Cyprus Property Forum for Buyers, Sellers & Investors

Hello,

We have completed a compulsory acquisition of title form via the Land Regsitry- our title deeds are not yet ready and I find it so difficult to know how close we are. The developer just fobs me off with "not ready" and the land registry is just impossible to get hold of to get an update.

Could you explain what the compulsory acquisition of title form actually does when our title deeds are finally ready?

Thank you

Hi coops,

It's impossible to say how long it will take to issue your Title Deed after completing a compulsory acquisition of title form.

It all depends on how much work needs to be done. It could be the property hasn't been inspected by the Planning Authority and issued with its Completion Certificate. It could be that the plot has yet to be subdivided.

YOu can read more about the actual process on pages 12 & 13 of the Department of Lands & Survey's Citizens' Charter.

Regards,

Thank you Nigel. When they are ready what does this form do for us exactly? Sorry, I just don’t understand what advantages it will give us. Thanks.

Nigel- did you have any clarification on my question- what does the compulsory acquisition form actually do when it is in place for when our title deeds are issued? Thank you

Hi again,

We have been told that we are nearing our title deeds being issued by the land registry and our developer. We have put in place a compulsory acquisition for our plot by submitting our contract of sale and details of what was paid.

However, the developer has said that the land registry will ignore the existence of the compulsory acquisition as we have not submitted certificates of completion or building control certificates (which we could not do as we didn't have them).

The developer says that the land registry will give our title deeds to the developer and not to us. We thought that this would not be the case having had this form lodged at the land registry.

Any advice would be helpful here. Thanks

Hi coop

Can you let me know which form you completed. The one I linked earlier was for the Compulsory Updating of Title. I suspect you may have completed a different form?

The Compulsory Updating of Title requires the owner (your developer) to give the Land Registry the necessary documents, which includes: title deed, building permit and plans, certificate of approval, etc. or good reasons for not be unable to provide them.

In any event, the title deeds will not be issued in your name until you've paid the property transfer fees and other charges you're contractually obliged to pay the developer.

But the Land Registry and your developer have told you that the title deeds will soon be issued. But if your developer has not submitted the requred certificates, I can't see how this is possible?

Regards,

Thank you Nigel. We have completed this file: file eglovismenou agorasti

Yes, we understand that we need to pay the necessary fees before the title is released. The Land Registry has said they will be released soon- I presume that the developer has supplied the necessary certificates of final approval to the land registry and nothing is outstanding. But they have not submitted the documents to us so we cannot submit them on our behalf.

I presume that we will need to play the developers inflated price for the IPT and then claim back the difference. I was hoping that by submitting the file above we would not have to pay the higher price as it would be levied at us and not the developer.

Thanks again.

Hi coops

From what you wrote, I believe the form you completed was the Trapped Buyer application form, whose title reads:


If the land registry is saying they're releasing the deeds soon, the developer must have supplied with the necessary paperwork. The relevant documents are not for you, they're for the Land Registry. See my article Applying for Title Deeds, which explains the process in some detail.

The reason developers pay a higher rate is because their tax is calculated on the total 1980 value of the properties registered in their name, which could be many millions of Euros.

E.g. If the total 1980 value of the properties is more than €3,000,000 the developer will pay 1.9% Immovable Property Tax.

So even though the 1980 value of your property may only be €25,000, the developer will be taxed at 1.9%.

But as you have only one property the tax rate you will pay on it is much lower, just 0.6%.

You can reclaim the difference between what the developer has paid and what you should pay, but (a) the developer has to cooperate and (b) it can take 2 or 3 years to get the money.

Regards,

Nigel Howarth wrote: ↑18 Oct 2020 18:19 If the land registry is saying they're releasing the deeds soon, the developer must have supplied with the necessary paperwork. The relevant documents are not for you, they're for the Land Registry. See my article Applying for Title Deeds, which explains the process in some detail.

Thank you Nigel- so if the developer has done their bit then we will not need this form anyway.

Slightly frustrating that we will need to wait so long for a refund but I guess this is Cyprus. In what way does the developer need to cooperate?

coops wrote: ↑18 Oct 2020 18:24In what way does the developer need to cooperate?

Your developer will have complete a number of forms.

Regards,

Nigel, do you know how we can work out what amount we would need to pay for our title deeds to the Land Registry- is it based on the 1980 price of the house? Thank you.

Hi coops

Property Transfer Fees are calculated on the Land Registry's assessment of the market value of a property at its date of purchase (which may or not be what you paid for it.)

There's an online calculator you can use at https://portal.dls.moi.gov.cy/en-us/Pag ... rFees.aspx

Regards

Thank you Nigel. It seems a bit mysterious as to what value they actually take. We have deposited Our agreement of sale at the land registry when we purchased a property so would they not use this to value or do they have some other way of calculating it? I see that they were offering a 50% discount but I wasn’t sure on whether this is continuing or not.

The problem is that people pay more for their property than is written in the contract - they give the vendor cash, which reduces the Property Transfer Fees.

To overcome this problem the Land Registry uses historical data to see what prices have been paid for similar properties in the area.

The statistics published show that the difference between the 'declared amount' (the figure in the contract) and 'accepted amount' (the Land Registry figure) is around 7.5%.

In more than 20 years I have only heard from ONE person whose 'accepted amount' was less than the 'declared amount'.

You can contest the figure and get the property valued independently, but there is no guarantee that the Land Registry will accept an independent valuation.

Regards,

Ahh- this explains it then!

For your comment: The statistics published show that the difference between the 'declared amount' (the figure in the contract) and 'accepted amount' (the Land Registry figure) is around 7.5%.- so the land registry add on 7.5% to your declared amount.

But what if we have submitted our contract of sale at the LR which shows what we did pay? The problem is that the price may have reduced from what we paid for it- how does that work?

Thank you.