Hi Steve and welcome to the forum.
Unless you and your friend wish to travel to Cyprus to conclude the deal, the best thing you can do is appoint a decent, independent lawyer here in Cyprus to sort all this out for you.
The British High Commission publishes a list of lawyers that may be able to help. You can find that list at
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... mplate.pdf . As the property is in Larnaca, I suggest you get in touch with Tasos Coucounis (and perhaps a couple of others in the area).
I know Tasos quite well - he's the President of the Rotary Club of Larnaca (I'm a Past President of the Limassol-Berengaria Cosmopolitan Rotary Club). As well as knowing Tasos through Rotary, he also defended defended (and won) a case brought against Denis O'Hare of the Cyprus Property Action Group a few years ago.
As well as your legal fees, you will have to pay Capital Gains Tax. This is calculated at 20% of the 'profit' you make from the sale less allowable expenses and an allowance for inflation. As the property was gifted to you, I'm not sure how the capital gain will be calculated.
As well as your friend's legal fees, they will also have to pay Property Transfer Fees (a government tax) based on the market value of the property at its date of sale as assessed by the Land Registry. Note that this may be more than the price he is actually paying you (but NEVER less).
Your friend can get a rough guide to their property transfer fees online by visiting the Cyprus Department of Lands and Surveys - Transfer Fees Calculator at
http://www.moi.gov.cy/moi/dls/dls.nsf/d ... n?openform
The actual transfer process is described on page 45 of the Lands & Surveys 'Citizens Charter', a copy of which you can get from
http://cdn.cyprus-property-buyers.com/w ... harter.pdf
Regards,
