council of ministers

[Dmrhodes]

We've been waiting for approval from the council of ministers since beginning of July we've sighed contracts and are eager to move as we are still paying rent anybody any idea how long it's taking for approval

[Pantheman]

Just a couple of things.

1. Are you buying under a contract of sale?? If so you do not need council of ministers permission at this stage.

2. When you say you have signed contracts, have you done the tax clearance (assuming a resale) and are ready for the land registry??

What area are you in??

[Dmrhodes]

We're in paphos buying in polis we are first time buyers and have been told by our solicitor as we are now third country not EU we need permission to buy we've payed half price down signed contracts which are now with solicitor been through land registry .. just waiting for permission from council to allow us to buy been told by others it's taking 3 to 6 months just wondered if anybody else had done this

[Dmrhodes]

Been through land registry signed contract payed half down now as we're first time buyers and are now third country not ru we need this permission to buy fron council of ministers we've been told its taking 3 to 6 months

Like I said, if you are not waiting for a title transfer, the permission can follow, it is not needed at this stage, unless Paphos LR has made it's own rules.

[Nigel Howarth]

You do not need Council of Ministers approval to buy a property, you need permission to own it (i.e permission to have the Title Deed for the property registered in your name.

We went through the process in 1992 when we bought our plot of land. It took around 6 months to get CoM approval.

We paid the full agreed price when we signed the contract and deposited it at the Land Registry - and we had a clause in our contract stating that the vendor would refund the the money if CoM approval was denied.

The CoM has delegated authority to the District Office and it's the District Officer (or one of his minions) who approves/rejects the permission to own.

Regards,

[Dmrhodes]

Surely if you buy it you own it,, our solicitor advised us not to hand over all moneys till permission granted.
just wondered if anybody else had done this lately and how long it took. Looks like sit and wait as Lawers says

[leojones]

You do not need Council of Ministers approval to buy a property, you need permission to own it (i.e permission to have the Title Deed for the property registered in your name.

We went through the process in 1992 when we bought our plot of land. It took around 6 months to get CoM approval.

We paid the full agreed price when we signed the contract and deposited it at the Land Registry - and we had a clause in our contract stating that the vendor would refund the the money if CoM approval was denied.

The CoM has delegated authority to the District Office and it's the District Officer (or one of his minions) who approves/rejects the permission to own.

Regards,

Understood. The process involves obtaining permission to own the property, not just the approval to buy it. You've highlighted your experience from 1992, where Council of Ministers (CoM) approval was necessary, and the authority has since been delegated to the District Office for granting ownership permissions. The clause in your contract ensured a refund if approval wasn't granted.

[Dmrhodes]

We finally got approval only took 8 months and another month for land registry to do title deeds
so from putting down original deposit to getting keys and our name on deeds took 9 months

[FERNGLAS]

I understand from an article by Eleni Philippou in Cyprus Property News that approvals in Paphos can take up to 6 months, and this is largely due to there being only one clerk processing all the applications. This contrasts with, for example, Spain, where from reservation contract to concluding the sale at the Notary can be a matter of weeks. I saw that there were about 450 sales in Paphos last month to third country nationals, all of whom require CoM approval. This number has obviously increased since Brexit now that Brits also require CoM approval. If even one of those purchasers was put off each month by the delays from concluding a 300,000 purchase, the government would either lose 60,000 in VAT for a new build or around 6,000 in transfer taxes and stamp duty on a resale. I am not familiar with the pay scales for the relevant public servants, but I would have thought that this loss of income would be more than offset by employing a couple of additional clerks to clear the backlog and keep up with the extra workload. If Cyprus wishes to attract investment to its shores, it needs to realise that it is competing with many other countries, and it should be smoothing the way rather than creating obstacles.