Title deed - overvalued property

Do you have a problem getting your Title Deeds?
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okapri
Posts: 1
Joined: 22 Oct 2012 12:25

Title deed - overvalued property

Post by okapri »

Hello, Nigel!

Lately I am facing the following problem with obtaining the title deed.
The house was built in 2001, and only now the title is divided and ready to be tranferred to our names.
The land registry valuated our house 111 000 euro more than the contract price and the actual value paid for it. Even though the are is quite expensive (Germasogeia), but back then the price for such a relatively small house (160 m2) is too high. Our exact neighbour house, which is about 400 m2 was valued only 25000 more. (the plots are olmost the same)
Could you please advise me what can be done in such situation?
How long can we pospone with obtaining the title, and what are consequences of that?
What documents are needed from the second owner, to enable me to act on his behalf?
Also, another question - when later selling the house, what price is taken nto account calculating the taxable gain?

Looking forwars hearing from you.
Best regards,
Olga
Nigel Howarth
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Re: Title deed - overvalued property

Post by Nigel Howarth »

Hello Olga and welcome to the forum,

Unfortunately there has been a lot of overcharging by the Land Registries in recent times.

The first thing you can do is argue your case with the Land Registry. You can ask them to visit and carry out a valuation on-site or you can get the property valued independently. If necessary you can take your claim to the Supreme Court.

Antonis Loizou has written about this problem and how to address it in an article 'Transfer Fees + Lands Office Valuation' - here's an extract:
  • Market Value
    The law stipulates that the Lands Office must ascertain the value of the property on the relevant (sales) date, based on the market value on the date of sale. Usually the Lands Office accepts the actual sales price, but approximately 20% of the total is disputed by the Lands Office if it can ascertain from its own records that the market value at the time is different (usually it charges higher values and never lower!!). The main method adopted in order to ascertain the market value is the comparable one (there are others also). So if you bought an apartment for say €100.000 and the Lands Office has in the records other sales for €120.000 for similar properties, it will charge you fees on the €120.000. Regrettably a good percentage of locals and others under-declare their sales/acquisition price for the purpose of saving capital gains (by the seller) and transfer fees (by the buyer) and this is widely known – hence the Lands Office stand.

    Objection
    You are not in a situation of take it or leave it, but if one disagrees with the Lands Office valuation, you can apply to the High Court supporting your claim using a private valuer’s report. This must be done within approximately 40 days from the date that the Lands Office makes its final/determination assessment. What is infuriating in such cases is that even upon determination/final valuation, the Lands Office does not provide the affected parties with a written report supporting its own assessment, whereas the buyer must do so in writing etc, in order for the Lands Office to reexamine.

    Date of Assessment
    If a contract is deposited with the Lands Office, then the date of sale so recorded in the contract is the one adopted. If the contract is not deposited, you must produce your contract as well as the receipt of the down payment, so that the Lands Office can ascertain the sales date.
There have also been numerous reports in the local papers:
As for postponing the transfer:
  • Once you have paid the Property Transfer Fees and the Title Deed to the property has been registered in your name, it is no longer owned by the developer. So if the development company fails and a firm of liquidators is appointed to sell off the company’s assets, they will not be able to throw you out of your home – or chase you for payment of the developer’s debts.

    Selling property in Cyprus at present is very difficult due to the state of the island’s economy, massive oversupply of unsold properties flooding the market, developer insolvencies, etc. Unless you have the Title Deed to the property you have purchased, finding a buyer will be even harder as the cat is out of the bag with regard to the widely publicised Title Deed-cum-fraud fiasco.

    If, sometime in the future, you decide that you want to ‘purchase your deeds’, the vendor/property developer could make things difficult for you (remember that he will have been paying all the central and local government taxes that rightfully you should have been paying as he will still be the legal owner of the property). You may end up having to take legal advice and possibly get involved in expensive litigation to secure ownership your home.
I am not sure what you mean by "What documents are needed from the second owner, to enable me to act on his behalf". If the property was purchased in joint names, you may need the second buyer to give you a limited Power of Attorney to act on their behalf to complete the transfer.

The taxable gain is calculated on the difference of the buying price (as shown on your contract) and the selling price (as shown on the contract).

(One misunderstanding that has occurred in the past is that the sale price in 'old' contracts such as yours will be in Cyprus Pounds. The Cyprus Pounds need to be converted to Euros by multiplying by 0.585274 ).

Regards,
Nigel Howarth
Independent information & advice for Cyprus property buyers
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Nigel Howarth
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Re: Title deed - overvalued property

Post by Nigel Howarth »

If you leave it too long you'll lose out on the discounts currently being offered - see http://www.news.cyprus-property-buyers. ... id=0087106

Regards,
Nigel Howarth
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Pantheman
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Joined: 26 Jan 2008 14:44
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Re: Title deed - overvalued property

Post by Pantheman »

okapri wrote:Hello, Nigel!

Lately I am facing the following problem with obtaining the title deed.
The house was built in 2001, and only now the title is divided and ready to be tranferred to our names.
The land registry valuated our house 111 000 euro more than the contract price and the actual value paid for it. Even though the are is quite expensive (Germasogeia), but back then the price for such a relatively small house (160 m2) is too high. Our exact neighbour house, which is about 400 m2 was valued only 25000 more. (the plots are olmost the same)
Could you please advise me what can be done in such situation?
How long can we pospone with obtaining the title, and what are consequences of that?
What documents are needed from the second owner, to enable me to act on his behalf?
Also, another question - when later selling the house, what price is taken nto account calculating the taxable gain?

Looking forwars hearing from you.
Best regards,
Olga
Just a question, is the valuation that you quote above the 2013 valuation or the 1980.

It would suggest that it is the 2013, in which case it would be more and this is normal. Ask yourself this; is the valuation they gave the knid of price you can to sell for? If its much much more then object, if it is less, then say nothing ;)

If you feel that it is too high you can lodge an objection at the Land Registry, but depends when you had the valuation as you are only allowed 30 days in which to lodge the objection.

Hope that helps
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