Cyprus Property Forum for Buyers, Sellers & Investors

Good Morning,
I am a retired physician. Some 20 years ago I bought in a very small village (50 souls) a property on a small hill at the end of the village.
I went there seldom, a few times a year. I started reovation once I had bought but was cheated and gave up. After many years I found a builder who finished the house and go there two or three times a year for just a week or two.

During my absence the village chief with his builder friend bulldozered away part of my hill. I was not even informed although they have my name and email address. It is on the door as well. There is now a road over my property leading to a valley, where there was just a dust footpath next to my property. As it is a hill it is not square metres but cubic metres taken.
I got a reply from the District Land Office that NO road had been planned.
I got a surveyors report to substantiate my claim. I engaged a lawyer a year ago who wrote a letter but there are no further results. The lawyer is an older man, who relies mainly on telephone calls and who needs an assistent for emails.

What can I do? Please help.

Good morning Kim and welcome to the forum.

I have never heard of anything like this happening before - people can't just bulldoze your property and drive a road across your land!

Your lawyer appears unable to help - did he do anything apart from writing a letter?

I suggest you get rid of this lawyer and engage one who is prepared to do something other than write a letter. The British High Commission publishes a list of lawyers at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... mplate.pdf - I'm sure any of them will be able to help.

There is a possibility that your plot boundaries have moved - I've come across several cases where this has happened. The technology used today to fix plot boundaries is highly accurate, much more so than the technology used in the past. As a consequence some boundaries have moved. It maybe worthwhile getting a surveyor to mark out your plot (or perhaps the surveyor you engaged to prepare a report did this?)

Regards,

Thank you Nigel for your quick reply.

But no, I had the boundaries established by a formal surveyor as well as by another suveyor of the Land Registry.

The fact that part of my mountain has been carried off makes it a dangerous situation: the rest of the land is subsiding. Cracks in the concrete platform and so on.

The village is Vasa Kelakkiou (not the better known Vasa Kellaniou!).
Where did all the money come from? From the EU. The village headman knew how to apply for this money.
If a mukhtar becomes a developer as happened here you will find roads leading to nowhere. If roads appear on community grounds it is just a waste of EU money. The EU never expected the money to be used to damage another EU citizen I suppose.

As said: I visit the house very seldom and since last year I cannot physically get into my house. I am 79 years old and can no longer get to the door or park my car on my own land as before as the mukhtar and his friends have blocked the entrance.

The surveyor who seems to be honest wrote almost a year ago about the works by the mukhtar:

"Dear Dr Kornelios,

I have been at your house in Vasa on Saturday and have noted that the works have been completed.

Other than blocking the entrance into your property by car, I have also noted that the concrete slab which was recently constructed has been elevated approximately 10 cm over the old floor slab of your house and as a result, rain water could run into your house from under the door (please see pictures attached). A small drain pipe was installed in the corner between the new slab and the old one, but I doubt whether it is sufficient for its purpose. In addition the drain pipe ends wrongly on the entrance ramp, sticking out a few centimeters, being dangerous for any pedestrian. In rainy weather the ramp will be non useable since it also carries the water from the whole square down the hill !!!

The entrance ramp is far too steep and dangerous since the surface material used is not non-slip and does not comply with the specifications for this purpose.

In the meantime, I suggest sending someone over to temporarily place sand bags in front of your door to prevent any water from entering the house.

I have tried to speak with the Muhtar on Saturday but he was not available. I will make an effort to see him again on the first opportunity this week and will inform you of the outcome.

Best regards


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