Cyprus Property Forum for Buyers, Sellers & Investors

Apologies if I have posted this in the wrong area!

I am buying off-plan in Paphos. I am having problems with my current lawyer and have revoked their Power of Attorney. I was in the process of moving to a new lawyer when the current lawyer threatened me with a bill for 'charges' (which was a surprise as I did not think there were any). It is all very convulted, needless to say there is a lot of argy-bargy going on at the moment and I am a bit in limbo.

My question is - The Power of Attorney was being used to instruct the bank to release mortgage monies to the developer.

We only need one more payment to be released from the home loan account to our developer at the end of the year. Is this something we can arrange ourselves with the bank? I have rung and emailed them asking the same question but they have not been able to advise me. (They promsie to 'call me back')

And if this is the case, will not having a Power of Attorney make things difficult when we want to connect utilities etc please? We are living in the Uk and don't intend visiting Cyprus in the forseeable future)

Any help / advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

You certainly don't need a lawyer to make bank payments.

if the money is at at the bank (and not in the solicitors account), you instruct the developer to tell you when he needs paying and you make payment by bank transfer.

if it is the last payment, then that would mean the property is about to be handed over????

Well, if that is the case make sure the snagging is don't to your satisfaction BEFORE you make the last payment.

Now utilities. You can write out permission for your developer to connect youm you don't need a lawyer for either so there should be no problem there.

I am a little confused though, you are about to take delivery of an apartment, but don't intend to come to Cyprus for the foreseeable future????? What will you do with the apartment???

Also you may need to be here to take delivery unless someelse is doing that on your behalf. If you are here you can arrange the utilities at the same time.

Good luck.

Thank you so much for your help. The money is in my mortgage account. I am with the Alpha Bank, who haven’t been the most useful of banks! That payment (from the loan account) is due at the end of the year. I will keep on getting on to them – and see if they will give me online banking. That would make life so much easier!

We complete in April 2010 and we have to personally make the last payment. It is our intention then to get the property snagged by a company (though who do you trust?) or relative before we make the last payment.

That is great news on the utilities. I was unaware that it could be so simple! Thank you!

You say: “I am a little confused though, you are about to take delivery of an apartment, but don't intend to come to Cyprus for the foreseeable future????? What will you do with the apartment??? Also you may need to be here to take delivery unless someone else is doing that on your behalf. If you are here you can arrange the utilities at the same time.”

Again, for the delivery we were going to use a company or relative to do that for us. We have unfortunately had a horrible experience with buying this property (in the dictionary next to the words ‘stress’; ‘marital problems’; ‘quick weight loss’ and ‘con-men’ there is a picture of our apartment!), until this sick feeling goes away about the whole thing, Cyprus sadly won’t be a place we will be wanting to visit.

We are planning to use the property as a holiday let.

Thanks for all your help, that’s a relief!

Hi kirby

As Pan says, there's absolutely no reason why you can't arrange the bank payments yourself - you don't need a lawyer.

From what you say, I have a pretty good idea of the name of this lawyer - would she be a woman lawyer in Paphos?

Regarding snagging - there is a guy (British) in Limassol who may be able to help. He's a civil engineer with his own business here - and he's trustworthy. Drop me a note if you want his contact details.

Also, if you need a 'decent' lawyer, the British High Commission in Nicosia publishes a list of English speaking lawyers that you can find at http://www.news.cyprus-property-buyers. ... /id=002254 . You'll notice that Louise Zambartas, who occasionally pops in here to help, is on the list.

Regards,

Many thanks Nigel, yes the lawyer is who you think it is!

Thanks for your help!

The sooner the Cyprus Bar Association takes away this wretched woman's licence the better - I get more complaints about her than about any other lawyer in Cyprus.

Regards,

I understand she has friends in very high places, hence why people keep complaining about her but nothing happens!