Cyprus Property Forum for Buyers, Sellers & Investors

Hello and thank you for letting me on the Forum.
In 1987 my parents purchased a house outright in Paphos. Since then my father has passed away and the property is willed to my mum.
Since reading your article on the moves afoot to get title deeds we have been bouyed to do sonething and have downloaded the form.
Then out of the blue we have had a letter from the developer saying "that the separate title deeds for your property have been issued by the Paphos District Land Registry Office.
The letter goes on to invite mum to their offices in Paphos to :-
1) Settle the financial obligations that you owe regarding your purchased property and
2) Arrange a date for the transferring of the property onto your names at the Paphos DLR Office.
The letter ends by saying that the Paphos DLR Office has been notified of your pending contractual obligations as per the Transfers and Mortgaging of immovable property laws of 1965 to (no.10) of 2015.
Unfortunately we have never trusted the developer. Dies this letter sound like they are wanting to do something or are we best still filling out the application form?
This letter has frightened my mum because as far as she is concerned the property has been paid for and
has the proof of payment.

Is there a fixed fee to transfer the title deeds? Or is it based on a percentage of the value of the property?
Does the application for title deeds have to be in person?My mum is sadly elderly and very much immobile so this would prove difficult.

Any advice is very much appreciated.

Regards
Davis Selby

Hello David and welcome to the forum

It sounds as if the developer has finally arranged for Title Deeds to be issued - after 28 years!!

The 'fixed fee to transfer the deeds' is the Property Transfer Fees (PTFs), which are the local equivalent of the Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) that is paid in the UK when a property changes hands.

PTFs are calculated on the Land Registry's assessment of the market price of the property at its date of sale. This could be higher than your parents paid for the property, but it will not be less. Note that PTFs are paid to the Land Registry NOT the developer.

The first thing your mum needs to do is convert the sale price in the contract of sale from Cyprus Pounds to Euros. She can do this by multiplying the Cyprus Pounds figure by 1.708601441376176.

Next, enter half the Euro figure into the on-line PTFs calculator at http://www.moi.gov.cy/moi/dls/dls.nsf/d ... n?openform and multiply the Transfer fee figure by 2 - as the property was bought jointly by your late father and your mum.

I think your mum may also have to pay PTFs to transfer your late fathers interest in the property to herself, but I'm not absolutely sure. Just multiply the Transfer figure (above) by 3 rather than 2.

Some good news. Currently there is a 50% reduction in PTFs for transfers that take place by 31st December 2016 and your mum should benefit from this reduction.

What concerns me is that the developer is asking that she "Settle the financial obligations that you owe regarding your purchased property". Has your mum received a statement/invoice from the developer detailing what she owes? If not she needs one before handing over any money.

Your mum can appoint someone to act on her behalf under a Power of Attorney (PoA) - perhaps the lawyer who sorted out the probate of your late father's will? If your mum wishes to appoint a lawyer she will have to visit their office with her passport and sign the PoA in the presence of a 'Certifying Officer' (a government appointee) who will check her identity and certify the document with his signature.

I wouldn't bother about completing an application form, it seems the developer has moved things forward - probably with some 'encouragement' from the Land Registry.

Regards,

Hello Nigel,

Thank you for your invaluable advice.

I must admit we were a bit concerned by the first requirement also so i think a letter is required to clarify. We will need to write back anyway as the letter also requested Mum go to the offices in Paphos "within 10 days of receipt of the letter"!

Regards and thanks again.

David Selby

Hello Nigel,

As suspected the Developer has written back and we knew it was to good to be true!!!

According to them Mum owes nearly 60,000 euros (yes sixty thousand) +vat in Common expenses which is laughable in the extreme. Mum has not had a statement since 1998 and the statements they used to get were never scientific in its approach and were like figures plucked from the sky! They also used to add interest whenever they wanted and would often ignore any payments that Mum and did make anyway!

Mum is not the only person to receive such a demand for common expenses and all the others are for similar amounts and all have been threatened with being sued unless payment is received within 10 days! Such a nice developer...

The estate has never been kept up together and the swimming pool is very rarely useable...also for over ten years running sewage was allowed to overflow onto the estate from a sceptic tank until the developer was made to connect upto the main sewage (which the residents paid half towards).

If there were no Title deeds was the Developer allowed to charge for Common expenses?

As ever any advice is much appreciated.

Best regards.

David Selby

Hello David

Yes - developers can maintain, insure, etc the common area and charge common expenses. Some use this as a way of collecting extra money - others because the purchasers are unable/unwilling to set up a management committee themselves.

I suggest mum reads through her contract of sale to see if there is any requirement for her to pay common expenses. If not then she should apply for the deeds - see http://www.news.cyprus-property-buyers. ... id=0096019 - and the matter of common expenses can be dealt with separately.

I think it best if your mother and the others took legal advice on how to deal with the developer's excessive charges and share the costs. The British High Commission has published a list of English speaking lawyers that you can find at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... reters.pdf

Regards,