Cyprus Property Forum for Buyers, Sellers & Investors

Hi All

We have a property near Paphos which we bought off plan from Aristo in 2005. According to the developer the title deeds are now available. We also have historical demands for IPT since its completion in 2007 again from the developer. My question is this, should we pay for the title deeds before paying the IPT or pay the developer the IPT now and obtain the title deeds later? A final question is this, the house has a mortgage with alpha bank/Emporiki which we are currently attempting to settle, does this have any implications on the IPT and Title Deed issue?
Regards
Jockken

Hi Jockken and welcome to the forum.

You should refund your developer the IPT he has paid for the property you purchased before the deeds, otherwise the company will prevent you from obtaining the deeds.

Some developers have been ripping off their clients by pulling IPT figures out of the air - effectively blackmailing clients into paying exorbitantly high amounts using the threat of withholding Title Deeds to elicit payment.

I suggest you read my article 'Refunding developers’ Immovable Property Tax' to make sure you don't get ripped off!

You should also settle your loan with the Alpha Bank/Emporiki before you get the Title Deeds. The reason for this is because if you wait until after, the Land Registry will convert the loan to a mortgage and register it against the title of the property as a charge. Their fee for doing this is 1% of the sum advanced under the original loan.

Regards,