Communal expenses?

[footy123]

I expect it is common that in all complexes you have the inevitable nonpayer,cant pay,wont pay,or cant afford to pay their share of the communal expenses.
In this particular case the person collecting the expenses off all the apartment owners says that because we have someone who has not paid then the rest of us should share the debt between us.
Is this normal practice or should the person responsible for collecting the communal fees accept it is HIS responsibility to collect and or fund what is owed by the people who have not paid.
To be fair this self elected collector of all the dues is doing this for nothing,but but nobody ASKED him to do it .Bless him he thought it would be a nice easy task to pass his time

[Nigel Howarth]

Hi footy123

It's up to the Management Committee to pursue non-payers. The Committee can take legal action against them if they fail to pay - and include any reasonable expenses (like lawyers fees and court costs) as well as the amount it is owed.

If the owner is absent and living in a another EU country, an uncontested claim in a Cypriot court can be enforced in that other EU member state.

Regards,

[Mike Strand]

Rumour has it that pursuing non-payers through the Cyprus courts is long and arduous as well as costly & therefore sometimes not worth the effort! There's an alternative; the EU Small Claims Court. The claim can be sent to any EU court for jurisdiction (in the language of that country). See https://e-justice.europa.eu/content_sma ... s-42-en.do

[Nigel Howarth]

Hi Mike,

Things should improve in Cyprus by the end of the year; one of the conditions for Cyprus getting money from the EU:

Better target the rules of court to improve the pace of court case handling. The authorities shall assess the need for additional measures – including if necessary legislative reforms – to eliminate court backlogs by end of the programme. Moreover the authorities shall provide for specialized judges akin to the rules for criminal case handling in order to expedite the handling of cases under commercial and immovable property laws [Q4-2013]

Regards,

[Max 56]

Further to comments regarding this subject. I collect service charges on behalf a village complex. We have some serious serial debtors and have tried the legal route. However, we have been advised by a large legal company based in Cyprus that you are unable to go down the legal route with a property owner unless they have Title Deeds?
Is there any truth is this?
If this information is incorrect what legal proceedings can we take? Also owners live Overseas (not EU) and in Cyprus.
Thank you.

[Nigel Howarth]

you are unable to go down the legal route with a property owner unless they have Title Deeds?

The fact of the matter is that you do not own a property until you have its Title Deed registered in your name.

The legal route involves lodging a charge (known as a memo) against the title of the property having first obtained a court order to do so. But as the serial debtors do not have title to the property, such an action will prove impossible. So yes, it is true.

Regards,