of your advice.We are currently trying to sell our appt.We have a buyer who has applied for a mortgage to enable their purchase.We are ready to sell, they are ready to buy but there seems to be a problem in transferring the title deeds.
Our lawyer who is away at the moment has not told us exactly what the problem is but says it is to do with the buyers bank.We are afraid it is that the developers have the land the appartment is built on mortgaged to the bank so we would be unable to sell to anyone other than a cash buyer.Is there a clause that would enable our appt to be exempt from repossession if the developer (ONE OF THE BIGGEST ON THE ISLAND) should go bankrupt or are we stuck with an appt that we will not get the title deeds to for an eternity (or the developer pays their mortgage off).We obviously have yet to have this confirmed and our lawyer who has close links with the developer has not mentioned this as the cause but we are obviously concerned,your input would be much appreciated regards Madmax

Dear madmax,

It's difficult to know exactly what the problem is with the buyers bank. It could be that the bank is unwilling to grant your buyers a mortgage for the amount they are asking, it could be that they have valued the property at something less than your asking price (which will affect the amount they're prepared to loan), or it could be as you suggest that the land is already mortgaged to the developer.

Even if your lawyer is away, surely his/her office support staff should be advising you of what exactly the problem is? Or perhaps you could speak with your buyers directly to find out what's going on?

You couldn't include a clause in your contract of sale to prevent its repossession. If the land is mortgaged to your developer the I'm sure the bank (who has a claim by way of the mortgage) would refuse to accept such a clause.

If it turns out that the developer has mortgaged the land:

• I don't believe there's much you can do about the situation. And as you don't have the Title Deeds in your name, the property isn't legally your to sell - you need to come to an agreement with your developer to be able to sell it on.
  
  You should be kicking your lawyer around the room. He should have carried out a Title Search at the Land Registry to ensure that everything was OK before he let you sign your contract with the developer.

Unfortunately, some of the biggest developers on the island are also some of the biggest sharks. If it turns out that they have mortgaged your land - then they have offloaded their risk onto you.

Even though you have paid in full for the property (I assume) you're still at risk of loosing it if the bank forecloses on the loan.

What does the developer have to lose - absolutely nothing! He has your money, so why should he care. The whole system here is biased in favour of the developers, you would think they had a hand in drafting the laws - it's sickening.

Once you discover what the problem is, do get back to me and I'll see if there's anything you can do.

(And even if you had a cash buyer, I'm sure any half-decent lawyer would carry out a Title search and advise them if there were any problems).

Regards,

Hi again madmax,

I've been doing a bit of digging around.

The banks are no longer giving mortgages on resale properties that do not have their Title Deeds.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.