Developers Mortgaging

[Holisticjan]

Hi Nigel

Unfortunately we found this site after we have probably made mistakes but I have 2 points I wish to find out when I am next out in Cyprus.

1. How can I find out whether a developer has remortgaged the land that he has build our house on?

2.His name is on the the contract along with several other Cypriot names as owners of the land can these people borrow against the land our house is built on thus putting us in the position that we may never get our title deeds?

Regards

Holisticjan

[Nigel Howarth]

Hello Jan and welcome to the forum.

To answer your questions:

1. It's relatively straightforward to find out whether there is a mortgage on the land. The Land Registry can be asked to carry out a Title search and produce a report showing what the situation is. It's probably best if you get a law firm to do this for you - the forms are in Greek and it can take the Land Registry quite some time to complete the search.

You'll need to bring your Sale Agreement with you. This will (should) have the reference details of the site that will enable the Land Registry to do the search. (A Title search is something that a lawyer in the UK would do automatically - but unfortunately, this is not the case in Cyprus).

2. I suspect that you developer has an agreement with the landowners to purchase the land. But whether that's a formal agreement inasmuch as a contract has been lodged at the Land Registry is another question. And yes these land owners may, in certain circumstances, be able to mortgage the land which could cause you severe problems if they failed to repay the loan.

As I suggested in answer to your question 1, it's probably best if you get a lawyer to get to the bottom of things and advise you of precisely what the situation is.

Do you know if your Sale Agreement has been lodged at the Land Registry?

Regards,

[Pantheman]

Hello Jan and welcome to the forum.

To answer your questions:

1. It's relatively straightforward to find out whether there is a mortgage on the land. The Land Registry can be asked to carry out a Title search and produce a report showing what the situation is. It's probably best if you get a law firm to do this for you - the forms are in Greek and it can take the Land Registry quite some time to complete the search.

You'll need to bring your Sale Agreement with you. This will (should) have the reference details of the site that will enable the Land Registry to do the search. (A Title search is something that a lawyer in the UK would do automatically - but unfortunately, this is not the case in Cyprus).

2. I suspect that you developer has an agreement with the landowners to purchase the land. But whether that's a formal agreement inasmuch as a contract has been lodged at the Land Registry is another question. And yes these land owners may, in certain circumstances, be able to mortgage the land which could cause you severe problems if they failed to repay the loan.

As I suggested in answer to your question 1, it's probably best if you get a lawyer to get to the bottom of things and advise you of precisely what the situation is.

Do you know if your Sale Agreement has been lodged at the Land Registry?

Regards,

Nigel, not doubting you expert opinion, but the reason I believe that there are other names on the agreement is because the developer has not purchased the land, but done an 'Antiparoxi' which means the land owners have agreed for the developer to build on this land and in exchange he will give them properties when built., and hence the 'seller' is now the developers AND the land owners on one party.

As for re-mortgaging this land, it would require the signature of ALL the named persons and the likelihood of them ALL agreeing all at the same time for the same purpose is IMHO very small.

In cases where developers have mortgaged land after properties have been built, the title deeds would have been on him solely.

IMHO

[Nigel Howarth]

Hi Pan,

These situations can get complicated - and I think it best that Jan gets to the bottom of it.

There are some issues with land outside Paphos where the developer had cut a deal on some land with its owners, but now there is some sort of dispute between the developer and the land owners delaying construction work.

The contracts prepared by the developer require buyers to pay on specific dates - and so some of them have handed over significant amounts of money without any actual construction work having taken place.

One thing we don't know in Jan's case is whether her lawyer has deposited her contract of sale at the Land Registry. If he hasn't done this, I feel it warrants further investigation.

But as you say, hopefully everything's OK - but it needs a bit more digging.

Cheers,