Cypriot national refusing to pay rent

[Mike Paice]

I hope someone can help us - we are at the end of our tether and don't know where to turn anymore. Apologies for the length of the posting, if anything, it's a very shortened version. The person in question argues that it his right as a national to do what he likes and if he didn't use the property, it would just stand unused and he actually thinks he's doing us a favour. He has also made it clear he wishes to own the property but pay next to nothing for it. The whole situation is a mess.

My wife and her sister (Greek-Cypriot descent) own a property in Cyprus, a building with two self contained flats. In July 2011, we agreed to rent the upstairs flat to a family friend (Greek-Cypriot national) who wanted to use it as an internet cafe. Because the building was not in the best condition, we agreed that he would pay €300 per month (to commence in August), and that he would repair the roof at his own expense. He also agreed to carry out some repairs of the downstairs flat at his expense, although he said would have no need to use it. We went back to Cyprus in December 2011 to check rent payment and to see what progress had been made.
We found that he had failed to pay any rent and had not changed the electricity bill over to his name and in fact my mother-in-law was still paying for it. The business was not an internet cafe as originally stated but was in fact a taverna with live music. He had hired a waitress (and we have reason to believe that she is living in the downstairs flat which is not supposed to be used at all). We discovered through a neighbour in Cyprus that since we left, he had cleared land at the side of the property of the garage and some fruit trees and built a separate building/business where his brother-in-law works repairing tyres.
Relatives and representatives of ours living in Cyprus have tried to help us by visiting him to discuss his actions but he continues to refuse to pay any rent or the electricity bills although just this week, they finally managed to cut off the electricity supply in my mother-in-law's name, which has angered him considerably. They have found him very aggressive and in most instances, drunk.
We need to know:-
• Where do we stand as legal owners?
• Is there anything we can do before approaching a solicitor? Is it a matter for the police?
• Can he be sued for the demolition and construction of objects we did not agree to?
• Because he did not sign a contract, where does this leave the situation – is it a lost cause or can he be forcibly removed because of the absence of a legal contract?
• In my mind because of a lack of contract, shouldn’t we be able to simply change the locks to the property and stop him any further access?

Help!

Mike

[Nigel Howarth]

Hi Mike and welcome to the forum,

You need to get a lawyer onto the case - this guy sounds as if he's gone out of his mind.

I doubt very much that he will have a licence to operate a taverna with music - the municipality may be able to help.

I'm sure that you will eventually manage to get him out.

Shame you didn't have a written agreement - it would have made things easier and possibly prevented this situation arising.

Regards,

[Mike Paice]

Many thanks Nigel.

We did prepare a contract but were told by others at the time that that was the worst thing we should do. As the tennant is supposedly a family friend, we took the advice against the contract and hoped that it would be OK. He is clearly a complete con artist but at least we are no longer paying his electricity bill for him.

Our main representative on the island is a family member and muktar of a nearby village and we have agreed with him to seek advice from a lawyer. We know that he does have a licence to sell alcohol but we will follow-up on whether or not he has a licence for live music.

Thanks again for your thoughts - we will post follow-ups as it might be of interest to others.

Cheers.

Mike