Buying resale property with no planning permission

[philipreg]

Hello all and thank you to administrator for allowing us to join. We are looking to buy a permanent home in Cyprus in the near future, we are both retired and in our early sixties. We are hoping to gain residency through the category Fvisa system so, whilst we realise this is a property forum, any advice would be appreciated. Here is my property inquiry. The property we are considering has the deeds for the land but not the building on it. Again I understand this is a common situation (thanks to reading many of the posts on this forum) my concern is that the attached garage is built right up to the boundary as is the stone built storage room at the far end of the land. Is this a potential red flag situation. Any and all advice will be appreciated

[Pantheman]

Hello all and thank you to administrator for allowing us to join. We are looking to buy a permanent home in Cyprus in the near future, we are both retired and in our early sixties. We are hoping to gain residency through the category Fvisa system so, whilst we realise this is a property forum, any advice would be appreciated. Here is my property inquiry. The property we are considering has the deeds for the land but not the building on it. Again I understand this is a common situation (thanks to reading many of the posts on this forum) my concern is that the attached garage is built right up to the boundary as is the stone built storage room at the far end of the land. Is this a potential red flag situation. Any and all advice will be appreciated

Welcome to the forum,

Any building that was not approved in the original planning consent is considered an 'illegal' build. In saying that a garage can be built on the boundary as long as there are no windows facing the adjacent plot. The other building is quite common to be built and it is sort of an annex. However, in order to get final certificate (if that's the route you want to take), you will need new plans to be approved identifying these additional buildings.

The first thing you need to verify is that the main house does indeed have a planning permit as this will probably cause you issues for your visa application.

If you are not concerned about getting the house registered to the title and the main house does have a building permit, then things can stay as they are.

Hope that helps

[Nigel Howarth]

Hi philipreg and welcome to the forum.

I notice that you "are hoping to gain residency through the category F visa system".

You need to be sure that this is still available as no Category F applications have been approved in the last few years.

You can read more about this in an article I published May - Overseas buyers interest in Paphos & Limassol waning.

It's the second paragraph under the heading "Why waning interest from overseas buyers?".

Regards

[philipreg]

Hello Nigel, yes I had already read your article. We have a friend who works for the Cyprus immigration department, admittedly not in individual immigration but global immigration, they are making enquiries on our behalf. I will post any information we can obtain from them for your readers. Thank you.

[philipreg]

Hello Nigel, and thank you for your reply, I had read your article prior to my post. We have a friend who works for the Cyprus immigration department and they are making enquiries on our behalf. I will post any information we can come up with on here for you and your readers. Thanks again

[Nigel Howarth]

We have a friend who works for the Cyprus immigration department and they are making enquiries on our behalf. I will post any information we can come up with on here for you and your readers.

Thanks philipreg, many people want to know the answer to the question. (I suspect the immigration department are waiting for the government to make a decision.)

Regards

[philipreg]

Good morning all, please see below as to the answer I have received from the immigration officer regarding category F visa applications

The Department is currently examining applications submitted in 2018 and early 2019.

You can still submit an application but you should be aware that the examination period might be more than 5 years.

Please also note that the application for an Immigration Permit does not grant the applicant the right to reside in Cyprus.
Louiza Ioannou

Further enquiries into what to do while the application is being processed is to apply for extended visitor visas, ?? Not sure how this will work as this visa requires next destination travel arrangements etc, so again any advice greatly appreciated. Many thanks

[Nigel Howarth]

Thank philipreg

I guess the next question is how is the right to residence acquired once the application (Cat F) has been granted?

As for extending a 90-day visitor's visa, all I've been able to find is:

"If you plan to visit the country for immigration purposes, an extended stay or for committing several visits to the country, a total period of which exceeds 90 days in a 180-day period, you must apply for a long-term visa by contacting the Civil Registry and Migration Department."

(That information was updated 11th June 2024.)

Regards