Cyprus Property Forum for Buyers, Sellers & Investors

Hello,

I am in the sale process for my property. The buyer lawyer requested the property proof of payment toward the developer back to 2007/2008. As I have a mortgage, the bank sent the receipt of payment toward the developer equal to the amount of the loan, which was aprox. 70% of the full price.
the developer never gave me receipt for my direct payments, just confirmed by email they received the money. I sent all this to my lawyer almost 2 weeks ago and have no feedback, although I requested updates. According to agency, the correspondance emails with developers for proof of payment is not good enough.
So now i do not know what the lawyer is doing and why he does not give me any updates and the agency does not seem to be very helpfull. I was told the sale will be quick and 2 months later, I do not even have an update.
can you please tell me if this is a normal process? and what i am supposed to expect?

thanks and regards,

Hi ptroncin

It sounds as if you received an acknowledgement of payments from the developer, but not receipts.

You (or your lawyer on your instruction) needs to contact the developer and get receipts. Assuming the developer's registered for VAT, these receipts must show the company's VAT registration number.

Regards,

Hello Nigel,

thank you for your prompt feedback
Because i have a mortgage, I did also provide the bankreceipt regarding the bank payment transfer to the developers (over 70 percent of the property price). this amount plus the fact the bank granted me a mortgage should also be a sufficient proof that the developers (who are in receivership) did receive the full property payment.
On my rare communications with lawyer, he indeed mentioned the fact that he may have to contact the developers. but this is nearly 2 weeks I have no feedback from him. so i absolutely don´t know what is going on, what is the progress (on non progress). I already sent him 2 reminder emails. So I do not understand why he does not answer. This lawyer was recommended by the agency as being very fast.

regards,
Patricia

Hello Patricia

I see you broke one of ten golden commandments by using a lawyer who was not independent. The definition of an 'independent' lawyer is one that represents you and only you and who is not connected in any way with other parties involved in the transaction.

It's up to the lawyer representing your potential buyers what's needed as proof of payment and I can understand why VAT receipts are required as emails can very easily be forged/edited.

As for the length of time it's taking, 2 weeks is not very long and, considering the developer is in receivership, it's possible that the company's accounts are in the hands of the receiver (assuming they still exist).

Regards,