Cyprus Property Forum for Buyers, Sellers & Investors

Hi, Good morning and a Merry Xmas and Happy New year to one and all,

I have a simple question that hopefully someone can clarify for me.Please can someone tell me what the difference when a property is advertised as "Title deeds available" And "With Title deeds"?

I have my own ideas on this, but I have an estate agent who says that you cannot advertise a property as having Full Title deeds as that would be false advertising

But rather advertise a property as having Title deeds available because he says that you buy the title deeds every time you purchase a property.

My understanding is(And this may be totally incorrect) That when you purchase a property, you pay a transfer fee to transfer the Deeds into your name.

Hopefully someone can enlighten me

Thanks in advance

cloven wrote: 03 Jan 2018 07:07 Hi, Good morning and a Merry Xmas and Happy New year to one and all,

I have a simple question that hopefully someone can clarify for me.Please can someone tell me what the difference when a property is advertised as "Title deeds available" And "With Title deeds"?

I have my own ideas on this, but I have an estate agent who says that you cannot advertise a property as having Full Title deeds as that would be false advertising

But rather advertise a property as having Title deeds available because he says that you buy the title deeds every time you purchase a property.

My understanding is(And this may be totally incorrect) That when you purchase a property, you pay a transfer fee to transfer the Deeds into your name.

Hopefully someone can enlighten me

Thanks in advance

Personally I think they are one and the same, it just depends how you specify it. Although, in some cases, title deeds may be 'available', meaning that they developer has done the separation, but the owner has not gone to get them transferred to his name. And so they are 'Available' as opposed to being ready.

The consequence of this is that, an assignment contract needs to be drawn up first to get you name at the land registry and THEN the title can be transferred to you upon payment of the appropriate Transfer Fees. Of course this would attract additional costs.

What the agent 'says' above is BS, sorry to say, it is common knowledge that in order to get the name transferred that the TFs need to be paid.

Your understanding is correct.

Pantheman,

Thanks for your reply, my only concern was that for the very reasons that you state that advertising a property with"Title deeds available"might raise red flags with any potential buyer thinking that this may incur additional costs over and above the Transfer fees.
Once again thanks

Hi cloven & welcome to the forum.

You don't "buy the title deeds every time you purchase a property" as your EA claims. You pay 'Property Transfer Fees'; a government tax and the Cyprus equivalent of the Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) you pay in the UK every time a property changes hands. (But unlike the UK there is no threshold at which the tax is payable.)

You can see how much you'll need to pay by checking the on-line Transfer Fees Calculator​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​. (As you will not be paying VAT, the fees will be reduced by 50%.)

But you still need to ensure that there are no charges against the property that will prevent its transfer (conveyance) to your name. Also if this property is an apartment or in another complex with shared facilities (such as a swimming pool) you need to check that the person who's selling it has paid their communal fees to the Management Committee.

Also note that before the property can be transferred to your name the current owner (i.e. the developer) and the person your buying from must have paid all outstanding central and local government taxes and sewerage charges.

Regards,

Hi Pan

I came across these definitions of Title Deeds on an estate agent's website. I don't think there is a standard definition across the profession:

Title deeds available – this means the paperwork for the transfer of separate deeds has been completed and a separate deed exists for the house in the name of the Legal owner; i.e. the Developer.

Full Title Deeds – means that the deeds for the property are in the name of the seller – and the property details are complete – that is they include the description of the property – e.g. a single storey dwelling, a swimming pool etc. So it is straightforward to buy this property.

Land Title deeds – this means the seller bought a plot and had the deeds for the plot transferred to his name and has still to complete the updating of the deed – to a full deed as above. This may mean the house does not have a building permit yet or a completion certificate or it may mean that they have not applied to get the deeds updated or they have an AX file awaiting processing from the land registry.

Any thoughts?

These are reasonable and logical definitions. I would go with that as long as all other agents interpreted it the same way.
It's pretty much what I mentioned above. Nice find btw. I may even include it on my own sites.

Pantheman wrote: 06 Jan 2018 23:00as long as all other agents interpreted it the same way.

That's the problem Pan - there is no official definition of what these terms mean. Some agents will interpret them as I posted, other agents will give them another meaning.

Some property ads say Title Deeds soon (whatever that means).

Regards,