Cyprus Property Forum for Buyers, Sellers & Investors

"If people are late in paying their share of the common expenses, it is possible to lodge what is known as a 'memo' against the Title of their property for the recovery of the debt. Although this will not force them to pay immediately, it will prevent them from selling their property until the debt has been cleared. This will require a lawyer to petition the court and the property must be registered in the name of the defaulter (i.e. their name must appear on its Title Deed)."

Hi Nigel,

I copied this response above from one of your replies to a question on the board.

Does anyone know what the procedure is to put a "memo" against the Title of someone's property if they haven't paid their common expenses? Has anyone had to do this?
Obviously a lawyer would have to be consulted first to action this, but what happens after that? Will a notice be served to the errant owner before it takes place?. Would the owner have time to give their side on why they witheld paying the common expenses?.

Also, If one person doesn't pay their communal expenses, but still uses the communal pool, or has his portion of the communal/common area cleaned, what can be done about this??
We can't very well physically stop them using the pool or ask the cleaner not to clean their area of the common areas??? Its all right putting a memo on the property, but realistically that would'nt be any deterrant if the person won't or doesn't pay their common expenses. They might not sell for years or ever, so they are getting away with everything!

Belle

Hi Belle,

Placing a 'memo' against the Title of a property requires a court judgement in favour of the creditor, in your case the Management Committee, against the debtor to pay a specified amount (their contributions plus reasonable expenses).

The debtor could defend the court action if they chose to do so.

The Committee may then register a charge against any immovable property registered in the name of the debtor at the Land Registry.

Form N.56 is to be completed and signed by the creditor, his agent or attorney and deposited with the judgement. Form N.57 (certificate of registration of “memo) is completed and signed by the Lands Officer in charge and returned to the creditor.

The fee payable to the Land Registry for registering a 'memo' is €1.71.

I know this isn't a satisfactory state of affairs - but that's how it is I'm afraid.

If the debtor is not a permanent resident and lives in the UK, or any other EU country, the Committee can issue an EU Enforcement Order enabling the judgement to be enforced in that country. (This could result in their goods being seized and sold to repay the debt).

Regards,

If you should plave a memo, you could then charge interest at 9% pa and the longer he takes to sell the higher the bill would be. It could then turn to be a sizable amount and it may get them thinking.

Alternatively threaten them with baliffs as nigel as stated above. Many a time this is enough to motivate people to pay.

Good Luck

Thanks to you both.

1.71 euro would be a price worth paying!! It hasn't happened yet, but we're expecting problems. We hope we don't, but what's that saying,,,,,,,,,,,,Forewarned is Forearmed?

Belle

Hi Nigel
Can you confirm whether or not a Memo can be registered against a property where Title Deeds have not yet been issued?

Thanks in advance.

northernbelle wrote:1.71 euro would be a price worth paying!!

There will also be legal and court fees to pay - but these can be included in the memo.

Regards,

Redrobin wrote:Can you confirm whether or not a Memo can be registered against a property where Title Deeds have not yet been issued?

No - a Memo is registered against the title to a property.

Regards,

Thank you Nigel.

Nigel, can I ask for clarification. Are you saying, that after attaching a memo to a property, and after a period of time getting no satisfaction in terms of payment of the outstanding debts, there is a mechanism to put a charge on the property and ultimately force the property to be sold in order that the debts collected?

Can you explain if there are time restrictions involved? and do you know of any precedents for this action being successful?

Thankx

Hi Alien and welcome to the forum

A memo is a charge against a property. But there isn't a mechanism to force the sale of the property to collect the debt. A memo prevents the transfer of a property until the debt is repaid.

You'll find more information about memos in the Department of Lands and Surveys Citizens Charter - page 51 & 52.

Regards,

Can a memo be placed on a property only if title deeds have been issued or can it be done before TD issue?

Hi varky

As a memo is lodged against the title of a property registered in the name of debtor, it cannot be lodged unless a deed to the property in the name of the debtor is available..

Regards,

Nigel Howarth wrote: ↑04 Jun 2017 23:46 As a memo is lodged against the title of a property registered in the name of debtor, it cannot be lodged unless a deed to the property in the name of the debtor is available..
Regards,

As there is a long delay in issuing title deeds this would mean that there could be a long period before such a memo can be placed against an individual property for unpaid maintenance charges. Is there anything that can be done in the meantime?

You should speak with your lawyer on how best to proceed. It should be possible to get a court order requiring the debtor to pay what they owe by making regular payments. However, enforcing that order may be difficult.

A stiff letter from the lawyer to the debtor may do the trick.

Regards