A question regarding non payers on complex

[Blackie]

Hi Nigel

Our complex have just had notification from the management company that it is seriously in debt due to non payers, even though this has not been highlighted to the community over the last year. They have not arranged our AGM which was due in October even though the Committee resigned in May 08 other than 1 member.

I have taken legal advice and have been informed that we need to register our committee with the land registry before a solicitor can act on our behalf to chase the non payers.

I contacted the land registry with a view to registering the committe or at least ask what the process was, they informed me we required an AX number from our Developer before they could proceed. I enquired with the Developer who informs me that he will not be submitting the paperwork for title deeds until mid 2009 so there is no AX number.

I have returned to land registry who inform me that without an AX number we cannot proceed with registering our committee.

As our management company are requesting our committee and community to legally pursue these non payers, this is now not an option.

Am I right in thinking that if the Developer has not registered for title, the Developer is responsible for chasing the non payers for contributions, as it is his management company running the complex.

We as a community are totally confused.

[Nigel Howarth]

Hi Blackie,

There seems to be quite a bit of discretion in the way the Land Registry handles the Registration of Committees. I had an email from someone at the eastern end of the island saying that their lawyer had managed to sort things out for them - even though they didn't have Title Deeds.

This is what they had to say:

"We have recently been to see a solicitor about taking a non-payer on our complex to court.It was a very interesting and informative meeting. The solicitor in question has already taken and won action against non-payers. Firstly you need to register your committee. You do not need any involvement from your developer or title deeds, as long as you are a registered committee. She will also help you with this if you are not registered. If you want the name of our solicitor you can e-mail me".

I suggest you ask Louise how best to proceed. Which Land Office are you dealing with?

Regards,

[Blackie]

Hi Nigel

We are dealing with the Larnaca Land Registry Office, unfortunately we will not be able to use the solicitor of the case you mentioned as we cannot register the Committee.

Who pursue's non-payers in this respect, is it the Developer?

[kathyd]

Hi Nigel,

Could you please provide me with the contact details of the solicitor mentioned in this post. I am in urgent need of their services as an individual home owner on a complex.

Kind Regards,
Kathy.

[Nigel Howarth]

Hi Kathy and welcome to the forum,

Unfortunately, I no longer have the contact details. I suggest you give Louise Zambartas a call - 25 373734.

Regards,

[surawy]

Having just started collecting funds for our complex.A couple of issues strike me, if the non payers live in England apart from deducting the sum of money owed if they wish to sell their apartment/villa I doubt if any further action can be taken
Also if they owe money(our a/c is stirling based)can they be taken to the small claims court?

[Nigel Howarth]

As you cannot register the committee with the Land Registry until your Title Deeds have been issued, I'm not sure how you go about trying to collect unpaid management dues.

In situations where the committee has been registered it's a fairly straightforward process to apply to the court to get a 'memo' lodged against the Title to the property in question for the amount owed (plus costs/expenses) - which effectively prevents the person from selling the property until the debt has been cleared.

There isn't such a thing as a small claims court in Cyprus and I'm not sure if a small claims court in the UK would be able to do anything. I suggest that you get one of your UK-based to have a word with their lawyer in the UK to see if this would be possible.

Regards,

[surawy]

Could I refer you to your reply--27/11/08.

[Nigel Howarth]

Hi surawy

I've been trying to get to the bottom of this myself. Here's the reply from the lawyer who managed to register a committee even though Title Deeds had not been issued:

"I can confirm that we have managed to register one management committee at the Famagusta Land Registry. I am not quite sure how we managed to do this and it came as a shock to us when they let us do it. On occasions both before and after that one successful attempt the application has been declined. If I didn’t have the registration number for the management committee we did manage to register then I probably would not believe it myself!"

So it would appear that the Land Registry made a mistake.

Regards,